Space Shuttle Discovery

Last Tuesday we got the chance to see the Space Shuttle Discovery on it's final flight as it was carried on top of a Boeing 747 around Washington D.C. Since I'm still getting up multiple times a night to feed Micah I wasn't sure if we would be up and ready by 9:00 a.m., which is when I figured we would have to leave our house to get to a good viewing spot. Robert was going to walk down to the Mall from his work, so he took the digital camera and left me the video camera in case I decided I could make it.

At 8:00 a.m. I had finished feeding Micah and Julia was awake, so I figured maybe we would be able to make it. It was a very fast morning of getting three people ready, but we made it out the door at exactly 9:00 a.m. The traffic was very heavy getting into D.C. and we ended up parking at Teddy Roosevelt Island and walking down the bike path a quarter mile to a good viewing spot across the river from the Lincoln Memorial. Every other place I passed was packed with people. I was quite surprised at how many people turned out to see it, and by how many people did NOT turn decide to park at Teddy Roosevelt Island. We had a great view, without the crowds. 

By the time we got through traffic and parked and were finally walking down the bike path it was 9:53. I figured we were good since we still had about 10 minutes to get to a good viewing spot, when I heard a really loud plane directly overhead and caught a five second glance of the shuttle going right over us. It was pretty disappointing to only get a five second glance at it, and Julia didn't even get to see it. I thought that was it, but decided to keep walking since we were out anyway. But the shuttle came back three more times once we had gotten to a good viewing spot and gave the thousands of people watching it along the Mall and the Potomac River, including Julia, Micah and I, a good show.

I got some good video of the shuttle and decided to take a picture with my phone the last time the shuttle came around. So here it is on my phone going past the Lincoln Memorial (above), and Julia and Micah with the Memorial in the background.

And here is Robert's picture with our digital camera. They opened up the roof of his building for people to watch, so he didn't have to walk down to the Mall after all.