Trip Recap

Posted by MTF at 5/22/2009 2:51 AM
Categories: uncategorized
All,
   Happy Friday, and happy Memorial Day weekend!  A shoutout to all troops past and present this weekend.  Summer is here by most people's watch, and considering the 97 and 94 degree high temps in Minneapolis earlier this week, I will not disagree.  SUMMER 2009....ooooooh man.   Let's roll!
    First, as promised, let's recap the Flo'da/'Dota trip, nicknamed by some as Spring Break Part II.
  • This would be the first trip with the new camera, retiring the old one from '02-'09, which took nearly 9,000 pics.  Thanks FujiFilm for a gem!
  • The trip started like renegade trips of the past...chaotic.  Wuj and I get to our hotel around 12:30 am and  low and behold could not get in.  No one is at the front desk and the entrance door is locked!  We call the number given to us, but nothing.  Well, five people down the way in the parking lot on this 75 degree night are all we got.  All are tanked, but friendly.  One lets us in with their key card and then proceeds to knock on the hotel desk door for 30 minutes straight.  Unbelievable.  Two other random people show up, but also are very helpful and search the hotel hallways for an employee.  Finally, after 45 minutes, the hotel clerk shows up from "making the rounds" as he said.  Also said his cell had died.  Yeah.  Finally get to sleep around 2 am the morning before the launch.
  • If you get the chance, you need to see a rocket launch from NASA, do it...period.  At least visit the Kennedy Space Center.
  • Shuttle junkies were everywhere watching!  We watched from about 12 miles away, which is as close as you can get without paying big bucks.  It was plenty close to feel the thrill!  By the way, Atlantis is scheduled to come home today.





  • Shuttle Atlantis went up just in time.  Not 50 minutes later, there was a t-storm close enough that would have canceled the launch.  Also, just to the west was a large wildfire that had been burning for weeks due to dry conditions.  The smoke plume from that was a brief concern for NASA.
  • We went to Daytona Beach, where you can drive on the beach.  One problem...an hour-long redevelopment of thunderstorms!  We were basically where the sea-breeze joined the ocean and appeared to be a continuous focus for storms.  Still, it would stop and got out on the beach.  Last time on a beach before was April of '99, and damn had I missed it.  As Wuj commented when taking the below pic ... "My name is Matt Friedlein, and I enjoy long walks on the beach..."  Not exactly true, but last week it sure was.  Though Wuj was my companion for the long walk???  Ha, I'll take it!


  • Spent an entire day at Kennedy Space Center.  Amazing.  The engineering, the American Pride, the SCIENCE of it all ... astounding!  We got to see Shuttle Endeavour up close as it was on the launch pad in case Atlantis was struck with space junk while working on the Hubble.  Below is a panoramic of the two launch pads.





  • After a day at Kennedy, we went to good ol' Celebration to pay a visit to my favorite FL school teachers.  We got to dine with sister of Guider, the lovely Becky.  And she, like her brother, just seemed to have poor judgment on my cool clothes.

  • Here is where I got to watch Game 6 of the Red Wings series, with one Guider.  Ironically 48 hours later I would be watching Game 7 of the same series with another Guider (a far uglier one), some one thousand miles away.
  • We spent an entire day and evening at Epcot Center, which was a great call on our part, I have to admit.  That was awesome, and a beautiful day weatherwise.  We rode all by two rides, one of which was Nemo.  We visited every country, dining at Japan.  Watched the nighttime light show "Illuminations".  Fabulous.
  • Also, while eating at Japan, Wuj and I would get into a 40 minute debate about probability of precipitation and whether meteorologists use fuzzy science.  It was heated, yet inevitable that in three days we would tango with that.





  • After Epcot, we realized we were running the rental car on fumes.  Desperate in the traffic leaving Disney to make a gas station, we made some U-turns (legal in FL/MN).  In the process, we discovered a HUGE souvenir shop collocated with a....

  • Despite having living in the South, it was my first time at "The House".  Very good.  No Ziggies, but good.
  • Trip back to IL was a bit turbulent, but all good.  We basically went straight to Wrigley Field and pre-partied a bit at Murphy's.  Great atmosphere.  Ate some Wrigley brats and slow drank a beer and power drank a soda.  Problem with that?




  • CUBS WIN!  CUBS WIN!  11-3 man-handling of the Padres.  Wuj and I had a great time, much like we did at Wrigley some two decades ago.  Thanks Wuj.
  • Wuj would then "hand me off" to Guider, this time Dan.  A meeting of the minds between Wuj and Guider.  Next time they will see each other?  SCF or my wedding?
  • Then would ensue one of the craziest/best/classic Chicagoland nights I've had.  And it goes without saying that Mengler and Guider were in the center of it, as usual.  But we met up with a few unexpected folks too, which kept the night very entertaining!
  • Went to a Detroit bar in Chicago to start off?  I had no idea such nonsense existed.
  • A lot of hoopla about my shirt choice this night.  A classic 80's Hawaiian shirt that is etched in Guider's mind forever.



  • Rob could not get off the shuttle and weather subjects, or the perfume subject too?!  His friend Ian also was there.  He told the most absurd story I have ever heard and I guarantee any of you Breezers will have ever heard too.  Unfortunately, it is not fit for a Breeze entry.  Sickest yet funniest darn story!
  • Jen would meet up with us late, or according to her "early".  Her friend Liz is obsessed with mustaches in pictures and in public settings.  Very strange....as we saw firsthand.




  • The pic above may be the funniest from the trip, if not one of the best I have period.  Guider and Vujea, save this one and use it for a rainy corporate e-mail day.
  • This night would go until the wee hours of the morning, with a stop at Ian's Pizza which Jen was raving about.  It was worth it.  Macaroni and Cheese pizza!


  • The above is one of eight failed attempts to take a pic for the Mammens.  I had just as many pictures from this bar than I did at Cape Canaveral!  Ha, not exactly...but close.


  • Big thanks to Mengler and Jen for ensuring I caught my train to Mendota the morning after.  Ha, classic.  And then a big ups to my sis who called me just in time to wake me up before I missed the stop at Mendota.  Haha.  It's like dealing with a 5 year old!  Grow up MTF!
  • Mendota.  As always, the World's Greatest Little City does not disappoint.  Spent some quality time with the fam, which includes Tuffie.


  • Tuffie and I actually made a music video, which you may or may not see.
  • Ate at Caponni's in Toluca, a Friedlein family favorite.  I'm 3 lbs heavier because of it.  And 15 lbs heavier because of the rest of my trip.
  • Out in Mendota on Saturday night.  Foxy and Fuller provided a heck of a time.  Along with a little help from the Hards and Zig.  And we relived the Foxy wedding a bit, with Cherry bombs all around.






A Florida sunset is a fitting pic for the end of what was one of my better trips, capturing relaxation, science, and fun.  Thanks again to a ton of folks, even those I did not see (Mammens namely).  Again, there will be a video collage I hope soon.  In the meantime, if you have questions, comments, or of course insults, you know how to reply to the Breeze and reach me directly.

From the 'Sota to the 'Dota, thanks Flo'da....
MTF











 

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