Day 1
We left for sunny Florida on Monday the 22nd of March from a cold Ohio. This was a long needed break from School. The flight down was relatively uneventful with exception of a couple of hiccups with Delta. First they moved our seats back about 7 rows, which upset Tiffany and I since we tried to get as close to the front of the plane when we chose our seats a few months ago. The plane itself was pretty new. Each seat had its own TV that you could watch live TV, prerecorded shows, play games, or watch a movie. The movie and most of the games cost money, but it was still cool. Our landing in Orlando was a bit crazy. We were about 500 feet from the ground when the plane all of a sudden pulled back up again. Tiffany, being a nervous flyer, did not like this one bit. The pilot came on and told us that a plane taxied across the wrong way, and the runway was no longer clear. So we circled around Orlando and came back around to land 30 minutes late.
After we landed we gathered our things and headed out to get our rental car. We chose the new Ford Focus SES to see how it compares to Tiffany’s car. Overall I have to say it was pretty nice. Lots of buttons, sunroof, and very smooth ride.
Using Rick’s GPS (kind of) we found our way to the resort (Holiday Inn Express for us) that we were going to stay at. We checked in and asked the woman at the counter for a good place to get some good pizza. She recommended a place called Giordano’s Pizza. What we didn’t know at the time was this place was rated the number one pizza place in America by The Today Show. I have to admit that it was the best deep dish pizza I have ever had.
Day 2
We woke up a bit early and had breakfast in our hotel. Which was not the best, but it was free (amazing cinnamon rolls though). We had to go to our timeshare presentation at 11:30. It was only supposed to last 90 minutes, but I think it lasted closer to two and a half hours. This was one of the ways that we were able to afford this trip, and while it seemed to last forever, it was worth it. During the presentation Tiffany and I discovered that we do want a time share when I graduate, but we want one that uses the point system (so we can go other places) and we want one in a high traffic area (such as Orlando). While Jared was very convincing, and the price was affordable, we knew that we couldn’t do it since we needed to save for a baby.
After our 2 bazillion hour presentation and staving off not only nice Jared, but also A-hole Irish guy, we headed to Cocoa Beach. Tiffany was bird watching during the car trip and spotted a bald eagle(!), which she was obviously ecstatic about. We made a stop at a restaurant called The Shark Pit Bar and Grill for a quick bite to eat. We shared a Fish Taco and some fries. This was our first of two great meals this day, and we got to eat it in front of a big aquarium. We walked around a bit and looked through the big Ron Jon Surf Shop next door, then made our way to the beach. We walked around and looked at birds, crabs, and people.
We found a few good shells to add to the collection we started in Mexico. We got to see someone reel in a pretty big fish.On our way back we asked someone where would be a good place to get some good seafood in town. Luckily for us we found a guy who had lived there for over 50 years, and knew the perfect place called The Grills.
I ordered the Mahi Mahi, Tiffany got the snow crab, plus we had some rock shrimp for an appetizer. This was one of the first times I have been to a nice restaurant since I added seafood back into my diet, and is by far the best one. Our entrées were accompanied by garlic cream potatoes, steamed veggies, and cheese bread. We were lucky to get seated at a table looking out over the bay and a bunch of hungry pelicans swarming some fishermen cleaning their catch. After our meal we made our way back to the hotel then called it a night so we could get up early and head off to the have “The time of our Lives” (say that to the tune of their song) at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Day 3
We had the ambition to get to the park early (around 8:00) and to then shut it down.
We got there at 9:00, which worked our since they don’t open until then, and quickly went in and tried to get all of the rides we could before the crowds got too big. Luckily for us they never really did. We made our way through all of the big rides including, but not limited to, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and many more. We were able to catch a show in the middle of the day. The most entertaining part was the end when they lit off some fireworks and a hawk was dodging the blasts like he was in a dog fight. We stopped for lunch and had some veggie burgers, and fries… then went on more rides. We had front row seats for the parade and got some great pictures of all the Disney characters. For dinner I was not smart enough to make reservations for the nicer places, and we had decided to head back early (so much for closing down the park… we are getting old) so we had noodles and tofu then headed back to catch the monorail to our bus. When we got back to the hotel we decided that we need to head down to the pool at least for a little bit, so we got into our suits and went down there. We got in the hot tub, drank some very expensive Long Island ice teas and ate an even more expensive pizza. We then went back to the hotel and began to pack for our trip home. Not planning ahead enough we were unable to get a ride back home from the airport and would eventually have to pay for a taxi ride back ($30!!!). The plane back to Ohio was not nearly as nice as the plane out, and we had some guy chewing him gum very loudly behind us… but in the end it did not matter too much since we were going to be in our own bed (apparently the only bed my beautiful bride and I can stand. Maybe we shouldn’t have bought the best bed in the world!) The Bad part... we are back in cold Ohio (This was the night we got back!!)
