Pine Trees Are Not Pretty

Well not compared to Palm Trees.

Much to my dismay, we are back from sun-shiney Florida. Our flight came in at 11:30 last night, but we didn't get home until nearly 1:00. Though it is so cold, its good to be back home and sleeping in my own bed. I got ten hours of sleep last night, which is the most I've had in probably two weeks!

Our vacation was sweet! It was in the upper thirties for the first two days, but after that it was 60, 70, and 80. We got to swim on Saturday with Rebekah and Josh Krayzel. I was so happy to see Rebekah; we picked up right where we left off.

It was really cool to go to all of the theme parks again. I have little glimpses saved in my memory from our last trip in 2000; the cool thing is that all of the things I remembered are just as they were nine years ago. At first I didn't buy into the whole "magical Disney" thing, but after seeing beautiful, flower-sprinkeled trails, flowers and the magnificent fireworks at Cinderella's Castle, I must say that I'm a believer. There is something so magical and endearing about the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. It is seriously something that should be on everyone's bucket list.

The Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom was pretty neat too. We got to see tons of exotic animals including the Black Rinoceros (There are only 400 left in the world), Hippos, Elephants... there were so many!

The much-hyped Expedition Everest was AWESOME! The Yeti wasn't scary and you got to go backwards into a very long, pitch-black, tunnel. I screamed so loud that my throat hurt all day.

At Epcot, we got to tour all of the different countries and see a little about each one. Something that I enjoyed was that all of the workers in each country were recruits from the actual country. We saw a live Mariocci Band while we ate lunch in Mexico, we went to a Kim Possible Mission to China, and smelled parfume in France. The coolest ride there was probably Mission Space. Its set up as austronaut training, so its pretty realistic. You and three other people go into the cock-pit of a space shuttle and have to steer and control the ship on a mission to Mars. Because the the "ship" you are in is spinning very fast, the G-Force makes you feel like your face and chest are actually being compressed and sent into another atmosphere. It was so cool! The Test Track was also an interesting ride. You get into a car and it takes you through eight different car tests. The fireworks at Epcot were cool, but not nearly as spectacular as the ones at Magic Kingdom.

Our last park was Hollywood Studios (Formerly Known as MGM). The first thing we did was get an audition pass to the soft-test of The American Idol Experience. I tried out, but didn't make it past the first round because the judge (who was an actual person) said that my vocals were much higher than mybconfidence. I was bummed, but took accepted her advice to audition everywhere so I become less and less nervous. She complimented my version of "Put Your Records On," and said that my voice sounded good in the Softer, Nora Jonesy, type range. So she at least complimented me. When the American Idol Experience opens officially in February, the winner of the daily finale gets a "Dream Ticket" which is a pass that puts you at the beginning of any Official American Idol audition line in the country. Also while there, my dad and I went on the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror. It was SOOO scarry! I seriously screamed the whole time! In comparison to the Pitt Fall, this one is worse because you go up thirteen stories in the dark, the windows open and you free fall a few stories, then go back up... and on and on. There were a few times that I rose out of my seat. It was so fun! The part I pride myself on is that my dad and I got on the Rockin Roller Coaster in a matter of five minutes! When we went on the Test Track at Epcot, some locals told us that in most cases, going in the single rider line goes much faster. So when we saw that the stand-by wait was forty minutes, we thought we'd give it a try. We practically walked through right to the front of the line. Dad and I didn't get on the same ride, but we were one-after-another. I got ride second from the front! (When Dillon and I did it again later, we waited for 20 minutes, but I got to ride in ROW ONE!!) That roller coaster was probably my favorite ride. For those of you who don't know what it is, think of this.... Aerosmith is in their recording studio and have to go to a show when some of their fans show up. They dont want to leave you behind, so they give you a ride to their concert in their super strech limo. When you get into the limo, you go from 0 to 65 in a matter of 2 seconds. Its so fast, it takes your breath away. Right out of the gate, you do two upside-down loops in the dark with sweet glowing black lights that illuminate everything. It was so cool! The when I was riding with the first girl (who was some type of spanish) I didn't understand anything she said except for screams and shreiks, but at the end when we were stopped, it seemed like the coster might take off again, this guy answered his cell phone "Hello, Yea, I'm on a roller coaster right now... Ok, bye" Both of us just started cracking up! It was a hilarious situation!

The cold weather proved to actually be useful for the first couple of days. The parks were very desolate, and wait-times for rides were unbelieveably short. We walked through to Big Thunder Mountian Railroad twice at Magic Kingdom. When at Epcot, it was 70 that day, we had to wait in line for the hang-glider ride, Soarin' for an hour and a half for a two minute ride! It was ridiculous, but pretty neat.

Well, as I sit here, back in the frozen tundra, hands and feet freezing yet again, I wish I was still in Florida but at the same time, am glad to be home.