Who's rocket is this?

My first report from Florida is also from my favorite destination: Cap Canaveral! Beside the lunch pads the NASA also has several attractions there for its visitors like this 1:1 model of the space shuttle where you can actually see how big it is from the inside. Right beside it you also have a lunch simulator which is simply amazing!

This is the actual hangar where rockets get assembled. Doesn't look that big, right? Just keep in mind... the blue rectangle in the American flag on the left has the same size like a regular Basketball court. Even though this house is still there from the Apollo program it is still the house with the biggest free space in the world!


And this is the real deal... the space shuttle Atlantis waiting on the pad for its lunch at the 9th of June. Unfortunately because of all the security mess you can't get closer without getting arrested. I didn't try before you ask ;-)


And this is the garden of rockets with all rockets assembled used in the various programs. On the far right you still see a bit from the massive Apollo mission rocket... the biggest rocket ever build up to now!

But this was just one place I visited on my Florida trip!

Miami Vice

Well guys... it was time for a bit of holiday for me, so I went down south to meet two of my dear friends Crockett and Tubbs. Even though I searched hard for them downtown and at all possible beaches I couldn't find them. Sorry. But I still had a great vacation there. The next few days I will post some more stuff about this truly amazing weekend as soon as I get the pictures from my digital camera. In the meantime you might guess in which city I was searching my friends but that might be a though one. Good luck!

Bonanza

Well, I am not sure if this town name goes into the category of unusual town names... but its funny I guess.

Hoss, Little Joe... go and get the horses. We ride to Colorado, state of the Rockies and the Crocodiles. I am sure they would love it ;-)

Ancient Indian Village

Who said that America has no historical places?! Sure enough... everything old build by white men is barely 200 years old but don't forget the Indian tribes who lived here well before a Spanish (or a Viking for that matter) had set his foot on this new continent.


This historical side is close to Colorado Springs in a little town called Manitou Springs (coincidence, I don't think so!) and is several hundred years old.





And your guide for today was "Indy" Ekki... bringing you exotic places to you screen. I have to go for a proper adventurer hat next time I guess ;-)

Crocodiles in Colorado

Alright... I am convinced that you can find everything you like in America. But Crocodiles in Colorado? And here it is... the Colorado Gators right beside the Rockies!

If you think that you know this beauty on the left from somewhere you might be right. He is a movie star and had several appearances in blockbusters like Happy Gilmore, Interview with the vampire and Dr. Doolittle. His name is Morris by the way.

But not only crocodiles are living here around a hot spring in the winter time... these fellas on the right are here to but not less dangerous! Beside Crocodiles and ostriches they also have lots of turtles, ducks (for the Crocodiles?!), fish... this is actually how the crocodile farm started of... as a fish farm with some crocodiles taking care of dead fish...


But the best thing is of course feeding the animals! Here I try to persuade some crocodiles to give up the sunbath for a second and enjoy a nice snack (no, not a duck!). After some friendly words they were going for the dry food... but very very slowly. Guess it is nice to be a crocodile in Colorado!

Bail me out

It is always handy to know the local shops around you. A grocery store for you daily stuff, a barber, a pharmacy, a gym and of course... your local bail agent. I was pleased to find this store right beside the museum. Unfortunately it offers its services only in English and Spanish but that should be fine... according to their advertisement they are offering great bail deals... like get 2 out and the third one for free??? I don't know but I was tempted to park my car in another neighborhood ;-)

Night at the Museum

Well... it was not really a night but it sounds much better then "Day at the Museum". And before somebody is going to ask... no skeleton dinosaur was hunting me I'm afraid.


The Denver Arts Museum you saw from the outside in another thread is an interesting mixture of different pieces of art from cultures all over the globe. You can find Native American Art, Asian Art, Oceanic Art, European Art and Modern Art all in one Museum.


What is really fun and I didn't see so far in any other museum yet is that you can even use art in special sections of the museum. Here I am "using" an Samurai sword. Well... it is not as I am a dragon slayer or something like that but I think I am doing alright ;-)




This is obviously from the modern art collection. Well... again I am not an expert so I will not comment this piece of art. More interesting was that I found several pieces of German artist here too. Not that they were looking differently though :-)

Different taste 5

Alright, alright... I hear you. "Why are you always trying the diet stuff?", "Is sugar too strong for you, you might be to weak", "Are you against big people with strong bones?"... all these questions to this topic I answer with this threat:
This time I went for the Full 'sugar' Monty: Fanta Strawberry is no surprise there... the name says it all, but a nice change to the ordinary Fanta which is coming nowadays in hundred different tastes already. This one was new for me though.
Pepsi Summer Mix is not that easy to guess but tastes nice too... not like summer, more like tropical fruits.
After this sugar rush I have to get some sleep! Cheers!

Downtown Denver

My weekend trips brought me so far all over Colorado but I didn't write anything about downtown Denver which is just 20 min by car.

Denver itself is a very nice place and well worth a visit. Here you can see the State Capitol build in 1908.

Wandering through downtown Denver feels a bit like living in SimCity... skyscrapers everywhere. The highest one is the Republic Plaza with 217 meters.




But the most interesting building is the Art Gallery designed by Daniel Liebeskind who is known for his "banged up" buildings with no right angels. Still impressive though.

No Name

What happens when the whole village can't find a proper name for their settlement? Well you would guess that this would never happen by all the possibilities out there. And it seems like that in America they have lots of choices too from the different imigrant groups coming into the country. So you can easily find places like Fairplay, Buena Vista, Walsenburg, Trinidad or Steamboat Springs (I always wondered how a spring for steamboat must look like). But all these names weren't enough... this little settlement couldn't find any name. So I imagine that the local sheriff after several hours of fruitless discussions decided... no name? Well if that's the decision we go with that. And here it is... No Name at the Highway 70 heading to Utah. Sweet!