day 12

Today was our last day in Disney. We went to Epcot and then spent the rest of the day at the magic kingdom. We redid some of my favorite rides, like Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. And we did a few we hadn't ever done before, like It's a Small World (we will never do that one again). It was kinda sad leaving Disney last night knowing I won't be going back for a while.
Tomorrow we are starting our drive back. Yuck... back in the car again.

day 12

We drove back to Orlando. On the bike.

Another 7 hour ride.

My butt hurts.

I'm going to bed.

day 11

Emily's Toybox rocked!

With that said, last night was great. They didn't do their regular playlist and they didn't really do any of their songs. But it was still awesome. The bar was pretty cool too. No cover charge which is always nice.

Today was way better than yesterday. We once again slept in and didn't really leave the house until about noon. We took the bike into Key West, parked it on the main drag and walked through some shops that I had seen yesterday and wanted to buy things at. After we were done shopping we went to find whatever else we could find. We went through a pirate museum, which was cool. They had lots of real pirate stuff, like an actual flag from the Jolly Roger and some items recovered from Blackbeard's ship. There was also a gift shop where I got a book about Anne Bonnie one of the few female pirates. We also went to a Wreckers Museum. This museum was another part of the Key's history. After the war of 1812 the islands were used as a port for the US. And because of the weather and coral reefs there were a lot of ship wrecks. The people who went out to save the ships and cargo were called wreckers. The museum we walked through had a lot of artifacts recovered from on of the most famous wrecks (of which I can't remember the name of the ship). It was quite funny to see G's name listed as one of the wreckers who worked that particular wreck. There was also a look out from the top of the museum which you could climb. At the top you could look out over the entire area and see the whole island. It was very cool. And of course I forgot my camera. G took some pics with his phone, so we shall see how those turn out.
After the museum we met Wade the drummer for ETB for dinner. He took us to an unbelievably good restaurant where he had eaten many times before. He made a few recommendations to me, one of which was grouper stuffed with crab. YUM! We all sat and talked for a while.
After dinner we came back to the room to rest up before going out to see ETB again. Once again the boy's were great. It was a little more crowded tonight, crowded with drunks and crazy people. It was definitely fun to watch.
Now I'm off to sleep, we have an 8 hour drive tomorrow to get back to Orlando.

day 10

We finally did that sleeping in thing I've been wanting to do... kind of... we slept till 10.

We got up, walked around some of the shops of Key West and then took a glass bottom boat out to a coral bed to see some fish. It was pretty cool.

We then walked around a bit, and then went down to the shore to go into the ocean and walk along the beach.

This wasn't like any beach I have been on. There were no waves. At least not like the kind I love. The water was like standing in a lake. It was weird. That and I went out pretty far and it still only came up to my waste. Down (actually up from here) in Ocean City, if I had walked out that far the water would have been over my head. And of course after I was in the water G's Uncle noticed a sign recommending people stay out of the water because of the red tide (bacteria in the water). Luckily I never put my head under the water, but I was still the first one in the shower when we got back to the room.

Now we are just counting down the hours to Emily's Toybox.

day 9

Drive, drive drive drive drive.

Another full day of driving. At least this time we were on the motorcycle. We got up this morning, packed up the bikes (and the minivan) and headed down to the keys. We left around 9am and got here around 6pm.
Once again, I'm glad I live in PA. Florida's roads are so boring. They don't even have any curves. I swear if you stand at G's Aunt and Uncle's place and look south, you could see the Keys. That's how straight and flat route 1 is. But we are here now. We're staying in a mobile home just outside of Key West. There are two bedrooms, and a living room and three nights here were cheaper than one bedroom for one night in Key West. A 20 minute drive is worth saving hundreds of dollars.
We went out to get something to eat and took a short drive through Key West. Lots of bars, lots of people and lots of stores. Unfortunately it was dark, so I couldn't see the beach. But I did see lots of the ocean on the drive over so I can wait to see the beach until tomorrow.
So tomorrow G and I will do more walking. I'm sure he can't wait. And I want to walk on the beach tomorrow too. Then tomorrow night we will be at Sloppy Joe's seeing ETB. Can't wait.

day 8

Today was supposed to be a sleep in - take it easy day. We weren't going to do anything. We both woke up at 7:30 without an alarm. My vacation and I don't think I've slept past 8:30 the whole time. Sheesh.
Since we were up so early and since the sun was shining, we decided to go Disney. We had two days left and instead of cramming them all in at the last moment we used a day today. We went to the Magic Kingdom and spend the day roaming. This was the first time we were at any of the parks on a weekend and boy was it really crowded compared to during the week. We finally saw some of those hour wait lines you always hear about. So instead of waiting we wandered around looking at things and hopping into any line that was around 20 minutes. We went on a few things that we hadn't done before, but we did do Pirates of the Caribbean again, along with the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. We also visited our favorite from last time, the Tiki room.
I bought a few more gifts and another t-shirt for G. So far I have most of my x-mas shopping done.
Tomorrow we are getting up early to go to the Keys. 8 hours on the motorcycle here we come.
I'm off for a shower and to pack for tomorrow.

