A magickal trip to Hogwarts and The Lost Continent....

Our magic started early today....
Ravyn, Harry and I set off on an adventure!

and it was spent going to Mecca. Yah.

Harry Potter's Hogwarts Theme Park at Universal Studios.

Like I said.

Mecca.

And in the words of the Genie Johmbie, "Mecca lecca high, mecca hinney ho!" This turned into our chant as we set off to Orlando to arrive at opening at 9am. Of COURSE the first character we saw welcoming us into the gates was a GENIE. (no shite).

As I said, "Mecca Lecca Hi, Mecca Hinney Ho!" :)

The whole place was awesome! There was Dr. Seuss Land and a bunch of kooky trees....

As Horton says...
"We are Here! We are Here! We are Here!"
and lots of fun stuff for us to play with :)

and we sorta kept on our path, because we wanted...nay, NEEDED to get to Hogwarts.

And then?

THERE it was!

It was PHENOMENAL.

We went straight to Olivander's Wand Shop

and then to Hogwarts for the ride.

I was concerned, because I'm not a big ride person (long story) so I was pretty hesitant with all the disclaimers along the way to the ride.

We wandered through the castle on the way....

(BTW~ an aside...I never saw this Unicorn tapestry. It is the magick of this place. I see I was right BY it...never saw it till now when I'm adding pics!! )

 But, after getting buckled in and a few moments of disorientation, it was great! I was almost fried by a dragon! I narrowly escaped having my life force sucked away by a Death Eater!

 I also know now how awesome it would be to fly in a Quidditch match! You have to be fast when being chased by dragons in flight! There were enchanted pictures on the wall,

and Dumbledor himself welcomed us to the school!

Looks like I was even under the "Sorting Hat" at one point!!

Slytherin wants me bad. :)

I told Harry that I will make him a robe, because he does look very similiar to him and he would look SO GOOD! So we got Harry a Dumbledor's hat...

and well...

Scabbers the ratty HAD to come home with me.
(and YES....he is missing a toe :)

We had just finished our fabulous ride, when Merlyn said, "I need a pint after being so brave on that ride!" and we ducked into Hogsmeade Tavern

for a drink and some fish & chips.

Even Scabbers got a nosh and a drink :)

Harry saw a Hogwarts "student" sitting next to us, and asked to have his pic taken with her (it's only fair after all the pics we get asked of us at ren faires :) and she obliged. She also ended up asking us if we wanted to pal around with her, and go on a rollercoaster ride with her. Her name was "Aria" because...she liked to sing :)
She showed us the ins and outs of the park, turned us on to Butter Beer (YUM!)  AND (BONUS!) gave us her employee discount on a few purchases (which included Dumbledor's wand for Harry!)

We traveled to Jurassic Park....I had made mention that IF we were to see Jeff Goldblum that "he was MINE". But we didn't....damn. I would've run after him like a velociraptor :)
Speaking of velociraptors, I saw the birth of a baby raptor! And well, then we had to run for our lives like crazy when a pack of Velociraptors saw us...we managed to get away with our lives.
Thank god there were others behind us that couldn't run as fast :)

Then we went to The Lost Continent

and sat in on the "Eighth Voyage of Sindbad" stunt show and then we almost were trapped forever in Poseidon's Temple by a demon. Thankfully it all turned into a pretty great pyrotechnics and water works show as "Poseidon's Fury".  (whew :)

The last bit for us this day was our visit to Super Hero Island. Ravyn went on "The Incredible Hulk Coaster" and we all went on the "Amazing Adventures of Spider Man" ride. This ride was fun and crazy and wild and a 3-D adventure where I was nearly killed by several Marvel comics nemesis! All while dropping thousands of feet (in my head) or topping skyscrapers!

Then it was HAPPY HOUR and time for Marguaritas in Marguaritaville!

Scabbers was even hoping for a sip...

