Fabulous Florida
First of all, I hope everyone who had a Spring Break last week enjoyed it...and everyone who didn't, sucks to be you, but I hope you had a good week regardless =).
My Spring Break was spent mostly in Orlando, Florida, and it was, as my subject line implies, fabulous.
There is so much, I'm not even sure where to begin.
But I know it's going to be long, so if you really want to know, I'll
Jess and I drove my car down there (and I'm proud to say it made it there and back problem-free!), and I would not recommend such a journey to anyone. We left at 11 p.m. on Saturday night and arrived Sunday afternoon at 3. I took a few caffeine pills somewhere along the way that almost killed me (it felt like) and we pretty much passed out from exhaustion when we arrived.
That night we ordered pizza in at our fantastic resort, which had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full-size washer and dryer, a living room, a balcony, a dining room table, and a fully stocked kitchen. It was actually bigger than either of our apartments.
Monday we ventured out with our week-long Universal passes to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We discovered that Happy Hour occurred from 3-5 p.m. every day and quickly found our new favorite bar for cheap drinks. On that first day Jess managed to break 2 pairs of flip-flops and I got great blisters that I am still paying for, but we were drunk and happy that our 16ish hour drive from hell had ended. We rode lots of rides, made lots of friends in line, and took in the sunshine.
That night we headed to Carrabas for dinner, which is an affiliate of Outback so I expected my 50% discount. So we waited 45 minutes for a table and I immediately informed our sever of my discount, to which he replied, "This is the busiest Carrabas in Orlando, and we only have one manager, so he won't have time to call your Outback."
We ate in almost complete silence (partially from hunger, mostly from annoyance) and eventually asked for the manger personally. He came over, called my Outback, and we got my discount, but I still don't understand why a server would be intentionally rude to guests. He is lucky he got the generous tip we left (mostly out of obligation).
Tuesday we trekked off to Universal again, enjoyed Happy Hour again (even more so), and rode more rides with less damaged feet. I only vaguely remember the ET ride where we were completely wasted, but I do believe I genuinely thought our bikes were flying.
I think it was that night that we ate at the world's largest Hard Rock Cafe, and we loved our server and the food was good and it definitely made up for our Carrabas incident the night before. We went back to the resort, made margaritas and watched Sex & the City.
One factor I have left out of our story so far was my money issues. I was unaware of how little money remained in my account after our $245 electric bill, and it hadn't occurred to me that there might not be Chase banks in Florida at which I could deposit my checks from Shannyn and Courtney. Well, there weren't any banks, only about a million completely useless ATM's where I couldn't deposit a cent. So I argued with the resort and got the $115 hold taken off my account and somehow survived the week with little money. So I have omitted many parts of wasted time trying to find somewhere to cash my checks because eventually we just gave up.
Wednesday was sadly our last trip to Universal, and we refrained from Happy Hour in hopes of drinking that night at the clubs/bars in CityWalk. I think my biggest regret on this trip was not drinking that Happy Hour =P. Anyway, we rode all the rides sober and got in the front of the 3 best coasters there. We saw Fear Factor live and were very confused at the amount of Canadians in Florida.
We did indeed go to CityWalk and ate at Margaritaville beforehand. The food was ok, the pina coladas were disappointing, and it was generally a letdown, but it's our own fault cause it was the only place left open by the time we got there. So we wandered the bars, which seemed glamorous from the outside, but were surprised at how much they were similar to Bloomington bars. The music was the same, the girls even skankier, and the crowd regrettably older.
I was in a bad mood even though we were dressed up, and after only one beer (for $5, my God) and lots of club-hopping, we headed home. We had a grand old time drinking lots there though, so the night wasn't a total bust.
