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Saturday, July 23rd
Although the day got to a start a little later than I had originally planned, in all honesty it got to a start earlier than I expected given that none of us got to bed until nearly 2am the night before.
Having rented an extra bike the day before, the three of us headed out to the Van Fleet trail once we were all up and about. It was nice to get out and do something physical, with Riff and Kris biking and me skating, and it was also nice to be able to show Riff a bit of Florida away from the tourist cesspool known locally as "the attractions". The bike I rented turned out to be a bit odd; when I arranged for it I had expected to get your basic ten speed kind of thing, but what I wound up with was a one speed pedal brake bike suited for slowly touring around Celebration. Fortunately the pace I keep on my skates was slow enough that I don't think Riff was too put out. We did our regular nine mile run (four and a half miles out and back), and along the way we got to see a fair bit of wildlife. Turtles, armadillos, various kinds of birds, lots of dragonflies and grasshoppers... all the usual suspects. No sign of any gators, but in my book that's just fine. From my perspective the best place to see a live gator is on the *other* side of the pond from you. It was a very nice ride, a little hot but not terribly so, and once we finished it was back to the apartment for showers. (Get your mind out of the gutter, you preverts. That's separate showers.)
Kris had other things to do for the rest of the day (impending bride stuff like getting her nails done and making her bouquet), so Riff and I took the rest of the day on our own. First we had to go to Celebration to return the bike and to drop the wedding announcements in the mail. Following lunch at a cafe on Main street in Celebration, we proceeded to the only logical destination: Universal Studios.
Starting out on the Studios side, we did both Revenge of the Mummy and Shrek 4-D since Riff and never done either of them. Then we moved over to the Islands of Adventure side to get in some serious coaster time.
First on the list was The Incredible Hulk, but the wait time was so long I though we would be better off walking around to the Dueling Dragons first. The wait time there wasn't much shorter, but we did go on both the Ice Dragon and the Fire Dragon. Great stuff, highly recommended. Then we walked back over to the Hulk and that's where I got the most pleasant surprise of the day. I hadn't been there in several months, and hadn't really thought about it. When I got into the coaster seet and went to lower the safety harness and attach the buckle, I was able to do it with no effort at all and with plenty of slack in the safety belt. Every time I have ever ridden it before it has been a struggle to get the harness cinched down enough to allow the buckle to snap into place. Usually I have to completely exhale and suck in by gut before getting that last bit of slack. On one occasion the person working the coaster actually had to help me with it. But on this day I simply sat down in the coaster seat and buckled up, no particular effort required. It was the first time that my weight loss has had a random, measurable, and unexpected effect in my day-to-day life.
Anyway, following the Hulk we grabbed some dinner at the Bob Marley restaurant over in the CityWalk. It was a good meal, and it was nice to relax for a while away from the sun. It took a little longer than expected to be seated, and then the meal itself ran on for a good long while, so by the time we left the restaurant it was only five minutes until park closing. Even so, we managed to get back through the turnstiles and over to the Hulk again before they closed down the line. We ended up being on, I think, the next to the last run. As we were walking away we saw one last train get launched, with only two people on it. Lucky dogs.
By then it was time to head back home and get some rest before the big day. Before going to bed, however, Riff presented us with his wedding gift: he had actually made a complete season set of DVD's for the new series of Dr. Who. We sat down and watched the first two acts of the first episode, and Kris really liked it. I have only ever seen the first episode, so I am very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. Thus far we just haven't had the time, but I expect we will start watching them next week.
So it was a fun but exhausting day, and with butterflies in our stomachs we fell into bed while thinking about the day to come.
Although the day got to a start a little later than I had originally planned, in all honesty it got to a start earlier than I expected given that none of us got to bed until nearly 2am the night before.
Having rented an extra bike the day before, the three of us headed out to the Van Fleet trail once we were all up and about. It was nice to get out and do something physical, with Riff and Kris biking and me skating, and it was also nice to be able to show Riff a bit of Florida away from the tourist cesspool known locally as "the attractions". The bike I rented turned out to be a bit odd; when I arranged for it I had expected to get your basic ten speed kind of thing, but what I wound up with was a one speed pedal brake bike suited for slowly touring around Celebration. Fortunately the pace I keep on my skates was slow enough that I don't think Riff was too put out. We did our regular nine mile run (four and a half miles out and back), and along the way we got to see a fair bit of wildlife. Turtles, armadillos, various kinds of birds, lots of dragonflies and grasshoppers... all the usual suspects. No sign of any gators, but in my book that's just fine. From my perspective the best place to see a live gator is on the *other* side of the pond from you. It was a very nice ride, a little hot but not terribly so, and once we finished it was back to the apartment for showers. (Get your mind out of the gutter, you preverts. That's separate showers.)
Kris had other things to do for the rest of the day (impending bride stuff like getting her nails done and making her bouquet), so Riff and I took the rest of the day on our own. First we had to go to Celebration to return the bike and to drop the wedding announcements in the mail. Following lunch at a cafe on Main street in Celebration, we proceeded to the only logical destination: Universal Studios.
Starting out on the Studios side, we did both Revenge of the Mummy and Shrek 4-D since Riff and never done either of them. Then we moved over to the Islands of Adventure side to get in some serious coaster time.
First on the list was The Incredible Hulk, but the wait time was so long I though we would be better off walking around to the Dueling Dragons first. The wait time there wasn't much shorter, but we did go on both the Ice Dragon and the Fire Dragon. Great stuff, highly recommended. Then we walked back over to the Hulk and that's where I got the most pleasant surprise of the day. I hadn't been there in several months, and hadn't really thought about it. When I got into the coaster seet and went to lower the safety harness and attach the buckle, I was able to do it with no effort at all and with plenty of slack in the safety belt. Every time I have ever ridden it before it has been a struggle to get the harness cinched down enough to allow the buckle to snap into place. Usually I have to completely exhale and suck in by gut before getting that last bit of slack. On one occasion the person working the coaster actually had to help me with it. But on this day I simply sat down in the coaster seat and buckled up, no particular effort required. It was the first time that my weight loss has had a random, measurable, and unexpected effect in my day-to-day life.
Anyway, following the Hulk we grabbed some dinner at the Bob Marley restaurant over in the CityWalk. It was a good meal, and it was nice to relax for a while away from the sun. It took a little longer than expected to be seated, and then the meal itself ran on for a good long while, so by the time we left the restaurant it was only five minutes until park closing. Even so, we managed to get back through the turnstiles and over to the Hulk again before they closed down the line. We ended up being on, I think, the next to the last run. As we were walking away we saw one last train get launched, with only two people on it. Lucky dogs.
By then it was time to head back home and get some rest before the big day. Before going to bed, however, Riff presented us with his wedding gift: he had actually made a complete season set of DVD's for the new series of Dr. Who. We sat down and watched the first two acts of the first episode, and Kris really liked it. I have only ever seen the first episode, so I am very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. Thus far we just haven't had the time, but I expect we will start watching them next week.
So it was a fun but exhausting day, and with butterflies in our stomachs we fell into bed while thinking about the day to come.