A Magical Vacation...

You may recall that I received, among many other wonderful gifts, tickets to the theater for Christmas. Well, y'all, this week I got to cash them in...in Orlando. Colonel Brandon and I headed down to sunny Florida for a few well deserved days of R&R. I have been anticipating this trip for weeks. In fact, on the way down I got a little worried that I had mentally hyped it up so much that it couldn't possibly be as wonderful as I expected. It was. It was better. Let's start with the weather. Sunny and mid 70s the whole time. Now, I don't often complain about the weather in the Classic City, y'all, but Florida puts it to shame. I spent the better part of one afternoon poolside and it was delightful. Poor CB kept trying to talk to me, but my incoherent, sun-drenched responses were insufficient. He finally gave up and went for a swim.

While the pool was phenomenal, the real reason we went was waaaaaaayyyyy better.

WICKED!!!!!

Y'all. I had read the book, listened to the soundtrack (ad nauseam) and thought I was prepared for the awesomeness. I wasn't. Everything about Wicked was amazing! The set, the costumes (I particularly loved Glinda's gowns and the Emerald City couture), the actors, and the MUSIC were phenomenal. I think CB even enjoyed it, though I'm not sure it will replace Starlight Express as his all-time favorite. Bless his heart.

Wicked was far and away the best part of the trip; however, since we were already in Orlando, we also went to Universal to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

It was pretty amazing. They do a fantastic job of making you feel like you're in a different world. Even this guy had to concede that it was impressive despite Harry Potter being a total rip-off of Lord of the Rings. I assured him that as soon as they create a Middle Earth theme park, we are there. Bless his heart.

All in all, the vacation was fantastic, y'all. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect trip was the restaurant we went to for lunch one day. While we were waiting on our food to arrive, CB got up to look at pictures on the wall and found one of Tim Tebow eating in the very same restaurant. Tainted. We would've left except that we'd already ordered. Fortunately, the food was really, really good which almost made up for the decor and shady past. But not quite. Ugh, Florida.

Fondest regards (but not for you, Tim Tebow),

The Lady