Labor Day 2011 in Orlando

I was walking towards Hogwarts Castle in Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure with my family earlier this year commenting that in all my years of traveling to Orlando, I was surprised I had not run into someone I knew. I had seen Bob in the Atlanta airport last year, Maureen at a game room in Lakeland in 1983, and Martin in St. Petersburg after a Grateful Dead concert in 1988, but never anyone in Orlando.

I drove four hours to Orlando Friday before the Labor Day weekend and stopped for gas, and then ran into Matt at the South Semoran Boulevard KFC.

I visited with my old friends Joel and Dave, with whom I lived and worked in the early 1980s, and with many others in the area who I have met through them over the years, three Matts, Mary, Michelle, Dominik and Lori, Mark and Sally, Sean and Marcia, and Melissa. When I was last there around New Year's, Matt and Sally brought their captain's hats and we posed for a photo in front of the Christmas tree.

I was playing cards at Joel's house the afternoon I arrived. It was a bidding game called "Oh Hell" that my grandparents taught me with a kid-friendly name of "Up and Down the River," that I taught to Joel thirty years ago, and he taught it to others over the years, who taught it to others, and I understand we have friends around the world now playing the game. It was a nice warm afternoon, and with a couple of hands to go, I remarked that I was going out to the pool when the game was over.

The game ended and just then Dolittle the Dog began barking because the lawn maintenance people and the pool guy showed up at that time. To add to all the fun, Animal Control came out to take away a scrawny dying cat that had shown up less than a day before.

My friends in Orlando are the biggest Florida State football fans I know. Most of the FSU games I have seen have been in Orlando and we all watched FSU's season opener victory on Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe, 34-0. I had lunch at Famous Phil's, home of the best cheesesteak sandwich I've had, a large without peppers on a medium bun.

We went to Firken Kegler on Waterford Lakes Highway on Sunday, a giant game room, bowling alley and bar, with only one pinball machine, but it was a good one, a multi-level modern game with up to five balls in play at one time. I did really well on Spiderman, earning 50 million points and a free game on just one ball for twenty minutes. I love playing pinball.

All too quickly the long weekend ended, but I will look forward to going back again next year.

Thanks, guys!