As many of my FaceBook friends and Twitter followers have been well aware, my family and I went down to Florida for Saturday’s failed Space Shuttle launch.

It was a long and somewhat frustrating trip… driving down with two small kids and a dog presented some challenges… as did getting the camper packed up for the trip. The result was that we didn’t leave Atlanta until Friday afternoon. We arrived at the campground in Titusville, FL at almost 1:00am… with tired kids, annoyed parrents and a dog that was ready to run… Our 8 hour trip took about 12 hours.

And then we had to set up the camper, get the kids down and tire out the dog… And get some sleep before the 7:17am Saturday launch. About 2:30am, Gail and I were finally able to turn off the lights and try to sleep. Unbeknownst to us, NASA had already cancelled the launch due to a hydrogen leak.

At 7:00 we got up and piled out of the camper, excited to see the Space Shuttle begin its journey.

Around 7:01 we were told by another camper that the launch was scrubbed… and again around 7:02. We pulled out the phones and confirmed with the NASA website. And then we started talking with others and letting some of the dozen of folks assembled along Indian River at the Manatee Hammock campground know that there wasn’t going to be a launch.

Garrett was disappointed. I was disappointed. Gail was disappointed. We all had looked forward to seeing this marvelous event. At that time the next attempt hadn’t been scheduled.

So, on to Plan B… actually, we needed to figure out a Plan B. So, we went to the pool… Florida was HOT. Setting up camp was HOT. The air conditioning in the camper ROCKED… but we needed something better… The pool ROCKED more.

On Sunday we spent some more time in the pool, and then drove to Port Canaveral to watch the Disney Wonder pull out of port (It plays “When You Wish Upon A Star” on the ships horn for 7 notes). We also did a little bit of local sight-seeing.

Monday morning we got up bright and early to watch the sunrise, break camp and hit the road. We were on the road by 9:00am… home by 7:00pm. But, sunrise was a bust. It was cloudy to the east and so it just got light… no spectacle.

But, in the end… Time with the family was wonderful. There were no complaints on the way home about the shuttle launch failure. There were no complaints of the heat, bugs of cramped space. We were all glad that we were able to have fun and spend time together. And isn’t that what a vacation is about?

More pics will be posted on Flickr soon.