In May, Anthony and I traveled to Orlando for Star Wars Weekends and a chance to see friends and hang out at the theme parks.  An avid member of the 501st, Anthony was anxious to march in the Star Wars character parade at Hollywood Studios – still MGM in our heads.

Because it is tough for me to get time off during the school year, we scheduled our trip over Memorial Day weekend.  Even so, extensive snow days caused my work to reschedule school on Memorial Day!  I had to take a personal day, but we were limited to three days instead of the four we originally planned.  As always, we packed a lot into our three days.

Our first stop, after driving the 9 hour trek the night before, was Ethos.  This is our favorite place to eat in Orlando – and one of our favorite vegan restaurants in general.  Every time I have been, it seems that the breakfast special is french toast – which makes me very happy.  French toast and Canadian bacon is my breakfast of choice there.  Anthony almost always get biscuits and gravy.  We met friends at breakfast, and then eventually made our way to Epcot for the day.  It was already very hot – in the 90’s and humid all weekend.  We rode many rides and wandered through the country galleries, Japan was especially neat.  One ride that none of us want to repeat is Mission: SPACE.  Afterwards, we all felt wonky, since it simulates blast off and a trip through space.  We don’t get motion sick, but it was the simulation of the G forces that made us feel so gross.  Besides that, we had a blast.  Disney is always fun.  I also ran into old friends there.  I had no idea they were in Orlando, and running into them – and their four month old baby whom I hadn’t met yet, was great.

The following day, Sunday, was Anthony’s day to march in the parade.  I dropped him off early to meet up with the other 501st members, and then sat and waited for the parade.  I had to get a good spot in order to take photos.  At least I had friends to chat with while waiting in the sun.  Finally, the parade began.  Anthony dresses as a Tie Fighter, and there were several others lined up with him to march.  Thousands of people watched and cheered them on as they walked down the main street at Hollywood Studios.

After the parade, we spent the day riding the rides and hanging out with friends.  It was a busy weekend, but we had fun with everyone, even waiting in line.  Monday meant we had to drive back to Asheville, but we managed to stop for lunch at Ethos first!