Ducky Does What Ducky Does
This is where I write about things.
Monday, October 18, 2004
The Epic Tale of a Band Trip to Daytona Beach, Gainsville AND Orlando Florida
I can't even explain how awesome the trip to Florida was...or can I?
The bus trip down: Not fun. I wasn't tired enough to sleep, and we got to our hotel about 4 and a half hours LATER than we we're scheduled to. We ended up spending about 14 hours cramped into the lovely charter bus seats (the bus company was called "Excellent Adventures" by the way). When we finally got there, we discovered the elevators were broken. This was an eleven story hotel, and we had 200 people trying to move all their luggage up stairs, at 11:30 pm. The stairs I decided to take had no exit on the 6th floor (where my room was), so I had to take another flight of stairs up to the room. From that point on, things got a lot better.
The first night: After I threw my bags to the floor of our room, I decided to check out the beach. Not a lot was going on that night, but we had an excellent view from our hotel room, and it also turns out that the adjacent room connected to ours, and turns out it was the rest of the MTSU quad line plus some other guy. We decided to make our rooms an 8 person suite, which most importantly gave us two bathrooms in case of conflict. After watching some TV, it was sleep time.
Gators VS Raiders: Guess who won? Even though our team seemed like they might be almost good in the first 5 minutes, that quickly changed. But more importantly, the halftime show was rather well received. We got a standing ovation at "The Swamp", and the Florida drumline had us over after the game for a little "Drum Off" (think "Drumline" the movie). After the game, it was back to Daytona Beach...
Swimming/Clubbing(Or not...)/Oysters: The ocean was cold. There were some pretty big waves. This wouldn't stop me or tons of other people from jumping in. Splashing around in the waves loses its effect sooner or later, and so when the boredom hit, me and some friends decided to check out the "family friendly" town of Daytona Beach. There was a club that seemingly EVERYONE was going to, so we decided to check it out. It was 10 dollars, and I'm cheap, so we decided to find something else to do, like eat. I ran into Ben and Lizzie and hit up the Oyster Pub, which was well worth it. Not only did we get "The Bucket" (48 raw, fresh oysters), but some guys from the Orange County Choppers were also there. Now I don't really watch that show at all, but hey, I saw famous people. And that's pretty cool. Eating 24 oysters will leave you tired, so it was back to the hotel.
Islands of Adventure: Somewhere along this trip, I decided (with a little peer pressure here and there) to spend the 42 dollars (out of the 120 the band provided all of us with for the trip) and go to "Islands of Adventure" in Orlando with a select group of us who also were willing to sacrifice a day on the beach. It was worth it after I rode the first coaster (Dueling Dragons). We managed to get on all of the best rides there, The Hulk, Spiderman, Jurrasic Park, and Dudley Do Right's log ride extravaganza (or whatever its called). This was followed by a great dinner at Pat O'Briens, and then ANOTHER bus ride back to Daytona Beach.
Swimming and not Sleeping At All: The night began with swimming again. Now, no surprise it lasted all of thirty minutes before it was time to find a place to eat. Sunday night in Daytona isn't the best time to try to find a restaurant, but Burger King did just fine. After BK, I went back to the room and thought the night was cooling down. Instead me and Sean had a few friends up to our room, and after hanging out on our 6th floor balcony for a few hours, it was decreed that it shall be an all nighter. So it was of course time for a walk back down to the beach and some pointless games went on there. After the beach, we busted out the cards and played until the sun almost came up. By this time I was tired to the point of being completely delirious, so as soon as I got on the bus and roll was called, I was out. Even when we stopped at McDonalds I got up, but I sure didn't feel awake. It took until we stopped at a rest area and I got some Mt. Dew in me that I regained consciousness. After a Kill Bill Marathon and some more less important movies, we finally got home.
And that's what happened, I guess.
The bus trip down: Not fun. I wasn't tired enough to sleep, and we got to our hotel about 4 and a half hours LATER than we we're scheduled to. We ended up spending about 14 hours cramped into the lovely charter bus seats (the bus company was called "Excellent Adventures" by the way). When we finally got there, we discovered the elevators were broken. This was an eleven story hotel, and we had 200 people trying to move all their luggage up stairs, at 11:30 pm. The stairs I decided to take had no exit on the 6th floor (where my room was), so I had to take another flight of stairs up to the room. From that point on, things got a lot better.
The first night: After I threw my bags to the floor of our room, I decided to check out the beach. Not a lot was going on that night, but we had an excellent view from our hotel room, and it also turns out that the adjacent room connected to ours, and turns out it was the rest of the MTSU quad line plus some other guy. We decided to make our rooms an 8 person suite, which most importantly gave us two bathrooms in case of conflict. After watching some TV, it was sleep time.
Gators VS Raiders: Guess who won? Even though our team seemed like they might be almost good in the first 5 minutes, that quickly changed. But more importantly, the halftime show was rather well received. We got a standing ovation at "The Swamp", and the Florida drumline had us over after the game for a little "Drum Off" (think "Drumline" the movie). After the game, it was back to Daytona Beach...
Swimming/Clubbing(Or not...)/Oysters: The ocean was cold. There were some pretty big waves. This wouldn't stop me or tons of other people from jumping in. Splashing around in the waves loses its effect sooner or later, and so when the boredom hit, me and some friends decided to check out the "family friendly" town of Daytona Beach. There was a club that seemingly EVERYONE was going to, so we decided to check it out. It was 10 dollars, and I'm cheap, so we decided to find something else to do, like eat. I ran into Ben and Lizzie and hit up the Oyster Pub, which was well worth it. Not only did we get "The Bucket" (48 raw, fresh oysters), but some guys from the Orange County Choppers were also there. Now I don't really watch that show at all, but hey, I saw famous people. And that's pretty cool. Eating 24 oysters will leave you tired, so it was back to the hotel.
Islands of Adventure: Somewhere along this trip, I decided (with a little peer pressure here and there) to spend the 42 dollars (out of the 120 the band provided all of us with for the trip) and go to "Islands of Adventure" in Orlando with a select group of us who also were willing to sacrifice a day on the beach. It was worth it after I rode the first coaster (Dueling Dragons). We managed to get on all of the best rides there, The Hulk, Spiderman, Jurrasic Park, and Dudley Do Right's log ride extravaganza (or whatever its called). This was followed by a great dinner at Pat O'Briens, and then ANOTHER bus ride back to Daytona Beach.
Swimming and not Sleeping At All: The night began with swimming again. Now, no surprise it lasted all of thirty minutes before it was time to find a place to eat. Sunday night in Daytona isn't the best time to try to find a restaurant, but Burger King did just fine. After BK, I went back to the room and thought the night was cooling down. Instead me and Sean had a few friends up to our room, and after hanging out on our 6th floor balcony for a few hours, it was decreed that it shall be an all nighter. So it was of course time for a walk back down to the beach and some pointless games went on there. After the beach, we busted out the cards and played until the sun almost came up. By this time I was tired to the point of being completely delirious, so as soon as I got on the bus and roll was called, I was out. Even when we stopped at McDonalds I got up, but I sure didn't feel awake. It took until we stopped at a rest area and I got some Mt. Dew in me that I regained consciousness. After a Kill Bill Marathon and some more less important movies, we finally got home.
And that's what happened, I guess.
posted by David # 9:56 PM 
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