Saturday, November 15, 2014

My Town in Three Photos - Huntsville / Alabama


 
by Stephanie Taylor
 
Astraea Press was almost called Rocket City Publishing.  True Story.  Did you know that my city is filled with rocket scientists?  My preacher once said he couldn’t make the joke, “It’s not rocket science” because 99% of the audience was rocket scientists.  That definitely got a chuckle!

We are the second home to NASA, aside from Cape Canaveral, FL.  Many of the people that live here aren’t actually from Huntsville, but rather other parts of the world brought here by NASA or the military.  My husband is a mechanical engineer and worked on the new missile program that was shut down six years ago.  So Huntsville isn’t exactly your “Sweet Home Alabama” city.  Many people here don’t have an accent and our technology rocks.

During the September 11th attacks, a terrorist list was released and little ‘ole Huntsville, Alabama was number THREE on the list of most wanted cities.  Why?  Because of our link to NASA and, well, we do have a gigantic rocket in the middle of our city.  Right off the interstate.  See?




We have the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Museum, too.  This is Huntsville’s main attraction.  There you can see actual rockets, actual astronaut gear, buy astronaut food and ride in simulators and much, much more.


Then we have our downtown area, called the Big Spring Park.  This where we used to have the Big Spring Jam every fall.  We’ve had Taylor Swift, Collective Soul, Blake Shelton, Kenny Rogers and many others.

It’s also the big photo op place around town for engaged couples and people having a romantic date or children wanting to feed ducks or fish.

5 comments:

  1. Wow! I knew nothing about your town before this post. Adding it to my bucket list of places to see. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. My father was a technical writer for rocket ships. He would have loved Huntsville!

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  3. Gorgeous pics! We're practically neighbors when we're Stateside. (Peach State resident here)

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