OMG FLORIDA!
May. 25th, 2008 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulSo, a little over a week ago (May 14-18) AD and I were in Florida visiting his parents. They moved down there a little less than a year ago when Doc got a new job, and we had yet to visit! On top of that, they have Ad's baby kitty, Nala and a new cat named Puck. We had to meet these new family members and check out their new abode.
BWI was surprisingly calm. It only took us 20 minutes to get through security and such...so we ended up having and hour and a half to kill in the airport because everything still says "arrive 2 hours early". But we found the Southwest gate, had a McFlurry, and I read The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I really liked how Southwest does there thing. The tickets all have a letter/number combination and you board according to that. And there are signed that tell you exactly where to stand before you board so you don't just get "Group A - RUSH THE GATE!" you get "Group A, 1-5, you stand here...6-10, here..." and so on so when they open the doors you wall walk in all civilized like! Our hostesses had clearly had a long night because they were making all kinds of jokes during the announcements. ("Out your left window you will see an AirTran flight...let's wave at them and show them what a FULL flight looks like.")
We arrived 20 minutes early and Ad's parents were waiting for us. They were so TAN! Flat Stanley was also waiting for us. Ad's mom was in charge of getting as many pictures as possible for her grandson that lives in California. Then we drove to their house. Their house is in a 55+ community and it is really nice. Everything is white, which makes it seem even bigger than it is. Nala was very happy to see AD, Puck was very shy and just watched us from a distance.
On Thursday, we woke up late and went downtown to have a sushi lunch. Turns out they live about 15 minutes from Del Ray beach, which has a lovely little community. And this sushi place, OMG - buy 1 get 1 free lunch special. 1 order = 2 pieces, so you ended up with 4 pieces. And it was sooooo good. I had a lot of sushi. Cleaned my plate (which is good because if you don't clean your plate, you can void the lunch special! clever...). We ended with a serpentine roll, which had spicy tuna w/ caviar on top. Delicious. We were going to go snorkeling after that but the water was too rough to see (said the man in the booth) so we just went to their regular beach and chilled for awhile. The water was nice and warm as was the weather. And miraculously, I did not get burnt!! We had a nice helping of ice cream and then went back to the house. Ad's mom had bought duck so they worked on making Peking Duck for dinner. They put it on the rottisierre on the grill. Also yummy. Lots of eating that day.
Friday we drove to Orlando, which is technically a 3 hour drive (though I believe Doc got us there a teensy bit faster than that...hehe). OMG so fun! We did Universal Studios and Island of Adventure in one day. The park was practically empty, save for a few school groups. The lines were not that bad, though for the second park we did get the magical Express Pass that let you jump to the front of the line once for each ride.
I hadn't been to Orlando for 10 years so I was surprised how much the park had changed. I dunno, you never think those places will be any different. Disney always felt the same. Lots of new rides. I got to go on the brand new Simpsons ride, which was AWESOME! I don't ride roller coasters so it was so my kind of ride, where the car bounces and shakes and tricks your brain but some part of it knows I won't die from falling so I can enjoy it (though I did scream at one point...it was surprisingly intense!). Spider-man was as awesome as I had been lead to believe (I went on that one twice). You wore 3-D glasses, rode in the little car, and had the extra element of water/heat added. Just amazing. I wish all theme parks had rides like that.
I even went on a roller coaster - The Mummy Returns, which was all inside and in the dark and somehow didn't bother me as much (though I screamed the whole time because that's how I roll). We went on Jaws, which was not as scary as when I was 10. Men in Black was amusing, you go through the MIB training facility and shoot aliens and it keeps a score for you. AD pwn'd that ride. We got one of those silly pictures at the end of all of us on the ride, holding our blasters, looking very serious. I should scan that. E.T. was relaxing though I feel as if it will be the next ride to get replaced. It looks so old now compared to the shiny newness of Simpsons. They should just make a Spielberg ride and combine Jaws, E.T., and some of his other movies into one crazy ride. Yes, they should call me.
Anyhoo, AD posted the pictures on Facebook so I shall just link them here for your enjoyment/mocking etc -- PICTURES!
Saturday we recovered from Friday by waking up extremely late, and then going to see Ironman at their local theater, which happens to be the same as our local theater - Muvico. Just as good the second time. I will buy that movie on DVD.
