This is the second part of my Florida MSP adventure. You can read part 1 here if you missed it.

Saturday

It was here! The big St Paddy's Day piss-up meet-up. But first we had to collect @aggroed from Fort Lauderdale airport. Once again we had plans to leave early and go to the yoga clothes sale. Once again we ran out of time and failed. We did make it to the airport eventually to find Aggy loitering in the passenger pickup area not answering his phone. This meant @kubbyelizabeth had to leave her vehicle unattended to go find him.

After the risk of being towed had passed, we made our way to @negativer and @morodiene's place at/near Boynton Beach. When we got out of the car Aggy hugged me, which was my first hug of the day and I think the second one overall. Someone hugged me on Friday night. It was either @crimsonclad or @isaria, I can't remember who. (FYI for the new readers, I'm not a big hugger.)

After listening to Moro play the piano and sing in French—she is awesome by the way, much talent—we went to lunch at Bond and Smolders in Boynton Beach. They had a bunch of tasty looking things on the menu and the staff were on top of what could be veganised. I liked that.

There was a brief pit-stop at a local supermarket to pick up a few things before heading back to Neg and Moro's house, which is super nice by the way. Neg then took us into his beer dungeon (aka, garage) where he had several delicious home-brews on tap. @lenadr and I indulged in a glass each. He's a top-notch brewer with a professional looking set up.

After chilling by the pool for a bit, chatting, and enjoying Neg's beers, we got an uber down to Delray Beach. 

It was full-on. I've done St Paddy's Day in Australia and the UK and it is nothing like this. There, people just go to the pub and get pissed. If you drink enough Guinnesses you might get some free novelty stuff but that's it. Here, there are parades and merchandise stands everywhere. It's exactly like that Simpson's episode where Bart gets drunk at the St Paddy's Day parade. 

Lena and I agreed, there were a lot of very good looking men around but sadly we walked past all of them to go the place the others were at. Now before anyone starts saying "Oh, so we're not good enough for you choo?", that is not what I meant. You're all fantastic obviously, but taken. 

Phew, I think I successfully dug my way out of that one. Moving right along.

So we get to some outdoor drinking area and manage to find @scaredycatguide, @meno, @ankapolo, @crimsonclad, and Gazza not Gaza. However, since you could only get Bud or Bud Light, everyone except the Cat and Gazza not Gaza left to go to a proper pub called the Mellow Mushroom, which had 50 tap beers.

Food was ordered and the drinks started flowing. Poor Lena ended up wearing a small bowl of hot marinara sauce, resulting in burns to her stomach and free shirt as an apology from the restaurant. This was also around the time that Crimmy brought out her magic anti-hangover pills. I was about five beers in at this point, so a headache was definitely on the cards. I took one, washed it down with my beer, and hoped for the best.

At some point @isaria, @swelker101 and @clayboyn showed up. These men who'd been threatening to hug each other while looking deeply into each other's eyes for uncomfortably long periods of time on Aggy's radio show, finally had to man up and do it. It was a special moment for everyone, but especially them.  

Oh, it's also worth mentioning that on Friday night when Clay arrived, Shane ran up to him and threw his legs around Clay's waist and his arms around his neck. Sadly no one was quick enough to capture it. Luckily for you, I've semi-recreated it using attractive celebrity on-again, off-again couple Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. You just have to use your imagination and picture Clay as Justin and Shane as Selena.

At some point it got dark so it was time to move to a different bar. We started walking when suddenly we found ourselves stopped outside an art gallery. Let it be known that Crimmy's boobs had exploded out of her bra so she and Moro had gone off in search of a Walgreens to contain the situation. The rest of us were instructed to wait. 

While we waited, @anarcho-andrei, and @ladymaharet showed up and various street strength challenges and acts of tomfoolery were engaged in.

I then declared myself drunk enough to be hugged. Without wasting a second, Clay and Kubby trapped me in an embrace while Neg stood behind us like a creepy photo-bomber. 

This might be my favourite photo of the entire trip. It cracks me up every time I look at it. 😭

Crimmy and Moro eventually returned but Crimmy's girls were not happy. Who knew that emergency underwear purchased at a pharmacy, claiming to be 'one size fits all' would be a lie? Hmm, everyone with boobs that's who!

Next we went to Death or Glory where more food was ordered but there were far fewer beer choices. A much drunker Cat reappeared after being MIA for several hours, and Aggy and Isaria showed us what good dancers they are.

I'd had another beer by now and decided to hug Clay back. It's unclear if my feet were touching the floor at this stage. I'm guessing not given our height differences. Am I on a step? I don't appear to be dangling. What is happening here? How is this working?

People then speculated whether the $40 and bag of cheezits on the table were part of some deluxe hug package. Either way, Clay seemed happy.

Sunday

The anti-hangover drugs worked great! Must get some of them even though I hardly drink anymore (for reference the last time I drank was New Year's Eve in Australia).

While the others enjoyed Aggy's giant breakfast omelette (see Neg's post), Kubby went to church, and Lena and I enjoyed Kubby's community pool and breaking various rules on the wall. For example, being there without an actual resident, going in the water without showering after applying sunblock, and letting some guy in who needed the bathroom. 

I've spent so much time in the sun recently, I think this is the most tanned I've ever been. I still wasn't as tanned as Kubby, but I felt good standing next to everyone else. They are all such whities. Even Neg and Moro looked white. They kept talking about Minnesota and I thought they must have moved down recently. It turns out they migrated to Florida 11 years ago but apparently they haven't been outside yet. 

After lunch Kubby, Lena and myself headed to the beach for more tanning. It was packed and not as nice as Miami. But it was still good.

