Friday was our last day in Florida, so we wanted to make the most of it. Jerry and Justin got up pretty early to go play golf. Linda and I decided to forego this activity and go shopping at St. Armand’s Circle instead. Then, we would all reconvene around 1pm or so to have lunch together.
Linda and I arrived at St. Armand’s right about 10am when the stores opened. We weaved in and out of several shops including typical chains such as Coldwater Creek and White House Black Market to lots of local specialty shops ranging from jewelry to art to housewares. I was in heaven because I love being able to shop and enjoy the outdoors at the same time. Plus, there were tons of unique things that I wouldn’t normally see in Cincinnati – obviously, there were a lot of beachy and island-themed items. On this particular day, I was on a jewelry kick. I had kind of been searching for a cool turquoise necklace leading up to the trip, and other than online, had been unable to find anything. Well, here in Sarasota, there were multiple choices everywhere I went. I ended up purchasing 3 chokers and a pair of earrings from Coldwater Creek. Who would have thought I’d ever buy anything there? Their clothes are totally not my style, but as I discovered they have really amazing, unique accessories. I also bought another necklace at a local gift shop. Other than that, I tried on a few dresses here and there, but didn’t find anything I absolutely loved.
After working our way around most of the circle, the boys arrived. We decided to go to a modern little Italian place called Venezia. I ordered a glass of wine and for my lunch, I ordered wild mushroom pasta. I was pretty hungry. As usual, however, I didn’t come close to finishing my meal and got a to-go box.
Following lunch, we split up into couples so that we could do a little browsing of our own. Justin and I went to a few more clothing and jewelry stores, but didn’t make any purchases. We also went to a little wine shop because we saw they had free wine tasting. When we got in there, however, we realized that it wasn’t the traditional wine we were used to. They had things like strawberry, blueberry, peach, apple, etc. Some of them tasted like juice, but a few of the “varietals” were surprisingly dry. We finally decided to buy one of the blueberry wines as a novelty, not realizing that it was a $24 bottle! Oh well, we’ll drink it at some point.
It was getting to be late afternoon by this time, and it was definitely getting cloudy as if more storms were brewing. So, we went back to the condo to figure out dinner plans for the evening. On our final evening in Sarasota, we really, really wanted to have dinner with just the two of us, and we also really, really wanted to have sushi. So, we reluctantly asked Jerry and Linda if they were okay with our plans, and we researched a couple of local places based on reviews. We finally settled on a place called Vizen and made a reservation for 7pm since it was a Friday night. We also didn’t want to be out too late since we were planning on leaving first thing the next morning and needed to finish packing.
When we arrived at the restaurant, it definitely left a lot to the imagination from the outside. It was located in this little strip mall a couple of blocks from the beach that had a few bars and grills, some various servicing-type businesses, maybe a drycleaner…but never judge a book by its cover. The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a modern and simple Japanese style with colors of red, black and gray. It was also very small, only seating maybe 25 people. When we were seated, we were maybe 2 of about 8 people in the restaurant. The sushi menu was scrolled on a chalkboard. After ordering our drinks, we began to take in what some of the offerings were and quickly realized that we were not going to be having the typical sushi meal we have up north.
We decided to go with some Tuna sushi; the Madai sushi, which is a Tai Snapper; the Black Jack roll with calamari, avocado and a black squid ink sauce and; a Trico roll featuring lobster and roasted pistachios. The unique ingredients and flavor combinations in each dish were incredible. The artistry that the chef used in the presentation of the rolls was beautiful – supposedly this is called Edo style. One of the rolls was even embellished with a soy sauce foam! It was neato! Our last meal in Sarasota was definitely a high point of the many dining experiences we had during the trip. We will absolutely return to this restaurant when we visit again. We finally returned to the condo by about 9:15pm, finished our packing and hit the sack.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Gardens Galore
There was definitely no rush on anyone’s part to get out of bed this morning. We all took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. Once everyone was out of bed, we decided on what to do for the day since there were quite a few options. It was also somewhat dependent on the weather holding up. We considered going to The Ringling Brothers Museum, The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the Sarasota Jungle Gardens or Myakka River State Park. Then, we also had plans to go out for a nice dinner that night. After weighing our options, we settled on the Selby Gardens for the afternoon activity.
By about lunchtime, we were ready to head out and began looking for a good place to eat. Jerry and Linda decided to take us to Marina Jacks, a place right along the bay in downtown Sarasota. We sat under a large covered patio, which was a perfect spot to enjoy the mild breeze but stay out of the sun. I kept my meal simple on this day, and ordered a spinach salad with walnuts, mushrooms, red onion, hardboiled eggs and a creamy bacon dressing. Following lunch, we went across the parking lot to see the “Unconditional Surrender” statue of a WWII sailor kissing a nurse. I think it was originally a famous photograph published in a magazine in the ‘40’s, and many years later was erected in Sarasota as well as San Diego. Justin and I did our best to imitate the pose for a photo of our own.
From here, we drove a short distance to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. I’m often a big fan of garden exhibits because there are so many unique and colorful plants to look at and the landscaping is immaculate. I also knew that I was going to see lots of lizards throughout the gardens, and I was bound and determined to catch one! So, first we started out in a greenhouse that contained several odd tropical plants and several species of orchids. Directly outside the greenhouse was a bonsai tree collection. I had no idea that bonsai trees could have so many different facades. As I found out, the only thing that categorizes a bonsai tree is that it’s a miniaturized version of a normal tree – there’s not just one kind. So, we saw a cedar, an elm, a bald cypress and a grove of junipers, to name a few.
After exiting this area, we passed by a large koi pond, a mangrove forest and a banyan grove. Wow, are those banyan trees amazing, or I guess it’s just one large, continuous tree for that matter. As we continued along the walking path, I attempted to catch several lizards on trees or benches. I was able to graze a couple, but they were just too quick for me to grab onto. About this time, we reached the far edge of the park which was almost like a peninsula with water on three sides. We were about ready to move along after looking across the channel at a few really large houses on the other side, when someone spotted a large snake in the mangroves. It was completely yellow, so I don’t know if it was a corn snake or what. Then, suddenly a rat appeared. At first, I’m thinking that the snake was going to go after the rat, which seemed pretty much oblivious to his approach. But then, the rat sprang into action and started nipping at the snake, eventually chasing it off. This cat and mouse game continued for quite some time. From what we could devise, the rat was either trying to protect its babies or the rat had come upon the snake’s eggs and was trying to protect his/her prize. The snake finally began to move along when a large white heron entered the picture. The bird spent several more minutes trying to figure out if the snake looked like a good meal. But, we didn’t stick around much longer after that to find out. We walked away excited that we got to witness wildlife in action!
We continued walking along the water through the park until we reached a house that displayed local art and housed a little tea shop. I bought some loose leaf, lavender tea as well as a lavender martini mix. We also did a little sampling of some of their featured teas. The house sat behind an outdoor butterfly garden with several colorful varieties fluttering about. There were these wrought-iron archways with climbing plants throughout this small area, and this was where my luck finally decided to strike. After several more tries, I finally caught my lizard in this spot! He was a little guy about the length and width of two side-by-side matchsticks- really tiny. He was so fragile that I was scared to even try to carry him to the front of the park in order to buy a little cage. Plus, it was just unrealistic to try to keep him anyway…I did what I intended to do, which was prove that I still had the prowess and speed to catch a lizard. After I released my prey, we finally made it back to the garden entrance. I spent time scrolling through all of Justin’s digital pictures on the ride back to the condo.
