Vacation! Vacation! Vacation!

It had been over two years since we had been on a vacation of significant distance or duration.  Mostly just long weekends here and there.  We were long overdue.  And with our 10 year anniversary looming, some time away to celebrate was definitely on the agenda.  So we started planning this past spring for our trip in mid-September.  No kids, tons of sunshine, and a week of fun in Florida!  We coordinated with the grandparents and found a week that worked for everyone.  Now for the details!

 We decided to share the trip with another couple that were good friends of ours and found an awesome condo to rent in Orlando and with mid-september prices resulted in an awesome deal for each of us.  1400 sq. ft of living space, only three years old, three bedroom, two and a half baths, gated commuity and the resort was only 20% capacity.  We had the pool, hot tub, club house, and tiki bar to ourselves 90% of the time.  This was a great start to the trip.

 We flew out on Saturday morning and arrived at the Tampa airport around noon.  We flew into Tampa because flights were about $30 cheaper and the rent-a-car was also about $5 a day cheaper so the one hour drive was nothing for the almost $200 we saved.  We got to the rental car place and started loading our luggage that was supposed to fit enough for four people in the little compact we rented.  Of course it didn't but after about 15 mins of restacking it we made it fit.  And my shirt was soaked.  It was sunny, 95 degrees and about 90% humidity.  Ahhh, fun in the sun! :P  We stopped for lunch along the way and made a trip to the local grocery to pick up breakfast supplies and as much diet coke as we could fit in the car.  I'm addicted. :D

 We got to the condo around 4 pm and everything was in great shape!  It was nice to unpack our stuff into a real bedroom and bathroom and then put the suit cases away with minimal effort and made the stay less messy and chaotic.  Well that and my wife did laundry almost every day which meant we didn't wear half of what we packed.  LOL  She's awesome, what can I say. :)  We rested for a bit then headed to Downtown Disney to meet some of the other couple's family for dinner at Planet Hollywood.  Place was packed and we waited about 40 mins to be seated.  Atmosphere was a bit more chaotic than I prefer but we had fun anyway.  It was official, VACATION was under way! :)  Seeing the 30 foot picture of Gwen Stefani on the side of the Virgin Records store also helped to make the evening special.  I've had a serious crush on Gwen dating back to the early 90's when she first hit the scene.  My wife TOTALLY understands and even took a pic of it for me.  Then she laughed at me and said I was pitiful.  <blush>

 We had purchased week long passes to the Universal Parks (Islands of Adventure & Universal Studios) as well as Wet-n-Wild water park before we left home so Sunday morning we got up and headed for Universal Studios.  We were excited to be able to go to these parks without kids and ride the rides we liked without having to waste a lot of time on the "kiddy areas".  Don't get me wrong, I love taking my kids (8, 6, 4) to amusement parks, but this was a well deserved break.  What I wasn't prepared for was just how dead the parks were, I had never gone during a time when kids were in school before always in June or July.  We rode EVERYTHING as much as we wanted and was through the park by lunch time!  We were totally shocked.  But we had a blast.  So we headed next door to Islands of Adventure to ride some coasters and Spider-Man.  We hopped through the park catching our favorites and catching some lunch before the park closed at 6.  We left around 5:30 though and headed back to the condo where we cleaned up and had some Outback for dinner.  Yeah, on vacation I like to eat places that I can't normally go to at home, but eating at Outback without kids is like a totally different experience. LOL  Mmm...Steak!

 Since we had gotten through most of the Universal parks on Sunday, Monday we headed to Wet-n-Wild water park.  I had heard that this place was really breaking down and some called it "ghetto" compared to Disney's newer bettter themed water parks.  But the price was unbelievable so we took the risk.  Yes it wasn't as nice as I once remembered it but it was so dead that we didn't mind.  We got to ride everything over and over.  It was clean due to low crowds and we didn' twait in line ever.  After about 4 hours and some lunch we left for the Festival Bay Mall up the street to score some goodies from their Steve & Barry's store (great prices and selection for college teams and such).  We did really well, found me some Ohio State gear which is always a plus. :)  We left and had dinner at Friday's.  I hadn't been there in forever and there was a brand new one nearby and I wanted to try their $12.99 choose three meal deal.  Food was better than I remembered and we considered going back but the selection was just too large to do repeats.

