The Wandering Disciple

Titusville, Florida: The American Police Hall of Fame and Museum is a tribute to the nation’s law enforcement. It is part museum, part memorial and part working training grounds the museum is a great place to pay respects to those in uniform or learn a little about the history of law enforcement. Founded in 1960, the museum was the nation’s first national museum. Originally located in Miami, the museum was relocated to its present day location in Titusville in 2003. Its current location houses a museum dedicated to the history of law enforcement, a memorial to all the officers killed in the line of duty, an indoor shooting range and is home to the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens. The museum features several exhibits chronicling the history of law enforcement. After being greeted by Robocop, guests can view the following exhibits: • Auto Alley: collection of police cars from Florida agencies as well as the car...

Titusville, Florida: Adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center sits the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. The museum features a collection of personal items from the space program as well as equipment, interactive exhibits and simulators, and the Hall of Fame itself. Two of the more popular artifacts on display are he Mercury Sigma 7 spacecraft and a space suit worn by Gus Grissom on board Mercury 4. The Hall of Fame was created by a vision of the surviving astronauts of Mercury Seven. They wanted a place for past astronauts to be honored and the resulting hall of fame opened in 1990 and was run by the US Space Camp Foundation in conjunction with the Space Camp Florida. The Hall of Fame remained opened until 2002 when it was forced to close to low attendance. The museum was auctioned off through foreclosure and was purchased by Delaware North Services, the operators of the visitor complex at Kennedy Space Center. It was added as part of the visitor complex attraction and reopened to the pu...

Titusville, Florida: We began the day by heading back over to the port to check out what ships have arrived overnight. The port was busy with activity as three ships were docked and prepping for their next cruise. Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, Disney Wonder and Carnival Sensation were all in port Sunday morning. When we returned to the hotel we headed to Flamingo’s Restaurant, the onsite restaurant. There they were serving a breakfast buffet consisting of an omelet station, breakfast meats, cereal and fresh fruits. We ate a delicious breakfast and toured the hotel grounds before loading up the car and heading back to the Kennedy Space Center. We checked the dogs back into the kennel at KSC and began our tours for the day. We started out by visiting the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is a collection of space memorabilia, Hall of Fame display and interactive experience allowing guests to get a real life feel of life as an astronaut. The museum contains fligh...

Cocoa Beach, Florida: This coastal town located along Florida’s Atlantic coast is home to one of the Space Coast most popular beaches. Home to some of the best surfing waves in Florida, Cocoa Beach is known as the Jewel of the Space Coast. The areas first residents were a family of free slaves from the Civil War. The land was then purchased by a group of investors from Cocoa and eventually founded into the Town of Cocoa Beach in 1925 which was later incorporated into a city by 1957. The population continued to grow and by the 60’s had increased over 1000%. Much of the growth had been contributed to the space program and nearby Kennedy Space Center. But just as quickly as the population grew with the program, it fell with the program. The city suffered a 14.3% unemployment rate in 1975 mainly due to the completion of the Apollo project and the associated layoffs. But the space program recovered with the introduction of the space shuttle and the city recovered. Today almost 12,...

Cape Canaveral, Florida: Just steps from Port Canaveral, blocks from the Atlantic and a short drive to Kennedy Space Center, the Radisson Resort at the Port is an ideal hotel for those visiting the Space Coast. Located on AIA in Cape Canaveral, the resort’s location makes it an great choice for a weekend trip or a stay over before or after a cruise. The Caribbean themed hotel features 284 guest rooms mixed between the standard guest rooms and Jacuzzi suites each featuring the Sleep Number bed by Select Comfort. The hotel is pet friendly and is also certified green by Green Lodging Florida. The lush tropical landscape of the resort is home to a family of parrots. They have come to enjoy the landscape that provides tranquility to the guest relaxing by the waterfall pool. The pool has a separate kiddie pool and a poolside tiki bar to keep everyone entertained. The Flamingo Restaurant features a full menu and a breakfast buffet. There is also a video game room, cocktail lounge, la...

Titusville, Florida: When most people think of tourist attractions in Central Florida, they immediately think of Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World. But tucked away on the Atlantic Coast is one of the area’s premier sites, the Kennedy Space Center. The Visitor Complex at the center entertains over a million visitor’s a year wanting an inside look at our space program. Operated by Delaware North Companies, the visitor complex offers museum exhibits, bus tours and interactive experiences. In addition to the complex, they also operate the Astronaut Hall of Fame adjacent to the Space Center. The complex features many exhibits once you pass through the admission gates. At the visitor’s complex you can visit: • Astronaut Encounter; get the opportunity to meet an astronaut from past space missions. • Astronaut Memorial; dedicated in 1991 the reflective wall displays the names of the astronauts that lost their life during the space program. • Center for Space Education...

Titusville, Florida: We hit the road early Saturday morning at 4:30 am heading over to the East Coast of Florida to visit the Kennedy Space Center. This is my first visit to KSC since 1999 and my son’s first trip. He has been fascinated with the space shuttle and with only five remaining missions before retiring the shuttle, there couldn’t have been a better time. We coordinated the trip with the press office of Kennedy Space Center to ensure that a shuttle would be on the launch pad during the visit. We arrived at the Kennedy Space Center and checked our dogs into the kennel on property. KSC offers a free kennel service for guests visiting the center. We then proceeded to will call to pick up our passes and to purchase an add-on tour. We chose to take the Discover KSC tour, an up-close tour of the space center with a stop at the closest place possible to the launch pad along with other stops along the way. Our tour boarded at 10:20, so we spent some time touring the visitor’s ...

