Travel

We Went To Florida

/ Ally Bean / 15 Comments

… which is a really wonderful place to visit in the middle of a gray midwest winter. 

Our vacation was fast and varied.  First, we spent two days in Orlando.  Instead of visiting Disney again like we did last year, we went to Universal one day– and to SeaWorld the next day.

To be honest, we found Universal Orlando [which includes two parks: Universal Studios and Universal’s Islands of Adventure] underwhelming.  It was expensive, crowded and disorganized.  Even though I was able to buy this wonderful Grinch + Max stuffed toy at Universal Studios, overall both parks weren’t very compelling.  To us, Universal Orlando seemed like a Disney wannabe.

On the other hand, we enjoyed SeaWorld Orlando which was a place with its own sense of style.  It was organized, filled with intriguing shows– and had plenty of places to sit & chill out.  I’d go back there in a heartbeat, happy to see the various animals and gardens over and over again.  It was enjoyable.

After Orlando we drove south, stopping in Sarasota to have lunch with my aunt and my cousin.  It was fun to see them and we finally got to see my aunt’s condo.  We would have loved to stay longer, but Z-D’s conference in the Sanibel Island area was starting in a few hours, so we said goodbye and continued driving south down I-75.

While in the Sanibel area we stayed at the Sanibel Harbor Marriott Resort & Spa [which is technically in Punta Rassa, not on Sanibel Island, and has a Ft. Myers mailing address].  It was a beautiful, old-fashioned property with the friendliest staff we’ve met outside of Hawaii.  Our room was pretty & comfortable– with a delightful view of Sanibel Harbor from our room’s balcony.

During the three days that we stayed at the Sanibel Harbor Marriott, I explored the pools, the beach, the dock, and the boardwalk.  In fact, it was the weathered dark aqua boardwalk that charmed me the most.  It connected the main hotel to the tennis courts and spa– and allowed me to walk over a pond and around the picturesque native swamp without getting my feet wet.

The last day of the conference finished at noon.  So Zen-Den and I got into our rental car, paid a $6.00 fee and drove across the bridge from the mainland to Sanibel Island.  This photo, taken from the dock at our resort, shows the simple, sleek bridge in the background.

Sanibel Island was a revelation to us.  Neither one of us had been there before so we didn’t really know what to expect.  It is a long narrow island with one way on and off.  There were lots of quaint looking shopping/food areas interspersed with long expanses of wildlife refuge and bike paths.  Every once in a while there were signs for public beaches.

The bellhop at the hotel had suggested we go to Bowman’s Beach, so we did.  It was lovely, not crowded with people, full of shells and very clean.  Below, in the center background, is a photo of an osprey’s nest built in one of the trees that thrive beside this blessedly under-developed beach.

As vacations go this was a really good one for us.  We usually try to go to one place and stay long enough to see most of it, but this time we did a more hodgepodge approach to travel.  Come to find out, seeing three different parts of Florida in one week is the perfect tonic for the mid-winter blues.

[Hello FTC!  Just to be clear, I have received no money or other compensation for any of the above endorsements.  These are just my opinions about my experiences.  Nothing more.  We good, FTC?]

Visiting The Oldsters

/ Ally Bean / 7 Comments

Over Father’s Day weekend we went to visit my in-laws, aka the Oldsters.  They live a good four-hour drive from us and are 80 years old, more [FIL] or less [MIL].  This weekend reminded me of many things that I’d long forgotten about.

•  We drove in Z-D’s SUV which is eleven years old.  It has no place for an iPod, with a broken CD player, and a radio that works when we’re near signals, but not in the empty spaces we were driving through this weekend.  We turned off our cell phones and sat together in silence only broken by our conversation.  It was wonderful to be totally detached from noise.

•  I didn’t feel like reading– roads too bumpy, sunshine too intermittent thanks to lots of trees blocking it.  So I looked out the window to see what I could see.  It’s been a very long time since I just watched the world go by– cows, barns, farms, and exits with fast food establishments and gas stations.  It was relaxing to be out of the city and just existing as we drove along. 

•  The Oldsters were happy to see us.  We had lunch at their house [chicken salad sammies, natch] then went shopping for a wedding present that we were buying together.  BB&B fascinated them with all its stuff– and the price tag of said stuff.  It was fun to watch them be amazed by the beautiful things that the world has to offer now.

•  We left the house at 3:30 pm so that we might get to dinner at 4:00 pm!  This was to ensure that we’d be back home and safely within the house before 6:00 pm when FIL’s fav tv shows are on.  The small restaurant we went to had delicious, old-fashioned style food– ham loaf, smothered chicken, basic cole slaw.  It also had the smallest wine & beer list I’ve seen in years, so Z-D and I had a glass of the only Cabernet Sauvignon on the menu– which was delicious.  It was fascinating to be somewhere with so few choices and such good quality.

•  We got back to the house in time to watch Sanford & Son and All In The Family.  I hadn’t seen either of those shows in– well, decades.  And while the former is very dated and tedious, most of the humor in the latter has held the test of time.  It was entertaining [and a bit sad] to see FIL laugh with Archie about the way things should be. 

