Road Trip: Tag Drei

Today was our last day of driving. We woke up to the news saying everything around us was flooded. Luckily, we had no problem making it to the Georgia Aquarium. We got there just as it was opening. The first thing we went to was a tank where you could touch rays and sharks. The shark was not nearly as rough as I expected it to be. Then we moved on to the Georgia Explorer exhibit where we got to touch star fish, spiny sea urchins, horse shoe crabs, and more rays. They also had a tank filled with lion fish and a tank with fish from Georgia. We were there in time to see them feed the crabs and rays. The most impressive part was their massive tank that holds 6.2 million gallons of water and is designed to hold 6 adult whale sharks. They currently have four whale sharks that are mid-sized as well as a large variety of smaller fish, stingrays, manta rays, hammerhead sharks, guitar fish, and goliath grouper. There is a 100 foot acrylic tunnel that lets you travel under all of the fish and also a gigantic viewing window (23 feet tall, 61 feet wide, and 2 feet thick). The whale sharks are soooo huge and absolutely beautiful. My favorite animals were the sea dragons and whale sharks. We stayed to see the whale shark feeding; they have people in boats trail buckets of krill in front of the whale shark's mouth and it skims the top of the water. I was sad to leave the aquarium but we (and by we I mean Devin) had a lot of driving to do. We picked up Grant from Wendy's house on the way home and got in around midnight. Then it was straight to bed because I had to be at Gymboree early the next morning.

Road Trip: Dies Dos

We woke up not very refreshed due to the uncomfortable beds at the Motel 6 but we got up fairly early and continued our journey. The fun event for today was white water rafting so in the car I used my Blackberry to look up the company Devin wanted to use and make reservation. The road leading to the outpost was not paved and was not made for driving a moving truck. It was also POURING rain which didn't make the driving any easier either. Lucky for me Devin did all of the driving. We booked our trip through the Nantahala Outdoor Center which Devin has used before and our trip was on the Ocoee River which has class II, III, and IV rapids. We arrived early so there was plenty of time to browse the gift shop (which to my dismay was sold out of water proof cameras, hence no rafting pictures) and Devin and I bought t-shirts for each other. We had a short educational session about how not to get ourselves killed and then we put on our gear and took a school bus (been a long time since I've ridden one of those) over to the river. There was a giant youth group there as well for trip with tons of screaming teenage girls. We were very happy when we were assigned to a raft that had the few other adults that were there and Devin and I got to sit in the front of the raft. Our guides name was Jeremy and he was really awesome and did a great job of making sure we hit all of the most fun parts of the river. We "surfed" on of the rapids and on one of the drops I managed to lose my paddle and ended up in the laps of the two people behind me. Not sure how that happened, I just remember lots and lots of water. It was tons and tons of fun and I want to go again. After an hour and a half or two on the river we had to head back and then it was time for more driving.

Road Trip: Day One

Devin and I started the long drive home early Saturday morning. We woke up early to finish packing the last set of boxes out of my parent's basement. We drove almost straight through to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky with a few stops to pick up gas, Subway, and snacks. Sadly, the cave tour we wanted to go on was full so we went on a tour of the Diamond Caverns instead. It was a wet cave, meaning it is still growing, unlike Mammoth Cave. It also had a lot more stalactites, stalagmites, and drapery formations than my Mammoth Cave tour did, but it wasn't nearly as large. They had a man made pool where they can see how much water is falling, and a lot of different formations made by water eroding or adding to the stone in different ways. Our tour guide, Greg, pointed out a cave cricket and I spotted one later in the trip. Apparently there was also a cave beetle, although I didn't notice it until I was looking at the pictures at home. After the tour it was back on the road. We spent the night in a Motel 6 which had some of the most uncomfortable beds ever.

