Sea World!!

We arrived safe in Orlando yesterday, registered for our conference, went and did some science, then busted out for a night on the town with some of my Florida relatives and then spent the day today at Sea World. It is SO GREAT to see some sun and grass in March, although I did not burn myself crispy like I usually do when I go someplace sunny. Maybe I'm getting better at that whole sunblock thing. We had so much fun in the sun that we decided to do another outdoor thing (Disney's Animal Kingdom) tomorrow afternoon instead of the indoor thing (Epcott) we had originally planned. We only bought a half-day pass though, so we poured over the tourist book tonight in our hotel (after doing some fusion yoga/kung-fu) to maximize our time there. I then practiced my talk, which was smooth on Monday but somehow fell all apart today - I guess the sun has confused me. So tomorrow night, the night before my talk, I am going to subject my kung-fu co-worker to it over and over until she has it memorized and can tell me my lines if I forget them.

Florida is pretty fun, esp in March, but I can't even comprehend the amount of money that flows through this place. Our hotel is insanely expensive, and yet we still have to pay for everything from continental breakfast to use of the gym. You pay $60 to get into Sea World, and then still have to pay for some of the rides. Although one thing that that maybe would be worth paying for is the swim-with-the-sharks deal. That deal looked cool. Anyhow, what family of four wouldn't spend their life savings going to a place like this? And what for? I'd rather play boggle (although if my hotel and flight is payed for then ok, maybe I'll go to Sea World).

And the sun, and the weather, oh my! This would be worth paying for.