Might do another live trip report...(ok I will do! This is it!)

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Great pictures of the kitchen sink. The airboat ride looks good too.

We went to Blue Spring State Park last time and were looking for another one to visit in December - so I'm waiting to see where you go

Really enjoying your trippie

 

[juliebro]

Here's yesterday's 3-plate breakfast.

And DH's 2-plater.

 

[juliebro]

Unfortunately today's planned visit to Blue Springs park didn't happen. I woke up with a migraine and it was almost lunchtime before I could shake it off.


We ended up doing some more shopping and also managed to watch some of the Blackpool v Birmingham playoff game while we were out. We didn't know that the Cricketers Arms had moved out of Festival Bay (along with many others ) but the Tilted Kilt on I-Drive put the game on for us.

More shopping followed and we then thought that we would try the Cheesecake Factory but it was so busy we went to Mimi instead. Not quite the same but it wasn't bad and the service was excellent.

Tomorrow we are going to Lakeridge winery for 'jazz on the vineyard green '.

 

[Netty]

great report Julie!! last time we went to the cheesecake factory last october, the waitress managed to knock a pint of coke all over me, she caught her arm on the straw and that was it the whole lot landed on me!!
hope you have another wonderful day out!!

 

[Cyrano]

Great updates.

2 Kitchen Sinks

 

[wilma-bride]

Sorry about your migraine hun. Hope you were feeling better by the evening and have a great day today

 

[queendisney]

Just did a catch up from the very begining on your TR...Sounds like you are having a fab time. That milkshake at Beaches looked rather yummy.

We did the VIP tour at Hardrock last time and loved it. My husbands dad was the Beatles road manager so they gave us a very VIP tour which was nice of them and let us have what ever we wanted on the house...we didn't take advantage though and basically just had a vege burger and a drink each

That tour is well worth doing though...some wonderful stuff up there.

Looking forward to the rest of your live trip report. Oh how I wish I could feel that heat right now. Its going to be -5 tonight in someplaces here!!!

 

[juliebro]

great report Julie!! last time we went to the cheesecake factory last october, the waitress managed to knock a pint of coke all over me, she caught her arm on the straw and that was it the whole lot landed on me!!
hope you have another wonderful day out!!

Oh no! That's awful. I hope they didn't charge you for the meal. We were in Leeds for a weekend earlier this year and had dinner at the Town Hall Tavern there. The waitress knocked my glass of wine all over my new coat! She brought me another glass and mopped up my coat. Won't be going back.

 

[juliebro]

Sorry about your migraine hun. Hope you were feeling better by the evening and have a great day today

Much better, thanks. The magic cure was a combination of Powerade, extra-strength painkillers and Lifesaver Gummies!

Just did a catch up from the very begining on your TR...Sounds like you are having a fab time. That milkshake at Beaches looked rather yummy.

We did the VIP tour at Hardrock last time and loved it. My husbands dad was the Beatles road manager so they gave us a very VIP tour which was nice of them and let us have what ever we wanted on the house...we didn't take advantage though and basically just had a vege burger and a drink each

That tour is well worth doing though...some wonderful stuff up there.

Looking forward to the rest of your live trip report. Oh how I wish I could feel that heat right now. Its going to be -5 tonight in someplaces here!!!

The milkshake comes with a second helping in the metal canister that's pictured next to it!

Oooh. Minus 5? Not missing that one bit!

Just getting ready to go to the winery now!

 

[Netty]

Oh no! That's awful. I hope they didn't charge you for the meal. We were in Leeds for a weekend earlier this year and had dinner at the Town Hall Tavern there. The waitress knocked my glass of wine all over my new coat! She brought me another glass and mopped up my coat. Won't be going back.

she gave me my cheesecake slice for free... we left and i said to dh i wasnt happy, so i went back and complained to the manager stating it wasn't her fault but look at me i was sticky and soaking in my shorts and t shirt, he then begrudgingly gave me half the bill money back, and to be honest before the coke incident i wasn't that impressed by the place and it was our first visit too!

Julie hope you manage to get to blue springs state park, this is one park we want to go to, infact its not that far from De Leon.

 

[juliebro]

Great day today!

Didn't bother with breakfast this morning. Got ready and drove up to Lakeridge winery for the Jazzfest. Admission was a donation of $2 and they even gave us a corkscrew each . We remembered the lady on the gate from a previous visit. She's a scouser who has relocated over here. Lucky lady!


Food and drink was available and live music was on all day. A band called Airtight and a singer called Tory Winter and his band. Beer and wine were only $3. We had lunch there. It was a really relaxed day.

This was the stage. There were more people. Just not in shot!

This was lunch.....

And we had another 'only in America' moment. There was a couple there with a pushchair in which they had their pet cockatoo in a cage! Here is the photo......

We ate this evening at the Bistro at the Melia Hotel, Celebration, using our restaurant.com coupon. The food and service were excellent!

More food pics.........

One of the crabcakes we shared for an appetiser....

