Back from the sun
I had the laptop with me the whole time, but figured, I'm on vacation, what's the point of logging on and doing all of this stuff. Sorry for leaving the dozens and dozens of you wanting more. Anyways, here's the rundown of the vacation with my brother ...

We left Tuesday morning for the approximately seven-hour trip to Orlando. From Atlanta, it's pretty much a straight shot down I-75 to the Ronald Reagan (nee Florida's) Turnpike. It was a reasonably uneventful drive, thankfully, powered primarily with my MP3 CDs. We left about 10:30 a.m. and got into town around 5:30-6 p.m. If there's ever been an area that screams tourist, it's International Drive in Orlando (where we eventually stayed). Lots of bright signs, hotels of all price ranges, assorted malls catering to the tourist, mini golf, almost every moderately priced chain restaurant, a variety of tacky souvenir shops and shady discount ticket brokers.

We ended up at Pleasure Island, a bunch of clubs over at the Downtown Disney part of the Disney Industrial Complex. The places were OK -- nothing spectacular, although the improv group was decent. The people watching aspect was so-so -- a bunch of parents ready to let off steam after dealing with the kiddies all day, plus some folks like us wanting to do something without having to dodge all the kids.

On Wednesday, we hit Universal Studios Florida, a nice, if inferior park compared to the original in California. Oddly enough, the most thrilling rides involved thrill-ride seats but with the action taking place on large screens in front of us (Back to the Future and the Hannah Barbera ride). The visual effects plus the jarring of the seats made it feel more real compared to the King Kong, Earthquake (and to a lesser extent, Jaws) rides. The Men in Black ride had a nice interactive element -- shooting the aliens across the ride. It was still pretty much the same, all in all, when I was there for the Citrus Bowl during my senior year of college. The one new twist was City Walk, which is Universal's series of clubs, bars, etc. It was cool that they brought in a version of Pat O'Brien's, the famous New Orleans hangout. This area seemed to bring out more people who made it a nighttime destination -- there are decent dinner deals, and the price to get in everywhere was cheaper than Pleasure Island. The whole Universal thing looks pretty good, although we didn't have time for Islands of Adventure.

We ended bypassing the rest of the Disney Universe, since we just didn't have the time. I guess I'll be back in due time. On Thursday, our return trip started at the Kennedy Space Center. I was always pretty interested in all of the space exploration stuff, and I enjoyed it when I was here as a kid. It seemed much improved and still just as entertaining now. We found our way to the VIP tour, and it seemed to be worth the extra price since we got closer to the shuttle launch pads and landing strip, plus had a couple of cool guides (as opposed to a guide who often just played a video). We wished we had more time there, but it wasn't the case. But, we did get the infamous freeze dried astronaut ice cream. (I guess that goes on the display bookshelf for a while).

We went the long way back to Atlanta to handle some other business. Thus, we traveled up I-95 to see our family's lot in Palm Coast (between Daytona and St. Augustine). The development is full of smallish houses, perfect for people to move to upon retirement, or as a summer home. There were some houses on our street, but thankfully, ours wasn't the only lot not developed. After that, we found our way to Savannah where my brother could visit the weightlifting center there. Eventually, we tackled traffic from there Friday back home and in time for the Red Sox-Braves game at Turner Field (oddly enough, my first game there this year).

It was a good vacation, although as with any family vacation, there were the occasional jangled nerves and arguments. But I guess we survived reasonably well.

I suppose there could be more details, but I've written more than my fair share here.