Our Vacation to Florida
Day 1 (3/7/07) Travel day 1
Woke up to 6 deg weather with 20+ MPH winds. Thank God we're flying to Florida! We flew out of Boston's Logan airport just past noon and arrive in FT Myers, FL just before 5PM. Air temperature: 81 deg. Nothing like a 75 deg temp change! Welcome to Florida! After making our way to the baggage claim area, something happened that has never happened in my life and I never expect it to happen again. Our luggage was the first to come down the belt. This is going to be a good vacation.
We picked up our rental, a 2007 Nissan Sentra, and headed to Ft Myers beach to our hotel. Traffic barely moved! This would become a re-occurring theme during our time in Ft Myers. The city has completely out grown it's infrastructure. We eventually made it to our hotel, Ft Myers Beach Holiday Inn, and headed out by foot for dinner and drinks. We had a good meal at the South Beach Grille, along with some beers and a mudlside. This would just be the beginning of our drinking. Laura was trying to fit the whole vacation into one evening and did not want to stop.
Day 2 (3/8/07) Sox Game 1
Happy birthday to me! I'm a little groggy from all the alcohol I consumed last night, but I have tickets to a Red Sox game so we get moving. Grabbed some breakfast (Mmmm cinnamon french toast) and drove up to City of Palms Park for a 1:05 PM start time. It's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, temps in the 80's. This would be our weather for our whole week in Florida. Arrive at the stadium at about 11:30 AM. Plenty of time to watch batting practice and walk around.
The new Red Sox Japenesse import, Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice-K) was signing autographs for close to an hour. Seemed to be having a great time. All the media and fan attention doesn't seem to bother him at all.
Always good to see Johnny Pesky at the ballpark.
View from our seats
After the game (Sox win 2-1) we had dinner at Jersey's sport pub and headed back to the hotel where we watched the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico.
Day 3 (3/9/07) Beach Day
Today we woke up, had breakfast, and checked out of our hotel. We went to Publix to pick up some sandwiches, drinks, and a cheap cooler. We drove down to Lover's Key State Beach. We had a great relaxing day at the beach.
After the beach we drove 3 hours northeast to Lakeland. The drive went by pretty quick. We just followed the GPS and listened to my IPod. All praise to the mighty GPS; I'll never drive in an unfamiliar area without one again! It takes all the stress out of navigating; thanks Dad. We checked into our hotel and headed for a quick dinner. Found a Sports Pub, The Gym, and jackpot; Killian's Red on tap!
Day 4 (3/10/07) Sox game 2
Why did we drive 3 hours to Lakeland; Red Sox at Tigers! We arrived early again to check out the park, Joker Marchant Stadium, and watch batting practice. The crowd was at least 50% Red Sox fans; not bad for a road game.
Wily Mo is one big dude!
Josh Beckett is on the mound for the Sox today
Coco
Tek
After the game, Sox win again, we drove over to Orlando. The drive only took about 1 hour. When we arrived, we checked in our hotel, the Comfort Suite's near the Universal gate. We headed over to City Walk and settled on Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner. Good food, poor beer selection. I find it completely unacceptable when I can't get either a Killian's Red or Sam Adams! Afterwards we met up with my cousin Alex and a few of his friends for drinks at TGI Friday's. Jackpot: Killian's Red on tap! We stayed out until 2, sprung ahead to 3 and went to bed. I felt short changed that we lost an hour of our vacation to daylight savings.
Day 5 (3/11/07) Theme park 1
We woke up, grabbed the continental breakfast and headed over to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We decided to go to Islands first because we figured the lines would be longer. I didn't bring my camera today so no pictures. We did all the big rides, Laura even volunteered for front row on the Hulk roller coaster. After going through the park, we had lunch at the NBA restaurant and headed over to Universal. The best ride at Universal was probably The Mummy roller coaster. Very fast and dark! Lots of fun. After a full day of rides we had dinner at the Hard Rock and called it a day.
Day 6 (3/12/07) Theme park 2
Alex had the day off so he decided to go to Epcot with us. His cousin Joe, who is a Disney employee also came. Joe was nice enough to get us into the park at a great price.
We started off going on some rides; Soaring was amazing, Test Track was pretty good, and Space Mission was great. After the rides we decided it was time to drink our way around the world. As mentioned on Alex's blog, this soon turned into hats around the world.
Old Mexico
Norway
China
Germany
Canada
After making fools out of ourselves and having a great time we decided we still had some time and headed over to Disney MGM. We rode the Tower of Terror; while in line, Alex scared some little kid by talking about how a little kid once died on this ride. He wasn't taking any chances and decided to leave. Pretty funny.....or mean! Take your pick. Next we went on the rockin' roller coaster. Joey go upside down real soon!
After we had enough of the rides we went to my Aunt Donna's for dinner. Had a good time visiting my family who I haven't seen for a while. I especially like Kate's dinner blessing.
On the way back to the hotel, we just missed being part of a three car accident. We would have been the third car, but were barely missed. It was so loud, at first, I did think I was hit. Everyone was o.k. It was just a matter of time. Everyone says people in the Northeast drives crazy, but we got nothing on Floridians! I don't think I saw one car use a directional my whole visit.