After killing a few more hours relaxing and freshening up, it was time to go to dinner. Jerry and Linda chose another restaurant that they had been to before and really enjoyed called Selva Grill. It was a Peruvian restaurant featuring traditional and fresh ingredients with a fusion-y twist. Justin picked out a bottle of Malbec to drink. For dinner, I semi- went out on a limb and ordered the mirin roasted sea bass served with corn custard flan, sautéed bok choy and a black bean sauce. The flan was an unusual texture, which I was expecting, so overall the flavors of my meal were fantastic. This restaurant also shed light on the more upscale, trendy side of Sarasota, since everywhere we had been up this point had been pretty casual. This is definitely an area of town that Justin and I will return to upon our next visit.
When we got back to the condo, we convinced Jerry and Linda to watch an episode of the Planet Earth series. As expected, Jerry was snoozing within the first 10 minutes, so we all went to bed as soon as it was over.
By about lunchtime, we were ready to head out and began looking for a good place to eat. Jerry and Linda decided to take us to Marina Jacks, a place right along the bay in downtown Sarasota. We sat under a large covered patio, which was a perfect spot to enjoy the mild breeze but stay out of the sun. I kept my meal simple on this day, and ordered a spinach salad with walnuts, mushrooms, red onion, hardboiled eggs and a creamy bacon dressing. Following lunch, we went across the parking lot to see the “Unconditional Surrender” statue of a WWII sailor kissing a nurse. I think it was originally a famous photograph published in a magazine in the ‘40’s, and many years later was erected in Sarasota as well as San Diego. Justin and I did our best to imitate the pose for a photo of our own.
From here, we drove a short distance to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. I’m often a big fan of garden exhibits because there are so many unique and colorful plants to look at and the landscaping is immaculate. I also knew that I was going to see lots of lizards throughout the gardens, and I was bound and determined to catch one! So, first we started out in a greenhouse that contained several odd tropical plants and several species of orchids. Directly outside the greenhouse was a bonsai tree collection. I had no idea that bonsai trees could have so many different facades. As I found out, the only thing that categorizes a bonsai tree is that it’s a miniaturized version of a normal tree – there’s not just one kind. So, we saw a cedar, an elm, a bald cypress and a grove of junipers, to name a few.
After exiting this area, we passed by a large koi pond, a mangrove forest and a banyan grove. Wow, are those banyan trees amazing, or I guess it’s just one large, continuous tree for that matter. As we continued along the walking path, I attempted to catch several lizards on trees or benches. I was able to graze a couple, but they were just too quick for me to grab onto. About this time, we reached the far edge of the park which was almost like a peninsula with water on three sides. We were about ready to move along after looking across the channel at a few really large houses on the other side, when someone spotted a large snake in the mangroves. It was completely yellow, so I don’t know if it was a corn snake or what. Then, suddenly a rat appeared. At first, I’m thinking that the snake was going to go after the rat, which seemed pretty much oblivious to his approach. But then, the rat sprang into action and started nipping at the snake, eventually chasing it off. This cat and mouse game continued for quite some time. From what we could devise, the rat was either trying to protect its babies or the rat had come upon the snake’s eggs and was trying to protect his/her prize. The snake finally began to move along when a large white heron entered the picture. The bird spent several more minutes trying to figure out if the snake looked like a good meal. But, we didn’t stick around much longer after that to find out. We walked away excited that we got to witness wildlife in action!
We continued walking along the water through the park until we reached a house that displayed local art and housed a little tea shop. I bought some loose leaf, lavender tea as well as a lavender martini mix. We also did a little sampling of some of their featured teas. The house sat behind an outdoor butterfly garden with several colorful varieties fluttering about. There were these wrought-iron archways with climbing plants throughout this small area, and this was where my luck finally decided to strike. After several more tries, I finally caught my lizard in this spot! He was a little guy about the length and width of two side-by-side matchsticks- really tiny. He was so fragile that I was scared to even try to carry him to the front of the park in order to buy a little cage. Plus, it was just unrealistic to try to keep him anyway…I did what I intended to do, which was prove that I still had the prowess and speed to catch a lizard. After I released my prey, we finally made it back to the garden entrance. I spent time scrolling through all of Justin’s digital pictures on the ride back to the condo.
After killing a few more hours relaxing and freshening up, it was time to go to dinner. Jerry and Linda chose another restaurant that they had been to before and really enjoyed called Selva Grill. It was a Peruvian restaurant featuring traditional and fresh ingredients with a fusion-y twist. Justin picked out a bottle of Malbec to drink. For dinner, I semi- went out on a limb and ordered the mirin roasted sea bass served with corn custard flan, sautéed bok choy and a black bean sauce. The flan was an unusual texture, which I was expecting, so overall the flavors of my meal were fantastic. This restaurant also shed light on the more upscale, trendy side of Sarasota, since everywhere we had been up this point had been pretty casual. This is definitely an area of town that Justin and I will return to upon our next visit.
When we got back to the condo, we convinced Jerry and Linda to watch an episode of the Planet Earth series. As expected, Jerry was snoozing within the first 10 minutes, so we all went to bed as soon as it was over.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Around the World In 3 Hours!
Day 2 of the Disney excursion began bright and early. We met up with Jerry and Linda in the little hotel café around 8:15 for a light breakfast of doughnuts and bananas. Then, we caught our shuttle around 8:30 for the ride to Epcot. After a quick stop at Hollywood Studios, we made it to our destination by 8:50, just in time for the park’s 9am opening.
As soon as we got into the park, we did what most tourists do and posed for pictures in front of the giant, silver ball. I have to say that every time I see the structure up close, it’s quite breathtaking. And with that, we decided to go ahead and ride Spaceship Earth inside the ball because there was literally no wait. The thing I love about rides like this are the animatronics. The creators basically make realistic scenes with mechanized puppets that both resemble and act human. In this particular ride, the action being depicted follows the history or invention from the cave man to the present and eventually into the future. However, when they get to the topic of the future, each “car” of guests takes a personalized quiz to determine what kind of future lifestyle they will have. Then, they play back a little movie with your heads superimposed onto these little animated bodies. Once you leave the ride, you can pull up your movie at a portal and email it to yourself. Once again, Disney always finds a way to outdo itself. I love it!
Next, we decided to head over to The Living World to get Fast Passes for Soarin’. From my last visit in March 2008, this was probably the ride with by far the longest wait in all of Epcot. Our ride was scheduled for about 12:30 or so, so we had some time to kill since it was only about 10am. Then, we decided to tackle one of the more popular rides called Test Track. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we were almost ready to go through the boarding turnstile when we were informed it was pouring down rain, thundering and lightning, and they had to shut down the ride until it passed. When you are waiting in a building with no windows and loud music, you have no idea what’s going on out there. Fortunately, the rainstorm was typical of the Florida climate and ended after about 10 minutes. So, we were able to board the ride, and by the time we got to the outdoor speed track portion, the sun had begun to emerge again.
In all, that ride did take some wind out of our sails, so we decided to head back to The Living World because it was getting close to boarding time for Soarin.’ And thank God for those passes; it just would not have made sense to wait that long for a second ride in a row since it could potentially take up another large chunk of our day. The ride took us through several well-known areas of California by way of a simulated hang-glider such as: San Francisco, Redwood forests, Wine Country, orange groves (with scents), and Big Sur. Linda was a little apprehensive because she’s afraid of heights, but I think she really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we decided to check out a short film called Circle of Life that uses the characters of The Lion King to stress the importance of caring and preserving the environment.
By the time we finished all of these activities, it was well after 1pm, and we were ready to move on to the World Showcase. We also figured it would be a good opportunity to get some lunch, as it had been several hours since breakfast. We quickly breezed through Canada and the United Kingdom without finding a satisfactory place to eat that didn’t have more than an hour wait. So, we continued on to France and put our names in at Les Chef de France that appeared like it would have pretty quick service. In the meantime, Justin went to a few other countries further along that might have something of interest. But, he returned fairly quickly since the next country was Morocco. Also, while we were waiting we went into a few of the French shops, and I was able to get my picture taken with Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. She told me she liked my dress, but she probably says that to all the little girls!
