T-20 Days Until Liftoff

"Are we there yet?! Are we there yet?! Are we there yet?!"

Yes we are! Yes we are! Yes we are!

After more than 1,047 miles, 3 days with over 17 hours of driving, and traveling through 5 states I am finally here in Houston, Texas and let me tell ya, everything really is BIGGER in Texas! I've been here for about a week so far and I can attest that the cars trucks are bigger, the stores are bigger, the sales are bigger, some many of the people are bigger and my apartment is most definitely bigger than my apartment in Florida. And I love every thing about it!

Victoria, Kristina, and I with Uncle Bill

Surprisingly, the drive here wasn't that bad. We left on Saturday night and drove for about two and a half hours before stopping at a hotel in Lake City, Florida. Sunday morning we were back on the road bright and early and after plenty of stops we made it all the way to the Louisianna/Texas State Line. The Monday morning all we had left was an hour and a half drive to my new home in Houston, Texas. Our first stop was in the Panama City Beach area to visit my dad's old Citadel roommate, my Uncle Bill. And when we saw his truck - decorated with camouflage - well, I had to take a picture! Then we got back on the road and about 50 miles later it was Goodbye Florida and Hello Alabama! We were in the beautiful state of Alabama! The drive through was only about 60 or so miles so we were in and out pretty quick, and then we were onto state number 3, Mississippi. Mississippi was a pretty quick drive as well. The longest state drive, after Florida, was Louisiana. We drove about 260 miles across to get to Texas which after all the driving we had done already seemed like nothing. And it especially wasn't that bad because we got to see a bunch of signs for famous cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge! And then, finally we were in my new home state of TEXAS!

Welcome to Alabama - at the Alabama/Florida State Line

Victoria, Me, Kristina, and of course - my baby, Bubba - in Mississippi

Welcome to Louisiana - last state until Texas!

FINALLY in Texas!! :)

The excitement that I was experiencing when I saw this sign was unbelievable! I was finally in Houston! I was in the city I am going to be calling home on-and-off for the next few years, and then hopefully for the rest of my life. And now I am still here and just as excited every day that I wake up!

When we got to my apartment around noon, we were told we couldn't actually start moving in until after 1700 because the apartment people were still getting it ready, so we decided to spend the next few hours at NASA Johnson Space Center. :) :) :) :) :) My mom and I had already been there a month ago and we got a super-behind-the-scenes tour of the place but this time I was with my family and we got the tourist tour, but it was still incredible. Victoria and Kristina weren't exactly thrilled to be spending the day at NASA so they stayed in the welcome center while my parents and I got a tour of the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility and Rocket Park. We learned more about Robonaut and his updated version, Robonaut 2 and we learned about their buddy, Spidernaut. The group of them make up the three smartest robots in the world, and Robonaut 2 can move with such precise motions that he can pick up a single grain of sand with his fingers!

Robonaut and Spidernaut (top); Robonaut 2 (bottom)

After we left the Mock-up Facility we got to visit Rocket Park, one of the buildings my mom and I did NOT visit on our first trip to Houston, and oh my goodness - it was insane!! We got to see an actual Saturn V rocket, which was used to transport 24 astronauts beyond low-earth orbit. Talk about incredible. In class I've learned plenty about the rockets NASA has used and how large they are, but you never really grasp how large they are until you see one in person. I have now seen one in person and it was awesome.

Saturn V main engines - there's 5!!

It's so big, I couldn't take one picture of the whole thing!

At Rocket Park, there were pictures and information on the walls and drapes hanging from the ceiling honoring all of the incredible Astronauts from all 17 Apollo missions. Of course, I had to take a picture with my three idols.

Apollo 1 crew: Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee

Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and myself

We eventually had to leave Rocket Park *sad face* and get back to real life in Houston which meant getting me moved into my apartment - YAY! The moving-in process began around 1700 on Monday evening and I didn't stop cleaning, unpacking, and organizing until 0430 and I wasn't even half done by then. You would never think that one person could store SO MUCH STUFF in a 448 square foot apartment. But I could and I did. And now, in my 682 square foot apartment, I still don't know how I did it. It took all of Monday night and all of Tuesday for me to unpack everything and get my apartment set up exactly how I wanted and it was so worth it. My apartment looks great and it is all because of my momma. She helped me find the perfect couch, perfect bed, perfect furniture pieces, and perfect placement for everything. It's still not done yet, but this is what I started with. Don't worry, the two dorks didn't come with the apartment.

Pictures of my finished apartment will be up soon!
After we finished unpacking and before my sisters and dad left on Wednesday morning and my mom left on Friday we did a little more exploring around Texas. We visited the Kemah Boardwalk as a family, Victoria, Kristina, and my dad went to the aquarium one day as my mom and I unpacked, and my mom and I visited the aquarium after they had left. Both places were a blast and we saw some really neat fish and WHITE TIGERS!! And they make me so much more excited to explore this HUMONGOUS city/state!

Now that my family has left my life quickly got very boring. I haven't met anyone yet so there isn't much to do. But hopefully that will change soon! But even if I don't do anything for the next month, I would be okay with that because this feeling of absolute bliss is not going away. I am so incredibly blessed with an amazingly supportive family and this incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that no matter what, I can't stop being happy about where I am right now. And every second is one less second between me and my first day of work!