Book Convention

On Friday and Saturday, Jenn and Susan attended a book convention at the Gaylord Nation Harbor outside of Washington DC. They signed and sold books, and when not meeting readers, Jenn visited with other authors. They drove back on Sunday.

Monday after work I went with them to Disney Springs to do some shopping and grab dinner. Because it was the week before Easter, a lot of other people were doing the same.

We had dinner at D-Luxe Burger. We’ve eaten there before and the burgers are pretty good, although a bit pricy, even with a cast discount. 

Last night Jennifer went to Tampa with a couple of friends for the Lightning's last home game of the season. The match was against the Florida Cougars, and the Lightning won, 5 to 1.

Epcot and Magic Kingdom

Last week, Jennifer released her 11th novel. She also spent time at Animal Kingdom and Epcot with Bryan and a friend from college. Tuesday she and Susan drove to Washington DC for a book convention.

Yesterday morning I headed to Magic Kingdom. It had been about 5 years since I watched the Welcome Show, so I made sure to get into the park in time to see it. I had planned to ride a few things, but they were down, had long lines, or didn't open for a while, so I headed out. 

I took a boat over to the Grand Floridian to check out the Easter egg display. There were about a dozen, all pretty cool. 

I then made my way to the Wilderness Lodge to have bison burger at Geyser Point. I'd been wanting to do this for awhile. Geyser Point is a nice bar & grill, with views of Bay Lake.

Finally I took a boat to the new Island Tower at the Polynesian Resort. I'd been wanting to check it out for awhile as well.

This morning I went to Epcot to visit the Friendship Boats and check out the Flower & Garden Festival. The Encanto topiaries that were in the front of the park last year had been moved to Showcase Plaza. 

Late March

On Monday Bryan and I continued north through the middle of Nevada. My plan was to stop for the night in Winnemucca, but the only Marriott between Las Vegas and Bend had no rooms available, so we drove late into the night and arrived in Bend after midnight, completing my 22nd drive across the country. 

 

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning we took care of a few things in Bend, then took an Uber to the Redmond airport for our flight home. We flew United down to LA, where we caught a redeye to Orlando.

Thursday night Susan, Jenn, and I drove to Tampa to watch the Lightning play the Utah Hockey Club. Jenn got us seats pretty close to the ice. The Lightning won, 8 to 0. This weekend Susan and Jennifer flew to Dallas Texas for a book signing event.

Across the South

Earlier in the month, Bryan accepted a job in Bend. We debated renting a U-Haul truck and hauling all his stuff out before deciding to just drive his car out for now. Thursday morning we headed north and turned west on I-10. We stopped at the Buc-ee’s in Gulf Shores Alabama then turned northwest. We stayed in Hattiesburg Mississippi that night.

Friday morning we continued west across Louisiana and entered Texas. East of Dallas, we stopped at a Buc-ee’s where Buc-ee Beaver was making an appearance. We continued on to Fort Worth, where we stayed the night.

Yesterday morning, while Bryan and I drove northwest out of Texas, Jenn and Susan attended a book convention in Orlando. Jenn’s table was next to one of her favorite authors.

Last night Bryan and I stopped in Albuquerque New Mexico. We stayed at the Marriott. We don’t have as much status as we did last year, but we still got a room on the top floor, with a nice view of the city. 

Today we continued west into Arizona. I made Bryan get off the interstate in Winslow so I could stand on the corner. We drove another few hours west on I-40, then turned northwest and reached Las Vegas, where we stopped for the night.

Islands of Adventure

Yesterday afternoon Jenn, Susan, and I went to Universal’s Islands of Adventure. We made a lap around the park, having some snacks and riding some rides. I rode Spider-Man and Jenn and I rode VelociCoaster. This was only the second time I have ridden VelociCoaster. 

After browsing the shops in the Harry Potter area, Jenn and I rode Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike. While I have been on Hagrid’s a few times, in the past I’ve always sat on the bike and Jenn in the sidecar; this time we switched. 

Both VelociCoaster and Hagrid's are fun coasters, fast and with nice theming. As the sun went down, we wandered out of the park and through CitiWalk, then headed home.

Early March

For the first two weeks of March, I spent my days off working on the yards or doing projects at the houses. We also went to IKEA and bought some cabinets so Jenn could store the books she sells at conventions and book signings.

On the second Saturday of the month, Jennifer did a book signing at her Barnes & Noble, and Susan got Bryan and a friend into Epcot so they could check out the Flower & Garden Festival and ride the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster. This year the topiaries at the front of the park were characters from Moana.

This week I took a cruiser from Magic Kingdom to the campgrounds. Work continues to progress on the future Lakeshore Lodge.

California Adventure

In California Adventure, we rode several rides, including a couple on the new Spider-Man attraction. Grizzly River Run was being refurbished. We also checked out the new DVC area in the old Blue Sky Cellar. 

Since our last visit they had completed retheming the Pacific Wharf area to San Fransokyo. We went into DCA this morning and Jenn and I rode Incredicoaster, then we wandered through Downtown Disney.

There were several buildings being revamped, especially on the west end. The monorail was also closed for refurbishment. A couple of new buildings have gone up where the AMC theaters used to be, including a Din Tai Fung restaurant, where we ate lunch. 

It would have been nice to spend a few hours at the pool in the afternoon, but half the pool area was closed for refurbishment. We rested in our room a bit, then went back into DCA in the evening. Tomorrow morning we fly home.