Chicago that Toddlin Town

This morning Tuba picked me up in his new van (R.I.P Big Blue Van) and we went to the O'Hare airport to get Devin on the way to Chicago. We met Mollie at the train station and headed over to the Field Museum. Mollie got me Jack (from the Nightmare Before Christmas) salt and pepper shakers...you rock Mollie! At the Field Museum we went through the pirate exhibit, yarrr, and it was very interesting. It traced the history of one ship, the Whydah, from slave ship to pirate ship to ship wreck. After that I insisted we go to the hall of gems which of course is closed. So instead we looked at all the jade, rocks, fossils, and meteorites. Then we walked through the Evolving Planet which is when I got really excited because I thought the Field Museum had a coelacanth on display but we didn't see it. Then it was time for lunch and we opted for Subway instead of ridiculously expensive museum food. After lunch we wandered Chicago and went through Millennium Park, took pictures of the bean (aka Cloud Gate), and the Sears Tower which I found out has been renamed to the Willis Tower. It will always be the Sears Tower to me. Then we got to drive back home in wonderful Chicago traffic. We went back to my house and we walked down to the creek I used to play in as a kid. Then mom made us all dinner. We met up with Jake at Caribou later in the evening because Jake is a dork and forgot that he took the day off of work to come to Chicago to see me and instead made plans with his girlfriend to go to Great America (when they got there Great America was closed, karma's a bitch).

Home!

Yesterday I got in to the O'Hare airport around 9:00pm. Mom came and picked me up. It felt strange being in airports again, it makes me think too much of working at Epic. Today I started packing up some of my stuff in the basement so that it's ready to go once I get the moving truck. I took pictures of a bunch of the rooms so I can remember them when I go home next time and it is to a different house. I also got together with Melanie and we went to Caribou and the mall. It was soooooo good to see her again. Last time I saw her was at her awesome Halloween party. I love you Melanie! Yay for C!

Later in the evening Sean drove Babi and Joshua over (thank you!) so I could see them all. One of the worst parts of living in Florida is missing family and not being able to go to all of the birthday parties and other family gatherings. I gave Joshua some Gymboree instruments (wave drum, castanet, and mini maraca) for his birthday which I missed. He seemed to have fun playing with them. He is so smart! Sean showed me how he knows his different body parts, animal sounds, and the hulk. I took lots of pictures and video. Babi gave me some cards with beach scenes that her friend hand made.

Fishing, zoo, and beach

Another great Thursday. We got up early to go fishing. Devin caught a trout and I almost caught a gar. I got the gar to the surface where I could see the fish in his mouth and see that he was almost 3 feet long and then he snapped my line. Devin said that was a good thing, apparently gar are pretty vicious. On the way back home we saw a huge rainbow from end to end.

In the afternoon, Devin and I went to the Brevard Zoo. We stopped in the petting zoo, now that school is in session there are a lot less screaming kids around, and petted the armadillos, alpacas, goats, and deer. The armadillos were attacking my feet and licking my toes. Devin fed the loris and we both fed Rafiki the giraffe.

After the zoo we got shaved ice (I had Tiger Blood/Mango and Devin had Strawberry Daiquiri/Pina Colada) and went to the beach. There were a lot of moon jellies on the beach which is something I've never seen before and there was another rainbow. It still seems weird for it to rain when it's hot and sunny out.

Bestest Boyfriend

Devin came to visit me at work towards the end of my shift and he brought me Taco Bell and cookie dough ice cream. He's mine and you can't have him.

NKF PRO AM Surf Festival

I went to the National Kidney Foundation PRO AM Surf Festival today at Shepard Park (the beach by the Cocoa Beach Surf Company). The weather was gorgeous and the waves were pretty good. I spent a lot of time watching the surfers and also some time taking pictures. There were a lot of people on the beach for the competition. I got some Ocean Potion sun tan lotion for donating to the NKF. When the waves died down I spent some time checking out the tourist shops in Cocoa Beach. There are some really neat stores where you can get all kinds of shells, star fish, sea urchins, coral, etc but I'm not sure whether they were harvested after the animals had already died or taken out of the ocean so I didn't get any. Then I drove to a beach that was less crowded and spent some time swimming and looking for shells. I also got a Bahama Mama flavored shaved ice from Oasis Shaved Ice (best shaved ice ever). Then it was off to work.

Surfing and turtles

Today was awesome. Devin and I spent the day at the beach and the weather was gorgeous. Devin has been having a major snow cone craving so we stopped at a shaved ice place on the way and they have the best shaved ice ever! We brought our boogie board and surfboard and the waves were perfect, they were big enough to catch, but smooth enough that they rolled under you instead of pummeling you into the sand. One of the best parts was that there were sea turtles swimming in the water. Their shells were about a foot long and they seemed to be just chilling at the surface. I paddled up to one and petted it but then it swam away very, very quickly. Towards the end of our beach time I stood up all the way on my board for the very first time. Yay!