Wednesday, March 31 - Thursday, April 1
Chillin' At the Holiday Inn
After our adventures at Universal we spent the next two days relaxing next to the pool at the resort, which, consequently, was not the Holiday Inn. It was actually called Bahama Bay Resort and Spa. We stayed in a three bedroom, two bath condo overlooking a pond area, complete with spouting fountain. The weather was fantastic, and spending time there was really great. On top of the pool, there were hot tubs, sand volleyball, pool (the old-timers might call it billiards), walking trails (really only glorified sidewalks, but still nice), free movie rentals, and an exercise room.
To be honest, nothing truly remarkable happened those two days, though maybe that's for the best considering how tiring the previous ones had been. After a trip to Target, where Drew and Slick Willy bough matching swim trunks--they were so cute--we made our way outside for some fun in the sun. We played a little frisbee, read a book or two, cooled off in the pool, and just generally relaxed. Overall, the day was very relaxing, but boy, oh boy, was that sun strong! Poor Briana and I were putting on sunscreen every half hour or so and we still got burned! In fact, after the first day the two of us snuck off to Wal-Mart for some aloe lotion... for Nick Wilson, of course. Poor guy's chest was redder than a cherry. 
Thursday was much like Wednesday, except that Briana and I spent much more time in the shade. Nick was still convinced that he would tan over his burn, so he stubbornly stayed out in the sun. He used a lot of aloe lotion that evening. We played some more frisbee, which was fun, but as a general rule our aim was terrible. Drew showed off during Frisbee by continually jumping the fence over which the Frisbee often flew. 
Nick tried to do the same, but struggled a bit. Briana volunteered to crawl into the bushes, and I just stood by and took pictures to commemorate. 
Afterward we met a bunch of people on vacation from Canada who we played some volleyball with. After a few games (all of which we lost by a fairly large margin), we rinsed off in the pool, went inside, showered, made dinner, and hung out until Drew's parents and little brother got in from the airport.
Friday, April 2
Welcome to Duloc
Please keep off of the grass, shine your shoes, wipe your...
face!
Pardon the interruption, but no matter how many times I hear that song I am thoroughly amused by it. But, on to the matter at hand. Drew's father is a stressful man, and our morning at Universal Studios was rather stressful for that very reason, especially for Briana and me, who were all but ignored for most of the morning except by Drew's mother, who, God bless her, puts up with it on a daily basis. I'm sure she's adapted well to it, though, considering all the practice I'm sure she gets. Nevertheless, I'll recount in record time my day at the Studios (it's a pet name; just go with it).
The morning consisted of running, literally, to the Rip Ridin' Rockit Roller Coaster, touted as "the most interactive roller coaster in the world," or something to that respect. The ride is brand new, thus the rush to get to it was chaotic and, we later found out, completely unnecessary. After waiting in line for about fifteen minutes, we were informed that they were experiencing technical difficulties and had to shut down the ride. Of course, they allowed us to sit in line for close to an hour before kicking us out and telling us to come back later, but not before our group left with about sixteen fast passes that, of course, could be used on any ride in the park except the one we had just waited an hour to an hour and a half to get on.
We made use of the fast passes later in the day, after the park got a little busier and lines were longer than fifteen minute waits. Our first and only photo op of the morning came after we had ridden both The Mummy coaster, which may have been my favorite ride in the entire park--we went on it again, twice, later in the afternoon--Spiderman (also fantastic), and the Jaws Boat tour. The big shark scared Bri Bri when it popped out of the water. Priceless. Just before stopping for mid-morning funnel cakes, Drew's parents insisted we all stand next to Jaws and get a picture. I, of course, decided to be the one to put my head in its mouth, so you can barely see me in the picture, but as a whole it turned out to be one of my favorites from the trip.
After our funnel cake stop we spent another three hours being dragged around the park (to various rides, one of my favorites was the Disaster movie ride because it incorporated behind-the-scenes tricks of movie-making) by Drew's dad, Drew, and Nick Wilson. I think they may have been going for the Guinness World Record for fastest spin through a theme park, at least that's certainly what it felt like. Aside from feeling like I was on the wrong end of the dog leash, I appreciated Drew's parents for paying for our lunch (and consequently our dinner later that evening). Being the poor college student that I am (that we all are), it was nice to not have to spend my own money on overpriced burgers and fries. And don't get me wrong, Drew's parents are for the most part very pleasant to be around, but it was definitely a stressful experience. I know that at least Briana and I were relieved when they decided to leave shortly after lunch.
We spent the rest of the afternoon revisiting most of the park, especially the parts that we had practically run through early in the day. We stopped to take pictures of us wearing funny hats (or beaded wigs), which is always fun. 
We also rode Men in Black two or three times, experienced a real-ish tornado in Twister, and let a middle-ages street wench hit on Drew's little brother Tyler after getting off the Shrek ride. By the end of the day and a few last rides, including Jimmy Neutron, which I'm pretty sure Briana and I were the only people over fifteen who weren't there with kids, we headed to the gift shops so that Nick Wilson could get himself a shot glass. I got a couple, too. One of them has a T-Rex bursting out of it! It's definitely my favorite. It makes me happy just looking at it. We decided to head out sometime around 8pm. Maybe it wasn't quite that late. It's a little fuzzy. Of course before we left we stopped and took pictures by the Universal Globe. It's on Briana's camera, though, so I can't show you.
When we got back to the condo we were all pooped. Drew wasn't feeling well. We attributed it to heat exhaustion and possibly a little dehydration, so he lay down and we ordered a pizza. We ate and packed and then went to bed.
We had to get up to leave by 5:00 the next morning, so we all turned in early.Saturday, April 3 - Sunday, April 4
Return of the Jedi Drivers
The drive home was more or less uneventful. On our way through Georgia we passed a Chick-fil-a advertisement/water tower. There were cows on it. I was thoroughly amused. We drove straight through from Orlando to Madison with a quick stop in the Falls to pick up Nick's car from Drew's parents' house. We made really good time, though, getting into Madison around 1:00am. And because we were all absolutely exhausted, getting into bed never looked so good. So that's it, I guess. I hope I didn't bore my loyal readers too much with the details of my trip. Sorry, also, that it took so long to write about. Nevertheless, you can look back now for some more interesting pieces in the near future.
Peace, Love, and Car Trips.
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