Florida

Over a week later, and I still haven’t managed to get a good post up on this trip 😦

Well, here is a quick summary:   (if you consider 1000+ words quick)

Wednesday night:

We left Omaha kind of late, didn’t get to Kansas City until 11:30 or so. Found out we needed to be at the airport by 6:00am the next morning.

Thursday:

Got up way too early, Heather’s dad drove us to the airport. Found out AirTran charges $15 for the first checked bag, checked one large bag, headed for the security checkpoint. KC airport was doing their inaugural run of the new luggage scanner, stood in line for a long time. Our flight stayed at the gate an extra 15 minutes so everyone could make it through the security checkpoint. Landed in Atlanta, practically ran to the gate for our connection. We made it there just in time to have them call general boarding. Landed in Orlando,  finally stepped outside and remembered what hot and humid feels like. Got a rental car, found out Budget Rent-a-car has run out of Florida maps. The guy at the counter sketches a rough map to our destination on the back of our reservation paper. We then drove about an hour and a half out to Palm Coast. We found out on the way that we were running late, so I dropped Heather off at the nail place, for the bridesmaids nail appointment, and then headed to the hotel. I checked in, hauled our bags up to the room and then passed out on the bed. Heather called a few hours later to tell me the guys were going out, and if I wanted to go with them I should get up and moving. The guys (including me) went to a Mexican place on the coast, and then hung out at a bar for a while. It was a fairly entertaining night, despite not really knowing anyone there. Heather was out with the Bridesmaids, I can’t remember what she said they did, but she really liked the other bridesmaids and assorted friends who were there.

Friday:

Heather and I slept in as much as we could, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel, and then I dropped her off for a wedding event nearby. A luncheon of some sort, I can’t speak for what Heather was doing during the day. I drove to the beach, and read until I started worrying about getting sunburned. Leaving the beach, I drove along the coastal highway for a little while, just enjoying the view, then started looking for someplace to have lunch. It was a rather late lunch, but my perspective on time was pretty much out the window at this point in the trip anyway. After lunch I headed back to the hotel, napped, and read until Heather got back. We got cleaned up and headed to the rehearsal.

The wedding location was beautiful. I spent some time just enjoying looking around the area, and then looking for interesting pictures to take of the rehearsal. It was the first rehearsal I have been to where I didn’t have a role of some sort in the wedding. Rehearsals are less interesting to watch than to be in. I probably could have been more aggressive taking pictures, but there was a professional on hand, and I didn’t want to get in the way. The dinner that followed was really nice, but for the sake of brevity, I wont give you the play-by-play.

Saturday:

Heather and I got up early and drove out to the beach. We were able to spend about an hour walking along the beach. It was easily my favorite hour of the entire weekend. Heather wouldn’t allow any pictures, something about having rolled out of bed and gone straight to the beach. You will just have to take my word for it that she was beautiful, and the beach was amazing in the early morning. We then headed back to the hotel, where Heather was soon picked up by the bridal party on their way to the salon to get hair done. This left me with something like seven hours to kill, so I headed back to the beach, dressed to swim. I soon discovered that the water was really cold, and that swimming by yourself is kind of boring. The waves were kind of rough, so I don’t know that Heather would have been up for swimming, even if it hadn’t been so cold. I then headed back into town to find some lunch, and a new book, having finished both of the books I brought with me.

I spent the afternoon sleeping, and reading, then headed over to the wedding. Conditions for the wedding were perfect. A very light breeze was blowing, and the temperature was something like 75 degrees. It may have been a little warm for the guys in the tuxes, but from where I was setting it couldn’t have been better. I won’t go into detail of the wedding, Heather keeps telling me I describe things in odd ways, but the short version is that it was beautiful.

After the wedding, we danced a little, walked down by the beach, and realized what time we would have to get up to make our flight the next day. All of those things were memorable, two of them because they were fun. By the time we got back to the hotel and into bed it was midnight, setting us up perfectly for the next day!

Sunday:

We started the day at 4:20 (EST), and managed to be packed and on the road by shortly after 5. An hour and a half later we managed to find our way into the car return area of the Orlando airport, despite their “signage so bad you would think its personal” policy with respect to rental returns. We stood in a number of lines eventually making it to our flight just as they called for boarding, leaving just enough time to hit the bathrooms before piling onto the plane. It is at this point that I started reading “Dauntless” its 304 pages long. By the time we landed (the captain said something about a headwind slowing us down) I was 3/4 of the way through the book. We landed in Kansas City, and Heather’s mom picked us up. We napped for an hour or so, and then went to lunch. After lunch we loaded up and drove to Omaha. I didn’t feel like I could sleep until I unwound some, so I ended up finishing the book, bringing my grand total to 3 for the weekend…

Speaking of books, this post got really really long, sorry. It should have been a multi-post thing, but here it is.

-Jordan