05.05.11

Home At Last! Now When Will I Go Back?

Posted in Astronomy, Space Shuttle, Traveling at 7:49 pm by Rebekah

Today I drove about 500 miles, from Alexandria, Louisiana, through northeast Texas, to central Oklahoma. It is good to be home!

My trip totaled 3,565 miles and 11 days, and it was an absolutely fantastic vacation. I am very tired, but need to get some rest tonight as I have numerous errands to take care of tomorrow and my sister flies in tomorrow night to visit for a few days! I will also be wrapping up some research work this month and hopefully be busy with some new developments on the job front.

Today I finally found some plantations; I took a slight detour northwest of Alexandria this morning, and found several beautiful plantations.

Here is the old Oakland Plantation home, built in 1821:

And here is the Paris, Texas Eiffel Tower that I have heard much about, but never saw until today:

It is 65 feet tall.

And here is one more photo from Paris, featuring the mascot of Paris Junior College: Pyro the Dragon!

And in case you think I’ve forgotten completely about the weather (though I have sadly been having a bit of a break from pouring over weather maps lately), there is a chance for supercells and tornadoes in my favorite chase territory (the Texas Panhandle into western Oklahoma) early this next week. I might even get the chance to take my sister out on her first storm chase!

Oh, and one final note: I’ve been hearing rumors that the space shuttle launch might just be delayed to some time next weekend. Again, this is better for me, as it means it’s more likely I can go. Hopefully it would launch then, though! NASA is going to have a meeting tomorrow and decide the next official launch date. I may then start looking at plane tickets. I loved the road trip, but I can’t afford the time or money to turn right around and do it all again!

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