Disney World!

My Florida trip got much better after the first day of traveling (see my last post). After that ordeal was over I went swimming and played beach volleyball at this cool looking place inside the resort. It was misty the morning I took this picture.

At night we had to sit for four hours to hear speakers and have dinner. I was tired! The next day after breakfast and a big meeting with everyone we had something called "team challenge." Some people I talked to loved it, others hated it. Imagine EFY for grown-ups, that was pretty much it. They even had us create cheers. I thought it was the longest six hours of my life.

That afternoon/evening we went to Disney World. The group I was with decided to go to Magic Kingdom since it was open the latest (for those who don't know, there are many parks within Disney World). Magic Kingdom is almost exactly like the original Disney Land.

Here's the group I was with. Yes, that is indeed the one and only, Kevin G. Brinkherhoff.

Monsters, Inc!!!

We went to the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor. It was pretty funny. Mike Wazowski was the host. It was cool because they involved the audience in it. Highly recommend it.

We of course went on the Tea Cups.

I wasn't scared.

The fireworks show was really cool.

Getting ready to go on Splash Mountain!

Saturday there were some seminars that were pretty good. At night they had this mind reader/illusionist perform for us. It was crazy some of the stuff that he did. Then afterwards they had games for us to play--pool, foosball, darts, Wii tennis, Rock Band, and fake gambling. Here we are having fun!

It was a fun trip overall! Although Florida is so humid! And I don't know if I could ever afford Disney World, especially for a family.

Flying to Orlando, aka - Worst Day Ever

Here is an excerpt from my journal:

Wednesday just may have been the worst day of my life. I traveled to Orlando, Florida for the Ernst & Young International Intern Leadership Conference. This was my first time ever really on the East Coast (other than airports). In the morning I went to pick up a friend. Going to get him made my ride to the airport twice as long as it should have been. And it took him several minutes to get outside once I arrived. Then the long-term parking was at least a mile away. I was so worried we weren’t going to make our flight. We got the shuttle from long-term parking (which took forever) and I was able to check my bags 27 minutes before my flight. They told me it wouldn’t be guarenteed on the flight because it was less than a half hour before but they would try to get it on. The plane ended up being about ten minutes late, so I wasn’t too worried.

At the layover in Phoenix I got some California Pizza Kitchen despite not having liked it much before. I decided to give it another chance. Halfway through the four and a half hour flight to Orlando I started feeling a little ill. Mostly just a headache. I got some Advil from someone and tried to rest. My headache started to go away but I felt a little nauseous. This continued as we descended. But we were almost there—I could make it. I located the barf bag just in case. Right after we touched down I uncontrollably vomitted all over myself. I didn’t have enough time to react with the bag. It was disgusting! Everything I had eaten that day was now on my clothing. I went back to the bathroom (I was in the third row from the back) and a nice flight attendant name Kelly helped me out. I tried cleaning it off as well as I could with the little paper towels they had. Vomit does not come out very well. I couldn’t believe this had happened. The next flight was delayed because of me a few minutes (which I thought was a little funny). Southwest gave me this extra large bright orange t-shirt to wear and offered me a wheelchair, but I was feeling better. I honestly think it was the food at Phoenix since I have never thrown-up on a commercial jet. My jeans were still kind of dirty, so I tried covering that with my bag as I walked. I wasn’t too worried about what people thought though.

I got to baggage claim and waited for my suitcase, very anxious to change. I waited until there were only three bags still going around—the same ones over and over. I couldn’t believe it. Now more than ever I NEEDED clothes to change into! But nope, my luggage didn’t show up. They told me they would deliver it to the hotel as it was probably on one of the flights to come in later that night. I asked the same friend who I had taken to the airport that morning if I could borrow a pair of shorts. They were big on me so good thing I had a belt. So I was wearing these big shorts and the bright orange Southwest shirt. I got to the hotel and talked to the workers for awhile about the whole situation (I don't know why it took so long). Then I walked like fifteen minutes to my room (I'm not joking, this resort was huge!). I opened the door and turned on the light only to wake up my German roommate, Uwe. A little after midnight I checked at the bell desk to find out my luggage had arrived at the airport and should be there within 2 hours. I decided to go to bed at 1am and get it in the morning. The morning came and still no bag! And all the hotel staff had changed so they didn’t know the situation, and I couldn’t get a hold of the airline at the airport. Well, eventually I found out my bag was with the Disney Magical Express, and they had shut down the night before at 10pm and didn't start delivering until 9am. But at least it was good to know my luggage was safe and coming. I got my bag around 11am.

Phew, what an ordeal. But honestly it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s kind of funny and a good story. I was surprised how positive of an attitude I was able to keep throughout it. It’s almost as if I was able to look back and tell myself, this won’t be such a big deal, but while it was happening.

Salt Flats

As I was leaving for California and driving through northern Utah I thought to myself, where are the salt flats I've heard about? I've been to most parts of Utah, but I still haven't seen them. It makes sense that they would be close to the Great Salt Lake. So I kept looking out my window hoping to see a sign of them, but not really knowing. I am happy to say I stopped at a Rest Area right before crossing over into Nevada, and there they were--no more than 50 feet away. I, of course, took pictures.

I really liked this table and tree combo, so I wanted to make it a part of the picture.

There was a little water on part of the flats. I walked out onto them (they have a hose to wash your feet off afterwards). It was fun. I woudn't necessarily recommend driving a few hours for it, but if you're passing by them, take a look. I hear you can drive your car on parts of them.

Oh, and a side note. Reno is a very weird city--don't stop there. I just wanted to eat at a normal place and was looking all over until I found a Carl's Jr. Plus, the Quizno's closed at 7pm--what the heck?

Angels Landing

Sunday afternoon Christina and I drove down to St. George and stayed with my Great Aunt and Uncle. It was a lot of fun and they are a very nice older couple. The next morning we drove an hour over to Zion National Park. One of my life goals is to hike Angels Landing (another is to hike the Narrows from top to bottom). Mission accomplished for the first one. It was a beautiful day with some breath-taking views. Here are a few pictures.

Near the beginning of the hike.

A beautiful view from the top.

Another view.

Resting after getting to the top.

On our way back down.

As you can see, chains help you through the last half mile as there are cliffs on one, or both sides, at times. The hike was a lot of fun. Not as difficult as some may say, but would be scary if you are really afraid of heights. Christina didn't like it when I got close to the edge to look over. The pathway is very well kept--much of it paved. We were able to take our time getting up there, spend some time at the top, and make it back down in a little under four hours (not including the shuttle to the start of the hike from where we parked). Though we were tired afterwards. Leave in the morning so you can be in the shade for a good 45 minutes of the hike (Refrigerator Canyon), including some switchbacks. I highly recommend the hike!

Zion Narrows

This weekend I went to St. George and Zion National Park with my roommates Bwood and Kevin, and Kevin's girlfriend Aubrey. It was pretty spontaneous as far as road trips go. Kevin and I had been talking about going to Southern Utah all summer, and we finally decided less than a week before that we should do it. The Narrows was pretty much amazing. For those who have never been, it's a hike pretty much through a shallow river in a canyon. There were gorgeous views all around us. We didn't get to go too far because of time constraints. Pretty much all it did was make me more excited to come back some other time. I want to go back and do the entire hike from top to bottom.

Bwood took most of the pictures, so be looking for those on Facebook sometime next week.