Return of the long-winded travelogue-ist

All right, here goes.

First, I tallied up the results from the Oscar competition, and the final score was:
Wanninger - 20/24, 171 pts
Parker - 14/24, 115 pts
Me - 10/24, 92 pts

So congrats Wanninger, that's some impressive picking. I can take some mild pride in being the only one to pick Crash for Best Picture, so I guess there's some solice in that.

Now, on to Florida. The trip started Friday morning with Ryan, Jon, and me departing in my car around 6 AM. We drove until about 4, and planned on continuing until we reached my aunt and uncle's place, but my brakes started being stupid. By 4, it was really 5 cuz we were in EST, so most places were closing or didn't have time to fix in that night. Thus, we ended up spending the night in Ocala, FL, at a ridiculously overpriced Days Inn because we were too tired to try and find another place.

Saturday morning we took the car to the Ford dealer to get fixed, mainly because they could get us in right away and would most likely have the parts on hand. So, after a couple hours of waiting, I was told that both my front and rear brakes were pretty much screwed, so we waited another 3 hours while they fixed it and then were off to the Gulf! The best things to come from this experience:
1. We ate at a really good barbecue place while we waited. If you're ever in Ocala, visit Tommy's BBQ. Good stuff.
2. Ryan and Jon were great the whole time and I was able to not get too intensely stressed in the situation.

The house in Bonita Springs was amazing! Not huge, but definitely big enough for us to hang out in, and there was a screen-covered pool/patio in the back that was glorious, especially in the evenings. We spent Sunday chilling at the house and at a public beach just south of Ft. Meyers, then picked Tim up from the airport. The Oscars came on, and we caught most of them, and then I headed out to pick up my aunt and uncle from the airport around midnight.

Monday, like all our days, began really chill. We decided to go canoeing in this river/marsh thing that runs through the housing community, and survived without getting eaten by any gators, although Tim and Ryan did their best. After about 2 and a half hours out there we headed over to an outlet mall, where I proceeded to buy nothing.

Both Ryan and I had been to Sanibel Island in Florida before, so we decided it'd be cool to hang out up there for a day. Thus, Tuseday was spent riding rental bikes around the island and through a wildlife refuge that looked remarkably similar to the marsh we canoed through. Then we stuck to the beach for several hours and headed back in. The traffic getting off the island was so bad that the other three got out at one point and walked up to the Dairy Queen and were on their way back to the car with the ice cream before I passed it.

A really random thing happened in that I found out my cousin Rachel was on spring break with a few of her friends at the same time, and they were staying about 10 minutes from our place! So they all came over Tuesday night to watch Harry Potter 4. The guys did a great job with that, being that Rachel and I talked for most of the time and left them to fend for themselves with the three girls she came down with. Lots of "So, you guys go to Wheaton, huh?" conversations commenced. I would apologize for it, but I'm not sorry for it at all, because I got to see my cousin, and thats all that really mattered at the time.

Wednesday we went to the private beach owned by the housing community, which was pretty sweet, and we hung out there until sundown, when the pontoon had to take us off the island and back to the mainland.

By Thursday we were all pretty tired, so we spent the day hanging out at the house. I won an afternoon Monopoly game basically because I stayed interested longer than the other guys. We also went to the Goodwill Superstore, where I almost bought a yellow sport coat that was just a tiny bit too small, but I did end up with a t-shirt that says "Honorary Oooompa Loompa" (And yes, there are 4 "o"'s in this version of Oompa). Not a bad haul.

Friday was the last hurrah, so we went to Bonita Beach and layed out for about 4 hours. I did my best to keep sun screen on, but I forgot to get my knees and the top of my feet, so they basically fried. It's ok though, I'm feeling better now and I got ahead in my reading for third-year writing.

Saturday was very uneventful driving back. Really the most exciting thing that happened the whole time is that I now have a DJ name: DJ Tanner. The rest of the guys became DJ Ibouti, DJ Embe, and DJ Palindrome (Ryan, Tim, and Jon, repsectively).

All in all, a great trip, super relaxing, and now I'm ready for the last two months of classes. Today was a great way to start that out, as I found out that the test I really and truly thought I got at least a C- on in marketing before break turned out to be a 91, and I can bring it up to a 97 with extra credit corrections. I'm lovin it!