Photography, Tech News and Other Randomness

Last week Katie and I went to Cocoa Beach Florida for vacation, we had a great time. We arrived Saturday evening and drove the hour trip from Orlando to Cocoa Beach to the condo which was strange since it was the first time either one of us had been there without Gigi (Katie’s grandmother). The first full day there we did the normal touisty things like walked the beach (so much warmer then Hampton) went to Ron Jon’s Surf Shop, the local mall because most of the shirts that I had brought were now tents on me (hadn’t worn them since last summer). Monday we went to the Bervard Zoo were we got to feed and pet giraffes which was the highlight of the Zoo. We also took a kayaking tour of the zoo around the giraffe pen and the White Rino pen. We both got swarmed by Lorikeets when we got to feed them (one wouldn’t stop screaming in my ear).

On Tuesday we ventured out to Cape Canaveral and Titusville to visit the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Kate nor really knew where we were going just that it was out near NASA. So we headed out in the direction that we thought we should be going and saw a sign that we had entered the refuge so we thought we were good. Next thing you know the is a large gate with and a sign saying “security badges required”, the main gate to NASA. When we pulled up to the gate and the guard saw us he knew that we didn’t want to go there and asked if we were looking for the visitors center, when we said we were looking for the Wildlife Refuge he gave a slight laugh and told us that we were way off. He then gave us the directions to the area of the wildlife refuge that we were allowed to drive in (he was right, we were way off) and we were on our way.The wildlife refuge was great. We saw a lot of birds there but no crocagators (it looked like the area was going through a bit of a drought), Kate took pictures when we saw things on her side of the car and I took them when they were on my side of the car you can see them on my Flickr page. After spending over a hour slowly driving around and walking around a bit in a couple places we headed over to the Manatee observation deck were we saw a dolphin playing, but no Manatees. On the way over to the observation deck we saw the effects of the drought with acres upon acres of forest that had burned down along a several mile stretch of road.

The next day Kate and I took it easy and enjoyed the sun some more and waited for the arrival of one of Kate’s college suite mates Nikki. At around 10:30pm we picked her up at the airport and prepared for the day to come when we would be off to Disney. Thursday morning came and between the three of us were up, showered, dressed, and ready to go in 45 minutes and were on the road to the place were dreams come true, Disney World. We almost go lost on the way but thanks to Nikki’s photographic memory of the highway system in Disney World she navigated us to were park that we wanted to go to, The Magic Kingdom. After buying our tickets and boarding the monorail we arrived at the Magic Kingdom and on Main Street USA looking up at Cinderella’s castle. Kate and Nikki were like to little kids seeing it for the first time (even though they have both seen it a number of times before), taking pictures of the castle, pictures of each other in front of the castle, you name it they took it. Finally we were off to go on the rides. As some of you might know I’m not a fan of roller coasters or rides of that nature so theme parks are not really my thing, so I was the one standing waiting for them to get off Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. You could see me on rides such as Dumbo, Small World, and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a fun day over all, overcast sky’s kept it from getting to hot and the quick sprinkle helped cool us down a bit and to end a day such as that there is nothing better then a trip to Ihop.

Friday turned into a day were we took Nikki to Ron Jon’s for her first time and a day were we swam in the pool, it was also the day were I forgot to put on sunblock and ended up looking like a lobster. Later that night two very strong thunder storms rolled through but since Florida is so flat we were able to sit outside and watch it slowly move in from Orlando, I was even able to get a photo of a lightning strike. Saturday we ventured back to Cape Canaveral to visit the NASA visitors center (we wanted to go that way this time). The first thing we did was get in line for the bus tour that takes you out to an observatory half way out to the launchpads were we got to see the shuttle Discovery (which launched the day I’m writing this) on the launchpad. We also got to see the crawlers that take the shuttle out and the very, very large building were it is assembled as well as that buildings that there housed in when not in use. Photos of these can be seen on my Flickr page as well. The second stage of the tour was over to the Saturn V/Apollo building were the have a full sized replica of the Saturn V rocket hanging from the ceiling along with other things like a replica of the car that was used and space suits. You were able to see just how small the command module was that the three astronauts had to live in. This was the second time that I had been to NASA and still enjoyed every minute of it.

Sunday was another lazy day for us, we went out for lunch, walked along the beach which was crowded for the first time that I’ve been there since it was Memorial Day weekend, went back to the pool (this time I remembered the sunblock). I headed in early and apparently Katie and Nikki fell asleep by the pool and when then came in were lobsters just like me. For some reason both of them didn’t put any sunblock on that day and paid the price just like I had two days earlier but worst. The three of us went out for one last dinner in Florida and complained about how much we hurt. It didn’t help much either that our waiter forgot to enter our order in so everyone around us that showed up after us got all their meals first. After finally getting food we headed over to Cocoa Beach Surf Shop so Nikki could find some sandals. We spent the rest of the night trying to stay awake so we could head off to Orlando to catch out flight back home at 3:30am.

So with that said Florida was great, Katie and I are pealing now and we want to go back, but thats how you know it was a good vacation right? You want to go back again and again.

I just love this program from Animoto, it creates very professional looking slideshows. Here is one of the most resent Action on Impulse that was filmed on May 4th with a few pictures from previous shows thrown in as well.

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ConVal Takes 3rd, originally uploaded by The_Photo_Guy.

Today I went to UNH to watch my sister and the ConVal Cheerleaders compete in the Class I State Championships. The came in 3rd but only missed out on 2nd by 4.5 point and 1st by 5 points. It was the first time that I have seen my little sister cheer and I thought they did very good. It was great to see how happy the whole squad was for just placing unlike a couple other schools. By coming in 3rd they just missed being able to go to the New England Championship but there’s always next year. ConVal has only had a competitive team for 3-4 years and I believe finish 5th last year so they are a force to be reckoned.

More photos are going to be showing up on my Flickr page as I go through them, so keep on checking in.

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