Oh, I've Done That: Are those space pants? Cause your ass is out of this world!

Becky here! For the past month I've had some adventures of my own, some of which without Sam :( That's what she gets for having a ridiculously demanding job. Buuuut, now I am working 2 jobs, so I'm going to have to look for different times to fit in great events. This last month, I definitely lived it up, to make up for some time that I might loose. Oh well, I'll make it work! Who says you need to sleep 8 hours a day? There's 24 hours, so I might as well embrace as many of them as possible!

61. See a space shuttle launch

Don't get too excited kids, this one has not been completed yet. There was a very valiant effort, but sadly it fell short. But since it was such an adventure, I'm going to tell you about it anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll actually accomplish it by the end of the summer!

This is one that has been on my list for as long as I can remember (along with sleep in an igloo, so look out for that in winter). So, one night we were all hanging out and my friend Steve happens to mention that him and a friend are driving down to Florida in a couple of weeks to go to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. I immediately became green with envy, not thinking that me jumping on board was even an option. I tend to do that from time to time. When I have an extreme emotion towards something, I'll block any other logical thoughts from my brain. A couple days later, Steve lets me know that instead of just sulking with jealousy at home, I should join them. DUH! My irrational brain just needed to see the light. That Wednesday I snuck out of work early and hopped into the car with Steve and his friend Mike. We seemed to be making pretty good time, not stopping once until North Carolina. After that, it got a little rough. As long as we took it state by state, I wouldn't get cabin fever. And it didn't help that I couldn't even contribute to driving. Mike has a manual transmission car, which I've only tried to drive once and failed horribly. I wanted to stop at all the weird roadside wonders, however Steve and Mike were allergic to fun on the drive. But, I was able to indulge in some authentic South Carolina Al's Bayou Raspberry Alligator Ice (mmmmmm).

Thank you Big Boy's Truck Stop!

After some quick power naps and a couple 5 Hour Energy drinks, we finally got to Oviedo, Florida. We were able to turn a 20 hour drive into 15.5 hours. AWW YEAHHHH!! Thankfully, Mike's aunt and uncle were gracious enough to let us crash at their house. We arrived at 6:30 AM, so naturally we passed out for a couple hours before starting our day. After the boys caught up on their Sportscenter, we chilled by the pool with the awesome kitties.

We then made our way over to Orlando Brewing. This brewery was pretty small but so sick! It's only 1 out of 9 organic breweries in the whole country. And they only have 2 people on the paid staff; the head brewer and the assistant brewer. Everyone else are strictly volunteers that do it for the free beer. After our tour of the brewery, we grabbed a sampling of 8 of their 20 beers on tap. They were pretty damn good.

Once we got our drink on, we met Mike's uncle at an awesome local bar called the Lazy Gator Bar at Black Hammock. We hung out and drank some more beers all while surrounded by alligators. YEP! You read right. The bar is right on the water which is filled with wild alligators. It was pretty awesome/scary.

I know that these are dark, but anywhere you see a black blob...

it's a gator!!

We then hopped over to Tijuana Flats were I had the best burrito in the world! AND they had a hot sauce bar!

Mmmmm. So if we have any readers in the Florida area, send up some sauce!! No sauces have even come close since I've come home.

After a burrito induced coma and some kitty cuddle time, it was LAUNCH DAY! We woke up super early to drive over to Titusville, FL which is about 10 miles right over the river across from the Kennedy Space Center. We couldn't go over to Kennedy because it was super expensive to get over there on launch day. But, we were able to secure a spot on the bridge going over the river, with a perfect view of the launch site.

I know it looks really far away in the picture, but in person it looked AWESOME

SO many people came out to see Endeavour (the 2nd to last NASA shuttle launch EVER) head into space.

Even some dolphins showed up to enjoy the show.

