Our Turbo-Charged Kia Optima Trip to NASA
A friend of mine works with NASA in Houston, and when she invited me down for a tour, I said YES without hesitation, and we set the date. My six-year-old son is the perfect age to start appreciating space travel, and we were excited about it. My husband was on a fishing trip in Colorado with his dad, anyway, so my son and I hit the open highway by ourselves.
The very kind people at Kia lent me a turbo-charged 2016 Optima for our trip from Austin to Houston, and they dropped it off at my driveway the day before we left. I could get used to that kind of service; they spoil me. The car was a deep, gorgeous red that Kia calls "Remington Red" and it sparkled in the sun. It was easy to fit my son's Britax Parkway SGL booster seat in the back, and the trunk had plenty of space for our luggage for the overnight trip.
As we neared Houston around rush hour, the traffic picked up significantly, and we were stuck crawling through downtown for a while. The Optima's nav system kept me apprised of the bottlenecks, and we had a comfortable and cool ride. Heading southeast from downtown, we aimed for the Clear Lake area, where my friend Sean lives with her family. I suddenly remembered that when my sister lived in Clear Lake, I had said aloud, "I will never live in Texas. It's way too hot here." Famous last words, since I moved to Austin nine years later.
The next morning, we started our tour at 9 AM with a friend of Sean's who leads outreach for NASA, and she took us through some of the most fantastic parts of the NASA complex. We started at the Apollo Mission Control Center, where we spotted Gene Kranz, the leader of the team that contributed to saving the astronauts of Apollo 13. We got to see the inside of the current Mission Control, just as t they were getting ready for a landing. The Saturn V was another highlight - it's over 36 stories tall (it's displayed horizontally in a giant building) and is one of only three in existence. And lastly, in Building 9 we crawled up into a space capsule.
My son was completely immersed. He knew how lucky we were to get this inside tour, and both of us were awestruck.
At the NASA gift shop, we picked up a rocket ship pen for my dad, a moon vehicle building set for my son, and some freeze-dried astronaut ice cream for my nieces to try.
When we returned home, my son opened up his book about the first astronauts to land on the moon, and we relived our experience all over again.
2016 KIA OPTIMA TURBO
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE KIA OPTIMA TURBO:
- 40 mpg on the highway: it kicked my SUV's tail on gas mileage
- Body design: I would put this sedan next to just about any other and it would come out on or near the top. Its lines are smooth and clean, and the panoramic sunroof adds glamour.
- Paddle shifters: by now, you know I have a love affair with them.
- Navigation screen: colorful, fun, and easy to use
- Paint job: the red is deep and rich, unlike some of the orange-y red I have seen on other brands
- Safety: the 360-degree camera helps to navigate even the tightest spots, and the blind spot, lane departure, and forward collision warnings help keep the driver alert
- Warranty: every Kia has a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the powertrain (the engine and transmission), which I find more and more impressive with every Kia I drive
THANK YOU DRIVESHOP! You rock.
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| Ready for launch. |
As we neared Houston around rush hour, the traffic picked up significantly, and we were stuck crawling through downtown for a while. The Optima's nav system kept me apprised of the bottlenecks, and we had a comfortable and cool ride. Heading southeast from downtown, we aimed for the Clear Lake area, where my friend Sean lives with her family. I suddenly remembered that when my sister lived in Clear Lake, I had said aloud, "I will never live in Texas. It's way too hot here." Famous last words, since I moved to Austin nine years later.
The next morning, we started our tour at 9 AM with a friend of Sean's who leads outreach for NASA, and she took us through some of the most fantastic parts of the NASA complex. We started at the Apollo Mission Control Center, where we spotted Gene Kranz, the leader of the team that contributed to saving the astronauts of Apollo 13. We got to see the inside of the current Mission Control, just as t they were getting ready for a landing. The Saturn V was another highlight - it's over 36 stories tall (it's displayed horizontally in a giant building) and is one of only three in existence. And lastly, in Building 9 we crawled up into a space capsule.
My son was completely immersed. He knew how lucky we were to get this inside tour, and both of us were awestruck.
At the NASA gift shop, we picked up a rocket ship pen for my dad, a moon vehicle building set for my son, and some freeze-dried astronaut ice cream for my nieces to try.
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| Apollo Mission Control, I'm on the red phone. |
When we returned home, my son opened up his book about the first astronauts to land on the moon, and we relived our experience all over again.
2016 KIA OPTIMA TURBO
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| The Optima looks good under the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin. |
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE KIA OPTIMA TURBO:
- 40 mpg on the highway: it kicked my SUV's tail on gas mileage
- Body design: I would put this sedan next to just about any other and it would come out on or near the top. Its lines are smooth and clean, and the panoramic sunroof adds glamour.
- Paddle shifters: by now, you know I have a love affair with them.
- Navigation screen: colorful, fun, and easy to use
- Paint job: the red is deep and rich, unlike some of the orange-y red I have seen on other brands
- Safety: the 360-degree camera helps to navigate even the tightest spots, and the blind spot, lane departure, and forward collision warnings help keep the driver alert
- Warranty: every Kia has a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the powertrain (the engine and transmission), which I find more and more impressive with every Kia I drive
THANK YOU DRIVESHOP! You rock.