Rally '05 Rocked

-CDL- Rally 2005 was a wonderful success this year in beautiful Orlando, Florida. Most fortunately, rain early in the week brought cooler weather for us September 14-19. Members trickled in from all over the US and Canada to meet up at <a href="http://www.nickhotel.com/">Nickelodeon Hotel</a> where we were told by the staff to, “have a slime of a time,” and 9-year-old Dragonwolf Son, Doquantai, did just that. He and his siblings were slimed during one of the featured live shows at the resort and were sorely disappointed when their Mom insisted they wash off the slime coating before dinner.

The main event, our trip to Kennedy Space Center, was a blast thanks to Sentrosi’s careful planning. We all touched the moon -a small sliver of moon, which our bus driver said is worth a million dollars.

We dined at the Moon Rock Café and those of us who bravely had the very valuable ($$$) hamburgers there suspect they may have actually been freeze dried, sent into orbit for many months and then reconstituted here on earth for use in the Cafe. Hamma, Jen and several others survived the hamburger experience but went on later to have real food at our hotel.

We enjoyed a stroll through the <a href="http://www.undercovertourist.com/tickets/orlando/kennedy-space-center/rocket-garden.htm">Rocket Garden</a>. Frozen space dots made a nice mid-afternoon treat.

We explored many exhibits together. One space capsule on display had a small opening in its plexiglass enclosure and you could see where the touch of many visitors, possibly dreaming of space travel, maybe trying to make a connection with outer space and astronauts had worn away the one area on the bottom of the capsule. Mani really wanted to touch it but his hands were full after all his shopping in the gift store. Mrs. Mani would have been proud.

We watched a few films including a 3-D movie featuring the <a href="http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/ISS_OVR">International Space Station</a>, which was a very cool experience for me because I remember when I was in college, Russian delegates including a few Cosmonauts (I thought Yuri Gagarin was among them, but since he died when I was an infant, I guess that would have been impossible. Sorry for the misinfo!) came to visit the US on a mission. They came to ask us to put aside our differences with them and work together. They thought together we could accomplish much more if we shared knowledge and expenses in our space programs. I remember they toured the school and were fascinated with our research on DNA testing (the paternity tests that are so common today) and on Growth Factor Hormone research. Some of the delegates became angry because they were asking many questions and thought we were keeping information from them. We all finally figured out the translators weren’t familiar with the scientific terminology being used and were unable to adequately communicate the information. One of us asked a Cosmonaut “How did it feel to be one of the first men in space?” and the translator spent a bit of time articulating the question to him. He looked over curiously and said, “Fine.” …It’s possible something was lost in translation.

It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come since then. They must have found some better translators.

Mani and I reminisced about when we were children and kids of our generation dreamed of going to the moon. I asked Angelkake, 11, if she wanted to be an astronaut and she said, “No. I don’t want a job where I might be blown up.”

Many Dragonwolves braved the dangers of the enormous, orange, yellow and green multi-waterslide mountain at our hotel. It was topped with a towering Spongebob, featuring constantly running water gushing down, filling buckets and reservoirs that would over-turn and dump on the heads of those who dared to trespass on its winding, wedgie-giving curves. Reign and Dyganth even have bruises from it. This thing was magnificent. The sort of waterslide kids dream about …even the grown-up kids.

We went to Black Angus Steakhouse for our big dinner together where some of us had a beer or two and some had chocolate milk. We laughed and joked and feasted on fine steaks and seafood till we could hardly move.

Some Dragonwolves enjoyed Universal Studios and a few of us headed to Disney World’s Epcot for a day. We had plenty of opportunity to do our own thing or join in with the group. There was something there for everyone.

I especially enjoyed our last night together. Many of us went for an evening swim. We had about 10 or more Dragonwolves in the pool. It was too deep for the kids to touch the bottom so young ones swam from one Dragonwolf to another in the deep end. We splashed and played and had a very good time.

Thanks, Manitou, for arriving early to make sure everyone had a ride from the airport and got in safely. Black and GraniteRok traveled the farthest, driving all the way down from Canada to join in the festivities. Hamma, Jennyboo, Thronebeast, Sentrosi, Dyganth, Shrike, Reign, Biscotti, Full Otto, Bretta, Nyara, Indecisive, Pistachio, Angelkake, Doquantai and I were there. It was a pleasure and an honor to enjoy everyone’s company.

 

haha! I needed a good laugh.

 

muhahaha!!!

...Now that we've convinced him we have a rally every year, we need to bribe the hotel staff into going along with our evil plot.

 

No, you're my favorite. <3

 

That's the problem. You don't bug me enough!

I get on a bit late at night for the start of planned instance runs because I like to have the kids read to and tucked into bed at night. By the time I log on all the spots are filled and I'm there playing by myself or in pick up groups. Noone saves a spot for yet another palladin and my priest is too low for big instances.