After about 30 minutes, we were seated. Our waiter was literally from France near Dijon, I believe. I ordered a glass of Chenin Blanc, a cup of lobster bisque and the Quiche Lorraine (a very traditional French dish with ham and cheese) alongside a salad of mixed greens. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive, a woman came around from table to table with a little serving platter that housed Remy from Ratatouille. He would move his little arms, head and tail as the hostess spoke to him. It was really adorable, and especially fun to watch when he showed up at tables with children. Once our food arrived, I devoured as much as I could. But, I definitely didn’t even come close to finishing my quiche. It was delicious, but also very rich. As usual, I probably could have done without the soup, as the Disney restaurants never seem to hold back on their portion sizes.
After lunch, we wandered through some of the markets of Morocco and went through the massive Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan. I was very tempted to buy one of the beautiful serving plates or tea sets in Japan, but it was difficult to tell how marked up the prices were and if I might be able to find the same thing elsewhere for less. Next, we skipped right on through the United States, since we’re all pretty familiar with that country. In Italy, we again checked out a few of the shops, I had Justin snap a picture of me in front of the David fountain (a much smaller replica) and we bought some chocolate gelato. Still being quite full from lunch, I wasn’t able to eat very much.
After Italy was of Germany, where everyone momentarily got separated. They have a lot of specialty shops with some really interesting and expensive things to look at such as a crystal shop with different figurines and a Christmas shop with lots of ornaments. We eventually reconnected, however, and moved along to China to take pictures in front of the pagodas. We also walked through an exhibit that depicted artifacts and art from the warriors of ancient China. We breezed through Norway pretty quickly because the ride, Maelstrom, had about a 40 minute wait, and it was nearly 4pm in the afternoon. We were through waiting for the day. In Mexico, there was no wait for the ride called Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, so we hopped right on. It sort of reminded me of a Mexican version of It’s a Small World with some looped animation thrown in of Donald Duck and the other two Caballeros. When we left the ride, we also got to see a few minutes of the resident mariachi band playing.
After the final country of the World Showcase, we decided to start heading to the park exit. I requested to make one more stop at a gift shop on the way out because I wanted some kind of souvenir from our visit. After looking at every imaginable trinket and clothing item, I settled on a silver Xmas ornament that resembled the Mickey Mouse ears. Very simple and tasteful.
We made it back to the parking lot just in time to catch the 4:50 shuttle. Once we got back to our hotel, we retrieved our vehicle and were on the road by 5:30. I have to admit that I did doze a little bit on the way back to Sarasota. There were also some more patches of rain, and some pretty fierce looking storms out along the coast from Tampa down to Sarasota. We finally made it back to the condo by about 7:30, and figured that it would be a good night to cook dinner, maybe play some Wizard and lay low. We ended up having a delicious salad of Boston lettuce, shrimp, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, mushrooms and a creamy Dijon, mayonnaise and lemon infused dressing. Besides that, we raided the fridge of some other leftovers and had some wings. We relaxed with our wine and played a game of wizard following dinner. But by about 10:30, I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer after an exhilarating but exhausting two days of constant activity.
As soon as we got into the park, we did what most tourists do and posed for pictures in front of the giant, silver ball. I have to say that every time I see the structure up close, it’s quite breathtaking. And with that, we decided to go ahead and ride Spaceship Earth inside the ball because there was literally no wait. The thing I love about rides like this are the animatronics. The creators basically make realistic scenes with mechanized puppets that both resemble and act human. In this particular ride, the action being depicted follows the history or invention from the cave man to the present and eventually into the future. However, when they get to the topic of the future, each “car” of guests takes a personalized quiz to determine what kind of future lifestyle they will have. Then, they play back a little movie with your heads superimposed onto these little animated bodies. Once you leave the ride, you can pull up your movie at a portal and email it to yourself. Once again, Disney always finds a way to outdo itself. I love it!
Next, we decided to head over to The Living World to get Fast Passes for Soarin’. From my last visit in March 2008, this was probably the ride with by far the longest wait in all of Epcot. Our ride was scheduled for about 12:30 or so, so we had some time to kill since it was only about 10am. Then, we decided to tackle one of the more popular rides called Test Track. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we were almost ready to go through the boarding turnstile when we were informed it was pouring down rain, thundering and lightning, and they had to shut down the ride until it passed. When you are waiting in a building with no windows and loud music, you have no idea what’s going on out there. Fortunately, the rainstorm was typical of the Florida climate and ended after about 10 minutes. So, we were able to board the ride, and by the time we got to the outdoor speed track portion, the sun had begun to emerge again.
In all, that ride did take some wind out of our sails, so we decided to head back to The Living World because it was getting close to boarding time for Soarin.’ And thank God for those passes; it just would not have made sense to wait that long for a second ride in a row since it could potentially take up another large chunk of our day. The ride took us through several well-known areas of California by way of a simulated hang-glider such as: San Francisco, Redwood forests, Wine Country, orange groves (with scents), and Big Sur. Linda was a little apprehensive because she’s afraid of heights, but I think she really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we decided to check out a short film called Circle of Life that uses the characters of The Lion King to stress the importance of caring and preserving the environment.
By the time we finished all of these activities, it was well after 1pm, and we were ready to move on to the World Showcase. We also figured it would be a good opportunity to get some lunch, as it had been several hours since breakfast. We quickly breezed through Canada and the United Kingdom without finding a satisfactory place to eat that didn’t have more than an hour wait. So, we continued on to France and put our names in at Les Chef de France that appeared like it would have pretty quick service. In the meantime, Justin went to a few other countries further along that might have something of interest. But, he returned fairly quickly since the next country was Morocco. Also, while we were waiting we went into a few of the French shops, and I was able to get my picture taken with Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. She told me she liked my dress, but she probably says that to all the little girls!
After about 30 minutes, we were seated. Our waiter was literally from France near Dijon, I believe. I ordered a glass of Chenin Blanc, a cup of lobster bisque and the Quiche Lorraine (a very traditional French dish with ham and cheese) alongside a salad of mixed greens. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive, a woman came around from table to table with a little serving platter that housed Remy from Ratatouille. He would move his little arms, head and tail as the hostess spoke to him. It was really adorable, and especially fun to watch when he showed up at tables with children. Once our food arrived, I devoured as much as I could. But, I definitely didn’t even come close to finishing my quiche. It was delicious, but also very rich. As usual, I probably could have done without the soup, as the Disney restaurants never seem to hold back on their portion sizes.
After lunch, we wandered through some of the markets of Morocco and went through the massive Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan. I was very tempted to buy one of the beautiful serving plates or tea sets in Japan, but it was difficult to tell how marked up the prices were and if I might be able to find the same thing elsewhere for less. Next, we skipped right on through the United States, since we’re all pretty familiar with that country. In Italy, we again checked out a few of the shops, I had Justin snap a picture of me in front of the David fountain (a much smaller replica) and we bought some chocolate gelato. Still being quite full from lunch, I wasn’t able to eat very much.
After Italy was of Germany, where everyone momentarily got separated. They have a lot of specialty shops with some really interesting and expensive things to look at such as a crystal shop with different figurines and a Christmas shop with lots of ornaments. We eventually reconnected, however, and moved along to China to take pictures in front of the pagodas. We also walked through an exhibit that depicted artifacts and art from the warriors of ancient China. We breezed through Norway pretty quickly because the ride, Maelstrom, had about a 40 minute wait, and it was nearly 4pm in the afternoon. We were through waiting for the day. In Mexico, there was no wait for the ride called Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, so we hopped right on. It sort of reminded me of a Mexican version of It’s a Small World with some looped animation thrown in of Donald Duck and the other two Caballeros. When we left the ride, we also got to see a few minutes of the resident mariachi band playing.
