Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Vacation / Nationals - part 2

6/23 - 6/25 (thereabouts)

When we got to the Doubletree, Angel went with the guy who had unloaded our luggage & took to our room while I parked the car.  By the time I got back into the lobby. Angel was on the way out to meet friends.  So I went & got us settled in.  Next thing I know, here comes a herd into our room.  The competition people were having a door decorating contest, so we needed to go to the dollar store for supplies.  
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(photo from TripAdvisor)
Once they got bored with that, we decided to go to Ripley's Believe it Or Not with one of the other moms & girls. 
Giant lightbrights. 
These peg things are so fun!
A Pringles vending machine?
A bunch of us went to the Universal Studios City Walk for dinner. 
The hotel was walking distance, if  you were a glutton for punishment to walk a mile or so in that heat!  
We did make the trip once.  To get a damn donut (more about that later)
Some DOS ducklings
Beverages!
Sunday we went to SeaWorld.  Angel & I don't care for Disney, but we felt the need to do *something* touristy since we were there in Orlando.   So yeah.  it was too freakin' hot to enjoy anything & it ceased to be fun after just a couple hours. 
Dolphins!
Petting & feeding sting rays
The line for the Journey to Atlantis is deceiving.  You walk right in and think you're getting right in.  Nope!  The habitrail is 100 miles long, so you walk forever before you find the actual line of people.  Then you wait.  And Wait.  And Wait.  
We didn't wait too long for the Mantis.  It was great!  
We did the "mild" ride on the Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin since the other mom with us wasn't feeling well from the heat.  It was a cool (cold!) experience, even if we felt like we waited in line 100 years. 
Then we walked all the way to the back of the park to catch the Shamu show & after they did the intro & Shamu did ONE lousy jump out of the water - they delayed the rest of the show due to impending inclement weather.  
Bastards.
Crane hanging out in Shamu's pool
Random pic of dessert from TGI Friday's - a brownie soaked in bourbon with ice cream covered in caramel & pecans.  OMG.  Heaven.
We almost forgot about the competition welcome party!  
Another mom & I had gone to eat (and enjoyed the above brownie) and hurried back to the hotel when we remembered what was going on.  Somehow we were not surprised to find the stage in banquet hall filled with DOS girls.
Angel & I both got sprayed when one of the girls broke a glowstick!  It was just on my clothes, but it got in Angel's eye so I hustled her off to the bathroom so she could rinse her eye.  No harm done, whew.
#teamDOS clown car, Orlando edition
Someone mentioned going to this thing called the SkyFlyer & suddenly everyone wanted to go!
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This damn thing goes up over 400 feet and swings you 60+ mph.
And we had an odd # of people to ride so guess who got to go alone?Image may contain: 1 person
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It seriously makes one's butt pucker!  
 
On Monday, I left Angel with her friends and went to explore
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I saw someone like Brad Paisley post on FB about going to VooDoo Donuts and it had just opened up in Orlando.  BUCKET LIST!  However when we went by there after going to Margaritaville, there was a 45 minute wait to get inside!  Nope. 
However, if you go in the morning....you can walk right in! 
I got a shirt & magnet as well as a maple bacon bar. 
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OMG.  There are no words.  

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4 comments:

  1. My sister was in Portland, Oregon for work and she went to Voodoo Donuts and said it was amazing. Glad you got one! :) Looks like you had a really fun time - and yay dolphins! :)

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    Replies
    1. I loved everything thing about it! I was all about the skeleton decor & the donuts we tried were amazing.

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  2. Looks like everyone had a grand time. My wife and I just got back from a road trip down to Miami. You're right about the heat and humidity. We were inside most of the time.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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    Replies
    1. It sucked, because it was so uncomfortable out, we really didn't want to go outside either. And when we did, it stopped being fun real quick.

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