Wednesday, May 13 – The sunrise was slightly visible over the clouds.
Here were a couple shots of Iceland taken from the plane as we made our descent. It looked barren.
Landing in Iceland and Driving to Langjökull Glacier in West Iceland
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Category Archives: Activities
Sightseeing in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Saturday, May 9 — This morning, the clouds were so thick and dark that it felt ominous out. Eric rinsed down boat and set up the new power cords. We went to lunch at a Japanese restaurant called Sushi Bear, located about a mile away. We noted that it was in the same shopping center as West Marine. The food was good, and it was good value for the money.
While we were in the restaurant, Eric’s watch notified him that rain would start in 10-minutes. And it did start exactly in exactly 10-minutes. After we finished eating, his watch said that rain would now stop for the rest of the day. It didn’t stop as promised, but having faith in the weather app, we drove downtown via surface streets. The area we drove through was very pretty, predominately made up of large, older, stately homes. We stopped at a small commercial strip mall so Eric and Keith could get custard at a place called Whit’s Frozen Custard. They both liked their custard.
Welcome to Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Wednesday, May 6 — We arrived to entrance of the St. John’s River as the sun was coming up, so we had good visibility for entering (marked by purple dot).
A big tanker also arrived at the same time we did, so we changed course to be behind him. The ride along the river was nice — it was wide and calm. There wasn’t much traffic. We passed another tanker and a couple of tugs on their way out.
The river meandered east and then turned south, where it widened out even more. We passed a small commercial port.
Driving Through Cocoa Beach, Florida and Passage to Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Monday, May 4, 2026 continued… As we left Kennedy Space Center, we discussed a dinner plan. We’d liked the food at Rising Tide so much that we decided to go back again tonight. It was another great meal, and with the happy hour specials, it was great value for the money. They had some really yummy mocktails, too.
Eric and Christi wanted to take advantage of the car to do more sightseeing, but Keith wanted to go back to Kosmos and talk to his friends online. Eric and Christi dropped Keith off, then took a drive south to Cocoa Beach to go to the famous pier.
The Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, FL (AKA Cape Canaveral) — Part 9
continued… We hustled over to the building the Astronaut Talk was in and took a seat in the mostly empty theater. The astronaut of the day was Bob Cenker, who did one mission aboard the Space Shuttle as a private contractor — he wasn’t an actual NASA astronaut.
Bob was chosen for the mission because he was a satellite specialist and they needed his specialist services on this particular mission. He talked about what it was like to be in space – the first day, he was very sick. Once he adjusted, he could eat fine, but preparing food was a challenge. He also talked about the challenges of using the toilet. He was very detailed about his experience — what day to day life was like, how his body changed, etc. He also talked about adjusting back to Earth upon return. He told a funny story about dropping dishes because he forgot they didn’t float.
Next on the to-do list was an exhibit called Journey to Mars, which was in a building across the way from the theater. On the way over, we stopped to look at a vehicle called the Mars Rover Vehicle Navigator that was parked near the Journey to Mars. According to the signs, it was a prototype of a high tech mobile laboratory. The vehicle was electric and designed to traverse the demanding landscape of Mars. It could seat 4 people, cruise at 2 – 4 mph (3.2 – 6.4 kph) and had a max speed of 5 – 6 mph (8 – 9.7 kph). We found it interesting that the sign said “Not funded by taxpayer dollars.”