After the final country of the World Showcase, we decided to start heading to the park exit. I requested to make one more stop at a gift shop on the way out because I wanted some kind of souvenir from our visit. After looking at every imaginable trinket and clothing item, I settled on a silver Xmas ornament that resembled the Mickey Mouse ears. Very simple and tasteful.
We made it back to the parking lot just in time to catch the 4:50 shuttle. Once we got back to our hotel, we retrieved our vehicle and were on the road by 5:30. I have to admit that I did doze a little bit on the way back to Sarasota. There were also some more patches of rain, and some pretty fierce looking storms out along the coast from Tampa down to Sarasota. We finally made it back to the condo by about 7:30, and figured that it would be a good night to cook dinner, maybe play some Wizard and lay low. We ended up having a delicious salad of Boston lettuce, shrimp, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, mushrooms and a creamy Dijon, mayonnaise and lemon infused dressing. Besides that, we raided the fridge of some other leftovers and had some wings. We relaxed with our wine and played a game of wizard following dinner. But by about 10:30, I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer after an exhilarating but exhausting two days of constant activity.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Cirque du Pluie (Rain)
Disney, here we come! There were no issues rousing me from sleep on this morning. I just couldn’t wait to get on the road to Orlando, or more correctly Lake Buena Vista. We got up around 7am and were finally out the door by about 8:30 am. The drive itself took about an hour and half and was fairly uneventful. However, you can tell that I-4 between Tampa and Orlando generally always has an extremely high volume of traffic.
We arrived at our hotel called Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa and were able to do a pre-check-in since our rooms were not ready that early. We also checked our bags with the bell-man so that when we returned, we could go directly up to the room. Then, we got down to the shuttle area at just a few minutes before 11am. The shuttle typically comes to the hotel every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour to take guests to the theme parks or Downtown Disney. The bus to the Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom arrived within about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, it was standing-room only because the buses hit up a couple of other resorts before it got to ours.
We stood for quite some time as well because the bus went to the Magic Kingdom first…not our stop.
Eventually, around 11:30, we made it to the Animal Kingdom. We went to Will Call to pick up the tickets and a few minutes later, we were in the park. Usually the first thing you want to do when you arrive at a Disney park is to go get your Fast Pass for the most popular ride. At Animal Kingdom, that happens to be Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris or Kali River Rapids. We had no plans of getting soaked on Kali River Rapids (as we got plenty wet enough for the day as you read on), so we planned on going for Expedition Everest. Upon our arrival at the Fast Pass station, we found out from a staffer nearby that the typical “one fast pass at a time” rule had been deactivated that day, so we went ahead and got them for both Everest and the Safari. Lucky us!
Following our Fast Pass thievery, we went to DINOSAUR. As we were waiting for the ride, it started to rain, but luckily we were under cover. After about 20 – 25 minutes, we made it to the “prep room” where they describe the back-story to the ride and tell you the safety features. In a nutshell, it was our job to go back in time to the late Cretaceous period to rescue an Iguanodon from extinction because they are closely-related to reptiles of today. The ride was entertaining, as always, tossing us to and fro and creating multiple moments of surprise. Even after having ridden it 3-4 times previously, it’s still always a great time.
It was still spitting rain when we left the ride, and shortly thereafter began to pour. So, we looked for the closest restaurant and ducked inside to eat some lunch. I had a hot dog and fries, my old standard. The interesting thing about lunch was that the prices were close to ½ of what you’d pay at a ball park. That was incredible to me that Disney was so much less, and it kinda makes you pissed that you have to fork out so much money for a losing ball club like the Reds, if and when you actually attend a game.
From lunch, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris to use our first Fast Pass. It was great because the normal wait was at least an hour, and we walked right on. During the “safari,” we saw many animals including gazelles, antelopes, wildebeest, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, ostriches and cheetahs. The multitude and variety of animals was way improved from my last visit in March 2008, most likely due to the warmer weather. Did I also mention that we were tracking poachers during the ride? There always has to be an element of danger present.
When we exited the ride, it had started to rain again. So, this time we decided to grab the ponchos that Jerry and Linda had bought the previous week at Disney. It rained fairly steadily as we made our way through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we were able to view more animals – some of which we had seen during the safari. We also got to see some very large gorillas, and Justin took some pretty amazing pictures of them. I was surprised that they turned out so well through the glass of the cage.
From there, we made our way back into Asia to catch the Flights of Wonder show. They brought out large birds of prey, owls, ravens, macaws, etc. and had them perform little acts while the trainer told factual information about their habitat and abilities. When they would fly from one trainer to the other, the birds were literally within inches of the audiences’ heads. It was both funny and entertaining. Plus, it was incredible to see how large and beautiful they were up close. I think I almost started crying when the bald eagle came out.
We still had a little time to kill after the show before our Expedition Everest Fast Pass was good. So, we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia. Here we saw vampire bats (the big ones), komodo dragons, tigers and several Eastern species of colorful birds. Again, Justin went to work with his camera and got some fantastic close-ups of a tiger. When you look at them, you think, “that’s just like my little domesticated cat at home!” It’s very deceiving how docile they look.
Finally, once we got through this area, it was time to conquer Expedition Everest. The fast passes got us onto the ride within about 5 minutes. Everest lived up to everything I was hoping for, and it was pretty clear everyone else enjoyed it too. I should see if I can post a You Tube link to a videotaping of the ride. There’s just so much variety going on, it’s difficult to explain. The people in the car right in front of us tried to tape it, but there are definitely some parts in which you probably wouldn’t see anything on the screen because everything goes completely dark. This continues to be my favorite ride of all the Disney theme parks.
After exiting the ride, Jerry and Linda got some ice cream while Justin and I split a root beer float. This was just enough of a push to get us to the last attraction we planned on seeing for the day: It’s Tough To Be A Bug. ITTBAB (much easier to abbreviate) is basically a 3-D movie with other added features to make it unpredictable. Flik appears on-screen and wants to introduce people to all of the unique bug abilities in a stage-show setting. Danger arrives when the villain from the original movie (a grasshopper or locust figure) arrives and decides that the entire audience should be exterminated. They bring out hornets and the audience gets poked in the back by “stingers,” then black widows come down suspended from the ceiling, and finally they spray everyone with bug killer. The spider part was freaking hilarious! I was looking around during the scene and all of the kids in the room were screaming and carrying on. I was cracking up! Finally at the end, I jumped in my seat a little bit while we were waiting for the cockroaches to exit the building so we wouldn’t step on them. Disney did it again…no element left out.
Upon leaving the park, we went to catch our shuttle to take us back to the hotel. As we got closer, it was evident that more rain was moving in. But luckily, we made it back to the hotel just in time, so we didn’t get caught up in it again. It was easily 5:30 by the time we got back to our room, and we only had about 45 minutes to get ready before meeting in the lobby for dinner and La Nouba. The fact that we had a fairly short time to freshen up was a blessing though. It didn’t give us a chance to get tired after spending most of the day in the theme park.
Once we had all convened in the lobby, we hopped in the Lexus and made the 2-3 minute drive to Downtown Disney. It was nice to forego the shuttle on this one and have our own personal space. After we had parked, I picked up our tickets from Will Call. Then, we went to Bongos Cuban Café for dinner. I got some sort of fish, maybe grouper, but it was a little weird. Plus, the plates were so huge, that it was quite intimidating, and I lost my appetite. Who knows, I could have been so excited about La Nouba that I may have not had an appetite either.
So, dinner came and went with little fanfare. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to kill before seating opened, so we went to a store called Magnetron. I ended up getting a dolphin mosaic magnet (I already have a couple of Disney magnets at home). Then, it was finally time to go claim our La Nouba seats for the 9pm showing.
I enjoyed every second of the show, probably as much, if not more than the first time I saw it 10 years ago. The talent of the performers is incredible, the accompanying music is great, the transition of the set is seamless, and the overall presentation is mesmerizing. So far, La Nouba has been my favorite experience on this trip – nothing else compares. I don’t anticipate that changing either.
