A visitor arrived Friday night. Here are the highlights of the weekend:
Here are some photos:
Well, it looks like the high winds didnāt hit Orlando. It is 10 a.m. here and there are some wind gusts, but it just seems like a calm storm ā no thunder or lightening. Thank you for all your prayers and concern.
I think people are going to complain about the hype, but if you see the picture below, it does look bad. Oh well, I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.
Last night, I played a few games of Parcheesi and Blokus. I am not surprised I won at Blokus as no one had played it before and I have played it thousands of times, but I won at Parcheesi too. Sometimes I just get lucky. We also played ping pong in the garage. Time went pretty fast.
I wish Orange County would lift the curfew, so I could get home. I know tomorrow at 7 a.m. the roads could be bad of people moving back into Orlando and the coasts, but I guess they will be bad whenever they lift it. I read that 200,000 people in Central Florida are without power, but that is probably in Brevard County on the coast mostly.
Robert rode out the storm at the Polynesian as the ride-out crew for the guests which had to be fun. It is only the 4th time Disney has ever closed.
The curfew was lifted at 2 p.m. I stayed to complete a few more games of dominoes. Then, I took a tour of Clermont. It is a nice community and so close to Orlando. It has a few lakes: Lake Minnehaha, Minneola, and Louisa. It has many rolling hills.
I am back in my apartment. Some leaves are on the road. A decorative shutter fell off, but besides that, everything looks in pretty good shape. My apartment is fine and no water came through the doors.
It is great that it is Saturday tomorrow!!
I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and purchased a radio (they didnāt have weather radios) and a flashlight. I purchased some food and returned my Redbox movie at Publix. I parked my car at the garage and walked back to my apartment.
Then, I turned on the TV. They said that downtown Orlando could get hit with 100 mph winds. Weather.com continues to say 70 to 80 mph. I received an email from the apartment complex telling me where the shelter locations were located. Uh? I thought those were only for mobile home owners. That didnāt reassure me.
Lisa, who is the events manager at the NEC, sent me a text saying I could join them out in Clermont. Initially, I said, āNo, I would survive.ā Then, I saw my neighborās car gone, so I thought she evacuated. I walked back to the parking garage and got my car. I returned to the apartment and obtained all my evacuation items and left my apartment (I did see my neighbor return).
I drove to Clermont which is about 32 miles west of my apartment. Lisa said she was concerned that the apartment was wood, so it is good thing I came over. It was slow driving when I made it to the turnpike, but I wasnāt on it too long.
I stopped at AutoZone, but a car cover was $70, so I decided to wait. I made it to Lisaās. Her dad (who escaped from Titusville) taped my roof and Lisaās husband put a tarp over it, so the carās roof should be fine. Lisa made me a sandwich. Her dadās wife is making a Belizean meal for dinner as the family is originally from Belize. I feel like a wimp, but surviving 50 mph winds is better than 80 mph.
Orange County has a curfew until 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, so I will be in Clermont (Lake County) for a while.
Work has been cancelled!!! Wahoo!! 4 days off!! It could be 5 days off if we celebrated the finding of this country.
I was at Port Canaveral yesterday for a port briefing and the coast guard was there to give an update. Most of the attendees lived in Brevard County, so they were talking about evacuating to Orlando.
I am preparing to sleep in tomorrow, return a movie to Redbox, go to the gym, and then, I will park my car in the parking garage at the mall. I will walk back and create a fort in a little room between my room and kitchen. It looks like the chance of rain is lowest around Noon, so I hope to be back around then. I probably should just change my plans to sleep in tomorrow, return a movie to Redbox, pick up a pizza at Pizza Hut, park my car in the garage, and get home. Between the edge of the mall to my apartment is less than half a mile.
Target didnāt have any water or flashlights left. I am slightly concerned I donāt have a weather radio, but as of now the winds arenāt predicted to be too much higher than 50 mph. I really just donāt want to lose internet.
I am planning to go to the Iowa Club, a baby shower, and see the Plain White Tās at Epcot on Saturday, so I expect only Friday to be interesting/bad.
Update: ** Winds in Orlando are predicted to be over 75 mph. On the coast, they will see winds between 100 to 150 mph. I have moved up my plan. I am going to Publix, get some sushi, park my car, and build the fort.
