Today the intrepid explorer John Golf begins a series of articles on a trip to Orlando where he explores the non-theme park things that travelers shouldn’t miss!
Spring Break has arrived for so many people and it looks like Orlando is a big hit for a lot of families. My family is staying at Hilton Grand Vacations Resort across the street from Sea World where we have a clear view of their parking lot. It has been full every day since April 2nd.
Drive from Chattanooga to Orlando
Our drive began at noon on April Fool’s Day. We made a quick stop at Buc-ee’s in Calhoun, Georgia to fill up on gas, food and drink. Gas was $3.59 a gallon, which was about 30-40 cents cheaper than gas prices at home. We made our way through Atlanta rather easily until we hit Henry County. Traffic seems to always be backed up at the I-675/ I-75 merging. We stopped again below Macon in Warner Robins, Georgia where the other Buc-ee’s is located. Gas was $3.39 a gallon. I got a refill on my drink for $0.69 and got a bbq brisket sandwich for $6.59. We pulled into Hilton Grand Vacations Resort close to 10:30, after we stopped to get groceries for our stay.
Family Time
Saturday
Our cousins from Citrus County drove over to spend Saturday and Sunday with us. We started our adventure at The Cheesecake Factory where my wife and I split a large salad, a flatbread margarita pizza and of course her favorite cheesecake, the dulce de leche. We went back to the resort until their room was ready at a Hampton Inn right across the street from us. They called a couple of hours later and we decided to meet at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Final Four games and watch our favorite college baseball team, that happens to be ranked number one at this time. We ordered a couple of appetizers and we ordered wings. My beautiful wife tried wings for the first time and it was a hit! We’re going back for wings tonight!!! Woohoo!!! I had the Caribbean Jerk on Saturday and will probably try something with a little less heat tonight.
Sunday
Sunday morning my wife and I got up early to walk/run. We got back to our room, cleaned ourselves up and met our cousins at Top Golf. Top Golf in Orlando has 3 floors of bays. The one in Chattanooga has one level so this was quite unique for us. We played several games, including one involving Angry Birds. It was quite entertaining. After we finished playing, we said our good-bye’s and made plans to go spend time with them on Wednesday. Golf will be involved!!!
More Family Time
My wife and I went back to the resort to hang out by the pool. Saturday was mostly cloudy and rainy all day. Sunday morning was very cloudy and the clouds began to break for us to enjoy the Florida sunshine. We were looking forward to picking up our daughter at the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport. She flew from Chattanooga to St. Pete’ for $39. She’s going to ride back with us so we just purchased a one way ticket. She arrived at 8:17 and we made our way back to Orlando. Monday was Daddy/Daughter day out after our time at the pool. We went to her favorite shopping venue, Aerie and then we went to eat at Rocco’s Taco and Tequila Bar. We had their freshly made guacamole and chips and I had the crunchy fish tacos for dinner. It was a packed restaurant so we ate at the bar. A gentleman walks up and sits next to me. I asked if I could take a picture of his guacamole bowl because I forgot to get a picture of mine. He gladly obliged. We had a fabulous conversation. I may write about him next. He had all kinds of stories that he shared with us. Until next time.
Be blessed and safe travels!!!
