Star Wars Celebration III trip: Monday

Tomorrow marks one month since I returned from my CIII trip, and I still haven't concluded my trip details...I'm a slacker! This one will be quite short, compared to the other days. On to it:

Monday, 9:55am: I had to roll out of bed on Monday before 10am, to take advantage of the continental breakfast. So, 5 minutes before it was all over, I was throwing on clothes and dashing for the lobby.

After my stuff-my-face-with-as-much-free-food-as-I-could-manage meal, I waddled back to my hotel room. It was a pig sty, to put it mildly. I had basically thrown everything onto the bed I wasn't sleeping on, and it was happily hanging out in a huge pile. I had an hour and a half to fit everything into my suitcases. It was close, I tell you (both time-wise and space-wise, see visual proof of this in my photos). But about noon, I had packed everything into my car and headed for checkout. After the rain, thunder, and snow of the past few days, it was pleasantly sunny and in the low 70s. Shocking!

I had called Mike in the morning, to see if we could get together and hang out (my flight didn't leave till 7pm), but he had already woke up, worked for a couple hours finishing the take-down of the convention center, and was on the road toward some other state on the East coast for another show. So it was Indy and I, alone and together, for the day. I had about 5 hours to kill before I had to be back at the airport. I checked out some tourist flyers at the hotel, but they were all for places that were two hour's drive and longer away from the city. So, when all else fails, go downtown!

I drove down near the convention center, since that seemed to be the center of action in Indianapolis. I parked near a huge war memorial in the center of town, which had a turnabout going around it. Very touristy. I snapped quite a few pictures, looked around at the little shops nearby, then found my way to the bar that Mike and I visited on that Thursday night a lifetime ago (4 days). The bartender we met there happened to be working. I asked her, "If you had 3 and a half hours in this city to do anything, before leaving it for the foreseeable future, what would you recommend?"

She said, "Sit down, ya alkie. Have some booze, that ought to shut ya up good."

Well, ok. She didn't exactly say that. She did, however, pass me off to another gal that was working there, as she was about to leave for schooling of some sort. The new bartender told me, "You need to go see 'Forces of Nature' at the IMAX. It is really cool!"

Well, we have an IMAX in Seattle, and I wouldn't be surprised if we in fact have that very movie playing here, but since I had no better ideas, I followed her pointing finger down the street a few blocks and to the Indy museum / IMAX theater. Along the way, I found some cool plaques telling me about Abe Lincoln giving speeches where I was standing. Historical.
I then viewed the impressive 'Forces of Nature', narrated by Kevin Bacon.

After that movie and a trip to TGIFridays, it was time to head for the airport. And here is the conclusion of my happy trip to Celebration 3: I drove to the airport, turned in my rental car, hopped on a plane, and flew home. THE END!

Some facts about my trip:

Total pounds lost due to skipped meals and poor eating habits: 7lbs (its all back, by the way)
Number of Slave Leias spotted at the convention (approx): 10-12
Number of Slave Leias that maybe should have chosen a different costume (approx): 5
Total size of my snapped pictures: 400Mb
Number of times I got lost while driving: 2
Difficulty for a Jedi to ascend and descend stairs in his boots: High
Difficulty for a Jedi to go pee pee while dressed in costume: Very High
Difficulty for a Jedi to do the rest of his business in the restroom: Dang near impossible
Amount of money spent while there (approx): $315
Amount spent on collectibles: $175

I'm sure I have more cool facts, I'll just have to update this as I think of them. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my trip breakdown! Now I can finally let it rest.