Favorite Pictures (Friday Five Edition)

I usually go through freeprints.com to print my photos.  They print up to 85 photos per month for free.  You do have to pay for shipping, so I found that it only makes it as cheap as going to a drug store or Target if you order 85 of them.  So I haven't done any in a couple of years and thought it might be time to see what I have.  In the last week I have been going through the last few years of photos on my phone and putting them in an album so that I can easily find them and send them out.  Going through a ton of photos made me want to share some.  Most of my photos have to do with my cats, races, or beautiful sunrises/sunsets.  I will hang some of the, give some of them to friends or family, but most of them will probably sit in a box.  But I love having photos that I can change out when I feel like it.  I know I can get a digital frame, but I'm still looking for a good one that I can hang on the wall with no wires - meaning wifi and battery operated.  I haven't found one that has that and is good quality.  Here are a few of them.

One of my boys, Riley.  If you can't tell he is in the hallway upstairs and I'm on the stairs.  He hangs off like that all the time.



At SeaWorld, Florida.



A sunrise on one of my morning runs.

 
 Finishing the Dopey Challenge.



Finishing the Marine Corps Marathon.




Disneyland after a Star Wars race.



At Universal Studios Hollywood.



A sunrise during a bike ride.


Getting surprised after the Bubble Run.




At the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore during the Baltimore Marathon Relay.




Disney World during Princess Half Marathon.




Entering Disney World for Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend.



During the Star Wars 10k.




How do you print your photos?  What do you do with your printed photos?  Do you know of a good wireless digital frame?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 vlog (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

I haven't been very good about running this week.  I'm back to thinking running is bleck.  Monday and Wednesday wasn't too bad, but it took a bit to get out the door.  Friday I woke up and my back really hurt.  So that was my excuse to not run.  I had a 12 mile run this weekend and yesterday I woke up and really didn't want to go.  My back still hurt a little and I was just a little hung over so I decided that I wasn't going.  I did get my act together this morning, but it took me a bit to get out the door.  By the time I got out there at 10 it was already 63 degrees.  By the time I finished it was in the low 70's.  I should have just got my butt out the door.  It was such a hard run.  I hated literally every step of the run.  The only thing that got me through is the book on tape I was listening to.  I still feel like crap.  But it's done and my last long run till my next half.  Really am glad I am not signed up for any more halfs after this one.  I'll be happy to not run more then 6-7 miles for the summer.

On other fronts I got a job and will be starting Monday - as in tomorrow.  I'm a bit nervous.  I'm a bit excited.  And more then anything I'm going to miss my time off.  But it will be good to get back into a new routine.

I have my last vlogs to share with everyone.  From my day at Universal Studios.  I took tons of video so both are pretty long.  But if you ever have any thoughts of going, it should give you a good idea about the park.





If you missed, here are the other vlogs from the weekend.

• Arrival and Expo
• 5k and Disneyland
• 10k and Half

Make sure you read my post from Universal.

This first one is getting into the park and the Harry Potter Wizarding World.

This second one is the rest of the day in the park.

I hope everyone enjoyed the vlogs.  I have enjoyed editing them together and plan on doing the same for the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend.

Have a great week!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Star Wars Light Side 10k and Half 2017 vlog (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

It's been a busy week here.  Not too much in the workout world.  I skinned my knees last weekend and between that and the rain on Friday I only got two runs in.  Both not very fast.  I did run the Ukrop's 10k yesterday and did really well.  I'll have a recap on that on Tuesday.  For now, I want to get a couple more vlogs out for your enjoyment.

If you missed, here are the other vlogs from the weekend.

• Arrival and Expo
• 5k and Disneyland

First up, the Star Wars Light Side 10k.

Click here to read the 10k recap.


And then to wrap up the running portion of the weekend, the half.

Click here to read the half recap.

Make sure you check out my vlog of Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 Part 2 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Another boring week so I'll finish up my day at Universal Studios.  If you haven't had a chance to read the first part, take a moment and do so.

If you want to catch up on the previous posts, here are the links.

• Expo
• 5k
• Disneyland Park
• 10k
• Half
• Universal Part 1

At the top of the stairs was Springfield (from The Simpsons).  This is a ride that doesn't move like a roller coaster like the rest of the 3-D rides, but moves the car you are sitting in around to make it feel like a roller coaster.  And this ride spits on you as well.


I headed to the Studio Tour.  I had been looking forward to this all day.  It's the only thing I remember from the time I was there when I was 9 years old.  Probably the only original ride left.  And the only thing I remembered from the ride was Jaws.  I really hoped that they still had it on this ride.


At this point my phone was not only running out of power (it wasn't even mid-day, I was sad) but also running out of storage space.  I needed to delete some things to be able to take any more pictures.  This ride was a tram with several cars.  Each tram has a tour guide, who explains the things that we are seeing.


There was the sign from the neighborhood of Back to the Future.


There was the town from The Good Place.  "What the fork?!?"

