mission regression complete

I had high aspirations of finishing out the East Coast Regression Tour at Busch Gardens Tampa, but our bodies gave out after Orlando, so we decided to finish the amusement park tour at Universal Studios, which was more mellow, but really fun.


We then drove down to Naples and spent a couple of nights there, running errands and making final preparations for our trip to Australia (e.g., one last Target run, having my last Dunkin Donuts iced coffee). (Thanks Mary Beth, for letting us stay at your beautiful condo!) We squeezed in one night out in downtown Naples and had dinner and drinks at a Paddy Murphy's, a festive Irish pub (as if you couldn’t tell by the name). Like Rob's mustache?


And so the East Coast Regression Tour comes to a successful end. Oz, here we come!

islands of adventure

Despite the success of the regression tour thus far, I had low expectations for Universal Orlando. I envisioned it as a place for little kids and families where the thrill factor would be minimal. We started our first day at Islands of Adventure, the more ride-oriented park at Universal. Much like Disney World, there were some really elaborate and impressive visual spectacles, like Poseidon’s Fury, pictured below.
Although Poseidon’s Fury was really cool, it had a pretty low scare factor. However, it did not take long for Islands of Adventure to prove itself as one the best ride parks I’ve ever visited. The first coaster we rode, Dueling Dragons, not only had a super cool waiting area inside castle dungeons, but consisted of two separate coasters dispatched in sync and configured in a way that created the effect of the dragons nearly colliding with each other. Here is a photo of me posing in front of the two dragons, fire and ice.


Even the kiddie coaster, The Flying Unicorn, made me scream!


The highlight of the park for me was the water rides. Jurassic Park River Adventure was one of my favorites and had a heart-stopping drop at the end and some really realistic-looking dinosaur animatrons. However, it didn’t offer the benefits of a wet t-shirt contest as this ride, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls.


We also got some serious water action on Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges.


As you can see from this photo, Rob and I really enjoyed the Incredible Hulk Coaster, a turbo-speed roller coaster which dipped into an underwater tunnel.


Here’s one more photo showing how much I embraced Islands of Adventure.


And, here’s the review you've been waiting for:
Favorite ride: Jurassic Park River Adventure
Scariest ride: Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls
Best roller coaster: Dueling Dragons
Waits: Minimal; the longest we waited for a ride was 15 minutes and we didn’t even have a FlashPass!
Food: Much more reasonably priced than Six Flags; not many low-cal/fat options, but some places (maybe all) were trans fat-free
Best perk: free lockers (which had cool hi-tech fingerprint recognition system)

me and atlanta, meant to be

Rob and I also hit the city the nights before and after our day at Six Flags. I am the first one to admit that I’m a typical New Yorker when it comes to casting judgment on other cities and don’t know how many times I’ve said, “New York is the only city I could live in anywhere in the world, except maybe London.” Well, I’m determined to prove myself wrong and Atlanta could not have been a better place to start my attitude adjustment. I loved A-T-L!

Given that we were only in Atlanta for two nights, we put together a list of bars to visit and on the first night hit a record number of seven (yikes!) bars. (However, it should be noted that 3 bars were located all within one strip mall.) Here is a picture of us at Halo, a clubby type place, which had live drummers playing with a DJ, a cool two-story layout, and really friendly fellow bar-goers.


Our second night out was not quite as impressive in terms of numbers, but we enjoyed ourselves just as much at a really cool Mexican spot called Frogs, where we had dinner and drinks outdoors.


I really hope to return to Atlanta soon. I always had a feeling that I was a Southern girl trapped in a Korean person’s body. (Although my sister Irene informed me that, apparently, Atlanta has one of the highest Korean populations in the U.S., so it appears that it’s not just me.)

six flags over georgia. yeah!

