The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

Periwinkle was so excited because she knew Stinky had entered the Teleportation Tunnel and was on his way.  She hoped he would like the Adventure she had planned for them today.  It was going to be pretty hard to top the Zoo visit!

Soon she saw the Teleportation Tunnel start to shake a bit and heard the familiar WOOSH and out tumbled Stinky.  The two ran to each other and shared paw pats, headbonks and whisker kisses.  It seemed like forever since their last visit.

When they finally settled down, Stinky said "What's up for today" and Periwinkle explained that, since she lived on the Space Coast of Florida, they were going to go to the Kennedy Space Center.  "Did you know there is a launch tomorrow?" she asked.  Stinky asked if they were going to go on a rocket into space and Periwinkle replied "No silly, we can't do that because we're not trained astrocats.  Plus, this launch is for satellites to bring the Internet to places that don't have it and to make it less expensive for those who do."  Both agreed that anything less expensive would mean more green papers for their parents to buy them Temptations with!

Periwinkle's Mom drove them to the Space Center and the two excitedly ran to the entrance.  "Wow, this place is amazing," said Stinky. "Yes it is and we're lucky because it just opened to visitors again," said Periwinkle.  "It will be more crowded tomorrow because of the SpaceX launch but we should be okay today" she added.

The first thing they did was get a photo at the entrance.

"WHOA, that building is HUGE" said Stinky.  Periwinkle explained that was the VAB or Vehicle Assembly building where they used to mount the space shuttle onto the rocket boosters. It's one of the largest buildings in the word and is equal to 3.75 Empire State Buildings!

The two tabbies had to get a photo in front of it!

"There's too much to do in one day so we're going to visit the Space Shuttle Atlantis today.  We can come back another day to do more" said Periwinkle.  Awed by everything he was seeing, Stinky agreed.  Secretly he smiled to himself because anytime he was with Periwinkle was special no matter what they did!

Another chance for a memory photo was at the entrance to the Atlantis exhibit.

"Stinky....get down from there!!!  You don't want to get us in trouble!"  Stinky hopped down as soon as he heard Periwinkle. "Sorry, I couldn't resist!"

Holding paws, Periwinkle and Stinky walked around the rest of the exhibit.  They wished they could have gone inside the special bus that the astronauts used to get to the launchpad, but it was roped off.

Leaving the Atlantis exhibit, they walked around a bit and were amazed by the rockets they saw.

"Look, an astronaut," said Periwinkle.  Let's see if we can get a photo with him!

Both tabbies were impressed with how well the Space Center was handling social distancing for the humans.

There was a lot more to see at the Space Center but they were getting hungry so they decided to have a quick snack at the Orbit Cafe.

Stinky was amazed at the variety of Temptations and Fancy Feast the cafe offered!

It was time for Periwinkle's mom to pick them up but they spotted the Robot Scouts building.   They were going to save that for their next visit but decided to take a photo to show their fursibs Raz, Allie, Mauricio and Cooper Murphy who are all Cat Scouts.

While they waited for Periwinkle's Mom, they took a quick look at the gift shop.  Stinky heard Periwinkle squeal and say "Come see this!"  Stinky ran over and they both giggled and knew they HAD to buy these for their Moms.

"Periwinkle told Stinky that they were lucky enough to see a booster come back on the barge. How cool is it that SpaceX reuses the boosters from their rockets?   Here's one coming back from last week's launch.  I hope we can really see a launch next time!

Video Credit CRAIG BAILEY, FLORIDA TODAY

Periwinkle's Mom picked them up and took them back to Periwinkel's house.  In the car, the two held paws and excitedly told Periwinke's Mom about their Adventure.  Back at the house, Periwinkle and Stinky spent some quiet time together sharing paw pats, headbonks and whisker kisses.  It was time for Stinky to head to the Teleportation Tunnel and to leave for home.  "I sure had a great time today.  I'll miss you until we can be together again"  Periwinkle gave him a kiss on his head and told him how much she cared for him and how she would miss him too.  Smiling but with tears in their eyes, they said one more goodbye and WOOOSH....Stinky was on his way home.