Andrea spent the weekend in Central Florida.
Highlights of the weekend included:
Amy (my college roommate from Iowa) came to Orlando last weekend.
We went to Mall at Millenia and the outlets. Then, we went to Hash House A Go Go.
On Saturday, we went to the Winter Park Farmerās Market, the Orlando Iowa Club, and The Boheme. It is Magical Dining month which has 90 participants in the area. We went to The Boheme. I had a great meal of a crab cake, salmon, and a caramel lava cake.
On Sunday, we went to the Polynesian at Kona Cafe for breakfast and the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.
It was a fun weekend and great to see Amy again.
Due to a $97 round-trip flight to Milwaukee form Orlando, Wisconsin was chosen as the Labor Day destination. I didnāt know how the weather would impact me as I was to leave on Friday afternoon. I ubered to the airport. My first Uber actually. It was quite fun. I like talking to Uber driver. I learned a lot about Uber, Lyft, and we discussed Disney dining. It was my first trip, so it was free. I knew I would have trouble getting back, but I wasnāt concerned on Friday about that. My flight was at 5 p.m. The plane coming to Orlando to pick me up was delayed leaving Detroit, so we were delayed. Then, once we boarded the plane, we were informed that our plane had a flat tire, so we had to wait for it to be changed. I arrived in Milwaukee around 9 p.m. and went to the hotel. Andrea and Dad arrived shortly after.
On Saturday, Andrea and I met her friends for breakfast at First Watch. I had a free Birthday meal and it was better than I remembered. Afterwards, we went to Metro Market. We went to the Farmerās Market and walked around the Fox River Riverfront. We went into an antique store and visited Andreaās old apartment. I donāt know if it was really sad, but just fun to see again. We shopped at Woodmanās and Goodwill.
We found the Iowa game on at Champs and went there for pizza. We watched the first half-amidst Wisconsin fans watching the LSU ā Wisconsin game. Afterwards, we went shopping at the nearby mall and another Goodwill and went to Kopps where Andreaās friends, Mark, Kaytee, and Oliver met us to ice cream.
On Sunday, we went to Door County. Before Door County is Algoma. It has the fish market. We bought some smoked salmon and headed North. Door County was packed this weekend. We stopped at so many shops. We tasted a few samples. Andrea found this amazing mustard, but if you eat too much of it, your sinuses will be immediately cleared out. It is really good mustard. In Sister Bay, it was too packed to do much. We fond a county park and had some salmon and cheese there.
We went shopping in Fish Creek and I bought a necklace. Then, we went to the Old Post Office and went to a Fish Boil. We went to the back for the story and to see the fish boil and we ran into Stacy Lens. It was weird to see someone we know from Burlington.
The fish boil was really neat and very good. I think the fish, potato, onion combination. Afterwards, we drove to Sturgeon Bay for the night.
Today, we drove back to Milwaukee stopping to see Lambeau Field in Green Bay. We went to Bayshore Town Center and had lunch at Sprecherās. I really love their lo-cal root beer, but the best thing was their lunch special of the jaegerschnitzel with potatoes and vegetables. Andrea and I each got a root beer mug like the one seen in the picture. Afterwards, we walked around shopping a little and going to Traderās Joes.
On the way to the airport, we stopped by the Milwaukee waterfront. People were flying kites. It was a beautiful day.
Andrea and Dad dropped me off at the airport around 4 p.m. My flight was at 6:10 p.m. I arrived back in Orlando at 9:25 p.m. The Orlando International Airport does not allow Uber to pick people up at the airport (for a variety of reasons which you should research) except Uber Black which is the high-cost Uber. I took my parking shuttle to where I usually drop my car and I ordered an Uber to pick me up there. I was concerned that I was going to get in trouble, but the driver came and I jumped in. I really liked the driver. He seemed like a good kid. Both Uber drivers were informative about Uber and the driving system.
