The Perfect Weekend Begins

I've been back from Florida for 3 days now and I'm just getting around to blogging about it. It was a great weekend, and I've wanted to do it justice, so I've been slow as I caught up on work and sleep. But I guess I shouldn't put it off. As the Reduced Shakespeare Company says, "you don't have to do it justice, you just have to do it."

I'll start with Thursday. We got to Sky Harbor Airport right on time and got checked in. I had bought some Burger King for lunch and we ate that at our gate. It was awful. The only thing worse than fast food is cold fast food.

The plane ride was uneventful. Alex enjoyed the in-flight movie Hot Rod, and I tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. The night before I had gone to see Transformers at the IMAX theater with my friend, Peter. So by the time I got home and finished packing, it was about 3:30 am. Alarm went off at 6.

We had a 2-hour layover in Atlanta and luckily there was a little playground near our gate. Alex could burn off some energy before re-boarding. It turned out our flight from Atlanta to Orlando was oversold. They were asking for volunteers to take a flight the next morning. I quickly calculated that if we flew in the morning we could still make it to the Homecoming parade, so I volunteered to give up our seats. They would give us a hotel voucher, meal vouchers, and two $400 travel vouchers. Sweet deal. Unfortunately it was not meant to be, because at the last minute they got us on our original flight. Oh well.

An integral part of our weekend plan involved using my brother-in-law's Harley to get around. I even brought Alex's helmet from home. Friday morning, I tried to start up the bike to no avail. Dead. I suspected that it was the battery, since Elena doesn't ride. She just starts it up now and then, so maybe it went too long in between starts. I wasn't sure if you could jump start a motorcycle the same way you can a car, and my mother-in-law has no Internet access. Meanwhile, it was almost parade time, so Elena drove us up to University Avenue and dropped us off. We hadn't eaten much breakfast, so I bought a couple of bagels at a bagel shop.

The parade was fun. Pretty much just like I remembered it. Dr. Cade, the inventor of Gatorade, rode in a Gatorade-colored old car (see pic). One of the quirky highlights was seeing a guy on one of the floats that looked like Dom's brother, Nick. I snapped a picture really quick and then called Dom to confirm. Sure enough, Nick works for a radio station in Gainesville and was on the float. Small freakin' world.

After the parade, we called Elena and she picked us up. It was time to get the motorcycle running, because I definitely needed it for Gator Growl. I called Cristina and she looked up "jump starting a motorcycle" on the Internet. Elena and I tried unsuccessfully to push start it, and when that didn't work, we hooked it up to the truck battery. The key to jumping a motorcycle from a car is that you don't start up the car. It took a little while, but finally the bike started up and we were in business.

Jarue warmed up some North Carolina barbecue for an early dinner and then we got dressed for Gator Growl.

I had tried to explain Gator Growl to Alex ahead of time. He had heard "fireworks" and "laser show" and was pretty much content with those expectations. When it kicked off with 3 parachutists landing on the field, that really set the tone. Alex was attentive throughout all the skits and presentations. The comedian, Frank Caliendo, was actually really talented and funny. Even Alex was laughing at his impersonations. When it came time for the grand finale, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alex was a full blown Gator Growl professional. Afterwards, though, he asked me where the lasers were. I guess laser shows haven't stood the test of time. So 90's.

On the motorcycle ride home, Alex did the Gator chomp to any and all people who we passed. It was about 11 pm by the time we got home, so we crashed pretty quickly. Tomorrow would be a big day. The game.

Alex waving my cell phone (like a lighter) during Free Bird