This past weekend was Georgetown's homecoming, also known as Georgetown giving hundreds of students and alum a reason to day drink. Oh, and obviously to catch up with friends who I haven't seen in awhile. Very clearly, homecoming is not at ALL about football. To celebrate, a good friend came to town and stayed in my guest bedroom, so we had a full weekend full of fun activities.
Great Falls
We started on Friday with a hike through beautiful Great Falls National Park. It was an approximately 4 mile loop on the Virginia side of the Potomac, with stunning views of the river and rapids, and in general just lovely nature. It was definitely not a bad way to start a weekend. Friday continued with a game of Scattergories--I lost--and grilling baked potatoes and barbecue chicken. Deliciousness.
Perils of the Lost Jungle
Friday night evolved into epicness with the best 18 holes of mini golf I have ever played. There's a place near me that does "Perils of the Lost Jungle" that is basically an Indiana Jones-themed course. There's a sign at the start warning that players will get wet, but I did not take that seriously. The course was interactive--at one point we needed to put our hand on a mini pyramid to open a trap door--and the animatronics were well-done. There was a hiding gorilla, evil things in boxes, etc. So cool. Oh, and I got sprayed with water twice...once was a spritz by poisonous frogs, and the other was a volley of water from an alligator. And then there was the end. Unlike most mini golf courses where the final hole steals your ball, here when you reached to get your ball out of the hole, it used air to knock it out. It was completely unexpected. Ice cream obviously followed. :)
Hello, Georgetown!
Saturday was homecoming day. We started off by exploring all the new buildings on campus, and I was amazed by how nice campus is and all of the new study spaces. But then to the main event. Friends + Fun + Beer + 80s Cover Band = My Perfect Day. I did NOT stay for the football team and don't even know who won (at least I know they played Bucknell). It was an absolutely spectacular day, with temperatures getting into the 70s under a cloudless sky, so the next stop was obviously the grand lawns at the front of campus to take a nap under one of the big trees. It was college all over again, but the fun part, after spring finals, when there were no responsibilities and the weather was perfect. Eventually we decided to move on, walking along the C&O Canal towpath before catching a metro ride back out to the 'burbs.
Observation Tower, watching a plane land at Dulles
And then there was Sunday. I was already working on little sleep having had an action-packed Friday and Saturday, so we agreed to just wake up whenever and then went to the Udvar-Hazey Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport. It has hangars of planes and is a nice complement to the museum stuck in downtown DC. Udvar-Hazey also hosts the space shuttle Discovery(!) and a Air France Concorde. I guess that's what you can do with unlimited space in the suburbs!
Before my friend departed DC on Sunday night, we played a couple rounds of Mario Party on Wii, a nice relaxing way to end the weekend.
And last week I saw this video and, well, I love every 80s slow dance song apparently. This video was better, in my opinion, than the 90s or the 00s version.
Another vacation. I know, I'm getting crazy here. This time it was to Orlando and the magical world of...Universal Studios. Had you going there for a moment, didn't I? While Disney is the place to be a kid, Universal for me was the place for adults to be a kid but to pretend they're more adult-y. Boom. I should be in Universal's marketing department.
Hogsmeade
In any case, Universal was super fun, and not just because I got to experience the magical world of Harry Potter (boom x2...these are almost too much fun!), but the non-Harry Potter things were pretty cool too. Despicable Me, Jurassic Park, the Mummy, the Hulk...overall, a great set of rides to go on. But Harry Potter was obviously the biggest thing. Hogsmeade looks as amazing in person as it does in pictures. I know the snow is fake, but the atmosphere there is brilliant. Food at the Three Broomsticks was OK--nothing special--but again, it was the atmosphere. If I wanted great food, I probably wouldn't have eaten inside the park.
The dragon above Gringotts blowing fire
Other really enjoyable Harry Potter-themed activities were the journey through Hogwarts, which was really well done, and two trips on the Hogwarts Express (once in each direction). On the Diagon Alley side of Harry Potter World, I was most impressed about how they took minor details from the books and broadened them into something "real." This was most prevalent in the choice of stores. Not necessarily a minor detail, but even Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop made an appearance. How cool is that?
You may not believe it, but there's more to Universal than just Harry Potter. Obviously I was naturally drawn to the minions of Despicable Me. Not only are they funny, but they're super cute and I give the creators a lot of credit for not just making mindless robots but giving each individual minion a unique personality. (Side note: We watched Despicable Me again one night in Orlando because, why not?) It's amazing what moving seats can do. It completely felt like a full-fledged roller coaster, even though we moved at most a couple of inches in any direction. Gotta love it.
Yes. Of course.
The other fun rides were Jurassic Park, the Mummy, and the Hulk. All three were big surprises for me. The park employee told us that the Jurassic Park lagoon ride had an 85 foot drop at the end. Yet, somehow that drop REALLY surprised me. Definitely wasn't prepared. With the Mummy, I had set my expectations pretty low, but the storytelling and the twists and turns on the indoor roller coaster far exceeded my expectations. And with the Hulk, it was a standard roller coaster except for the beginning. You expect to slowly creep up and then begin your free-fall. But not the Hulk. The quick acceleration starting halfway up was unexpected. So three rides that were above and beyond what I would've figured.
Obviously there were some middling activities--Gringotts, Shrek--and some downright bad ones--Twister--but overall it was an enjoyable experience at Universal. Even if only for a short time over a few days, it was really awesome to be able to join the world of Harry Potter. Now if only my acceptance letter would arrive in the mail--or by owl--already. It's just 15 years late....
Not related at all to the post, but this duet between Jennifer Nettles and one of her contestants on the failed show Duets might be one of the best duets of all time. Really, any duet Jennifer Nettles does is amazing (also see her You and I with Lady Gaga), but this just captivates me. Every. Single. Time.
I returned from my vacation a week ago, but I only just caught up on my DVR. Apparently I record a lot, and with things to do most nights last week, I struggled to keep up with my overactive DVR. But alas, problem ended, and now I have no un-seen shows on my DVR.
As the new season for shows kicks into gear, five shows have caught my eye--two in new seasons, and three brand new shows--and I will look forward to them every week. Let's hope they don't disappoint:
New Girl
The Amazing Race
New Show: Red Band Society
New Show: A to Z
New Show: How to Get Away With Murder
So that's all I've got from these last few days. Looks to be another crazy week--or two or three, a I look at my calendar--so we'll see what gets turned into updates. :)
I heard this song on the radio recently (apparently it's 5 months old, according to YouTube), but I really like it. I don't know how I've missed it for so long!
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