When we returned to the hotel, we had just enough remaining energy to grab a drink in the bar. I had a glass of red wine, of which I can’t recall. In fact, I was tired enough that I had to finish the glass back in the comforts of our room. Just a short few minutes later, we were both asleep in preparation for Disney Day Two.
We arrived at our hotel called Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa and were able to do a pre-check-in since our rooms were not ready that early. We also checked our bags with the bell-man so that when we returned, we could go directly up to the room. Then, we got down to the shuttle area at just a few minutes before 11am. The shuttle typically comes to the hotel every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour to take guests to the theme parks or Downtown Disney. The bus to the Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom arrived within about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, it was standing-room only because the buses hit up a couple of other resorts before it got to ours.
We stood for quite some time as well because the bus went to the Magic Kingdom first…not our stop.
Eventually, around 11:30, we made it to the Animal Kingdom. We went to Will Call to pick up the tickets and a few minutes later, we were in the park. Usually the first thing you want to do when you arrive at a Disney park is to go get your Fast Pass for the most popular ride. At Animal Kingdom, that happens to be Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris or Kali River Rapids. We had no plans of getting soaked on Kali River Rapids (as we got plenty wet enough for the day as you read on), so we planned on going for Expedition Everest. Upon our arrival at the Fast Pass station, we found out from a staffer nearby that the typical “one fast pass at a time” rule had been deactivated that day, so we went ahead and got them for both Everest and the Safari. Lucky us!
Following our Fast Pass thievery, we went to DINOSAUR. As we were waiting for the ride, it started to rain, but luckily we were under cover. After about 20 – 25 minutes, we made it to the “prep room” where they describe the back-story to the ride and tell you the safety features. In a nutshell, it was our job to go back in time to the late Cretaceous period to rescue an Iguanodon from extinction because they are closely-related to reptiles of today. The ride was entertaining, as always, tossing us to and fro and creating multiple moments of surprise. Even after having ridden it 3-4 times previously, it’s still always a great time.
It was still spitting rain when we left the ride, and shortly thereafter began to pour. So, we looked for the closest restaurant and ducked inside to eat some lunch. I had a hot dog and fries, my old standard. The interesting thing about lunch was that the prices were close to ½ of what you’d pay at a ball park. That was incredible to me that Disney was so much less, and it kinda makes you pissed that you have to fork out so much money for a losing ball club like the Reds, if and when you actually attend a game.
From lunch, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris to use our first Fast Pass. It was great because the normal wait was at least an hour, and we walked right on. During the “safari,” we saw many animals including gazelles, antelopes, wildebeest, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, ostriches and cheetahs. The multitude and variety of animals was way improved from my last visit in March 2008, most likely due to the warmer weather. Did I also mention that we were tracking poachers during the ride? There always has to be an element of danger present.
When we exited the ride, it had started to rain again. So, this time we decided to grab the ponchos that Jerry and Linda had bought the previous week at Disney. It rained fairly steadily as we made our way through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we were able to view more animals – some of which we had seen during the safari. We also got to see some very large gorillas, and Justin took some pretty amazing pictures of them. I was surprised that they turned out so well through the glass of the cage.
From there, we made our way back into Asia to catch the Flights of Wonder show. They brought out large birds of prey, owls, ravens, macaws, etc. and had them perform little acts while the trainer told factual information about their habitat and abilities. When they would fly from one trainer to the other, the birds were literally within inches of the audiences’ heads. It was both funny and entertaining. Plus, it was incredible to see how large and beautiful they were up close. I think I almost started crying when the bald eagle came out.
We still had a little time to kill after the show before our Expedition Everest Fast Pass was good. So, we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia. Here we saw vampire bats (the big ones), komodo dragons, tigers and several Eastern species of colorful birds. Again, Justin went to work with his camera and got some fantastic close-ups of a tiger. When you look at them, you think, “that’s just like my little domesticated cat at home!” It’s very deceiving how docile they look.
Finally, once we got through this area, it was time to conquer Expedition Everest. The fast passes got us onto the ride within about 5 minutes. Everest lived up to everything I was hoping for, and it was pretty clear everyone else enjoyed it too. I should see if I can post a You Tube link to a videotaping of the ride. There’s just so much variety going on, it’s difficult to explain. The people in the car right in front of us tried to tape it, but there are definitely some parts in which you probably wouldn’t see anything on the screen because everything goes completely dark. This continues to be my favorite ride of all the Disney theme parks.
After exiting the ride, Jerry and Linda got some ice cream while Justin and I split a root beer float. This was just enough of a push to get us to the last attraction we planned on seeing for the day: It’s Tough To Be A Bug. ITTBAB (much easier to abbreviate) is basically a 3-D movie with other added features to make it unpredictable. Flik appears on-screen and wants to introduce people to all of the unique bug abilities in a stage-show setting. Danger arrives when the villain from the original movie (a grasshopper or locust figure) arrives and decides that the entire audience should be exterminated. They bring out hornets and the audience gets poked in the back by “stingers,” then black widows come down suspended from the ceiling, and finally they spray everyone with bug killer. The spider part was freaking hilarious! I was looking around during the scene and all of the kids in the room were screaming and carrying on. I was cracking up! Finally at the end, I jumped in my seat a little bit while we were waiting for the cockroaches to exit the building so we wouldn’t step on them. Disney did it again…no element left out.
Upon leaving the park, we went to catch our shuttle to take us back to the hotel. As we got closer, it was evident that more rain was moving in. But luckily, we made it back to the hotel just in time, so we didn’t get caught up in it again. It was easily 5:30 by the time we got back to our room, and we only had about 45 minutes to get ready before meeting in the lobby for dinner and La Nouba. The fact that we had a fairly short time to freshen up was a blessing though. It didn’t give us a chance to get tired after spending most of the day in the theme park.
Once we had all convened in the lobby, we hopped in the Lexus and made the 2-3 minute drive to Downtown Disney. It was nice to forego the shuttle on this one and have our own personal space. After we had parked, I picked up our tickets from Will Call. Then, we went to Bongos Cuban Café for dinner. I got some sort of fish, maybe grouper, but it was a little weird. Plus, the plates were so huge, that it was quite intimidating, and I lost my appetite. Who knows, I could have been so excited about La Nouba that I may have not had an appetite either.
So, dinner came and went with little fanfare. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to kill before seating opened, so we went to a store called Magnetron. I ended up getting a dolphin mosaic magnet (I already have a couple of Disney magnets at home). Then, it was finally time to go claim our La Nouba seats for the 9pm showing.
I enjoyed every second of the show, probably as much, if not more than the first time I saw it 10 years ago. The talent of the performers is incredible, the accompanying music is great, the transition of the set is seamless, and the overall presentation is mesmerizing. So far, La Nouba has been my favorite experience on this trip – nothing else compares. I don’t anticipate that changing either.
When we returned to the hotel, we had just enough remaining energy to grab a drink in the bar. I had a glass of red wine, of which I can’t recall. In fact, I was tired enough that I had to finish the glass back in the comforts of our room. Just a short few minutes later, we were both asleep in preparation for Disney Day Two.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Life's a Beach
I was excited about waking up early on this morning because we were going to get to spend the day with our friends, Kelly and Pat. So, I got up around 7am, and Linda and I went for a walk through a small portion of the neighborhood. It was evident, even as early as it was, that it was going to be a scorcher that day.
Justin and I left the condo around 9am so that we would have a little bit of extra time to do a few side trips on the way down to Ft. Myers. First, we stopped off at Gilchrist Park in Punta Gorda. This was a park that my parents used to take me to as a child when we would visit my grandparents. I didn’t really recognize much of it except for maybe the Fisherman’s Wharf area in the distance. But it was apparent that the park has probably changed multiple times over the past 20 years due to weather or just general renovations. The grounds were beautiful and well-kept with a playground, tennis courts, a covered gazebo on the water, an old pier that went out into the bay and a monument dedicated to Ponce de Leon. Even though we were only there for a few minutes, I really enjoyed the experience.