We thought about it....but Harry said NO SALTY RATTIES :)

All in all a VERY magickal day! I am SO tired! It's hard walking the pavement, being chased by toothy dinosaurs, being on the Quidditch team, and fighting crime and scaling buildings with Spiderman.

And all in a single day.

Now I'm off to bed....

with a fellow who looks remarkably like Dumbledor...

and I hope Scabbers doesn't snore :)

A mini trip to the Orient

Magic this day found us in the form of relationships!

Harry & I drove across the dragon path of Alligator Alley to the Coconut Grove area and we arrived to see my brother Gus and outlaw Barb :) Also saw my niece Jessica and got to meet her sons (my great nephews!) for the first time! A wonderful visit with them.

Chatting about our wonderful father (who shares a birthday with Gus) on a day close to the anniversary of our dad's passing, really made us feel that dad was with us. We chatted about memories and influences from our childhoods. I got a new shot in the arm from Gus about my writings and will be working some more on a direction for my special blog I've been sharing with only a few. :)
It's so good to meet up and it was truly heart filling for me to be with them. We played some music for the boys (who were uncharacteristically shy we heard). We so enjoyed chatting with them, and soaking them up.

 We look forward to seeing them again next time we are down this way.
You see...
For...Magically speaking, we "were in the neighborhood" so to speak...even being 1500 miles from our shire!

We said our goodbyes and drove only a few miles farther (surprising coincidence) to arrive at Star & Mikal's and visit with them and Jay & Abby for an overnight there.

You see....Merlyn had a plan. I heard that we all had a similiar piece of apparel in our belongings and decided to all wear it to go out to a MAGICAL dinner that Star & Mikal recommended at "Shinju Japanese Sushi Buffet"!

This restaurant was phenomenal! We don't have anything like this kind of delicacy much up by us. I told Abby that I knew really nothing about the cuisine, so could I tag her and have her teach me the ropes. She surely did!

 I got a plate at the gorgeous looking spread of sushi, sushimi and salads made of seaweed. It was amazing. Abby had a pair of tongs in front of me and picked out many wild and delicious looking rolls of this or that. Slices of raw fish from the deep sea and topped it with Wasabi and dipped in soy sauce was mouth watering! We all were in heaven and making Winnie the Poo "yummy sounding hums" as we relished in the company and the atmosphere! Hot tea, pickled ginger, wasabi and so many beautiful delights on our plates! Harry wasn't sure he was going to like it, but he surely did!

Here's some extra fun~
As we were leaving with bellies full from treats from the Far Orient....we asked a hostess to take our group picture there. This beautiful Japanese lady happily agreed to help us, and as she was focusing our camera on this fun motley crew, with the camera's magic eye, she stopped...looked at us and said with a surprised smile,

"Oh! You all same shirt!"

And it amused her as much as it did us :)

 The morning light found Abby, Jay, Harry & I playing music before breakfast all in our jammies. We worked out several pieces of delightful music with them. We all wish we lived closer to each other to work up more! We figured out "Nonesuch" and also a haunting dirge called "Saint James Hospital". (no, not "St. James Infirmary"...that is the later version.)

They spoiled us all with a MOST delicious brunch of bagels, cream cheese, lox and capers and french press coffee! YUM!
We thanked Star & Mikal ....

Took off and made it 5 hours drive later to Ravyn's house up in Gulfport.

 Our car is making the trip, a little complaining, but so far so good. Our "horse" on this journey shivers and shakes occasionally if we push it and it has a new infrequent grinding sound when you turn the front wheel. How'ere, we are far from home, know no reputable garages and we are still motivating....so we will try to keep the miles going forward, carefully so and pray to the Gods and hope for the best.  

Recap:
Pulling into port with a familiar family tie...yet far from home.
Food from the exotic Orient.
Magic Music before breakfast.
A faithful steed.
Kindred spirits~ both friends & family.

As I said.....

a Magical Adventure!!