Thursday, our last full day in Florida, we contemplated driving out to a beach, but decided that an hour to a beach and back didn't sound like much fun before our long drive home (little did we know just how long it would be). So we went to the cute little pool across from our room and got some swimming and sun in. We hung around the resort forever and finally decided to check out Downtown Disney for places to eat and shop. The shops weren't all that exciting, and we ate at a Cuban restaurant with mystery meat (that was decent) and a nice atmosphere. We went to a tacky gift shop with a wizard on top and I bought loads of cheap souvenirs. Then we went home and debated whether or not to get trashed on our last night, but there was still beer left so the decision was obvious.
I'm not sure if I even want to relive the drive home, but here we go.
We woke up around 11:30 and packed and got ready to go, stopping by a grocery store to get my mom's friend, Luanne, who hooked us up all week, some flowers and a card. We visited her briefly and set off on our way around 2:30ish.
We caught a slight traffic jam in Florida, for the record right after I said, "You know, we've been really lucky with traffic and everything on this trip." We had no idea what was in store.
We got to Georgia fairly easily until about 9:30 p.m. when the tornadoes (apparently) hit. After 2 1/2 hours and only 7 miles in traffic, we called it quits and went to Steak and Shake. To make a very long story short, we had to stay the night somewhere and a supposed 14 hour drive turned into about 20.
But somehow we made it back in one piece, with not enough pictures, not as tan as I'd have liked, but kickass memories and a much needed break from Indiana. I feel renewed but horribly grounded by classes today and the realization of how close April is. Oh, and how little money I have now, lol. it for you.
The short version is: Florida was awesome. It has made me realize more what I already knew: that I have to live somewhere with a warmer climate if I am going to survive. I brought home a real palm tree, so we'll see if that actually works out. The fact that the wind is blowing harshly outside right now makes me want to close my eyes and picture the palm tree right outside our balcony and pretend the wind is the random high-pitched noise we heard periodically outside our resort. Honestly, it almost works.
Today is St. Patty's Day though, and that is cause for celebration. Tonight I'll be drinking green beer and meandering about enjoying a last Spring Break-ish hurrah before really getting back into classes.
I just hope spring is here to stay.
Much <3, and for Spring Break pictures, they will be posted later today on my facebook, which I have a link to in my profile.
My Spring Break was spent mostly in Orlando, Florida, and it was, as my subject line implies, fabulous.
There is so much, I'm not even sure where to begin.
But I know it's going to be long, so if you really want to know, I'll
Jess and I drove my car down there (and I'm proud to say it made it there and back problem-free!), and I would not recommend such a journey to anyone. We left at 11 p.m. on Saturday night and arrived Sunday afternoon at 3. I took a few caffeine pills somewhere along the way that almost killed me (it felt like) and we pretty much passed out from exhaustion when we arrived.
That night we ordered pizza in at our fantastic resort, which had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full-size washer and dryer, a living room, a balcony, a dining room table, and a fully stocked kitchen. It was actually bigger than either of our apartments.
Monday we ventured out with our week-long Universal passes to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We discovered that Happy Hour occurred from 3-5 p.m. every day and quickly found our new favorite bar for cheap drinks. On that first day Jess managed to break 2 pairs of flip-flops and I got great blisters that I am still paying for, but we were drunk and happy that our 16ish hour drive from hell had ended. We rode lots of rides, made lots of friends in line, and took in the sunshine.
That night we headed to Carrabas for dinner, which is an affiliate of Outback so I expected my 50% discount. So we waited 45 minutes for a table and I immediately informed our sever of my discount, to which he replied, "This is the busiest Carrabas in Orlando, and we only have one manager, so he won't have time to call your Outback."
We ate in almost complete silence (partially from hunger, mostly from annoyance) and eventually asked for the manger personally. He came over, called my Outback, and we got my discount, but I still don't understand why a server would be intentionally rude to guests. He is lucky he got the generous tip we left (mostly out of obligation).
Tuesday we trekked off to Universal again, enjoyed Happy Hour again (even more so), and rode more rides with less damaged feet. I only vaguely remember the ET ride where we were completely wasted, but I do believe I genuinely thought our bikes were flying.
