I arrived home today after spending yet another epic 3 weeks in the US.
I thought I'd share some of my favourite memories of the trip.
We started the journey in Las Vegas where we saw the usual sights and got to meet Penn and Teller after their show. We also flew over to the Grand Canyon for a bus tour.
Then we travelled the Extraterrestrial Hwy to visit the tiny town of Rachel then onto Death Valley for a couple of days before heading down to Pasadena to attend Spacefest.
As I was commuting every day by bus to the conference I got to see many of the sites mentioned in the Big Bang Theory, including the Model Train store, Penny's community College, The Cheese Cake Factory and more.
The VIP party was a hoot. My friend Samantha Mundell and I had organised to wear some very special space/astronomy themed outfits. We made our entrance into the party and we created a sensation. LOL It was like being on a red carpet with cameras going off all over the place. Carolyn Porco joined our table for an hour, then Eileen Collins (the first female Space Shuttle commander) invited me to sit with her for a chat (I'd met her the day before and we got along wonderfully, she is also into astrophotography) Also at the party was Bobak Ferdowsi (The Mohawk Guy from the Curiosity control room) Marc Rayman (Dawn Mission)Geoff Notkin (Meteorite Men) You couldn't turn around without running into an astronaut or someone involved with either space or astronomy.
What a night.
A group of us hired the Mt Wilson observatory on another evening. Fantastic!!
We then headed on up to San Francisco where we visited Alcatraz and the Haight Ashbury district.
The lads I was travelling with, Amjad Zaidi, Richard Scott and John Richards then returned to the UK and I continued on to visit Yosemite National Park for a few days.
Out of the many highlights, the one that stands out most was also the most hilarious.
On the day before Spacefest was due to start, I thought I would drop in early to say hello to the organisers and some of the stall holders that I had become friends with last year.
The Pasadena Civic Centre comprises of 3 buildings. I walked into the first building with a young man, talking astronomy and space, as you do, it took me a little while to realise "this is the wrong space conference!!" It was Space Ops not Spacefest. LOL
So I snuck out a side door, only to see an older man doing the same thing at the next building. I instantly recognised him, he recognised me, we walked up to each other and I received a huge bear hug and a big kiss from Fred Haise (Apollo 13). And so we started our quest to find out where Spacefest was being held.
If you've ever watched the movie This is Spinal Tap, you'll remember the scene where the band gets lost in the back of the auditorium (Hello Cleveland!) , trying to find the stage. That was us. Wandering up corridors, opening doors, totally lost in this huge building for about 10 minutes. We found the stage, but no conference. I was hysterical with laughter.
Eventually we found the right building and all was good. But I'll always remember the day that I reenacted that scene from Spinal Tap with Fred Haise.
Anyway, here are a few of my favourite photos from my trip.
