You can't see that from Ohio

For the first time since 1946, the state of Florida actually lost residents with its cumulative population number going down. With that news and Hurricane Bill sitting in the Atlantic staring right at us, I thought it might be a good time to remind myself (and all of you) of just one reason why Florida is such a great place to live. 

We can see the space shuttle and rockets launch from our front yard!

I recently visited the Kennedy Space Center and really enjoyed it. Haven't been there since I was a kid and I definitely appreciated it more this time. I've taken for granted the fact that as Floridians we have been an eyewitness to history by watching the spectacular launches of rockets and space shuttles. In fact, it wasn't until I was in college that I realized that not everyone in the U.S. can see the space shuttle launch. I just assumed it flew over every state at some point or something, I don't know what I was thinking. My stupidity became crystal clear when I was a college Junior and working at the Orlando theme park Wet N Wild one summer. The space shuttle was scheduled to launch that day and the park kept making announcements about it to keep everyone informed of the launch time. One visitor told me his entire family planned their Florida vacation so that they would be able to see the shuttle launch. 

"You mean you've never seen it?"

"We live in Ohio. Of course we've never seen it."

"You can't see it in Ohio?"

"Ummmm, no."

I know he must have been thinking dumb blonde!