 Tuesday morning we decided to drive to Cocoa Beach, it was storming but the news said it would get worse as the week progressed so we decided to chance it.  It was only 45-50 mins from the condo so not a total loss and I wanted to go to the HUGE Ron Jon shop there.  I always get at least one novelty t-shirt on a trip and this year I wanted one from Ron Jon.  It rained the whole drive over but cleared up as soon as we parked, we were very relieved.  We ran in and got our shirts and then headed across the street to the beach.  Waves were REALLY pounding the beach and pretty descent heights too.  We had brough the boogie board from the condo and through us couple of midwestern newbs would give it a try.  Well for one the waves were the most violent I had ever experienced which was kinda fun but totally kicked your butt in the process.  I was slammed into the sand a few times and have a few scars still healing to prove it.  We walked down to the pier nearby and were treated to our own PBS special on sea life.  We came across a dolphin head (NO BODY!) laying on the beach.  See picture for yourself.  Quite creepy.  Along with some really cool and super fast little crabs that were running across the beach.  They run sideways which was just hilarious.  Shortly after it started downpouring so we headed for the local mall rather than back to Orlando as we wanted to wait it out so we could eat at this awesome restaraunt a coworker had told me about called Grills Tiki Bar.  I am so glad we did.  It was awesome!  Try it out, it's on the north side of Cocoa Beach on the waterway separating it from Cape Canaveral.  I was also stoked as I found an awesome Ohio State hoody at the Cocoa Beach mall so that was worth hanging aound in of itself.  And my wife and I also found some awesome 75% deals at Aeropostale, which is my wife's favorite store.  And I had lost 25 lbs since April, so I was in need of new clothes anyway.  Back to the condo after dinner.  This was showing it's value now three days in, having such an awesome place to unwind and relax.  We'll be doing this again soon.

 Wednesday we decided to start the cycle over and went to Island of Avdventure for the full treatment of rides, shows, and eating lunch at the legendary on-site restaraunt Mythos.  Winners of best theme park restaraunt in the world three or more years running for those that were unfamiliar.  We had a blast, no lines, great food.  We rode the Hulk coaster twice, both of the Dueling Dragons, Spider-Man twice, Rip-Saw falls, Jurrassic Park River Adventure, Popeye's barge (white water rapid ride), saw the pirate show, and bought some t-shirts for the kids.  It was looking like rain so we headed over to another mall AGAIN!  What is it with malls on this trip! LOL  We found a few deals and I got a personalized "Stryker" hat.  I usually make fun of people for this but it turned out pretty cool.  Later we had dinner at Sizzler which used to be a favorite of mine on vacation but they have totally just jumped the shark.  Food was bad, services was poor, building was ran down.  This ones off the list for next year.  Finished out the day at the pool and hot tub.  SOOOOOOO relaxing!

 Thursday we went back to Wet-n-Wild and spent about half a day there and relaxed by the wave pool in the sun.  Crowds were even lighter than Monday.  Lunch didn't set right with me so we went back to the condo that afternoon and relaxed before hitting a few souvenier ($1.99) stores and then some Chicago Style pizza at Giordono's!  That place rocks.  Just as good in FL as it is in Chicago!  More hot tub and pool that night.  NIRVANA!

 Friday was our last day so we headed back to Universal.  We had lunch at Florida franchise called Firehouse Subs, guess there is 15 or so of them in FL.  My brother-n-law who lives in Pensacola is friends with the owner and recommended them.  They were REALLY, REALLY good.  I hope they eventually make it to the midwest.  We went back to the Universal Studios this time and road a couple of favorites, taking our time.  Mummy coaster is great indoor ride.  Although a little short.  T2 show needs an update, show it's age.  Men in Black shoot em up was great!  I love scoring kills on aliens in real life too! LOL  I scored about 135,000, wife had 105,000, my buddy had 85,000, and his wife 55,000.  They scored our team as average.  Where's CMA, netw3rk, and KG when you need them? lol  We were headed back to the gate when we were approached by a guy with a clip board.  "Oh no not another survey!"  Nope, it wasn't thankfully.  "How would you guys each like to each make $20 cash right now?"  <blank look on our faces>  "What's the catch?"  Universal/NBC was looking for people to screen a new tv series and if we would watch the 1 hour pilot and tell them what we thought, we could get $20 cash.  DEAL!  So we watched some MySpace generation drama ala Friends about fresh out of college struggling kids that are in love with people they can't have and trying to make it in the world.  I thought it sucked, my wife liked it.  No aliens, no super powers, no comedy, no football, NO WATCHY! :)  We wrapped up with dinner at Hard Rock and did the meal deal where you get dinner and a movie ticket for $20.  Went and saw Good Luck Chuck, cute movie, but way to over the top for us.  But a great relaxing day overall.

 Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the Tampa airport.  The end of an awesome week in Florida.  We were ready to get home and felt refreshed.  Got to do some our favorite things - amusement parks (me) and shop (my wife).  It won't be another 10 years before we do this again.  In the meantime we are already planning a trip there next year with the kids at the same time and at the same condo.  Should be a blast! :)  I'm already looking forward to it! :D