•  We left mid-morning on Sunday.  The Oldsters had turned on the Weather Channel at 7:00 am to check what might be in store for us on the drive home.  Once they saw that there were thunderstorms on the way, they became agitated about us getting on the road ahead of the rain.  In their world, driving in the rain is very bad and risky.  Z-D pointed out that we have a SUV with 4 wheel drive, but they were having none of that nonsense!  So we packed up and hit the road.  It was interesting for us who live entirely apart from any family to experience a bit of “parenting.”

•  Driving home in silence, just watching the road go by, I saw a sign for a small town called “Belleville.”  I know nothing about this particular town, but in a snap my empty mind filled with the images of and the theme song from a delightful movie called: “The Triplets of Belleville.”  It was a pleasant, but unexpected, ending to a visit that went quite well– and brought back to me memories of times gone by.  

[for your entertainment…]

A Weekend In Las Vegas

/ Ally Bean / 8 Comments

Last weekend Zen-Den and I went to Las Vegas, a four-hour direct flight from here.  He was going there for work, so I decided to tag along for a 48 hour getaway because I thought that it would be entertaining.  And it was… sort of… in a “well, I guess this is better than sitting home alone” kind of way. Here’s my take on our trip.

The Good: Where We Stayed

Having been to Las Vegas many times before we wanted to see what it’d be like to stay in a non-gaming hotel, so we stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel.  [Not quite as pricey as you might think when booked together with airfare on Travelocity.]  The hotel was clean and quiet and stylish and refined– which was in complete contrast to the smoky and noisy and tacky and loud casinos.  I liked going back to the stillness of our room after the chaos of The Strip.  Very yin and yang.  This was a wonderful choice for us.

The Bad:  Meals.  Shopping.  Shows.

Meals in the restaurants were okay, but very expensive.  Drinks weren’t cheap, either.  Shopping was either high-end designer shops, or the “same-old, same-old” mall stores available all across the USA.  The shows were stale.  Many had been there for years and we’d seen them before;  or they were just another one of those “Cirque du Soleil” shows that all seem the same to me.  Overall, there was nothing special for us about the meals/shopping/shows, so we spent more time in the casinos playing penny slots– which got kind of old.

The Ugly:  Transportation

Getting around on The Strip was slow and difficult.  We didn’t have a car so we walked, used public transportation or grabbed a cab.  Many of the escalators and moving sidewalks were broken.  [I’m looking at you, Excaliber.]  Alternate stairways were dirty.  [Shame on you, Imperial Palace.]  The monorail service was available but it wasn’t easy to find– and inexplicably, it no longer had a stop at the Convention Center.  Tram service between casinos was arbitrary.  [A few signs, clearly posted, with the hours of tram service would be nice, Mandalay Bay.]  Taxis, while plentiful, were painfully slow driving up and down The Strip.   We spent more time getting around Las Vegas than we wanted to and this made us cranky, tired, and not thinking happy thoughts.

In Conclusion:

I used to like Las Vegas because it was so unique and happening, but now it seems like it’s trying too hard– desperate– out-of-touch with the times.  In a world with legalized gambling in 49 states — the ability to have any show delivered to my living room via Netflix — and online shopping, there’s little reason for me to go there anymore.  Sure, we had a good enough time.  But in the future when given the option to go to Las Vegas for a personal vacation, I’m going to pass.  Too much hassle, not enough fun.

[Image above of the Iconic Las Vegas Sign from here.]

[Hello FTC!  So we meet again. Just to be clear, this is only my opinion about my experiences.  I’ve received no money or other compensation for this review. Are we good, FTC?]


A Winter Vacation

/ Ally Bean / 2 Comments

I’ve always heard that Walt Disney World in January and February is more fun than during the summer or at Christmastime.  We’ve been there at those times before;  so for a change of pace we decided to fly down to Orlando last week and spend the end of January park hopping our way through WDW.

And guess what?  The scuttlebutt was right.  It was a whole lot more fun.  Fewer lines.  Calmer restaurants.  Happier guests.  Clearer skies.  And better parking.

Probably the most unanticipated aspect of visiting WDW in January was that American English was the least spoken language around.  We heard French, Hebrew, Spanish, German, Russian (or maybe Lithuanian?  or Romanian?), and a bit of Aussie English.  It was intriguing to be surrounded by people from around the world, who just like us, were laughing, getting sunburnt and looking for the nearest restroom.

We didn’t stay at the WDW properties this time.  We’ve done that before and decided that this time we’d try something different.  Instead, we stayed at and enjoyed the Bonnet Creek Hilton Resort.  The hotel was comfortable, clean, beautiful, and the service was friendly.  The Hilton, while not as swanky as its attached neighbor, the Waldorf-Astoria, was perfect for us, two winter weary Midwesterners looking for some sun and relaxation.

As travel goes, this was the sort of vacation that I like the best.  Lots of walking.  A relaxed itinerary.  Good food and drink.  With a  super comfy bed at the end of the day.  I give it two thumbs up.

[Hello FTC! Just to be clear, I have received no money or other compensation for the above endorsements.  This is just my opinion about my experiences.  You can move on down the road now and bother someone else, FTC.  Bye, bye.]