Wastin’ Away In Universalville

For starters, yes, I’m aware that I haven’t posted an update for a couple of days. I apologize. Nothing wrong. No crashes. No wipeouts. Nothing of the sort. Just a whole lot of nothing going on – including flying. In all honesty though, I really didn’t mind. I’m still enjoying Friday’s flight (and landing). It’s funny how long a great flight can stick with you.

So, with the great flight still on my mind and not much happening around here – the weather wasn’t great for flying – I decided to take a couple of days off (“days off” from what, I’m not really sure). Saturday was spent playing around putting cameras on the Dragonfly during the day and a somewhat unanticipated evening out. The evening out was originally planned as somewhat of an encore of a earlier trip to The Crooked Spoon for dinner followed by The Crown Lounge. I decided to opt out as I think my lungs are still suffering from my last stop at The Crown. However, the next thing I knew the plan had changed to going to Brian and Laurie’s to see their new house. I went along. It would seem there was some trickery going on as apparently a trip to The Crown was still on the agenda (after the trip to Brian and Laurie’s). I won’t go into details of the return to The Crown other than to say that a good time was had by all (except maybe my lungs). Oh, and the Alabama/LSU football game was great.

Sunday was more of the same (minus The Crown). There was some more cameras on the Draongfly, some more football watching (I won a six game, point spread parlay!) and an excellent dinner of chilli, salad, and baked sweet potatoes, all prepared by Tracy. And the evening finished off with another night of watching a bad crime show on TV. A pattern that’s developed over the past few nights.

Monday, there was more activity. Significantly more activity. There was flying of sorts, but not in a hang glider. There were twists, turns, spins, loops, natural disasters, superheroes, alien attacks, supernatural creatures, and more. Yes, Monday was spent at Universal Studios. A place I’d not been in a long time. Long time.

To say there have been significant changes since my last visit would be a gross understatement. I barely recognized the place. Islands of Adventure didn’t even exist the last time I was there. And Islands of Adventure was where today’s adventure began.

I won’t give you a recap of every ride we (Kim, Tracy, Ryan, Brian, Matt, and Me) tackled, but suffice it to say it was a great day. There were great roller coasters (The Hulk, Duelling Dragons, Rip Ride Rockit – no, that’s not a typo), the Jurassic Park flume ride, plus a few 3D rides – the Spiderman Adventure was very entertaining (unlike the movies!). Since my last visit, the Back To The Future ride has been replaced with The Simpsons Ride and it didn’t disappoint either. And for those who are Harry Potter fans (of which, I am not), I’m sure a trip to Universal Studios would be almost paradise. Even for the non-fans, it was a very impressive display – although, I thought the ride was pretty short. There are actually two Harry Potter rides – we only did one as the wait times for the other were longer than we wanted.

Our group expanded to eight later in the day as we met up with Laurie and Chris. Special thanks goes to Chris who works at Universal Studios (and resides at Quest Air) and provided us with the passes for today’s adventure – and used his discount for our lunch and dinner. Thanks Chris!

Speaking of dinner, our evening ended with dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Ryan (one of Quest Air’s Dragonfly pilots and Jimmy Buffet fan) had never been so it seemed fitting to go. Once again a good time was had by all, but by the end of dinner I think everyone was very much ready to call it a day. A very good day.

With the Universal Studios adventure officially over, thoughts started to move on to tomorrow. A thought that had both happy and sad connotations. After nearly two weeks at Quest Air, the time has come to move on. I’m not going to lie, I really want to stay here. I’ve felt more at home here than pretty much anywhere else (well, except maybe Philadelphia – but there isn’t hang gliding there). To say I’ll miss it here doesn’t even begin to cover it. However, being back on the road will be good too.

I’ve always considered the journey from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Quest Air to be Phase Two of my current midlife crisis. It’s time for Phase Three.

After 8,300 km (5,200 miles), the south is still calling. So tomorrow the ride to Key West begins.