Good times. I didn't get this stupid cold until Sunday night. I'm sure there was some kid on the plane with the sniffles.
BWI was surprisingly calm. It only took us 20 minutes to get through security and such...so we ended up having and hour and a half to kill in the airport because everything still says "arrive 2 hours early". But we found the Southwest gate, had a McFlurry, and I read The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I really liked how Southwest does there thing. The tickets all have a letter/number combination and you board according to that. And there are signed that tell you exactly where to stand before you board so you don't just get "Group A - RUSH THE GATE!" you get "Group A, 1-5, you stand here...6-10, here..." and so on so when they open the doors you wall walk in all civilized like! Our hostesses had clearly had a long night because they were making all kinds of jokes during the announcements. ("Out your left window you will see an AirTran flight...let's wave at them and show them what a FULL flight looks like.")
We arrived 20 minutes early and Ad's parents were waiting for us. They were so TAN! Flat Stanley was also waiting for us. Ad's mom was in charge of getting as many pictures as possible for her grandson that lives in California. Then we drove to their house. Their house is in a 55+ community and it is really nice. Everything is white, which makes it seem even bigger than it is. Nala was very happy to see AD, Puck was very shy and just watched us from a distance.
On Thursday, we woke up late and went downtown to have a sushi lunch. Turns out they live about 15 minutes from Del Ray beach, which has a lovely little community. And this sushi place, OMG - buy 1 get 1 free lunch special. 1 order = 2 pieces, so you ended up with 4 pieces. And it was sooooo good. I had a lot of sushi. Cleaned my plate (which is good because if you don't clean your plate, you can void the lunch special! clever...). We ended with a serpentine roll, which had spicy tuna w/ caviar on top. Delicious. We were going to go snorkeling after that but the water was too rough to see (said the man in the booth) so we just went to their regular beach and chilled for awhile. The water was nice and warm as was the weather. And miraculously, I did not get burnt!! We had a nice helping of ice cream and then went back to the house. Ad's mom had bought duck so they worked on making Peking Duck for dinner. They put it on the rottisierre on the grill. Also yummy. Lots of eating that day.
Friday we drove to Orlando, which is technically a 3 hour drive (though I believe Doc got us there a teensy bit faster than that...hehe). OMG so fun! We did Universal Studios and Island of Adventure in one day. The park was practically empty, save for a few school groups. The lines were not that bad, though for the second park we did get the magical Express Pass that let you jump to the front of the line once for each ride.
I hadn't been to Orlando for 10 years so I was surprised how much the park had changed. I dunno, you never think those places will be any different. Disney always felt the same. Lots of new rides. I got to go on the brand new Simpsons ride, which was AWESOME! I don't ride roller coasters so it was so my kind of ride, where the car bounces and shakes and tricks your brain but some part of it knows I won't die from falling so I can enjoy it (though I did scream at one point...it was surprisingly intense!). Spider-man was as awesome as I had been lead to believe (I went on that one twice). You wore 3-D glasses, rode in the little car, and had the extra element of water/heat added. Just amazing. I wish all theme parks had rides like that.
I even went on a roller coaster - The Mummy Returns, which was all inside and in the dark and somehow didn't bother me as much (though I screamed the whole time because that's how I roll). We went on Jaws, which was not as scary as when I was 10. Men in Black was amusing, you go through the MIB training facility and shoot aliens and it keeps a score for you. AD pwn'd that ride. We got one of those silly pictures at the end of all of us on the ride, holding our blasters, looking very serious. I should scan that. E.T. was relaxing though I feel as if it will be the next ride to get replaced. It looks so old now compared to the shiny newness of Simpsons. They should just make a Spielberg ride and combine Jaws, E.T., and some of his other movies into one crazy ride. Yes, they should call me.
Anyhoo, AD posted the pictures on Facebook so I shall just link them here for your enjoyment/mocking etc -- PICTURES!
Saturday we recovered from Friday by waking up extremely late, and then going to see Ironman at their local theater, which happens to be the same as our local theater - Muvico. Just as good the second time. I will buy that movie on DVD.
Good times. I didn't get this stupid cold until Sunday night. I'm sure there was some kid on the plane with the sniffles.
