Coast to coast

Hi.

After a whirlwind two weeks, I'm back from my January travels and super happy I don't have to go to the airport again until March. Some people like to fly, but I find the simple act of going to the airport exhausting. I hate waiting around. I hate taking my shoes off for TSA because I always seem to be the only person who forgot to wear socks. I hate sitting next to strangers on the airplane because I never know how conversational I'm supposed to be.

But I love reaching my destination!

My first trek was a solo work trip to San Diego. My role is to provide marketing strategy and brand direction to our outsides companies and how can I help market something I've never seen? I got to tour the facility and meet the faces I've been communicating with via email. Everyone was wonderful. They set me up in my own mini-office and I even completed a project while I was there!

My trip to California was very quick and I only had a few hours to explore on my own. After the workday, I drove about an hour or so out to the beach at Torrey Pines. I found a killer parking spot and got to walk along the water and watch the sunset.

The scenery went from moody and blue to golden and majestic in a matter of minutes.

I kind of fell in love with San Diego. There are hiking trails EVERYWHERE and people just generally love being outside. It's too bad the cost of living is so incredibly outrageous because I could totally see myself living there.

After coming home from California, I had a few days to catch up on work and then prepare for my next excursion to ...

.... DISNEY WORLD!

Brittany and I arrived in Orlando last Tuesday night and spent all of Wednesday at the Magic Kingdom. 

I'm only slightly bummed that I never got to experience Disney World as a child, but holy cow! It is just as magical (if not more so) as a fully-formed adult. When we stepped onto Main Street and saw Cinderella's castle for the first time, my heart literally skipped a beat. I'm a very emotional person so I spent the entire day bouncing between unbridled excitement and intense feelings of nostalgia. I even teared up during the Little Mermaid ride like the true goober that I am. (I forgot that the song "Part of Your World" existed and I also forgot that I still know every single lyric to every single song in that movie.)

Guys, we did the entirety of Magic Kingdom in one day. Crappy weather + off season = almost zero wait for every single ride and attraction. We walked through the entrance of the park and immediately hopped onto Space Mountain. And when I say "immediately hopped on", I mean we walked straight through the empty waiting lines and got on the first waiting roller coaster car. 

It poured rain in the early hours of the morning before tapering off into a misty sprinkle in the afternoon. We even lucked out with a few hours of no rain at all! Things didn't start to get messy rain-wise until an hour or so before the parked closed, but we were armed with ponchos and didn't really care. 

We were so, so grateful for the ponchos. And the child in the front row 

looks like he's having a TERRIBLE time. Doesn't he know? There's no frowning at Disney World.

Splash down!

My favorite Magic Kingdom attractions were (in order):

1.) Splash Mountain (the most fun, yet politically incorrect ride EVER)

2.) Peter Pan's Flight (I've always adored this movie)

3.) Mickey's PhilharMagic (IT HAD ALL THE CHILDHOOD FEELS!)

Close runner-ups: Everything else. Except for It's a Small World. I get that it's an iconic ride, but I still wanted to jump overboard. 

My only complaint about the Magic Kingdom is that it was sorely lacking in the Lion King department. It's my understanding that the Animal Kingdom will give you your Lion King fix, but I was still disappointed that Rafiki wasn't dangling baby Simba out of a tower window in Cinderella's castle. 

BUT WOODY WAS THERE!

Brittany was totally willing to wait in line with me to "meet" the rootinest tootinest cowboy in the wild wild West, but I was good 4 feet taller than everyone else in line and something tells me that it wouldn't be as cute when I tried to hug him. 

I want to give a huge shout-out to Beth and Marc for letting us stay with them during our lightning-fast tour of Disney World. Your extensive Disney knowledge was priceless and we deeply, deeply appreciate your hospitality. Thank you!!!

I love traveling, but I am so glad to be home. I had to call Clayton on more than one occasion to ask him to put Joey on the phone. 

I'm also really excited to catch up with you guys in the upcoming days. Is it just me, or is this winter going by super fast? I'm definitely not complaining though. Between being gone, getting in lots of quality time with friends, and temperatures rarely dipping below 30°; I haven't had to worry too much about the Winter Blues!