After driving about another 4 miles, we reached the former neighborhood of my Grandma and Grandpa Palmier. When we got to their street and house, I recognized it immediately. You could tell that it had been refinished since Hurricane Charley in 2004 because the siding and everything looked almost like new. One thing that was really surprising to me was how close together the homes were and how narrow the streets were. As a child, your perspective is soooo different. But once again, it was really cool to recognize familiarities from the past as we drove through the neighborhood.
A little after 11am, we arrived at Kelly’s place within a gated community of Ft. Myers called Gateway Golf and Country Club. We spent a good 30 minutes suiting up, putting on sunscreen and packing a picnic lunch. Then, we were off in Kelly’s parents’ red convertible to head to the beaches on Captiva Island.
The drive took a healthy hour because we were about 30 minutes from the islands, and then it took another 30 minutes to drive through Sanibel and Captiva. Although, I was sweating bullets and my hair had blown into several nasty knots, it was nice to have that fresh ocean air and to look at all of the huge vacation homes along the way. At the very edge of Captiva, where the road literally dead ends, was the beach. We had to wait a good 15 minutes for a parking spot because space was minimal, but once we got parked we were on the beach within 5 minutes.
We set up camp, and as soon as we were finished, everyone agreed that it was time to cool-off in the water. Plus, the sand was unbearably hot!! It was nothing like the cool sand at Siesta Key. Every time we went from our blanket to the water or vice versa, we had to run like it was a 50-yard dash. The water was great and there were some wonderful shelling opportunities. But, once again, little to no waves!! I’m starting to get annoyed with this. I think it’s pretty common in the Gulf to have calm waters, so I guess you have to be really lucky to get surf above 1 – 2 feet. Not this time…
Also, pretty early on while we were out in the water (about chest deep), I stepped on something slimy. When I said something, Justin started to come over to me and on the way, he stepped on something slimy as well. Then, Pat was like, “I didn’t say anything, but I think I stepped on something too.” Within about 10 seconds of this conversation, all of sudden we all see a big, dark, flat, sea creature come to the surface about 10 feet away and start swimming parallel to the coast. As it passed people, you’d see them start to freak out because it was hard to tell exactly what it was. The ultimate consensus ended up being that it was a manatee. From what I’ve heard they are docile and harmless, so I’m going to stick with that hypothesis.
As the afternoon trickled by, we basically ate lunch and spent most of the rest of the time in the water. We ended up taking one of our umbrellas from the shore and staking it into the sand out in the water, so we could stay cool and get some relief from the sun at the same time. I also dragged a lounge chair down to the edge of the water so I could relax and allow the waves to lap at my feet.
Finally around 4:30pm, I could see that some rain was starting to move in from the southeast, so I told everyone we should wrap it up. On the way back through Sanibel, we stopped at a little souvenir shop, She Sells Sea Shells so Pat could get a gift for his niece and nephew. Most of the stuff they had there was junk, but a lot of the shells were cool. Right when we got back to the car, the rain started. So, up went the top, and we headed inland towards Ft. Myers Beach.
As we got closer to our destination to hit the rooftop restaurant of the Lani-Kai motel, the lightning display was incredible. It’s not very often that you get to see that around Cincinnati because of all the trees and buildings. But along the coast, pretty much all you do see is the sky and the water line, so it’s fantastic. Once we got up to the roof, it was perfect because all of the rain was well enough off the coast that we were able to sit outside. For dinner, we split a few appetizers of peel ‘n’ eat shrimp and boiled clams. Then, I kept it simple by having a pizza, which I later managed to spill my Hurricane on (didn’t bother keeping the soggy leftovers).
We continued to hang out until sunset, hoping that things would clear enough to catch a good one. But, it just wasn’t meant to be on this night because the storm clouds didn’t want to let up. So, we headed back to Kelly’s place to get our car so we could get back to Sarasota for the night. After a quick dip in Kelly’s pool to rinse off that yucky sand, we hopped in my TSX and proceeded north. We finally got back to Jerry and Linda’s around 10:45pm and after another full day of activity, I got ready for bed. The next two days consist of my favorite place on earth: Disney World. Can’t wait!
Justin and I left the condo around 9am so that we would have a little bit of extra time to do a few side trips on the way down to Ft. Myers. First, we stopped off at Gilchrist Park in Punta Gorda. This was a park that my parents used to take me to as a child when we would visit my grandparents. I didn’t really recognize much of it except for maybe the Fisherman’s Wharf area in the distance. But it was apparent that the park has probably changed multiple times over the past 20 years due to weather or just general renovations. The grounds were beautiful and well-kept with a playground, tennis courts, a covered gazebo on the water, an old pier that went out into the bay and a monument dedicated to Ponce de Leon. Even though we were only there for a few minutes, I really enjoyed the experience.
After driving about another 4 miles, we reached the former neighborhood of my Grandma and Grandpa Palmier. When we got to their street and house, I recognized it immediately. You could tell that it had been refinished since Hurricane Charley in 2004 because the siding and everything looked almost like new. One thing that was really surprising to me was how close together the homes were and how narrow the streets were. As a child, your perspective is soooo different. But once again, it was really cool to recognize familiarities from the past as we drove through the neighborhood.
A little after 11am, we arrived at Kelly’s place within a gated community of Ft. Myers called Gateway Golf and Country Club. We spent a good 30 minutes suiting up, putting on sunscreen and packing a picnic lunch. Then, we were off in Kelly’s parents’ red convertible to head to the beaches on Captiva Island.
The drive took a healthy hour because we were about 30 minutes from the islands, and then it took another 30 minutes to drive through Sanibel and Captiva. Although, I was sweating bullets and my hair had blown into several nasty knots, it was nice to have that fresh ocean air and to look at all of the huge vacation homes along the way. At the very edge of Captiva, where the road literally dead ends, was the beach. We had to wait a good 15 minutes for a parking spot because space was minimal, but once we got parked we were on the beach within 5 minutes.
We set up camp, and as soon as we were finished, everyone agreed that it was time to cool-off in the water. Plus, the sand was unbearably hot!! It was nothing like the cool sand at Siesta Key. Every time we went from our blanket to the water or vice versa, we had to run like it was a 50-yard dash. The water was great and there were some wonderful shelling opportunities. But, once again, little to no waves!! I’m starting to get annoyed with this. I think it’s pretty common in the Gulf to have calm waters, so I guess you have to be really lucky to get surf above 1 – 2 feet. Not this time…
Also, pretty early on while we were out in the water (about chest deep), I stepped on something slimy. When I said something, Justin started to come over to me and on the way, he stepped on something slimy as well. Then, Pat was like, “I didn’t say anything, but I think I stepped on something too.” Within about 10 seconds of this conversation, all of sudden we all see a big, dark, flat, sea creature come to the surface about 10 feet away and start swimming parallel to the coast. As it passed people, you’d see them start to freak out because it was hard to tell exactly what it was. The ultimate consensus ended up being that it was a manatee. From what I’ve heard they are docile and harmless, so I’m going to stick with that hypothesis.
As the afternoon trickled by, we basically ate lunch and spent most of the rest of the time in the water. We ended up taking one of our umbrellas from the shore and staking it into the sand out in the water, so we could stay cool and get some relief from the sun at the same time. I also dragged a lounge chair down to the edge of the water so I could relax and allow the waves to lap at my feet.
Finally around 4:30pm, I could see that some rain was starting to move in from the southeast, so I told everyone we should wrap it up. On the way back through Sanibel, we stopped at a little souvenir shop, She Sells Sea Shells so Pat could get a gift for his niece and nephew. Most of the stuff they had there was junk, but a lot of the shells were cool. Right when we got back to the car, the rain started. So, up went the top, and we headed inland towards Ft. Myers Beach.
