The conference was held at the JW Marriot, a huge convention center complex with at least eight rooms that my house could have fit inside; a large courtyard with sand volleyball, a lazy river swimming pool, and a ton of lounge chairs; a manmade river across from a golf course; and elegant guest rooms with by far the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever slept in.
The conference went from Monday at noon through Wednesday night; if we wanted we could have spent that whole time in conferences. However, being the rebels that we are, John and I wanted to take off and go to Disney World on Tuesday afternoon after most of the conference stuff was over. We finally convinced a reluctant Doug to go with us, and headed out to the wide world of Disney.
Our first stop was the Animal Kingdom - John's favorite from when he came with his family. It wasn't that crowded, so we managed to hit the Dinosaur ride, the safari, the waterfall one, and the Yeti rollercoaster all within a couple of hours. (I actually rode the rollercoaster twice since we had a pass, but the guys were both a little sick and declined).
Next we headed to Hollywood Studios to catch two rides: the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster (which is much like Space Mountain because it is all dark inside, but I thought it was better). John was not feeling well after the Tower, but was better than I expected. Total time at Hollywood Studios: 1 hour.
Last but not least we went to Epcot, my choice and Dawn's favorite from their trip. The rides were not as good - we only went on a few since some of the lines were long, and then headed out on the two-mile walk around the countries of the world. It was really cool, but I think I expected more after all I had heard. Maybe if I had been with guys a little more into exploring, or maybe just if there had been more to explore...oh well, it was fun to be there as the sun was setting. What I really wanted to see, we got to see - the Candlelight Processional in front of the US area: it was a full-blown Christmas service with a large choir and orchestra, and narrated by Abigail Breslin. She read basically straight from the gospel of Luke, and they sang all of these beautiful Christmas carols.
It was awesome! I think John was impressed, but he and Doug both fell asleep soon after it started. So I ended up asking if they wanted to take off - I would have been ok leaving then and there - I had seen all I wanted. John seemed like he wanted to stay though, so we ate dinner and walked around the rest of the park. Eventually we decided to try one last ride - Mission:Space.
Mission:Space is a ride where you sit inside a four-person capsule and get to feel the effects of space travel because the capsule is spinning incredibly fast. I loved it! John and Doug did not. John gets really motion sick, and Doug does a little too. John was already not feeling well from the other rides we had been earlier. Before you get on the ride, they warn you at least eight times over the loudspeaker, and again with signs everywhere, that if you get sick you should either not go, or go on the less intense side. We were on the really intense side, but the guys would not switch! John kept saying that it was a bad idea, yet he went anyway. As soon as it started they both grabbed for the barf bags and I worried about what would happen to them the entire ride. John was basically green as we left. So we ended up staying in the park for another half hour while they tried to feel normal again. I was able to catch the first part of the water/lights show, which was cool, and would love to see it all again sometime.
Wednesday night was an awesome night as well - the USATFCCCA started a new tradition, of honoring the best athletes in the sport with the Bowerman (named after the former UO coach and Nike founder). It went to Galen Rupp and Jenny Barringer, two very deserving runners. A really nice dinner followed, along with another coaches' social (they had one every night - basically a lot of beer and wine running around). But it was fun to get dressed up a little and hang out with the NW Conference coaches.
