LABOR DAY MADNESS!

Wow! It seems like every time I write I have a ton to fill you in on! I actually have a free second so I figured I would try and catch up! So we left off just before my crazy crazy Labor Day weekend. So Friday night my mom, cousin Jen and I caught a red eye flight to Tampa Florida. I have never been much of a fan of the "red eye" flight, but living the lifestyle that I do, it tends to be my best option. So we hopped a plane and flew to Tampa. We had a layover in Denver which meant our longest flight was only 3.5 hours long. That meant that we only got 3 hours of sleep that night. Plus, let's be honest. Sleeping on a plane isn't very restful so it was a crappy 3 hours of sleep. We got to Florida at 5:30 in the morning and we were just exhausted. We grabbed the rental car and then headed to St. Petersburg to watch the sunrise on the beach. Well I shouldn't really say we, I should say they because I was passed out in the back seat of the car to catch an extra 15 minutes of shut eye. Afterwards we headed to Ft. Desoto state park so Jen could get in her run (she was training for a marathon). Shelly and I hung out by the beach for a while and then ended up just sitting in the car. By this point I was too tired to even sleep so I just stared off into space until Jen was finished. By this time is was most definitely time to grab some food. We found some wacky hole in the wall road side diner and ate breakfast/lunch. The place was pretty weird and the food wasn't anything to write home about, but we still had some fun. We killed some time in the parking lot until it was time to head out!

Of course we went to Florida for a concert! It seems a good 95% of the trips I take are concert related. This particular trip was for the Rockstar Uproar Festival. Usually Uproar comes to SLC but for some stupid reason they didn't this year. I was BEYOND pissed about it, especially since the lineup was killer, so I found the weekend that worked for me and chased them across the country. Sadly not all of the bands were at all the stops so I didn't get to see Skillet, but I've seen them enough times to get the gist. So we got to the amphitheater and immediately sought out some shade. I don't know if any of you have ever been to Florida in the summer months, but it is pretty freaking miserable. It was so freaking hot (which seems to be a theme at my festivals this year), and not to mention humid! I was pretty sure I was going to die and that I couldn't be any more uncomfortable. As most festivals do, the smaller bands play first on the smaller stages so we decided we would hit the VIP tent and stay there until it was time for the main stage. About an hour before the first band was supposed to play on the main stage it started to rain. OK not just rain, it was basically a monsoon. It was like someone was standing over us dumping large buckets of water! We started to freak out just a tad. We did NOT just fly across the freaking country to have our concert rained out! So we just sat in our tent and waited it out. Thankfully right before the first band was due to start, it finally stopped. So we headed to the main stage, dried off our chairs and watched Pop Evil start us off right. The second band was Seether. If you know me at all you know that I am basically OBSESSED with Seether and have every intention of marrying Shaun Morgan some day. They played pretty well, I have seen them do better, but I have also seem them play much worse. I was content with their performance. The headlining band was none other than Godsmack! Oh how I had missed them! They did such a great job! They had been on hiatus for 3 or so years and apparently they almost broke up. Thank goodness they didn't because their new material is flat out amazing. We had a great job rocking out, but all great things must come to an end. So at 11:30 or so that night we headed out to the parking lot to drive to Orlando where we were spending the night. By time time we got to bed it was around 1:30 AM, making this what felt like the longest day of my entire life!

So I'm sure you're thinking, "well at least you got to sleep in the next morning, right?" Wrong. We woke up, got ready and were at Universal Studios Orlando by 9 am on Sunday. We had head that the new ride in Diagon Alley had the longest wait and that we needed to get there first, so that is right where we went. The ride was called "Escape from Gringotts" and was a replica of the bank from the Harry Potter movies. The structure itself was amazing and the whole atmosphere was fantastic so I had really high hopes for the ride. Now enters the new segment of my blog lovingly called "What the HELL! (things I wish I knew)" So for today's entry of WTH I will give you a pointer. DO NOT RIDE THIS RIDE IF YOU HAVE TO WAIT MORE THAN AN HOUR!! We waited 2.5 hours and it was the biggest let down of my entire life. It was beyond stupid and by the time it was over, we were SO mad that we were literally speechless. We just sat there thinking we had just wasted the first half of our day for nothing. So that didn't start off our day particularly well. So for the rest of Sunday and half a day Monday we ran around like mad between the two parks trying to fit in as much as possible! On both days there as a 20 or so minute stint of torrential downpour which apparently is a thing in Florida. That was a bit annoying but we had fun with it and made the best out of it. Thankfully there are a lot of indoor things to do so it wasn't too bad! We did the Despicable Me minions experience (I would call it a ride, but they aren't rides they are 3D experiences where you get taken on a fake ride while sitting still for the most part. Sadly I'm not big into the whole 3D thing, so I wouldn't say many of these "experiences" blew me away). The minion thing was cute, I liked that. We also rode (or not rode, experienced) the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket (which was pretty good), Revenge of the Mummy (an Indiana Jones deja vu) , Twister (weirdest, most random, stupid thing I have ever done), Transformers (not a fan, too much going on and the 3D didn't sit well), Jurassic Park (meh), and the Cat in the Hat (don't judge). We also did the Dragon Challenge and the Forbidden Journey in Hogsmeade which were both pretty awesome! The Dragon Challenge was one of the few real coasters at the parks and I would say it did not disappoint! The Forbidden Journey was flat out amazing. It combined actual movement and 3D to make for a ride that will seriously kick your butt if you are even a tiny bit prone to motion sickness. It messed with me somewhat, but it seriously kicked the crap out of poor Jennifer. It was still awesome and we ended up doing it both days because it was awesome none the less. Hogsmeade was seriously the coolest thing ever! We had so much fun running around and spending way too much at all the little shops. It was great! Of course I had to try the butterbeer which was pretty good! I liked it!  I would have seriously spent SO much money in there, but thankfully I was pretty broke at the time so it wasn't an option! So I just decided that I will have to go back! You can also ride the Hogwarts Express between the two parks if you have the ticket that gets you into both parks so that was pretty awesome! You hop on at one HP park and get off at the other! It was really cool and I seriously wished my sister was there the ENTIRE time. She would love it!

So after 1 festival, 1.5 days of play at Universal and what felt like a million miles walked, and what felt like 0 sleep-it was time to catch a flight home! We got home late that night and then had to head back to reality the next morning. We seriously had so much fun and I wouldn't have traded that weekend for anything. It was nice to be home though. I absolutely love traveling and experiencing the world, but there is just something about coming home that makes everything right in the world!