I love dinosaurs, women that communicate how they truly feel, elves, and other fantasy creatures.

After at least three other attempts, I figured this would be the time to make it to Cape Canaveral to do some kayaking and see the shuttle launch. I was supposed to go on one of the previous kayak trips when I canceled last minute due to a need to work over the weekend; later learning the launch was scrubbed due to a leak. My next attempt was a trip over for one night; heading out around 10PM, arriving and setting up cameras and sleeping on the mattress in the truck only to find out that it was canceled (same fuel leak issue) after I woke up, and then driving back home to make it to the office by 9AM.

This time it looked as if everything was ready with a clean check of the fuel systems, decent weather, and closing window of launch opportunity. I got everything packed up for an overnight kayak with a local kayaking group and was excited about the chance to finally see another launch. Just as I was literally pulling onto the entry ramp for I-4 to head to Cape Canaveral, I got a call from my friend Dave saying that the shuttle was, once again, scrubbed. Apparently a storm the previous night had seen a lot of lightning activity, so everything had to be recertified for flight status. Not to waste an afternoon and fully loaded camera, I decided to just take the opportunity to hit a small theme park I had seen so many times before but never got myself to visit, Dinosaur World. Since the interstate system was developed, so many roadside attractions completely died off or are even now just barely surviving; Weeki Wachee, Silver Spring, cypress Gardens, Sunken Gardens, etc. I really didn't know what to expect here, only really being attracted due to the huge roadside advertising. I was pleasantly surprised by the theme park. Even without the 50% coupon from the Entertainment Book, the normal price of ~13 wouldn't have been too bad at all. The models of all the 'animals' were really well done where I was expected some kind of very simple structures, many of these were quite large in scale. This was a great little spot where I could play with some HDR photography. Being a very shaded area, things would have come out much better if I thought to bring the tripod along, but at least many of them turned out decently. If you're ever looking for a random activity to do for the day, then I think dropping by here would definitely be worth the time. Though I could barely pronounce any of the scientific, or even common, names, I still learned a few things. After wandering for a couple of hours, I next hit the nearby winery for an impromptu wine tasting. For $3 bucks one could try several wines on the list, including sweet wines with blueberry or peach infusion. I actually picked up a couple of bottles to somewhat build up something more of a collection for the game room wet-bar.

I've posted some of the better Dinosaur World photos here; http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2353714&id=5026895&l=4a7385dbb1

On the batting end of a no-hitter.

After attending a friend's birthday dinner at Wild Wings (my favorite place ever to eat from Charleston that now has a location in Tampa), we headed to another bar to listen to Stormbringer, one of Kristen's favorite cover bands that she has followed for years. As I haven't been in a long while, we headed to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) Saturday at Disney last weekend to putz around. Even though it was a Saturday, there really were not too many lines. The stunt car show, which I have never seen, wasn't operating, however we were able to take in many of the other activities such as the Indy stunt show, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and a few rides on the Tower of Terror; so overall a typical park day. I finally sent in my broken camera lens this week, so hopefully I'll get it back sometime in the near future. I'd really like to play with HDR photography as well as Photosynth and make some photo point clouds of places such as a theme park in the near future. Kristen has been deal with a lot of stress as she gets overloaded with work projects, so tonight I took her out to dinner at the Jerk Hut and the local fun park to do some racing and batting to slam out some tension. We took in a few laps of the go kart and about a hundred pitchs in the cage and felt much better.

Life in the fast lane

Here it comes!

There it goes!

What this explosion needs, is a little more cowbell.

Life is like a roller coaster ride. Birthdays are the parts where you look down and get sick.

I went to Busch Gardens today with my friend Lara since I hadn't been in quite a while. She works at the local hospital and had a little time available before her weekly volleyball game in Rocky Point. Since I live so close, I decided to take advantage of the deal at the park where Florida residents can purchase a single day ticket and get a pass that is valid for the rest of the year. Although it does not include amenities such as free parking or food discounts, I figure it was a good enough deal since it would actually take me less time to ride the bicycle to the front gates than it would to take the car, park, wait for the tram, and then walk to the turnstiles (plus waiting to board right when the park is closing and everyone else is trying to leave).

I've always really enjoyed the evening ambiance and like to go to the park for a couple of hours every 2-3 weeks when there are few people around. One can still get a free beer or two at the hospitality house if they wish and practically ride all the coasters as much as they like. We were able to hit the Gwazi wooden roller coaster twice in a row without getting back in line since there was no one waiting when we returned to the station. Since she hadn't been previously, we rode the dive coaster, SheiKra, a couple of times before heading over to Egypt and taking a ride on Montu, the coaster that has the track above the cars. I think it was a little much for me a start to feel a little bad after the last trip and decided I had enough of the rides for the day (I blame my dad's genes for that since he is pretty susceptible to motion sickness).

Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off

Sometime last year Sheikra opened up with much fanfare at Busch Gardens. This is a dive coaster that Busch Gardens set up to increase attendance (they seem to open a new ride every 3 years or so). The coaster take you up to ~200 feet and then teeters the car over the edge for 3-4 seconds before dropping nearly straight down. There are a few other loops, a second drop and then a finish as it skims over the water throwing up a rooster tail behind it. A couple of weeks before it opened to the public, Busch Gardens set up a photo shoot for some marketing material. My friend Monica, whom I miss seeing after having not seen her in a couple of months due to a new boyfriend, works in the Busch Gardens marketing department and invited me to join. When she invited me for the first photo shoot in late May, I was just getting vertical again after severely twisting my ankle trying to get to second base several weeks before while playing kickball (apparently no means no). Since I figured that they wouldn't want to have crutches in the pictures nor deal with potential liability, I had to pass on the opportunity. A couple of months later another shoot was set up and she remembered me.

We had to show up around 6:30 in the morning and wear colored shirts sans any logos or marks. After signing a photo release we boarded and were told to keep our hands on the handle bars or below us and look like we were having fun. Then we just held on and waited to ride as many times as we could handle. The car would run through the circuit and we would stay in place until ready for the next ride. Unfortunately I could only handle 5 times in a row before I had to take a break before jumping back on 10 minutes later for another 2 rides before the shoot was done. Cameras were set up on the car as well as several places around the coaster to get some good shots. I didn't know if anything came of it until Monica dropped off a small stack of brochures for me while I was at work one day with my smiling face circled on one of them. It is kind of neat to see yourself in print, so I appreciate the opportunity as well as the chance to try out the ride a bit before it was generally open to others.