Due to a $97 round-trip flight to Milwaukee form Orlando, Wisconsin was chosen as the Labor Day destination. I didnāt know how the weather would impact me as I was to leave on Friday afternoon. I ubered to the airport. My first Uber actually. It was quite fun. I like talking to Uber driver. I learned a lot about Uber, Lyft, and we discussed Disney dining. It was my first trip, so it was free. I knew I would have trouble getting back, but I wasnāt concerned on Friday about that. My flight was at 5 p.m. The plane coming to Orlando to pick me up was delayed leaving Detroit, so we were delayed. Then, once we boarded the plane, we were informed that our plane had a flat tire, so we had to wait for it to be changed. I arrived in Milwaukee around 9 p.m. and went to the hotel. Andrea and Dad arrived shortly after.
On Saturday, Andrea and I met her friends for breakfast at First Watch. I had a free Birthday meal and it was better than I remembered. Afterwards, we went to Metro Market. We went to the Farmerās Market and walked around the Fox River Riverfront. We went into an antique store and visited Andreaās old apartment. I donāt know if it was really sad, but just fun to see again. We shopped at Woodmanās and Goodwill.
We found the Iowa game on at Champs and went there for pizza. We watched the first half-amidst Wisconsin fans watching the LSU ā Wisconsin game. Afterwards, we went shopping at the nearby mall and another Goodwill and went to Kopps where Andreaās friends, Mark, Kaytee, and Oliver met us to ice cream.
On Sunday, we went to Door County. Before Door County is Algoma. It has the fish market. We bought some smoked salmon and headed North. Door County was packed this weekend. We stopped at so many shops. We tasted a few samples. Andrea found this amazing mustard, but if you eat too much of it, your sinuses will be immediately cleared out. It is really good mustard. In Sister Bay, it was too packed to do much. We fond a county park and had some salmon and cheese there.
We went shopping in Fish Creek and I bought a necklace. Then, we went to the Old Post Office and went to a Fish Boil. We went to the back for the story and to see the fish boil and we ran into Stacy Lens. It was weird to see someone we know from Burlington.
The fish boil was really neat and very good. I think the fish, potato, onion combination. Afterwards, we drove to Sturgeon Bay for the night.
Today, we drove back to Milwaukee stopping to see Lambeau Field in Green Bay. We went to Bayshore Town Center and had lunch at Sprecherās. I really love their lo-cal root beer, but the best thing was their lunch special of the jaegerschnitzel with potatoes and vegetables. Andrea and I each got a root beer mug like the one seen in the picture. Afterwards, we walked around shopping a little and going to Traderās Joes.
On the way to the airport, we stopped by the Milwaukee waterfront. People were flying kites. It was a beautiful day.
Andrea and Dad dropped me off at the airport around 4 p.m. My flight was at 6:10 p.m. I arrived back in Orlando at 9:25 p.m. The Orlando International Airport does not allow Uber to pick people up at the airport (for a variety of reasons which you should research) except Uber Black which is the high-cost Uber. I took my parking shuttle to where I usually drop my car and I ordered an Uber to pick me up there. I was concerned that I was going to get in trouble, but the driver came and I jumped in. I really liked the driver. He seemed like a good kid. Both Uber drivers were informative about Uber and the driving system.
The secret guest was Jonathan. He flew into Orlando to visit some friends near Tampa and stayed with me for a couple of nights. We went to Disney Springs before the weekend and City Walk when he came back. Check out the movies of the Italian group singing from the balcony. I think the movies should work. You have to click the play button in the upper right hand corner. I included all, but some are very short. He left about a week ago. The day he was here he really helped a lot as he went to get my car fixed (the engine was leaking oil).
Today was my birthday. Everyone goes above and beyond for my birthday. Andrea, Dad, aunts and uncles, friends, and co-workers really make it special. I received Disney, Sweet Tomatoes, and Starbucks gift cards, so I am set for the weekends. It makes justifying buying at the little kiosks at the Food and Wine Festival a little more fun. I can make many last until Christmas.
At work, they celebrated with fruit, flowers, balloons, plants, and gifts and decorated the meeting area. We went out to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch.
Andrea and Dad got me a Disney Springs shopping spree with many gift cards from Alex & Ani, Sephora, Lāoccitane, Chapel Hats, and another. I received 3 balloons, 2 flowers, and 1 plant. I also received a Shutterfly gift certificate and many birthday wishes even as I am no longer on Facebook. It was a great day .. an amazing with even a trip to the dentist. Ha. Thanks!!!!!!
(I am not trying to brag. Just document my birthday and to say Thanks!)