After waiting about 4 hours (only 2 more hours until launch), Mike checked NASA's Twitter and announced to us that the mission had been scrubbed. "@NASA: Endeavour’s launch has been scrubbed for at least 48 hours because of an issue with Auxiliary Power Unit 1 heaters" Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. But, good thing both Mike and Steve had smartphones; who knows how long we would have sat there, waiting. Word of the scrub spread really fast. There were a lot of disappointed people. NASA has still YET to launch Endeavour, pushing back the launch of Atlantis. So, hopefully, I'll be able to get back down to Florida this summer and actually see one.

62. Meet a celebrity

I've never really met a celebrity before. Well there was that one time when I was 12 and at Disney World and my mom freaked out because the son from Doctor Quinn: Medicine Woman was there. But, I don't count that. So, this adventure begins with Steve (once again) coming in clutch and hooking me up with a ticket to a Donald Glover show. Most of you might know Donald Glover from the show Community where he plays the character Troy. But what some of you might not know it that he also has a pretty legit rap career going for him. The show was a part of his IAMDONALD tour which is a combination of his stand-up and rap. The first half of the show was stand-up (which I wish was alittle longer) and the second half was a rap performance under his other name, Childish Gambino. The show was really great but ended pretty early. Steve, Lindsay, Ryan, and I all went to grab some pizza from Lorenzo's on South Street. Which if you're ever in Philly, you need to get your pizza there; the slices are as big as your head. Trust me, you will not regret it!!

We were hanging out, eating our pizza on our typical stoop around the corner, which is also were Donald Glover's tour bus was conveniently parked. And perfect timing, after our pizza, we saw him walking over to his bus. Lindsay and Ryan didn't want to be "those people" that ran over to a famous person. But I'm not above it. Steve and I walked over got to say hey and tell him how much we enjoyed the show, blah blah blah. It was pretty epically awesome.

Dopeness

I'm pretty pleased that he was the first celebrity that I met. So, I went home with a belly full of Lorenzo's and a brain wheeling with Donald Glover/Childish Gambino. What a great night.

63. See the Barnes Foundation as it is meant to be seen

For those of you who are not familiar with the Barnes Foundation, it is an educational art institution in Lower Marion, Pennsylvania which houses the most important private collection of art in the world. Their Post-Impressionist collection is LEGEN-wait for it-DARY! I was going to wait to see the collection after its planned move to the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, but after watching the documentary The Art of the Steal, I wanted to see the collection as Dr. Barnes wanted it to be viewed. If you haven't seen the film, I HIGHLY recommend watching it. It changed my entire perception of the situation.

As soon as I finished watching it, I went right over to the Barnes website to figure out a time to visit. They are open by appointment only and I was panic stricken when I saw that all of the days up to the collections' move were all SOLD OUT, except for 3 days with only several appointments left open. i made the mistake and waited to figure out my plans, and when I went to but them the next day EVERYTHING up to the move was sold out!! I frantically called the Barnes Foundation and expressed how much I wanted to see the collection before the move, and I was told that a couple of people had rescheduled their reservation from that Sunday! WOOO!! So I bought them right up! I bought all of the spots that were available, in case someone wanted to come with me. Luckily Sam and Jamie decided to join me!

We weren't allowed to take photos so all you guys will see is the outside of the building. Sorry guys.

The collection was absolutely amazing. Even though we didn't get to go upstairs (it was closed for conservation work) we still got to see some beautiful works! You can't see anything like this anywhere else. The only part that was a little bit of a downer was that there were a couple paintings here and there because they were in the conservation labs. however, it didn't take away from the overall experience. And that's really what the Barnes was. It was an experience. We even "splurged" and got the $7 audio tour. It made exploring the collection even more enjoyable.

After seeing the collection where it was meant to be seen and how Dr. Barnes designed it, really makes me wonder how they are going to make it work in the new location. Now more than ever, I am totally against the move of the Barnes collection and support Friends of the Barnes.

I suggest everone try to see the collection at some point. It truly is spectacular. To commemorate the visit I got myself a little present...


This AWESOME Van Gogh nightlight!!

Well that pretty much wraps it up. It's been a great couple of weeks. We're working on some new things already, so keep an eye out for a new post sometime soon!

Until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss

Love always,

The Go Getters

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