After enduring my first stay at a Motel 6 -- which was very clean, safe, and couldn’t have been a better deal -- Rob and I drove down to Atlanta to hit our first theme park, Six Flags Over Georgia. Because we got a fabulous deal on our admission tickets (thanks to the Wingate Inn, Austell), we couldn’t resist splurging on the FlashPass, which for an additional $42.50/person, guaranteed waits no longer than 15 minutes for certain rides, i.e., the good ones. The FlashPass was undoubtedly a worthwhile purchase. It allowed us to keep a ride-hitting pace proportionate to the rate at which we were regressing. All you have to do is hold it up to one of these scanners, like so …


… and then in no later than 15 minutes, you’ll be screaming your head off, like this:

(I swear, this ride was scary at the time!)

Taking the scenic skyway across the park.

Braving Splashwater Falls. Well, not really. It’s pretty tame and there’s one drop at the end where you get spritzed with water. (Like my cool shades? I got them at the mall for $12.99.)

Here is my nerdy review of Six Flags Over Georgia:
Best Coaster: Goliath (heart palpitation-inducing initial ascent)
Honorable Mention: Georgia Scorcher
Scariest Ride: Acrophobia (the updated version of Freefall)
Worst BSI (brain stem injury) Potential: Great American Scream Machine (but still fun)
Biggest Bummer: Deja Vu closed for “mechanical difficulties” (C’mon!)
Food: No healthy options whatsoever; total rip-off, even for theme park standards, e.g., $7 for a slice of Papa John’s! Rob and I had no choice but to leave the park and have lunch outside of the premises at Subway. Heh heh.
Staff: Super friendly and hard-working, although could’ve been much more efficient with filling up empty seats on rides and I got called ma’am way too many times.

seeing skyline

Although my family has lived in Virginia since the late 80s, and also despite the fact that we grew up taking road trips, I had never taken the drive down Skyline Drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains. As you can see from the pictures, it was too early for springtime foliage, but the views from the mountains were breathtaking. I was really impressed by the beauty and calmness of the Virginia landscape with its rolling hills, verdant fields, and picturesque farmhouses. See what you discover when you leave home!

Here is an un-glamour shot of me, which Rob took at one of the 75 lookout points on Skyline Drive.Rob was much more photogenic at this lookout point.
Mission accomplished: all 105 miles traversed!

springtime in virginia

For the next few months, I'll be traveling with my dear friend Rob. We decided that before leaving the country, we need to get a little regression out of our systems. Hence, the first leg of our travels begins with the East Coast Regression Tour, i.e., road trip in a rental car from New York to Florida with stops at select amusement parks. Before officially embarking on the amusement park tour, we stopped in McLean, VA to visit my dad and dogs, Sully and Parker. (Mom was in LA, visiting my newborn nephew Elliot. More on him later.)

Sully is a nine-year-old lab and Parker is a three-year-old Maltese. Sully and Parker come together as one unit; they are inseparable. How cute are they?! Here is another shot of them.


Back to the road trip. Rob and I rented this silver Jeep Commander to transport some furniture to his sister's condo in Naples, FL. Although you can't tell from the photo, every inch of the Jeep behind the driver's seat is tightly packed with boxes and random pieces of furniture, all of which we drove down from New York in a Uhaul 10' truck. After executing this impressive packing job, Rob and I decided that if all else fails job-wise, we will start our own moving business ... which won't offer any vehicles larger than this Jeep ... and allow packing only on unseasonably warm days ... and permit drives only on routes that have good amusement parks ... yeah, good plan.

keyless

As of today, I lack possession of any and all keys. No apartment key. No automobile key. No office access key. I finished out the sublease on my apartment, took a leave from my job, sold or gave away all of my furniture, stored a minimal volume of personal belongings at my parents' house, and am about to live out of a medium-sized suitcase (Tumi Generation 4 FXT wheeled duffel bag in light blue, of course) and an extra large tote bag (Herve Chapelier circa 2003) for the next 5 months.

For the last 8-and-a-half years, I've lived on a map that looks like the famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover depicting Manhattan as the center of the world. I've relished living in the city and think that there's no other place like it in the world. However, it's time to move on, brave the world, and stop holding back. As my friend James so aptly put it, for the next five months, the world will be my home.