Then we went into a building (still in the tram) where the King Kong experience was.  It is 360 (all around you) 3-D of King Kong fighting T-Rex.  It was cool to look anywhere and see part of the fight.  Until it spit on me.  Bleck.

The ride continued on and we saw other city streets.  And then we headed into another building.  Here they made it look like we were in a subway station and an earthquake happened with a huge flood.  They did make it look like the water might come up and get us.  It looked real.


Then we headed out and around and there was the lake from Jaws.  What I was so excited to see.  And just before Jaws was to jump up and "attack" the tram, my camera died.  But it was exactly how I remembered.


 We came around and saw the Bates Motel.  They had an actor come out with a "dead body" and put it in the trunk of his car.  Then he would see us and chase us with a knife as we drove off.  I wish I got a picture of that, as it was a fun idea to have an actor out there.

Then we headed into another building to see the Fast & Furious.  This is another 360 degree 3-D experience.  While I have never seen any of the movies, it was fun to see the car chases all around.  Of course till they spit on me.

That was the end of this ride, probably the most exciting of them all so far.  I rebooted my phone and thankfully that helped give me a third of my power back.  I decided to keep an eye out to see where I might be able to buy a charger for the dang thing.

As I was walking around to the next ride, I saw the Animal Actors show was about to start.

 

This was a show about the animals in different movies and TV and the tricks that they teach them.  They had everything from dogs to cats to birds and even rats.  The dog that they had on stage is the same breed as my parents' dog.  Just as crazy as my parents' too.  I wasn't sure if the misbehaving was part of the show or not.


 I then could tell I was really getting in a bad mood.  I needed to eat, my blood sugar was dropping fast.  I walked around for what seemed like ages trying to find just some sort of sandwich and fries.  I finally got what I wanted and headed to the last few rides left.

They had a Walking Dead exhibit.  I really wasn't sure what to expect at all and it turned out that it was more like a haunted house maze where things jump out at you.  And it's more scary if you don't have a line of people in front of you so you would know where they are jumping out at.  And I didn't have anyone in front of me.  That was some Halloween fun!


 As I headed around I found Scooby and Shaggy.


And Beetlejuice.


I passed the Shrek 4-D and decided to do that one.  This is a huge theater where they show a 3-D show and move your seats.  And as part of the 4-D they spit on you.  The show itself wasn't all that great and then the spitting made me hate it.

I decided to head to the Special Effects Show.  

 

This was really cool as they showed different things from sound effects, to fake fighting, to even a man on fire.

Yes this is a real man on fire, walking around for about 18 seconds till they put him out.  And no harm no damage.


And then I headed to the Despicable Me ride and saw the girls from the movie.



I went into the Despicable Me ride and as they were getting everyone in their seats, they started to entertain us.  It was looking like there was a problem and they were trying to get it fixed.  But in the end they decided to just give us a fast pass and have us leave and come back. 

I went out and got a picture with some Minions and went back into the ride since it was still open.  I ended up on the same side and it seemed to work right.  It's a big room where they have about 6 rows of 15 and a big 3-D screen.  The seats moved up and down but did not go anywhere.  The 3-D was fun and the story OK.  And then it spit on me.

By this time I had done all the rides and I was thinking it was getting to be time to head back to the hotel.  My knee was holding up fine, but I was really getting tired.  I ran into Dracula then and was swooned.



I decided that I wanted one of the smaller versions of the doughnut from the Simpsons and a hot Pumpkin Juice from Harry Potter.

The one in the case is the full size.  The one I got was still bigger then a normal doughnut.

As I was standing in line for the hot Pumpkin Juice I saw this kid sitting and reading.  He looks exactly like Draco Malfoy.  Seriously.  We all wondered if he just happens to be there or if he is an actor that looks like him and gets paid to sit and read a book at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant.



On my way out, I ran into the Mummy and told him a "That's what she said joke" and just kept laughing.



I ended up walking back to the hotel as I didn't want to fuss with waiting for an Uber.  It was really a nice evening and it was fun to see the real world outside the park.  I ended up getting my pizza that was promised to me and ate part of that doughnut for dinner.  I repacked everything and crashed.  I had another early morning to head home.

All and all I really do love Universal.  Most of the rides are the same between Hollywood and Orlando.  What I did hate about it was every ride except one spit water into my face.  Is that really necessary?  I was thinking of doing Universal Studios Orlando as part of my trip to Disney World in April, but all the rides are almost the same.  Maybe next year I'll do Florida again as it is defiantly a park that is tons of fun!

Check out my vlogs of the trip, including the ones for Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 Part 1 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

So it's been another boring week for me, so instead of hashing out those details, I thought I would get into the last day of my trip after the Star Wars Light Side Half.

If you want to catch up on the previous posts, here are the links.

• Expo
• 5k
• Disneyland Park
• 10k
• Half

I left the Disneyland Hotel on Sunday night and headed to Universal City.  I found a hotel, El Royal Hotel, less then a mile from the park and got an Uber there.  I got to the hotel and they told me that I didn't have a reservation.  What?!?  I had my reservation email printout with me.  They said that they did have a smaller room and they would knock some off my bill and buy me a pizza for dinner.  I asked to have the pizza the next night since I had already eaten at the Catal.

