Disney Escapades

While I was in Orlando last month for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, I managed to get a little sightseeing in - without any entry to the parks.  In fact my visiting went between my hotel, the neighboring hotel and the ESPN Wide World of Sports where the race expo was located.


At the expo I had a chance to listen to Jeff Galloway - and Olympic runner and the "creator" of the run/walk method.  Very interesting and motivational discussion he had for this race... he was using it to build time for his marathon training run in the beginning of December - he's trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon.


Just a fun picture for the Wine and Dine...


Afterward I went back to the hotel so I could try and get a nap, but first I did a little sight seeing at the hotel I was staying at... Pop Century.



The hotel is themed by decades... 50's, 60's, 70's where I stayed, 80's and 90's.  It was kind of fun.



This giant yo-yo was located right outside my room.

But the hotel that I would love to stay at next trip to Disney is the Art of Animation - located right behind my hotel.  It was amazing the amount of detail.  Here's the playground.


There's Nemo, Cars...




That's me with Lighting McQueen...



And there's Lion King....



Little Mermaid....



After making the loop I returned back to my hotel... Pop Century.


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Reliving My College Days

At the end of December it was a bit like re-living my college days when Dave and I went to the Hunger Bowl game at AT&T Park where my Alma Mater ASU played Navy.  One thing I learned from this experience... I can't hang like I did in my "youth".

After getting of BART/Muni, we tried to find the ASU hangout, and we ended up at MoMo's across the street from the park.  There I proceeded to slam about 3 beers before going into the stadium (mind you Dave also had 3 beers).  We also met up with my college friend Mark who was also going to the game.  It was awesome being in the sea of Maroon and Gold at the bar.  Oh and boy was it packed with Sun Devils!

Our seats were awesome!   We paid for middle of the road seats - not the cheapest, and not the most expensive.  It worked out since there was an ever so slight chance of rain, that we would've been covered.

 

And then it was time for some Football! 

Sparky our mascot was ready for the action.... and there was plenty of it by ASU, not so much from Navy.  The Devils took the ball to the end zone on their first two drives (I know it was their first drive, and I think it was their 2nd drive as well - I'm too lazy to double check my facts).

 

Facebook is a great thing... I found out one of Dave's friends from the Santa Rosa area (where he went to college) was also at the game with her Dad.  During halftime we ran into Nicole while walking around trying to stay warm.

Afterward we replenished our drinks and settled back into our seats to watch the rest of the game.

And yet another touchdown!!

Needless to say Sparky did a ton of push-ups that day.  He does one for every point we get when ASU scores.   The final was ASU 62, Navy 28.

 My friend Mark joined us for the end of the game, and then we headed toward the field for the trophy presentations and fanfare.

Yep, I'm wearing gloves in San Francisco... it was quite cold!

Of course Dave wanted to have a picture of himself for the Sun Devil post-game festivities.  He's a wanna be Devil.

Afterward we left the park and Mark caught Muni, and Dave and I had this "brilliant" idea to grab another beer before going back and fighting the crowds. 

While it looks good in our final picture, it ended up not so good rather quickly.  It turns out I "forgot" to drink water all day and had beer instead.  Luckily I did eat some football foods at the game, but on the BART ride home I almost hand an "incident" where I'd have been quite embarrassed.  And I left my "mark" at the parking garage.

I was in bed that night by 8pm.  Um, yeah I can't hang out like I did in my college days....

Good Morning Seattle!

This morning's run brought to you by....

















That was a 5.25 mile run and about 1/2 mile of warm up/cool down walking. I love traveling to places where it is fun to run outdoors!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fork 'Em Devils!

Last weekend I had the benefit of mixing business with pleasure when I flew to Arizona for work, but added an extra day to my stay to visit with some friends and check out my Alma Mater - Arizona State.  My friend Rachel and I hit up a football game.  My first second time back to the stadium since graduating, but the first time in about 10 years!

Let me just say those college kids are getting younger and younger!!  Was I ever that young and dumb?  (Don't answer that it's supposed to be a rhetorical question).

I didn't get any pictures with friends this trip - why is it when I focus on having fun I don't take any pictures?  Instead I did get a few from the football game - mind you we were in the nosebleeds, so they're not the best quality.  Starting out with some pre-game festivities.

And here was the final ASU touchdown of the game!

Final score - ASU 35-20 against the Oregon State Beavers.  Go Devils!

So Much To See and Do

What a trip back East!  We did so much and I took an insane amount of pictures!  So over the next several days expect to be inundated with an obscene amount of pictures and details of our trip to New York for Dave's sister Brianna's College Graduation.

First up, our trip to Taughannock Falls State Park - where Brianna had her graduation party gathering for family and friends.  Dave, Drew and I showed up at the slotted time because Drew was getting antsy in the hotel room.  Everyone else showed up about an hour-and-half later.  We made the best of the time while we waited - enjoying the scenery.

When everyone arrived we enjoyed lunch and playing catch, baseball and throwing rocks.

Drew even gave fishing a try!  It lasted a whopping 2-3 minutes.

Dave's Family.  L-R: Dave, Brianna (the graduate/sister), Grandma Lolly (Dave's Mom), Grandpa Tim (Dave's Step-dad), and Chris his brother.   Daniel, Dave's other brother wasn't able to make the trip.

Shortly after those group shots we took an amazing hike to see the park's waterfall.  Boy am I glad we did it!  It was definitely one of the highlights of this trip.

Brianna, Drew and Dave near one of the "scary" caves.

Drew and I in front of one of the mini waterfalls.  Drew was anxious to climb on all of the rocks.

Drew and I ventured out on these really cool rocks/shelf.

I love this family shot. 

Then we finally made it to the waterfall.  It was beautiful!  This first shot is the view from the bridge.

But we could get much closer... and get wet!

Here Drew is trying to hide from the mist.  This "lookout" is about 30 yards from the fall itself.  And from the park's website... "The falls cataract has an incredible drop of 215 feet, and is one of the highest east of the Rocky Mountains."

After playing in the water we hiked the 20-30 minutes back to our site.  And that's when I captured this precious shot of Drew and Grandpa Tim looking at the birds that flew by. 

OK I think that's enough photo-blasting you for one day.