Juliana Moves

Howdy! Last week I spent almost the entire week in Orlando, FL. I flew in on a Saturday for a Sunday-Tuesday work meeting and then Patrick joined me Tuesday night for shenanigans and fun before we flew home early Friday morning.

I took a work call Friday afternoon and I felt so unglued from time. Was it a Friday? A Monday? A Saturday? Who knows. I was exhausted. But it was such fun time! Because I had been there for a work meeting, we had a great rate at a fancy Marriott near Disney. The weather in Orlando was, frankly, absolutely whack though. It was so cold almost the entire week. We had one beautiful, warm and sunny day on Wednesday but it was otherwise truly freezing!

Not quite what I had hoped for out of Florida, but what are you gonna do?! Anyway, after we got back I spent the weekend recalibrating. We grocery shopped and ran and slept a lot. It felt so good. Here are some of my favorite moments from a wild week!

Chaunte Lowe was our keynote speaker. She was awesome. Also, note that I am wearing a jacket indoors because it was freezing and the hotel couldn’t heat the conference center hallways because that’s not a need they normally have!

On Wednesday we went to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It was genuinely amazing. I love space. I almost teared up a few times. Human innovation and collaboration and exploration and respect for science!

You can’t see in the selfie of us, but Artemis II was on the launch platform! It was truly a sight to see. I can’t wait to watch the launch.

Our Kennedy Space Center bus tour also brought us to the Apollo Saturn 5 building.

I mean, come on!!! The Saturn 5 rocket was crazy. Learning about all the Apollo missions was also so fascinating.

Patrick bought the photo package in advance and the photo opps were dorky and awesome.

I grew up during the Space Shuttle program, so everything I learned about space and NASA had this black and white space shuttle associated with it. Somehow, some way, I did not know they were reusable until this trip! Absolutely wild. Ask me about how the space shuttle landed back on Earth. It’s unreal.

We went to Disney Springs for dinner after the Kennedy Space Center. The food we had was only fine (sorry, Disney), but this hot fudge sundae stole the show. I still think about this. Delicious.

And on Thursday we went to Disney World! Our only real aim was to go to Galaxy’s Edge which was pretty cool. I realized pretty quickly that rides make me motion sick these days. I toughed it out and had a fantastic time!

We went to Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge and got some wacky drinks. There was also an option to get an edible cocktail that you ate with a spoon… I don’t understand how that would’ve worked but I was intrigued.

I got Blue Bantha (I think). It came with a cookie. Despite looking blue and vanilla-y, it had a tropical fruit flavor. Patrick was eyeing the coasters so the bartender gave him a huge stack of them. It was pretty sweet. Great job, house of mouse!

Our flight home on Friday was at 7 am, so we were up at 4:15 to drive to the airport and return our rental car. At the airport I ordered oatmeal from some healthy food stand and it had American cheese in it?!?! No joke. They cooked it into the oatmeal. Weird. I was happy to make a big pot of coffee and eat normal foods when we got home. Shout out to my pug mug! I’ve had that since 2013.

On Saturday we both took our runs to the treadmill because the ‘feels like’ was in the negatives and there were wind gusts up to 40 mph. On Sunday, however, we went outside. We parked at the Marine Corps Memorial (selfie from the warm bathrooms) and then ran loops around the National Mall. It wasn’t too bad!

On the west side of the Washington Monument, Canada geese were having a lovely time chilling on the snowcrete and chipping away at the ice to find bugs in the grass. They looked so peaceful!

I had so much fun last week, but I am also grateful to be home. We’ve got warmer days ahead, so here’s to hoping for snow melt!

Love,

JN