day 7

Today was shopping day. The boys went to the car show and the girls went shopping. I didn't get much, a few things for people for x-mas. I got a shirt for myself and one for G and a couple of pins.
Then we drove out to the middle of nowhere for karaoke that didn't last long. Then I rode the bike home with G. I am really glad I bought chaps. Don't know how I rode in the cold without them.
Don't know what we are doing tomorrow.
Going to bed now.

day 6

Happy Thanksgiving!
My turkey day was spent at Universal Studios theme park. It was day number 2 there and I don't have much to say about it. I guess G said it best: It was worth doing once, but we don't have to do it again. I guess we have been spoiled by Disney. Everything at Disney is just better. The place is cleaner, the people are nicer, there is more detail in everything around you, and there is more stuff to look at. The food was cheaper at Universal though.
Let's see, we did the Jaws ride, the Mummy ride, the Shrek ride, the T2 ride.
I did however get some good pics of myself and of G... well one pic of G. I'm shocked he let me take it.
Anyway, it's another early night tonight. The boys will be going to the car show tomorrow and the ladies wil be doing some shopping. Hopefully with Grannie's discount at the Disney stores. Woo hoo.
Night.

day 5

Today we went to Universal Studios. Can't say I was very impressed. Even with the Jurassic Park ride. It was cool, but the whole park just didn't compare to Disney. It didn't seem to have as much detail. It was almost like Cedar Point in Ohio, but a little more dressed up. The Spiderman ride was pretty cool and we did a whole lot of rollercoasters. Actually the rollercoasters were pretty cool. Usually my head bounces off of the things that are supposed to protect you from moving too much and I usually get a headache. This time I didn't. My balance was messed up for most of the day though. We also did a water ride, because G wanted to. And of course out of 8 people on the same float as G and I, G was the only person who barely got wet. The rest of us were soaked. I was soaked. I was not happy. My pants never did completely dry out. No more water rides for me.
We are going back to the other Universal Park tomorrow. I'm not sure but I think I'm getting theme parked out. Tomorrow will be the last day this week for the parks. Next week we still have two more days of Disney. I think if we come back two years from now, I might not get so many days of Disney. Either that or we'll just skip Universal.
G'night all.

day 4

Got up early again. 7:40 The alarm went off at 7 but I turned it off. Oops. Oh well, we still made it to MGM right around the time it opened. We started off by doing the Rock n Roller coaster, getting my stomach and balance off to a good start. (I get dizzy getting off of an elevator). We then moved to tower of terror... I'm ok with that one. My butt left the seat but I was ok. I've done those before so I knew what was coming. We then did the Indiana Jones stunt spectacular and some other things we hadn't done two years ago. We saw fantasmic again and we walked around their Holiday Lights - millions of x-mas lights covering fake houses with x-mas music playing in the background and fake snow falling on our heads. It was neat though. They made the lights dance along with some songs, one of which was a Trans Siberian Orchestra song. Very cool.
We got home kinda early and are going to go to bed early so we can get up early again tomorrow. G has already told me this is not a vacation because we are doing too much. Ah well. It's not like we get to go to Florida every day.
We got home and G parked on a fire ant hill. Now I have lovely bumps on my toes from them biting me.
I've decided next time I want to bring some friends along. I love going places alone with G, we have a great time. But I keep thinking how much fun some of our friends would have if they could come along. It would be great if we could take two vacations each year, one for just G and I and one for us and our friends.
All right, going to go shower and go to bed.

day 3

Today we went to Walt Disney World. We started in the Animal Kingdom because G wanted to ride the Mount Everest ride that wasn't quite ready for the public the last time we were down here. It was fun, a good rollercoaster. After that we went around and did some of the rides we were on the last time we were here. We went on safari, saw lots of animals.
We also did a bit of shopping. I am now a Disney pin collector. In every park they have tons of pins with all the characters from their movies. You get the pins and a lariat for around your neck and you can trade pins with anyone. A lot of the employees walk around with pins all over themselves just so the visitors can trade with them. I haven't traded any yet. I just bought a whole bunch that I wanted and a few of the cheaper ones to trade.
Near the end of the afternoon we saw the parade at Animal Kingdom. After that we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. We saw the parade and the fireworks and also did a few rides that were weren't on last time around.
Once again I'm off to bed.

vacation

First day of vacation:
Wake up at 2am and hop into the truck. After many naps, each motorcycle almost falling off the trailer, many bathroom breaks and 19 hours of driving, we arrived in Florida... and went immediately to bed.

Sunday:
Woke up at 7am, yes I woke up that early on the first day of my vacation. We didn't do much, unloaded the bikes and then G and I went for a ride to find food. On the way a bald eagle flew over us and I'm taking that as a good sign that the vacation will be good. After eating we went for a ride down rt 50. It reminded me of 7th street, except with palm trees. We then came back to the house to try to find something to do. After checking the net, we decided to go to a pirate mini golf place. But of course we couldn't take the route listed on yahoo maps... no we had to try to find it the back way. Well after two hours of driving around we decided to head back home without mini golfing. We then went to a fish fry at the neighbors. We had catfish and alligator. The alligator was chewy but good. After eating we headed over to a hole in the wall bar to sing Karaoke. We sang many songs. After getting home we then went looking for alligators in the back pond. As Steve Irwin would have said we "had to look for the eye shine" and we did. I saw quite a few and was able to get close enough to see one's entire head. Now I'm off for a shower and then off to bed.


good night

Kelly