I think it was that night that we ate at the world's largest Hard Rock Cafe, and we loved our server and the food was good and it definitely made up for our Carrabas incident the night before. We went back to the resort, made margaritas and watched Sex & the City.
One factor I have left out of our story so far was my money issues. I was unaware of how little money remained in my account after our $245 electric bill, and it hadn't occurred to me that there might not be Chase banks in Florida at which I could deposit my checks from Shannyn and Courtney. Well, there weren't any banks, only about a million completely useless ATM's where I couldn't deposit a cent. So I argued with the resort and got the $115 hold taken off my account and somehow survived the week with little money. So I have omitted many parts of wasted time trying to find somewhere to cash my checks because eventually we just gave up.
Wednesday was sadly our last trip to Universal, and we refrained from Happy Hour in hopes of drinking that night at the clubs/bars in CityWalk. I think my biggest regret on this trip was not drinking that Happy Hour =P. Anyway, we rode all the rides sober and got in the front of the 3 best coasters there. We saw Fear Factor live and were very confused at the amount of Canadians in Florida.
We did indeed go to CityWalk and ate at Margaritaville beforehand. The food was ok, the pina coladas were disappointing, and it was generally a letdown, but it's our own fault cause it was the only place left open by the time we got there. So we wandered the bars, which seemed glamorous from the outside, but were surprised at how much they were similar to Bloomington bars. The music was the same, the girls even skankier, and the crowd regrettably older.
I was in a bad mood even though we were dressed up, and after only one beer (for $5, my God) and lots of club-hopping, we headed home. We had a grand old time drinking lots there though, so the night wasn't a total bust.
Thursday, our last full day in Florida, we contemplated driving out to a beach, but decided that an hour to a beach and back didn't sound like much fun before our long drive home (little did we know just how long it would be). So we went to the cute little pool across from our room and got some swimming and sun in. We hung around the resort forever and finally decided to check out Downtown Disney for places to eat and shop. The shops weren't all that exciting, and we ate at a Cuban restaurant with mystery meat (that was decent) and a nice atmosphere. We went to a tacky gift shop with a wizard on top and I bought loads of cheap souvenirs. Then we went home and debated whether or not to get trashed on our last night, but there was still beer left so the decision was obvious.
I'm not sure if I even want to relive the drive home, but here we go.
We woke up around 11:30 and packed and got ready to go, stopping by a grocery store to get my mom's friend, Luanne, who hooked us up all week, some flowers and a card. We visited her briefly and set off on our way around 2:30ish.
We caught a slight traffic jam in Florida, for the record right after I said, "You know, we've been really lucky with traffic and everything on this trip." We had no idea what was in store.
We got to Georgia fairly easily until about 9:30 p.m. when the tornadoes (apparently) hit. After 2 1/2 hours and only 7 miles in traffic, we called it quits and went to Steak and Shake. To make a very long story short, we had to stay the night somewhere and a supposed 14 hour drive turned into about 20.
But somehow we made it back in one piece, with not enough pictures, not as tan as I'd have liked, but kickass memories and a much needed break from Indiana. I feel renewed but horribly grounded by classes today and the realization of how close April is. Oh, and how little money I have now, lol. it for you.
The short version is: Florida was awesome. It has made me realize more what I already knew: that I have to live somewhere with a warmer climate if I am going to survive. I brought home a real palm tree, so we'll see if that actually works out. The fact that the wind is blowing harshly outside right now makes me want to close my eyes and picture the palm tree right outside our balcony and pretend the wind is the random high-pitched noise we heard periodically outside our resort. Honestly, it almost works.
Today is St. Patty's Day though, and that is cause for celebration. Tonight I'll be drinking green beer and meandering about enjoying a last Spring Break-ish hurrah before really getting back into classes.
I just hope spring is here to stay.
Much <3, and for Spring Break pictures, they will be posted later today on my facebook, which I have a link to in my profile.