As we got closer to our destination to hit the rooftop restaurant of the Lani-Kai motel, the lightning display was incredible. It’s not very often that you get to see that around Cincinnati because of all the trees and buildings. But along the coast, pretty much all you do see is the sky and the water line, so it’s fantastic. Once we got up to the roof, it was perfect because all of the rain was well enough off the coast that we were able to sit outside. For dinner, we split a few appetizers of peel ‘n’ eat shrimp and boiled clams. Then, I kept it simple by having a pizza, which I later managed to spill my Hurricane on (didn’t bother keeping the soggy leftovers).
We continued to hang out until sunset, hoping that things would clear enough to catch a good one. But, it just wasn’t meant to be on this night because the storm clouds didn’t want to let up. So, we headed back to Kelly’s place to get our car so we could get back to Sarasota for the night. After a quick dip in Kelly’s pool to rinse off that yucky sand, we hopped in my TSX and proceeded north. We finally got back to Jerry and Linda’s around 10:45pm and after another full day of activity, I got ready for bed. The next two days consist of my favorite place on earth: Disney World. Can’t wait!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bogey City
Day Two got off to another early start. However, on this morning, we woke up to a much quieter house. After eating a leisurely breakfast and lounging in the lanai for a bit, Justin, Jerry and I decided to head out for a few errands. Jerry needed to replace his fishing pole, which had mysteriously snapped a few days earlier. Justin and I went back to Total Wines to make our purchases after I had had a chance to compare the Buying Guide to my Wine Spectator list. It’s a Sunday morning, mind you, and the store opens at 9am! I guess people like their alcohol down there. In all, we left with 15 bottles of wine totaling about $210. Not bad, considering everything I bought had ratings of about 90+ points. That brings our total wine count (at home) to 40 bottles. We have some serious drinking to do over the next several months.
After a light lunch, we made our way to the clubhouse so we could tee off for a round of golf. Of the holes I did play, I had a small handful of decent shots. However, most of the time I either lost count of the strokes it took me to make it to the hole or I ended up picking up my ball. I think my best hole (and I only maybe played 8 of the 18) was a triple bogey, but I’m not even sure. Around hole 13 or so, we caught a glimpse of a gator in one of the lakes. On that same hole, I had a brief encounter with some fire ants as we were looking for one of Justin’s balls. Those things are not nice!
As everyone continued on, I spent the latter holes trying to catch lizards. I didn’t have much luck because they were pretty quick, but I ran over a few with the golf cart. Oops! Also, from about the 13th hole on, it was pretty evident that the afternoon storms were beginning to build. It seemed like thunder was coming from all directions. At the beginning of the 18th hole, it started to rain pretty steadily, but then it suddenly let up as soon as everyone had teed off. Still, the winds were whipping, the lightning was beginning to get closer, and we definitely wrapped it up just in the nick of time.
Once we got back to the condo, I laid down for a little bit. Then, it was pretty much time to head to dinner. On this evening, we kept it really casual and went to a local joint called the Alehouse. I had a salad with boneless wings on it and Justin had (surprise, surprise) hot wings. Then, when we got back, we all watched an episode of Planet Earth on DVD while attempting to keep Jerry from falling asleep. Justin wanted to watch another episode, but I think the rest of us were ready to follow Jerry into the land of dreams as well. So, off we went.
After a light lunch, we made our way to the clubhouse so we could tee off for a round of golf. Of the holes I did play, I had a small handful of decent shots. However, most of the time I either lost count of the strokes it took me to make it to the hole or I ended up picking up my ball. I think my best hole (and I only maybe played 8 of the 18) was a triple bogey, but I’m not even sure. Around hole 13 or so, we caught a glimpse of a gator in one of the lakes. On that same hole, I had a brief encounter with some fire ants as we were looking for one of Justin’s balls. Those things are not nice!
As everyone continued on, I spent the latter holes trying to catch lizards. I didn’t have much luck because they were pretty quick, but I ran over a few with the golf cart. Oops! Also, from about the 13th hole on, it was pretty evident that the afternoon storms were beginning to build. It seemed like thunder was coming from all directions. At the beginning of the 18th hole, it started to rain pretty steadily, but then it suddenly let up as soon as everyone had teed off. Still, the winds were whipping, the lightning was beginning to get closer, and we definitely wrapped it up just in the nick of time.
Once we got back to the condo, I laid down for a little bit. Then, it was pretty much time to head to dinner. On this evening, we kept it really casual and went to a local joint called the Alehouse. I had a salad with boneless wings on it and Justin had (surprise, surprise) hot wings. Then, when we got back, we all watched an episode of Planet Earth on DVD while attempting to keep Jerry from falling asleep. Justin wanted to watch another episode, but I think the rest of us were ready to follow Jerry into the land of dreams as well. So, off we went.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
"Official" Day 1 in the FLA
I'm fixing to hit the hay in just a few minutes, but I wanted to give an update on the trip so far. I didn't get a chance to compose anything yesterday, so I'll give a summary in a nutshell:
On Friday, we ended up leaving our house by 6:30 am. I drove to Atlanta, where we stopped for gas, lunch and bathrooms. Then, Justin took over and drove and drove and drove some more. Finally, just after 8pm, we arrived at Jerry and Linda's condo in Sarasota. So, that was 950 miles in 13.5 hours...I'd say that's pretty stellar!
After we arrived, we had some cedar plank grilled salmon for dinner and visited with Jerry, Linda, Jason, Julie and the kids before turning in for a night of well-deserved sleep.
So, this morning, we were awakened to a combo of the kids banging on walls/doors, sand cranes squawking and coffee-maker alarms going off. At least it was after 8am. Then, after eating a protein-filled breakfast and showering, we decided to head to Siesta Key beach with Jason, Julie and the nieces and nephew.
For a few hours we frolicked in the small waves and watched the girls (+ some random kid) work on a sand castle moat. Through some stroke of luck and minor skill, I was able to catch a few minnow-sized fish in a little net so that the kids could watch them swim in their moat and dig a path to help them escape back into the ocean.
By the time all of us were sand-covered and hungry for lunch, we headed back to the condo for grilled cheese and deli sandwiches. Finally, around 2pm, Jason, Julie and family left to begin their long trek home. It got really quiet around the house when they left. But don't get me wrong, it was great getting to spend close to a day with everyone. Those kids have such unique personalities, and I pretty much constantly laugh at their little antics.
Around 4pm, Justin and I and his parents went for a drive into downtown Sarasota to check out the lay of the land. Then, we crossed over the bay and drove through the other various islands such as St. Armands circle, Longboat Cove and Anna Maria Island. At Anna Maria, we stopped at a restaurant called the Beachhouse and had frozen beverages and a few appetizers. Then, just in the nick of time, we left to head back to the mainland just as rain was moving in.
Before heading to dinner, we briefly stopped over at Total Wines (the spot I was talking about a few days ago) and browsed around. However, we are planning on going back tomorrow once I've had time to compose a more specific list, rather than just randomly wandering around. Just across the street was Stonewood, where we grabbed some dinner. Justin and I both had steak, and of course some wine with dinner.
After returning to Jerry and Linda's we launched ourselves into a competitive game of Wizards, and finally Day One drew to a close. More fun in the sun to come tomorrow!
On Friday, we ended up leaving our house by 6:30 am. I drove to Atlanta, where we stopped for gas, lunch and bathrooms. Then, Justin took over and drove and drove and drove some more. Finally, just after 8pm, we arrived at Jerry and Linda's condo in Sarasota. So, that was 950 miles in 13.5 hours...I'd say that's pretty stellar!