Day 7 (3/13/07) Going Home
Unfortunately our vacation came to an end. We drove to the airport and dropped off our rental. Nissan Sentra = great gas mileage. And boarded our flight. Upon returning to Boston, our bags were not the first ones down the chute. Oh Well, back to reality!
3 days later
I had to shovel a foot of snow!
I need a vacation!
We picked up our rental, a 2007 Nissan Sentra, and headed to Ft Myers beach to our hotel. Traffic barely moved! This would become a re-occurring theme during our time in Ft Myers. The city has completely out grown it's infrastructure. We eventually made it to our hotel, Ft Myers Beach Holiday Inn, and headed out by foot for dinner and drinks. We had a good meal at the South Beach Grille, along with some beers and a mudlside. This would just be the beginning of our drinking. Laura was trying to fit the whole vacation into one evening and did not want to stop.
Day 2 (3/8/07) Sox Game 1
Happy birthday to me! I'm a little groggy from all the alcohol I consumed last night, but I have tickets to a Red Sox game so we get moving. Grabbed some breakfast (Mmmm cinnamon french toast) and drove up to City of Palms Park for a 1:05 PM start time. It's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, temps in the 80's. This would be our weather for our whole week in Florida. Arrive at the stadium at about 11:30 AM. Plenty of time to watch batting practice and walk around.
The new Red Sox Japenesse import, Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice-K) was signing autographs for close to an hour. Seemed to be having a great time. All the media and fan attention doesn't seem to bother him at all.
Always good to see Johnny Pesky at the ballpark.
View from our seats
After the game (Sox win 2-1) we had dinner at Jersey's sport pub and headed back to the hotel where we watched the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico.
Day 3 (3/9/07) Beach Day
Today we woke up, had breakfast, and checked out of our hotel. We went to Publix to pick up some sandwiches, drinks, and a cheap cooler. We drove down to Lover's Key State Beach. We had a great relaxing day at the beach.
After the beach we drove 3 hours northeast to Lakeland. The drive went by pretty quick. We just followed the GPS and listened to my IPod. All praise to the mighty GPS; I'll never drive in an unfamiliar area without one again! It takes all the stress out of navigating; thanks Dad. We checked into our hotel and headed for a quick dinner. Found a Sports Pub, The Gym, and jackpot; Killian's Red on tap!
Day 4 (3/10/07) Sox game 2
Why did we drive 3 hours to Lakeland; Red Sox at Tigers! We arrived early again to check out the park, Joker Marchant Stadium, and watch batting practice. The crowd was at least 50% Red Sox fans; not bad for a road game.
Wily Mo is one big dude!
Josh Beckett is on the mound for the Sox today
Coco
Tek
After the game, Sox win again, we drove over to Orlando. The drive only took about 1 hour. When we arrived, we checked in our hotel, the Comfort Suite's near the Universal gate. We headed over to City Walk and settled on Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner. Good food, poor beer selection. I find it completely unacceptable when I can't get either a Killian's Red or Sam Adams! Afterwards we met up with my cousin Alex and a few of his friends for drinks at TGI Friday's. Jackpot: Killian's Red on tap! We stayed out until 2, sprung ahead to 3 and went to bed. I felt short changed that we lost an hour of our vacation to daylight savings.
Day 5 (3/11/07) Theme park 1
We woke up, grabbed the continental breakfast and headed over to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We decided to go to Islands first because we figured the lines would be longer. I didn't bring my camera today so no pictures. We did all the big rides, Laura even volunteered for front row on the Hulk roller coaster. After going through the park, we had lunch at the NBA restaurant and headed over to Universal. The best ride at Universal was probably The Mummy roller coaster. Very fast and dark! Lots of fun. After a full day of rides we had dinner at the Hard Rock and called it a day.
Day 6 (3/12/07) Theme park 2
Alex had the day off so he decided to go to Epcot with us. His cousin Joe, who is a Disney employee also came. Joe was nice enough to get us into the park at a great price.
We started off going on some rides; Soaring was amazing, Test Track was pretty good, and Space Mission was great. After the rides we decided it was time to drink our way around the world. As mentioned on Alex's blog, this soon turned into hats around the world.
Old Mexico
Norway
China
Germany
Canada
After making fools out of ourselves and having a great time we decided we still had some time and headed over to Disney MGM. We rode the Tower of Terror; while in line, Alex scared some little kid by talking about how a little kid once died on this ride. He wasn't taking any chances and decided to leave. Pretty funny.....or mean! Take your pick. Next we went on the rockin' roller coaster. Joey go upside down real soon!
After we had enough of the rides we went to my Aunt Donna's for dinner. Had a good time visiting my family who I haven't seen for a while. I especially like Kate's dinner blessing.
On the way back to the hotel, we just missed being part of a three car accident. We would have been the third car, but were barely missed. It was so loud, at first, I did think I was hit. Everyone was o.k. It was just a matter of time. Everyone says people in the Northeast drives crazy, but we got nothing on Floridians! I don't think I saw one car use a directional my whole visit.
Day 7 (3/13/07) Going Home
Unfortunately our vacation came to an end. We drove to the airport and dropped off our rental. Nissan Sentra = great gas mileage. And boarded our flight. Upon returning to Boston, our bags were not the first ones down the chute. Oh Well, back to reality!
3 days later
I had to shovel a foot of snow!
I need a vacation!
posted by Seagor at 9:24 AM
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