How I Spent My Summer Vacation Part 4: Orlando

After leaving SLC, I headed down to Orlando for a relaxing week with friends. It’s hard to believe it’s already been over a year and a half since I lived there, but meeting up with everyone felt just like old times.

I arrived on Thursday night and stayed with Jesse and Dana for the first few days. This was actually the first time I’d seen them since they were married and it was great to have some time to catch up with everything. That first night I also had the chance to catch some of UC’s game against Oregon State that evening before heading to bed. I headed into the Relevant offices on Friday afternoon (which are actually now in a new location from where I worked when I was there) to hang out a bit and work on a few personal projects. The new digs are nice and have a good vibe. The kitchen area is actually done up with Jeremy Cowart’s photos from Hope in the Dark, a book I got to help layout when I was there.



After the work day ended, we did a little acoustic guitar sing-a-long followed by dinner with Adam and Mel (friends I knew from outside of work who have since both spent time at Relevant) and Derek (who worked there after I left but has since departed himself). So, if you’re still following this at all, after a great dinner we watched some 90s video classics on 120 Minutes before heading to a showing of The Brothers Solomon. We were one of the only groups in the theater (and one of the only groups seeing that movie anywhere, for that matter) but we thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as I did just during the opening credits — I was literally crying. Anyway, it was a nice end to a nice day.

We all slept in on Saturday and Jesse and I went for a run (during which we saw an alligator — hooray for Florida) before a few errands in the afternoon. We reteamed with Adam and Mel and a few other friends for dinner, Starbucks, and a subsequent Nintendo and Trivial Pursuit blow-out (during which Dana schooled everyone at Dr. Mario).

Sunday brought church at Summit, lunch at Panera, and my handoff to Jeremy and Jen. Though I’d seen Jeremy’s bachelor pad, this was my first time at their current place (even though they’d had it the last time I was down there). All I can say is the man is an interior decorating whiz. Very cool place. We caught an afternoon movie and hung out the rest of the evening.


Relefriends Adam, Jesse, and Jeremy

On Monday I went into Relevant for the full day and saw a few other staffers who were out on Friday, as well at meeting some of the folks who’ve joined since I left. After work Jeremy and I stopped by to see our former creative director Josh who has been doing quite well since going independent a few years ago. He shared some of his recent work and stories of recent exploits which was quite cool.



On Wednesday I met up with Amy, my friend from UC who’s getting her masters at UCF. We headed over to Tampa to see Dave Matthews Band (which I figured I needed to do for it to feel like a real summer). Despite our failure to find a Mexican restaurant (Applebee’s ended up being a perfect stand-in), we made good time and had no problem getting to the venue. Of course, right about the time we parked the sky turned black and a torrential downpour descended upon us. Unfortunately, we had tickets for the lawn. Fortunately, the rain let up a little bit by the time DMB came on and they allowed umbrellas which meant I didn’t get soaked to the bone (just mildly damp).
The show itself was great. I really liked the setlist and it featured the one song I’ve been waiting almost a decade to finally hear live: “The Dreaming Tree” – and an excellent rendition at that. Perhaps my only caveat would be that they played a single song for the Encore, but really, it was a good time in good company.


Amy and I, having survived 3 hours of drizzle and Dave

Before we knew it, we had made it back to Orlando and after a few short hours of sleep it was off to the airport to head back to Columbus.

I feel incredibly blessed to have the friends I do, and it was really great to see everyone down in O-Town again. I really do feel like I have a family of sorts down there despite the time and distance between us.