The hotel was nice, and my room was tiny.  Like enough room for a bed and a desk with not a lot of room to walk around the bed.  I didn't mind since I was really just there to sleep.  I got my plan together about what rides to hit when and what is a not to miss.

The park was open at 9 a.m. and since I bought my ticket online I got early admission.  I could get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at 8 a.m.  The only time I have ever been to an amusement park when it opened was when I went to Disneyland a few days earlier.  There people were lined up an hour early and they let us in to wait on Main Street for 30 minutes.  I assumed it would be the same at Universal so I got there about 7 a.m.  Boy was I wrong.

I took an Uber to the park even though it was less then a mile away from the hotel.  My knee had been hurting all weekend from my fall and I knew I was going to be walking a ton throughout the day.  I got to the front of the park and there was no on there.  At all.

I wandered around and found the gates and where I would need to be.  Then I wandered down to City Walk.  I was hoping that something would be open, like a Starbucks to get something to eat.  No one was around and nothing was open.  This sure was not like my experience a few days earlier.  It was odd.

I had been to Universal Studios once and City Walk once on a different trip.  The first was when my friend was getting married and one evening we all went to Universal.  They had a bunch of front of the line passes and we rode a handful of rides.  I don't remember much of the park except maybe the Mummy ride as I was just following everyone else around.  The time I was at City Walk, I was there with the same friends for a premiere of a movie.  Maybe I'll do a Throwback Thursday about that, as it was a lot of fun.

I got back to the front gates and sat on one of the walls and waited.  Slowly a few people showed up and finally they let us through security.  Then we had to wait some at the front gates.  I talked a little to the lady as I was still first in line (weird, right?)  She exchanged my printout ticket for a real ticket and my front of the line lanyard.  About 20 till we were allowed to head in.  But like Disneyland they stopped us at the end of "Main Street".  When it was about 8 a.m. they walked us to the entrance of  The Wizzarding World.

I made a beeline to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  I have been to Universal Studios Orlando twice and this is the same ride that they have there.  It is an indoor ride.  Through a seated ride, it takes you through the Hogwarts Castle and over the grounds.  It uses a ride you sit in like a roller coaster but incorporates the 3-D screens to make you think you are in a different place.

The line getting to the ride was really cool, it had a lot of stuff you would expect to find in the castle like the moving pictures, Dumbledore's office, and the sorting hat. 

This ride is great, I ended up riding it 4 times in a row since I knew that after that the lines were going to get long.  I didn't even use my front of the line pass, just the single rider line. The only thing I did not like about the ride was that it spit in your face.  In fact all rides I went on, except 1 spit water in your face.  It's irritating and gross.  They are trying to incorporate that 4-D crap and really that's not worth it.

After that I headed to the only other ride in the Wizarding World, Flight of the Hippogriff.  It also is a ride at Universal Studios Orlando.

It's more of a kiddy ride, and is a real roller coaster outside.  It was still fun, but only a one time ride.  The best part about this ride was that it didn't spit on me.

By this time it was about the time the park was opening for others and you could tell it was getting crowded.  I decided to get some breakfast at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant.  I had the french toast and it was good.  I tried Pumpkin Juice for the first time and I have to say that stuff is sweet.

I went into all the shops.  Everything was like you were in the Harry Potter world.  There was also Ollivanders where they pick a kid from the audience and had them pick out a wand.

And there was the Hogwarts Express.

I decided to get a Butterbeer as I walk to the next ride.  Mmmmmm is that stuff good!

I headed down to what they call the lower lot.  You take 4 sets of stairs (or escalators) down.  Down in the lower lot are three more rides, the Mummy, Transformers, and Jurassic Park.

I do have to say the views are amazing. 

I went to see the Mummy first, I remember this not only from my one other time there, but also from Orlando.  It's a fun ride.  It's a roller coaster type ride inside.  It includes some fire special effects which was different.  And guess what, it spits in your face.

As I headed to the Transformers ride two of the Transformers were having a meet and greet.

The ride is also inside and it is a car like coaster which also uses 3-D technology to think you are helping to blow up and save a city.  I believe that it's the same ride as the one in Orlando.  And yes, the ride spits on you.

I then headed to the Jurassic Park ride.  I was a bit hesitant on riding this as it was a water ride.  It was getting warm and I was hoping not to get too wet.

I didn't get too wet and some of the robotics for the dinosaurs were really cool.  This ride really doesn't spit, but you still do get somewhat wet.

I decided that I was done with the lower level and started to head back up.  As I was getting to the stairs one of the dinosaurs was coming out for a meet and greet.  It looked like someone in a puppet type suit and was really life like.  They even played at the fact that he was dangerous and needed chains to keep from killing everyone.

This post is getting really long, so I'm going to split this into two.  I'll have the second half up next week.  Please come back to hear how I wrapped up the day and my trip to California!

Read it here!!

Also, check out my vlog about my day at Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.