Our Happy 22nd Anniversary!

Well, Luann & I have been married for 22 years now, so we decided to celebrate by going to a restaurant called 'Medieval Times', then we went to see the Blue Man Group concert at Universal Studios. We had a great time and the Blue Man Group was the best concert we have ever experienced.

The Blue Men, during the final song (more about them later).

So, Friday after work we drove over to the Orlando area and checked into our room at the Gaylord Hotel. This what they call the "Florida View".

For dinner, the concierge at the hotel recommended a little Thai restaurant nearby. The food was good, but the service was excellent... It still doesn't beat the Thai Terrace back home though.

The next morning, we went shopping at one of the factory outlet malls to get Luann some sneakers and I couldn't pass up a neat frenchfry maker. After that, we did a little geocaching...

This one was in the parking lot of the outlet mall, so we walked over and logged our find. It's nice to find a small-sized container smack in the middle of suburbia.

When I came across this dragonfly, he refused to move, so I added him to our insect photo catalog. It still facinates me as to how much they remind me of a helicopter.

Next, we went to a local eatery called Medieval Times. It's a renaissance-style place where you can feast bare-fisted while the knights in shining armor battle to win the approval of the princess.

This is the place setting you are met with. Just like getting an upsized burger combo-meal, you can upgrade your seating and such to Royal, or even, the King's Table status, which provides you with a close view of the activities and complementary photo of your visit (I'll scan the photos they took of us and add them here). Since no flatware is made available, you will need to 'sup' your soup from the pewter bowl with the handy-dandy handle attached to it, then dismember a piece of baked chicken, a piece of barbecued ribs, some garlic bread and an apple tart with your bare hands. It was an interesting deal for me, because I was eating with my left hand and taking pictures with my right hand so I wouldn't get the camera messy. It worked out though...

Here is a view of the arena to our right. The seating is set up in colors because your group will have a knight assigned to you (and you can root for him) that will bear the colors and standard of your section. In case you didn't catch it in our previous picture, our tabletop is blue, so the Blue Knight is our "Knight In Shining Armor".

The nearby gate was opened and several of the knights sauntered through to give a brief hand-to-hand combat demonstration.

Then the colors were presented and they paraded around the arena.

The princess climbed up to the dais and expressed her laments to the knights.

Then, the formal introductions of the knights and their respective color-zones were indicated by the master of ceremonies.

You can see that the Blue Knight and the Yellow Knight have taken their places in front of their sections.

Ah, the Green Knight...

It turns out, he was an outsider to the knighted clan and was from a rogue kingdom that wished to wage war. Hopefully, our Blue Knight will serve us well.

The King arrived an tried negotiate a truce of peace, but the Green Knight would have nothing of it. Instead, a contest of the knights will take place with the winner decided from the outcome.

Between displays of knighthood, other side shows played out. This one was like the Lipizzaner Stallions demonstration.

Next, was a falconry demonstration, with the falcon dive-bombing the audience.

After the falcon was able to capture the 'bait' bird that the falconer was swinging around, it spread its wings over its prey so other birds won't see that it caught something and try to steal it.

Next was this Arabian prancing pony bit that was quite nice. The horse was able to execute several manuevers, such as walking sideways, backing up the length of the arena, and more.

Then, a netting-barrier was lowered by remote control, which was a solid indication that the real fighting was about to begin.

First there were some duels with swords and other implements mounted on the walls around the arena. Many times, the Knight's implements were retrieved by their assistants as they were cast off or lost in the heat of battle.

And then, it was over. The local knights won, the Green Knight was defeated and peace reigns over Medieval Times again...

As the event drew to a close, we were presented with these photos that were taken of us when we first arrived.

And no, we didn't pose with these costumes on, our faces were photo-grafted into the pre-set images. An interesting momento of the occasion, huh?

After dinner, we drove over to Universal Studios to see the Blue Man Group. When we got to the area to pay for our parking, everything was dark. It looks like the power went out so they were unable to accept any digital payment methods. That really choked things up.

And there was a long line backed up behind us too.

Here is a picture of the inside of the theatre. Unfortunately, we were told that pictures couldn't be taken during the show, so we had to put our cameras away.

But first... I had to get a shot of this thing, which whirls around and when a strobe light started flashing, it looked like the statues were dancing.

And, here is the end of the show, when we were permitted to take pictures again. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures to demonstate what happened, but suffice it to say that it was an amazing experience. It was mixed with powerful music that has a fundamental framework to it, with explosions of color and comedic timing that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Even the audience participation segments were great. We really liked the backup band, housed above the stage in shadow boxes, with the bassist catching our attention in particular. The costumes they wore were embedded with fluorescent fibers and they had fluorescent paint on their faces, which gave their movements an eerie presence. It was definitely a 'must see', and very hard to describe everything that was going on.

After BMG was over, we sauntered back to the car, taking pictures of the beautiful evening along the way.

Yep, dat's Universal whut done dat!

When we returned to the hotel, we toured the arboretum inside. With the shops closed down and the lights turned low, we decided to take advantage of some photo opportunities.

They even have some alligators that swim in the ponds and rivulets that meander thoughout the place, and it was interesting to see them piled on top of each other on this rock, sound asleep...

...that is, until I used the flash on my camera and discovered that nobody was sleeping on that rock. Look at the glowing eyes! (Remember, click on the picture for a larger view.)

Sadly, we come to the final picture taken during this great weekend, which turned out to be something of a 'Dinner & A Show', taken to the extreme... and it was well worth it!