After we arrived, we had some cedar plank grilled salmon for dinner and visited with Jerry, Linda, Jason, Julie and the kids before turning in for a night of well-deserved sleep.
So, this morning, we were awakened to a combo of the kids banging on walls/doors, sand cranes squawking and coffee-maker alarms going off. At least it was after 8am. Then, after eating a protein-filled breakfast and showering, we decided to head to Siesta Key beach with Jason, Julie and the nieces and nephew.
For a few hours we frolicked in the small waves and watched the girls (+ some random kid) work on a sand castle moat. Through some stroke of luck and minor skill, I was able to catch a few minnow-sized fish in a little net so that the kids could watch them swim in their moat and dig a path to help them escape back into the ocean.
By the time all of us were sand-covered and hungry for lunch, we headed back to the condo for grilled cheese and deli sandwiches. Finally, around 2pm, Jason, Julie and family left to begin their long trek home. It got really quiet around the house when they left. But don't get me wrong, it was great getting to spend close to a day with everyone. Those kids have such unique personalities, and I pretty much constantly laugh at their little antics.
Around 4pm, Justin and I and his parents went for a drive into downtown Sarasota to check out the lay of the land. Then, we crossed over the bay and drove through the other various islands such as St. Armands circle, Longboat Cove and Anna Maria Island. At Anna Maria, we stopped at a restaurant called the Beachhouse and had frozen beverages and a few appetizers. Then, just in the nick of time, we left to head back to the mainland just as rain was moving in.
Before heading to dinner, we briefly stopped over at Total Wines (the spot I was talking about a few days ago) and browsed around. However, we are planning on going back tomorrow once I've had time to compose a more specific list, rather than just randomly wandering around. Just across the street was Stonewood, where we grabbed some dinner. Justin and I both had steak, and of course some wine with dinner.
After returning to Jerry and Linda's we launched ourselves into a competitive game of Wizards, and finally Day One drew to a close. More fun in the sun to come tomorrow!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Trip Prep Frenzy
As the trip looms closer, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done as I scramble to clean the house, buy trip items, BLOG and pack. Since we are making the long 15-or so-hour drive down to Sarasota, I want to make sure that we have some entertainment.
So, I’ve got crossword puzzles and a “People” activity book that my mom gave me ready to go. Yesterday, I bought a Marvel Comics coloring and activity book that hopefully Justin will enjoy. It’s goofy, I know, but sometimes you go to great lengths for entertainment during a monotonous car ride. And finally last night, I printed out some free travel bingo and scavenger hunt games from the internet that we will be able to participate in together. Unfortunately, I was having my parents try to locate “The World’s Greatest Travel Game” which is this awesome game from the 80’s that I played as child. But I guess they didn’t realize how valuable it was to me and probably sold it in a garage sale long ago.
Besides the games and activities, we always have our music. Both of us have our I-pods/Phones and we have my free XM/Sirius radio.
Another project I’ve been working on fairly consistently has been to go through Wine Spectator magazines and take note of wines (all under $20) that I’m interested in purchasing. The reason being, there is a giant wine and spirits warehouse in Sarasota called Total Wines that we are planning on spending a couple of hours at one day. Apparently, they have a larger and more eclectic selection than any of the wine stores around here. I find that pretty hard to believe because Party Source, Cork ‘n’ Bottle and even Jungle Jims around this area are quite large, although I’ve never really scoured their stock for anything in particular. So, stay tuned on that one.
The last (slightly unnecessary) thing I did was I bought some additional beach-wear. When I was in St. Louis last weekend, I picked up a cute little strapless terry cloth cover-up. This, I actually did need, because I haven’t had a true cover-up for as long as I can remember. Then, on Monday after work, I bought not one, not two, but THREE new bathing suits. It was a little excessive, I know, but there are incredible sales and I haven’t bought any bathing suits since the summer Justin and I got married 6 years ago. I got one bikini for $20, 1 tankini for $30 and a monokini for $40. Pretty darn good!! I have one more suit that I bought this summer the last time I was in Florida in June as well. So, I will be more than set for beach-bummin’ it on this trip. Oh and one more thing, I did get rid of 4 old bathing suits last night. In with the new and out with the old (not quite the right order, but better late than never!).
So, I’ve got crossword puzzles and a “People” activity book that my mom gave me ready to go. Yesterday, I bought a Marvel Comics coloring and activity book that hopefully Justin will enjoy. It’s goofy, I know, but sometimes you go to great lengths for entertainment during a monotonous car ride. And finally last night, I printed out some free travel bingo and scavenger hunt games from the internet that we will be able to participate in together. Unfortunately, I was having my parents try to locate “The World’s Greatest Travel Game” which is this awesome game from the 80’s that I played as child. But I guess they didn’t realize how valuable it was to me and probably sold it in a garage sale long ago.
Besides the games and activities, we always have our music. Both of us have our I-pods/Phones and we have my free XM/Sirius radio.
Another project I’ve been working on fairly consistently has been to go through Wine Spectator magazines and take note of wines (all under $20) that I’m interested in purchasing. The reason being, there is a giant wine and spirits warehouse in Sarasota called Total Wines that we are planning on spending a couple of hours at one day. Apparently, they have a larger and more eclectic selection than any of the wine stores around here. I find that pretty hard to believe because Party Source, Cork ‘n’ Bottle and even Jungle Jims around this area are quite large, although I’ve never really scoured their stock for anything in particular. So, stay tuned on that one.
The last (slightly unnecessary) thing I did was I bought some additional beach-wear. When I was in St. Louis last weekend, I picked up a cute little strapless terry cloth cover-up. This, I actually did need, because I haven’t had a true cover-up for as long as I can remember. Then, on Monday after work, I bought not one, not two, but THREE new bathing suits. It was a little excessive, I know, but there are incredible sales and I haven’t bought any bathing suits since the summer Justin and I got married 6 years ago. I got one bikini for $20, 1 tankini for $30 and a monokini for $40. Pretty darn good!! I have one more suit that I bought this summer the last time I was in Florida in June as well. So, I will be more than set for beach-bummin’ it on this trip. Oh and one more thing, I did get rid of 4 old bathing suits last night. In with the new and out with the old (not quite the right order, but better late than never!).
Monday, August 10, 2009
Countdown to Florida
Well, an entire year has gone by since the trip out west, and we will be heading to Florida at almost precisely the same time we went on vacation last year. Once again, long stretches of driving are in the near future because we decided to fore-go the airport scene.
After several weeks of a hum-drum sort of summer, I'm definitely looking forward to a week of entertainment. Unfortunately, I'll be trading in mountains for the beach, but as long as there are decent waves and sea shells, I will be content. Another MAJORLY exciting thing about this trip is the fact that I will get to spend a few days at Disney World (one of my favorite places on the planet). Justin and I have been together for nearly 10 years, and it will be the first time we get to experience the "Magic" together.
So anyway, I will try to keep the tradition alive once again this year by blogging about my trip experience. I'm not sure what the plans are as far as computer access is concerned, but I have a hunch that the laptop will come with us since Justin may have to do a wee bit of business down there.
Til tomorrow...
Heigh ho, Heigh ho, it's off to bed I go!
After several weeks of a hum-drum sort of summer, I'm definitely looking forward to a week of entertainment. Unfortunately, I'll be trading in mountains for the beach, but as long as there are decent waves and sea shells, I will be content. Another MAJORLY exciting thing about this trip is the fact that I will get to spend a few days at Disney World (one of my favorite places on the planet). Justin and I have been together for nearly 10 years, and it will be the first time we get to experience the "Magic" together.
So anyway, I will try to keep the tradition alive once again this year by blogging about my trip experience. I'm not sure what the plans are as far as computer access is concerned, but I have a hunch that the laptop will come with us since Justin may have to do a wee bit of business down there.
Til tomorrow...
Heigh ho, Heigh ho, it's off to bed I go!
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