American Christmas: Huntsville

We drove the three and a half hours to Huntsville and easily located the NASA Visitor Center – The U.S. Space & Rocket Center.  At the entrance there is a Saturn 5.  This rocket is THE rocket.  There are no others of such importance. It marks out the space programme so clearly.  It is enormous.   I stand and look, eventually I take a picture.  We have arrived quite late, having stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel in Cullman.  The food is very good, and the portions are large.  We bought a few souvenirs to take home.  Then we travelled onto the space centre.  I’m back to the Saturn 5, I could stand there looking at it all day, but there is an exhibition to see.  The story of the moon race is laid out, but there are also many pieces of military equipment on display.  I hadn’t realised how tightly integrated the ballistic missile program and the space program were, I suppose it is not the sort of thing you think about as a child. In 1969, I was 13 years old and totally engulfed in the optimism of the 1960s, and especially the space program.  I was nowhere near as optimistic as von Braun, though, he thought we would get to Mars by 1970.  There is a hall dedicated to the Saturn 5, a life-size model stretches almost the length of the hall, and its stages are separated, so you can see the whole detail of the rocket.  The story of the moon landings project and the building of the rocket motors go down one side, and the other has exhibits about the astronaut’s lives in space.  At the end of the hall is a Lunar Module and a Lunar Rover.  It is great for children, with loads of things to try, and great for those who lived through it, but for the other adults in the party it is just a small part of history.  We have little time and I also want to see the shuttle (Pathfinder).
Some things are missing from the exhibition, or I missed them.  There is nothing about the astronauts that died in developing the space program (except for the shuttle challenger, and then it is limited to the technical investigation). There is very little about the Gemini programme, which is a shame.
There was one major disappointment, as a non-citizen, I am not allowed on through bus tour. The phrase on the website about credentials is meaningless, so I called them. NO FOREIGNERS.
After leaving the space center with a few souvenirs, we drove to Gadston, where we would stay for the night.  First we stopped at a restaurant called Top of the River. We went there to try catfish, there was way too much food, after the blow-out at Cracker Barrel. The catfish was served as gougons, which meant that the covering had to be removed to taste the fish. It tastes like cod, but does not flake, and is not chewy. Very full, we drove to the Marriot hotel, where we struggled to get a room. The woman on the desk said she could not use the coupon for both rooms, but could give us a better deal on the second room. We ended up with the coupon price - bizarre. The room was great, and the bed very comfortable, but the experience was further ruined by not being able to access the internet.

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