Florida in a Nutshell

We are now home from the beautiful state of Florida and I am missing it already. We had 75 degree weather most of the 6 days we were there and the sun was shining brightly pretty much the entire time. Thank you, Jesus.

In chronological order, here are a couple (or all) of highlights from the trip:

Friday:

• Arriving in Florida to find the rain had stopped just as our plane landed. Everything was drying up as we were renting our car and making our way to Island of Adventures.
• Spending the day walking around Island of Adventures and going on two incredible roller coasters: The Hulk and Dueling Dragons! Awesome coasters – though after going on each one twice I did start feeling a bit ill and had to sit still for a couple minutes.
• “Mystic Fountain” Story - Probably our favorite memory from the two parks (Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios) overall! So there is this rock structure surrounded by a fountain and people were standing all around it and it would occasionally squirt water out at people or burst into a huge geyser. It also spoke to those walking by and seemed to indicate that whoever was running the fountain could see the whole scene surrounding the fountain. Adam and I were so intrigued by this that was stood off to the side leaning against a stone wall watching for a good 15-20 minutes. We eventually decided to move along and the voice coming from the fountain says “Goodbye lovely couple sitting on my stone wall for the past 20 minutes watching me. I’m so sad you’re leaving because now I’m…All by myself…All by myself…” It started talking and singing! To us! We thought that because we were behind it and fairly far away, we wouldn’t be seen. We were wrong! We ended up asking a park attendant how in the world the talking fountain worked and all he would tell us was that the person behind it all was no where near the fountain. They watched and listened from a distance. They must have a camera that sees in every direction a good 30 feet out! We were totally shocked and completely caught off guard. Well done and touché, Mystic Fountain!
• Driving over to our hotel (http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/) and finding that it was the largest, most gorgeous hotel I have ever seen! It looked like the Bellagio in Vegas – huge with a million fountains!
• Adam and I walked around the hotel and found an empty arcade. Being that we were the only ones, we thought we’d try out “Dance Dance Revolution”. Yeah, I am not good at that game at all, but it was really fun being down there all alone just being goofy together.
• Ate dinner outside by the pools then sat in one of the outdoor hot tubs and just relaxed.

Saturday:

• Spent the day at Universal Studios going on lots of 3D and 4D rides as well as a couple great roller coasters: Rip, Rock-it, Ride and The Mummy were awesome!
• Met up with Eric, one of Adam’s co-workers, and continued seeing the sights around the parks.
• Went out to eat at Copper Canyon (http://ccgrill.com/) with a couple of Adam’s co-workers. I had a fabulous, fresh Grouper that night and boy was it good.

Sunday:

• Slept in and decided to check out the fitness center for a bit before lying out by one of the 4 pools. I ran on the treadmill for a while, lifted some weights, tried out a couple machines, and then cooled off on the treadmill.
• Basically laid outside all day and just relaxed. J Rough life – I know.
• The whole Weidt Group gang went over to Houlihan’s to sit at the bar and watch the Vikings get crushed. Sad day, but still a fun group.

Monday:

• Monday was my “Spa Day” where I seriously felt like royalty. I woke up slowly and had a banana while watching TV in bed.
• After letting my food settle I went down to the fitness center again to loosen up before my massage and body wrap later on.
• I then spent an hour in the spa area rotating between the sauna, steam room, and whirlpool before being called by for my Body Scrub and Wrap.
• Step 1 was the exfoliated brown sugar rub, Step 2 was the mud wrap, and Step 3 was the hydrating cream and massage. All I can say is “Amazing”.
• The one funny thing that happened during the mud application was that I had my eyes covered with a towel so I asked if the mud was seriously mud, if it was green, or cream colored or what. The woman (who happened to be black) said to me “honey, right now we could be sisters – you are definitely part of the sisterhood.” I looked up and sure enough, I was dark brown/black! It was quite a silly conversation.
• I took my time cleaning up, grabbed a cup of tea and a pear, and then headed back up to my room. Just another relaxing day at the spa...
• That evening, we went out to eat at a restaurant known for their fish and appropriately enough called Big Fin. The 8 of us shared 3 appetizers: Calamari, Sushi, and a Crab Fondue. And I tried them all. I am certainly proud of my self too. For my main dish I ordered MahiMahi and Adam chose a beautiful Salmon (that was served still on the cedar plank). Both were definitely delicious. I think we shared 6 or so deserts, only because they gave us 2 of the wrong cheesecakes, so they brought us two more. I didn’t complain a bit.

Tuesday:

• This was my day in the sun. I woke up and again woke up slowly before heading down to the pools.
• I spent from 10:30-12:30 at one pool, took a break to have lunch with Adam and Eric, and then laid out at a different pool from about 1:30-4:00.
• While out at the second pool, which happens to be the one where they wait on you and bring you drinks and food, the three of us decided to order fun drinks. Eric ordered a Pina Colada, Adam got a Strawberry Daiquiri, and I got some lovely combination of the two. Heavenly Nectar is what I shall call it. We finished up our drinks while sitting in the outdoor hot tub. It was a bit breezy so we decided to stay warm in there.
• Tuesday evening we headed over to the Summer Bay Resort where Adam’s grandparents and parents were staying for the week. We played a round of mini golf with them and then enjoyed our only home-cooked meal there. It was nice to be with family for a low-key evening.

Wednesday:

• This was our last day in Florida so I wanted to soak up the nice weather while Adam was busy in his last seminar. I decided to go for a jog outside and explore the area a bit.
• After my run I cleaned up and then ran downstairs for a couple last minute errands. I grabbed a bagel and cream cheese, ordered a coffee, and did a little shopping - all from the little shops downstairs in the hotel. I love that hotel!
• My last task was to pack up our bags so they would be ready when Adam came back from his seminar. His seminar ended at 12:30 and we had to be completely checked out by 1:00 so it was tight, but we made it in time. We then headed off to the airport to catch our flight home.

It was a lovely trip and I enjoyed myself thoroughly while Adam sat inside big air conditioned rooms listening to speakers all day long. At least we had a good portion of the afternoons and evenings together. At the end of the trip we decided that when we are older (and can afford it) we are definitely spending the winter months in Florida…sigh…