Orlando Review

Hey All. So A and I have been pretty busy. We were in Orlando all of last week, enjoying the sunshine, humidity and freee room at the Ron Jon beach resort (more on this later). Upon getting back into town, we, or at least I, have been swamped at work. We have this big wig in the world of Autism coming in to tour our facilities and such. Lots of work went into this, and I'm glad it is finally happening and will be over soon. It is also the end of the quarter, which means i need to make schedules for work, training and other things for 68 staff (roughly.) So, yeah, I'm busy. that is why you still haven't seen my pictures from MayDay up here yet. I am hoping to get that done tonight.

A quick review of Orlando: We did not attend ANY theme parks, did not get much color, but had a pretty great time. We went out for Cinco de Mayo as soon as we arrived, hitting up a tiny, 8 table (maybe?) bar and got some stiffies from a gal originally from England. She was very pleasant, made great drinks and suggested a great eatery/bar in Cocoa beach (Coconuts!)



We followed that up with great Mexican food, and Margarita's. when the rain came, we had another pitcher of Margarita and got a little emotional. But I got to eat the shit out of some Tacos, and that's all I wanted! All turned out well and we followed up that place with Alex's apartment and the Brazilian Steakhouse/bar below her place. At the end of the night, we were all ready for some sleep. The hangover in the morning was 50/50....but we managed.


Day 2: Trip to THE BEACH! Despite being hungover, we were determined to drive the 1.25 hours to get to the beach! Alex's Hungarian friend(her foreign-ness adds to her character-you'll see) Dora, came and picked us up and off we went. This girl was real funny. She told us tales of being strong and independent and hitting a crackhead in the knee with a baseball bat when he tried to jump her counter (she is a pharmacist). Also, evey time Amanda burped (if you know A, that means A LOT) Dora would kindly say "bless you!" This cracked me up. Anyhow, we got to the beach, had lunch at Coconuts and about 30 minutes after we put our towels on the sand, the sky grew dark and a storm rolled towards us. This didn't stop A and i from walking the Beach, collecting shells and dipping in the water. But when the sky was actually pretty much black and everyone else was leaving, we headed out too. Off to Ron Jon Surf shop. i remember hitting this place up as a kid and was excited to check it out. here is where things get silly.
After being inside the store for a bit, I told A to grab a free sticker from a dude behind the counter. Well, said dude then offered us a "free, brand new, Oceanside suite with no strings attached....except going on a tour." Well, we were kinda skeptical, but decided that we would take him up on the offer and return to Cocoa beach the next morning for a tour and hotel room. (again, more on that later)

We then went back to Winter Park (where Alex lives) and walked the great neighborhood at night. We had sangria in plastic cups and enjoyed all the big houses and cute shops. Then we went to get Sushi (and items I like) for dinner. We went to this place called SPICE! and man....it seems good at first. Then things went south *REAL* quick.

First slow service, then 2 dirty dishes, followed by 2 meals that were not good...add in that both A and Alex have experience serving, and damn....some words (and dirty looks) came out. I had to leave the scene and go to 7eleven because I don't like that sort of thing. But it was pretty funny. I also had the pleasure of hearing some nasty girls talking in the bathroom about how to hook up with a dude when staying in a friends bedroom. Her 2 options were laying down a sheet on the floor, or just taking it up against a wall. again, I don't typically like that sort of thing :)

OK. On to the Ron Jon thing. So we get up early Friday, take Alex's car and drive BACK to Cocoa Beach. We get to the resort and laugh, because it looks so nice when we arrive. We go to the front desk, take our info and tell us someone will be there for our tour shortly. When Kevin showed up, I knew it was no tour. I knew something else was about to go down. He takes us to a special area in the resort, with all kinds of treats and snacks-sammies and cakes and fruit and chips. it was awesome. or so I thought. As soon as we sit down, KEVIN starts asking us about what we think of all this. We had no idea what this was. Then he starts to tell us all about the time share business and away he goes. A wasn't having it at first-"Will we still get our promised room if we DON'T buy a time share?" Of course, he tells us. But the next 2.5 hours were a straight up sales pitch that was sort of bullshit. We could tell he was going through each little trick he had-using our names non stop, tried to identify with us by saying his girlfriend was having a baby (ladies LOVE babies, right?) and all whole lotta other silly stuff. We took the tour and even if I was rich, I would not have gotten a time share there. Just not for me. BUT, after a few hours of that, we did in fact get a HUGE free suite. But it smelled A LOT like maple syrup. we even had to go out and buy a candle to be able to handle it. The resort DID have a lazy river, big pool, hot tub, pool bar/grill, water slide and our building was pretty much on the ocean. We enjoyed the beach there as well. It was real pretty. So it was worth it, if you are okay with a salesman for a few hours.


The next day (to make a real long story not as long) I wasn't feeling well when we went to breakfast so i sat in the car with the AC on. however I didn't have the engine running the whole time, so I killed the battery, we had to find a cop to jump us (no one in the south has jumper cables/wanted to help us) and then we got out of that town.




We got back to Orlando JUST in time to take Alex to work, and enjoy some great Oriental Chicken Salad from her restaurant (The Elephant Bar). We went back to her restaurant for dinner too, and had really good service. And a straight girl said I was hot. 2 for 2, right?

We had to go back to the restaurant for a third time later that night (at 3 am!!!) to pick Alex up after her shift. And, being an assistant general manager is a lot of work. And that morning, she dropped us off at the airport and we were heading back to the Midwest in no time. I was happy to be coming home. While I had a great time in Orlando, I sure do love Minneapolis!