Star Wars Celebration and Isaac

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to take a few days off work for vacation and visit Orlando, FL. Keep in mind, this was right as Isaac became mainstream news. Early tracks had Isaac making landfall in eastern Florida instead of the Louisiana coast. Had that actually happened, I would have likely stayed in Florida several more days than planned.

Why was I in Florida? I'm glad you asked. If you've known me for very long, you know what an avid Star Wars fan I am. Every couple of years, since 1999, there is a convention called "Star Wars Celebration" held in different spots across the country. Denver, LA, Indianapolis, and in 2010, it moved to Orlando. I was able to go in 2010 for the first time and had a blast, so much so that I planned to go again, providing it was still in Orlando and still in August. It was announced during the blistering 2011 summer that Celebration would return to Orlando, so I quickly asked for the time off and promptly booked my hotel. If you're not much of a Star Wars fan or haven't seen any of the movies, this may not appeal as much, but for a pretty hardcore fan like myself, it's THE place to be. Lots of folks are in costume and there's so much going on, it's hard to see and do everything in the 4 days of the convention. Check out the pictures!

I may be a Star Wars nerd, but as you DO know, I'm a weather nerd as well, even on vacation. No matter where I am, I make sure I'm caught up on the current and future forecast. This was especially true for Orlando. Isaac was still a big question mark. Over the course of the convention, Isaac decided to seek out the warm waters of the Gulf and have a very minimal impact on eastern Florida. We saw some rain, had some storms, and even experienced some high wind, but all of it was short lived. My flight made it home without any trouble and my bucket list item of experiencing a hurricane first hand was dashed. Hopefully I can find my way into a hurricane someday. Although, I think seeing a tornado first-hand needs to be first on that list.