Orlando, Florida: We woke up to some classic Florida sunshine, maybe the cold weather was a nightmare, until I stepped outside and realized it was still cold. While we no longer had any precipitation, we now had a cold northern wind to deal with. When we woke up, it was 33 degrees with a wind chill on 21. We had breakfast at the hotel in the Islands Dining Room. The Islands has a daily breakfast buffet that was really good. The buffet features an omelet/egg station, pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, fresh fruits, pasties, breads and more. There was something for everyone in the family. After breakfast, we planned on heading out to the parks again. However the wind chill combined with the cold and soggy conditions from yesterday, we decided to take a pass of the theme parks. So we packed up the truck and headed back home. The trip was a nice last minute decision. The weather sucked, but we knew that heading in and planned accordingly. It reiterated the reason why I no longer...

Orlando, Florida: Located towards the back of the park, the World Expo is home to one of the parks newer attractions. The land gets its look from the world expositions of the past and combines it with modern architecture. The first of the two rides in the land is Men In Black: Alien Attack. Opened in 2000, the attraction is made to look like a pavilion for the 1967 World Expo. Inside you join Will Smith and Rip Torn as they bring you inside the MIB training facility and then put you a training simulation. You board your specially designed vehicles and given laser guns and on the training mission you go. Then you hit the alien packed street with one mission, shoot the most aliens. A score is kept and at the end guests can compare their scores with the high scores from the past years. The other ride located here is the Simpsons Ride. While it is one of the newest rides in the park, it takes the place of the Back to the Future ride which was housed here previously from 1991-2007....

Orlando, Florida: The Lost Continent is where the mythical legends and folklore of the past meet with the Universal Orlando of the present. The island is home to one of Islands of Adventure world class roller coaster, Dueling Dragons. It is also the site of the Mythos restaurant, a top runner for best theme park restaurant. As you enter the island from Jurassic Park, you first encounter the Flying Unicorn. The family coaster is set inside an enchanted forest. As the story goes, a wizard found the horn of a unicorn and used it to create the ride. Riders then board the unicorn cars and take a ride around the track, reaching speeds of almost 30 miles per hour and hitting a height of 42 feet. Then we have the major attraction of the islands, one of the parks major roller coasters, Dueling Dragons. The dueling inverted coasters take riders on a battle between the Fire & Ice Dragons as they come within inches of each other several times along the way. The dragons reach speeds of ...

Orlando, Florida: Early morning wake-up courtesy of a black lab that needed a potty walk. As I reached the end of the doorway and step outside to the pet park, I was slapped in the face by the cold air. A little to cold for the t-shirt and shorts I was wearing since I was too lazy to put on pants and a jacket since I was only planning on being outside for a few minutes. As I left the covering of the dense foliage, I began being pelted by sleet pellets….mission accomplished, my wife gets to see winter precipitation. I went back into the hotel and woke her up to go outside and take a look at the falling frozen stuff. She woke up our son and they both went out to see the rare Floridian flakes. We then drove into International Drive for breakfast at the Word’s largest McDonald’s Play Place. The two story McDonald’s features arcade games, two bowling alley lanes and an improved menu featuring the normal favorites plus omelets, paninis and more prepared by a chef. After breakfast w...

Orlando, Florida: Although the Royal Pacific Airlines dreams of a South Pacific getaway may be a dream of the past, the amenities of the Royal Pacific Resort are still a hit with guests staying at the Universal Orlando resort. The resort features a lagoon style swimming pool that surrounds the waterfront side of the property. The pool features a sandy beach and Royal Bali, an interactive play area for the kids. There is even a poolside bar that features drinks and a limited menu of food. The staff also hosts dive-in movies on select nights of the week where guests can swim in the pool and watch a movie at the same time. For those looking for activities, the resort features several gaming areas. On the outside there is a croquet lawn, shuffleboard court and a sand volleyball court. Inside there is an arcade featuring many of the arcade favorites. Off-site, the resort has paired with Orlando area golf courses to provide a golfing package for its guests. If you are looking to con...

Orlando, Florida: Earlier in the week, the National Weather Service predicted winter precipitation for the state of Florida for the weekend. Being a native Floridian, the news of this excited my wife and she couldn’t wait for the possibility of seeing snow. However been through it a hundreds times growing up in Pennsylvania, I wasn’t thrilled and was thinking about packing up and heading further south. But as any good husband would do, I put aside my hatred of winter weather and focused on giving my wife the best chance to see the wintry mix without breaking the bank. So I did some research and browsed the weather sites and learned the best bet to see snow would be the Central Florida area. Our hometown of North Port would be too warm when the moisture came through and it was only going to be a cold rain. Jacksonville, Gainesville and the panhandle were predicted to be cold enough but the rain line had already moved through. So the best place looked like Central Florida, the co...