We knew it was time to leave when some guys—one of whom was sporting a gang tattoo—looked like they were about to get in a massive fight. Rather than wait around for someone to pull a gun—this was America after all—we made our way back to the car.

Then it was time to head to head north to Orlando. We all stayed at Kubby's brother's empty apartment. So now the MSP meet-up was the MSP sleep-over, except for Shane and Isaria who'd booked a hotel.

We did however, meet them for a very late dinner at Bahama Breeze, which I did not participate in cos eating dinner at 10pm is way too late for me. Plus I'd eaten half a box of cereal and some fruit just before we left Kubby's so I was good. During this meal we learnt that Aggy is not a fan of jackfruit tacos—although I will find him a veggie restaurant in his area that cooks jackfruit properly and win him over—and I made Isaria snort laugh which obviously made everything else a thousand times funnier. 

Afterwards, Lena went for gold attempting to lift Shane onto her shoulders and Aggy and Kubby had a bit of a dance-off, which I may have video of. 

Then goodbyes were said, hugs were given, and Shane shook my hand saying "nice meeting you choo".

Monday

Today we went to Orlando Studios! A big thanks to @geke for hooking some of us up with tickets. It was my first time at any American theme park so I was (1) excited and (2) interested to see how it compared to all the ones on the Gold Coast. I liked it a lot, but it's mostly rollercoasters so I don't know how you'd go if that isn't your thing. I think I might need to go to Movie World in Dec/Jan since it's the most similar one in Australia, just to compare. I haven't been in about 15 years but it used to be really good.

First we went on the Shrek 4D movie/ride thing, which was awesome. I really liked it. Then we went on a rollercoaster, which I also liked. However, I was not up to a second go so I sat the next round out. Then we went on the Minions ride, which is a 3D motion ride. I don't know why I didn't just go straight to the fixed seats at the front cos every time I'm on a 3D moving ride it makes me really nauseous. Aggy was glad I didn't spew on him.

We walked through Simpsons land, or Springfield, or whatever it's called.

We arrived at Harry Potter World. They did a great job at creating this place. It did feel England-esque but a thousand times warmer and it wasn't grey and raining. 

There was a fire-breathing dragon that made a lot of noise. Every time it breathed fire, little kids would freak out and start crying. Hahahaha. It was so great.

At some point we went to lunch. My stomach was still not up to food cos of the Minions ride. I began wondering if anyone suspected that I have an eating disorder since I hadn't ordered a meal at the last three places we'd been too. 

After lunch the others went on the Transformers Ride while Moro and I were the designated bag holders. We went past a Ben and Jerry's and they had two kinds of vegan ice cream. My stomach was feeling a little better so I gave them a go. Yum!

Next we went on the Mummy ride, which was really good. 3D goggles were not required for this one so my stomach was ok. As we left the ride Aggy started yelling "Muh, Muh" to find Kubby, who was the designated bag holder. Backstory. According to Aggy her first name is Muh, second name Kubby. In reality he just sounded like a 30-something child calling out for his mother. So embarrassing. You can't take some people anywhere. 😁 

Then I bought some Ravenclaw socks from a Harry Potter shop so now I can do rope climbs at crossfit without the rope burning my leg every time I climb down.

Wow, my legs look great here. And tanned! 👍

There was a parade due to start at 3pm so we decided to relax in the shade for a bit. Aggy was sad about bitcoin prices and the fact that Kubby wouldn't 'pray for bitcoin' on his behalf. According to her, that's not how it works.

We thought he looked like a bum lying there and it would be funny to throw coins at him. So that's what we did.

Witness #9 hard at work!

At this point, we'd done all the rides and were at a loss of what to do next. This is what I like most about Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. You can do rides in the morning and then waterslides in the afternoon. However, Universal Studios only has one waterslide, which is for kids. This didn't stop Aggy and I from going on it though, as we fought our way to the top blocking annoying kids who kept trying to push in front of us. At the top, some girl didn't look like she was ready to go so I asked her the hard question: "Are you going next or are you waiting for someone?". It took her a minute to decide, but eventually she decided to go. Then it was our turn. It was super fun. I liked this ride. I would have liked to have gone on more. Waterslides are great.

We then went to the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen just outside the park. They had a lot of chocolate for sale but somehow had managed to make all of it non-vegan. All the dark chocolate—which is usually vegan—had milk and heavy cream in it. WTF???

On the drive home the rain started so we timed that well. We arrived back to the apartment and it was time for Lena to benchpress me. She'd been talking about it since Friday and I was ready. Last time I weighed myself at the gym I was 48kg. My own benchpress 1 Rep Max is about 32kg, but I hardly ever do it, so I'm not very strong on this lift. Regardless, the hardest part of being the barbell is staying balanced. I needed my arms and feet held, although my core looks super strong so I'm happy about that. Eighteen years of yoga really paid off!

Then it was time for Neg, Moro and Aggy to leave. The next morning it was time for me to leave. I was sad. It was such a fun week. Everyone was really funny and engaging and the same as on Discord but better cos it was real life. Kubby was also an amazing and generous host. Half the things that we did wouldn't have happened without her. All of this happened because of steemit and MSP. I know I'm not alone in hoping we can make this a semi-regular thing.

Proof that I left. A photo of Florida Keys on my way home to Panama.

Are you sad too? Do you want more? Then go check out these awesome write-ups of the weekend.

• @anarcho-andrei's post here. 
• @isaria's posts here and here. 
• @meno's post here.
• @negativer's posts here and here.
• @kubbyelizabeth's posts here and here.
• @clayboyn's post here.

Photos taken by @negativer, @choogirl, @kubbyelizabeth, @isaria and possibly @anarcho-andrei

Footer by @ryivhnn 

[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 26.461671 lat -80.057949 long Florida meet-up part 2 d3scr)