I love the hot summer days and the warm summer nights. I love the time adventuring with my Circus and being a part of the community.
I love summer.
Last Friday I had a work retreat that was held at Hogle Zoo. After our work meeting our families were able to join us for to see a training session with the new red panda, and then we were able to bum around the zoo and check things out.
It had been a long time since I'd been to the zoo so it was to be able to check out all the animals. It didn't seem like any part of the zoo was the same as I remembered it. They've done a lot of work on it.
After wandering around the zoo, we decided to hit a movie in the park. Though it turned out the one we chose was set up in a parking lot this particular night. So instead of trying food trucks in the park we tried a new chicken wings place in shopping center, and watched all the Star Wars costumes as the movie we were watching that night was The Last Jedi.
The Man and I usually avoid going to Yuba Reservoir for the simple fact that it always, always has daily, severe blowing wind. I had only been there once with The Man, years ago, and it was true then. It was true for The Man every other time he's been there.
So, needless to say, it had been quite some time since we ventured to that lake.
But at the invite of some friends we hadn't seen in a long time, we decided to venture out.
The first part of the day was beautiful. The Man did amazing on the wake board (sadly, I didn't have my phone on the boat so I didn't get any of his awesomeness with jumps on video), I tried the wake board out, and we generally had a nice morning run.
We sun bathed and ate a lot of junk food and took some dips in the water to cool off.
The Man mentioned we needed an adventure.
And sure enough, the wind hit.
We had been hiding in our friend's RV from the sand blasting that the wind was stirring up, when The Man decided to check on the boat. It was then that he realized trouble was pending. He ran out into the water and got on the boat to start draining the heavy fat sacs. While he was doing that, the anchor line broke, leaving only the shore line secured, and the boat was blown into the beach area where it sat sideways, with the waves pounding on it. With every pounding wave the boat was threatening to capsize with West inside of it.
People began running off the beach to help hold the boat while West continued to work to drain the fat sacs and lighten the weight of the boat.
Eventually the boat was man handled so that it was turned around and facing into the wind, so capsizing was no longer a threat.
However, the questions remained on how badly the bottom of the boat was damaged, and if West would be able to drive it through the stormy waves to the dock so we could get it out of the water. I was nervous as I watched him pull away, pounding into the waves.
I was told to quit watching him and get in the truck.
So I did.
I don't want to lose that man.
Take the boat, but not The Man.
The Man got his adventure after all.
And it turns out with minimal damage. A lost alternator and some bent skegs were all that Yuba took from us. Considering the pounding the boat was taking while sitting on the shore, that's pretty incredible.
Since our initial plan was to sleep on the boat, or in the bed of the truck, or even get a hotel room in a neighboring town, we didn't have many options for shelter. We made hot dogs over a tiny stove in the bed of the truck, huddled in the truck with a movie, and waited for the worst of the wind and bit of rain to stop. So we could gather around campfires with friends.
When it didn't really subside, we called it a night and headed for home.
One thing can be certain with Yuba and all its wind... it delivers on the adventure.
On day four of our trip we checked out Disney World Hollywood Studios. We were excited to see what shows we could catch, and what characters we could meet.
We stood in line for the Star Lord and Groot, being honest here that Groot was the only reason to stand in line, only to be disappointed that it was an electronic small, robot version of Groot and not the giant man in a costume version that I was picturing in my head.
But Jayme and The Man had a Star Lord induced dance off to see who was captain, in which The Man bailed and Jayme won. So there was that.
And also, see who was brave enough to ride Tower of Terror, which, as it turns out, I was, but not gracefully by any means. Our pictures, which we did not buy, shows me ctinging in fright and reaching for The Man in terror (apropos), while he had his hands up for some fun, and is looking at me with amusement.
Gracefully is not my style.
We found a lot of rain that afternoon again. So much so, that it cancelled the India Jones Stunt Show while we were mid show.
But it cooled us off.
And the Rock and Roller Coaster with Aerosmith was far better than I had expected.
On day three of our trip we tackled our first day of Universal Studios.
We conquered the hulk in the pouring rain.
We watched as Sean found his perfect wand in the Olivander's show in Hogsmeade.
We treated them to dinner at the Three Broomsticks and the kids got so excited over every Harry Potter detail.
Brynn, who has not had interest to delve into the Harry Potter world decided that it would now be time to do so, so she could understand everything she was seeing, and understand why everyone else was so excited about what was coming to life in front of them.
Good choice Brynn.
Cali had a small run in with a raptor.
And we checked out the Chocolate Emporium, which had some really cool desserts going on.
We actually finished Universal Studios day one with time to spare, so we decided to head back to the condo and take it easy pool side.
