Category Archives: Postcards

Postcard from Natchez, Mississippi

Historic Rosalie Mansion in Natchez, Mississippi

Kathy & I spent a couple of nights in Natchez, Mississippi before starting off on the Natchez Trace Parkway.  Natchez sits on a 200 foot bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.  We spent a lot of time walking and watching the barge traffic on the river.  The river is high and a few roads are closed, but we didn’t see anything serious.

Postcard from Avery Island, Louisiana

Live Oak at Jungle Gardens, Avery Island, Louisiana

In addition to being the home of Tabasco, Avery Island is home to Jungle Gardens, a 170-acre semitropical garden that stretches along Bayou Petite Anse.  Jungle Gardens was created by Edward Avery “Ned” McIlhenny. Born on Avery Island in 1872, Ned was an arctic explorer, naturalist and conservationist.

Postcard from Huntsville, Alabama

Control Room at the Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama

This past Friday, Kathy & I visited the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  While there we toured various NASA facilities including the Control Room at the Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.  This is where all of the communication with the International Space Station regarding the payload and experiments takes place.  It was very interesting to see.

Picture of the TV screen showing live video from the International Space Station of astronauts returning to the ISS from a space walk

While we were there, the astronauts aboard the space station were returning from a space walk.  We were able to see live video of them returning to the ISS through the airlock and beginning the process of removing their suits.  Quite an unexpected treat!