And our main course - Chicken Alfredo

Tomorrow we are off to Mission Inn for the Festival of Speed. Last summer we went to the Cholmondley Pageant of Power in Cheshire and it rained solidly all day. Am hoping tomorrow will be better!

 

[Netty]

That looked like a great day!! I have never heard of the Lakeridge winery, you are getting out and about on your holiday!! omg a pushchair for a bird... yep, only in america

 

[zippy99]

loving the Bird in a pushchair (or should I say stroller) thinks like that do make me chuckle!

 

[wayneg]

Must be a popular pastime taking your cockatoo out for the day, this man was on Cocoa beach Easter 2010.

 

[wilma-bride]

Great day Julie. We had our very first 'only in America' moment on the first night of our very first trip - we were walking down International Drive and saw a guy drive past in an open-top sports car with a huge python round his neck. I still wish, to this day, I had been quick enough to get a picture.

We have also seen people with their dogs in pushchairs but never a cockatoo - in a cage

I always love reading your trippies as you remind us that there is so much more to Orlando than the parks. Do you ever really go to the parks or do you not bother anymore?

 

[catherine]

Thanks for doing your trippie, at the moment I'm living vicariously through you! Sounds like you're having a great time! Hope that the rest of your trip is wonderful!

 

[disneyholic family]

just catching up
sounds like you're having a wonderful time!!

thanks for the live report and all the yummy food porn!!!!!!

 

[wildelady]

Just read through from the beginning, great to see so many different things to do. Brekkies are the best part of the day

 

[juliebro]

That looked like a great day!! I have never heard of the Lakeridge winery, you are getting out and about on your holiday!! omg a pushchair for a bird... yep, only in america

The winery is a great place to visit. They do tours and also tastings, all free. The staff all tend to be on the 'more mature' side and are always happy to have a chat and answer any questions. They clearly enjoy what they do and the place has a nice feel to it. They tend to do an event each month - including 'grape stomping' during the harvest. We've never done that but it sounds fun!

Must be a popular pastime taking your cockatoo out for the day, this man was on Cocoa beach Easter 2010.

You're right, Wayne! Must be popular!

Great day Julie. We had our very first 'only in America' moment on the first night of our very first trip - we were walking down International Drive and saw a guy drive past in an open-top sports car with a huge python round his neck. I still wish, to this day, I had been quick enough to get a picture.

We have also seen people with their dogs in pushchairs but never a cockatoo - in a cage

I always love reading your trippies as you remind us that there is so much more to Orlando than the parks. Do you ever really go to the parks or do you not bother anymore?

We've seen a few dogs in pushchairs this trip too, but the bird was just too weird!

We do go to the parks, honest! We're actually going back tomorrow to Sea World. We were there last Monday. We'll probably go to Busch Gardens on Tuesday again (same as we did last week) and likely Aquatica on Wednesday.

DH had an op on his knee only about a month before we left home. We weren't sure how well his knee would cope with full days at the park, so we just bought 14-day tickets for SW, BG & Aquatica. We still have some non-expiry Disney tickets, but are saving them for next year. We are likely to go to IoA and US next year too, as we haven't been for about 3 years. To us, life is all about experiences and we always try to find a few different things to do each trip.

We always leave thinking 'if only we'd had a few more days, we could have done ........'!

 

[juliebro]

Another busy day! And it was certainly 'scorchio'! At one point this afternoon the car was showing the outside temperature as 98 degrees F.

We were up early to make sure we got to Mission Inn (at Howey-in-the-Hills) before the 10:00 am opening of 'Festival of Speed'.

Breakfast was at Cracker Barrel (again) and service was fast and friendly. This was today's choice. The blueberry pancakes - with warmed blueberry syrup. DH also had whipped cream on the side!

It was about a 45 minute drive up to the Mission Inn Golf & Country Club, passing Lakeridge winery on the way. We got there around 9:45 am and parked up. There were new cars, exotic cars and classic cars on display as well as a number of boats and trucks. There were also a number of trade stands/tents. We took quite a few photos but I guess not eveyone's a petrolhead, so I'll only post one of (probably) the most expensive car we saw there. The Bugatti Veyron. There were also Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Lotuses as well as classic American cars.

We also got to look around a huge RV that was priced at over $800,000! It was fabulous.

There was a stand that was displaying a variety of beautiful binoculars - not two words that I would ever have expected to put together but they were stunning pieces of design. Pity they were priced at over $14,000 each!

There was even a stand for the local friendly arms dealer!

We spent all morning at the festival and then decided to pop into Lakeridge winery again on our way back. Yesterday we hadn't had time to do the tour or the tastings, so we did them this afternoon. We both thought that the wines had definitely improved since we last did the tastings a few years ago. They do about 10-12 varieties. We've bought a bottle and it's chilling in the fridge for later in the week. The winery can produce 1.5 million bottles per annum!

After we left there we decided to visit Wilderness Lodge, which we'd never been to before, and to walk the nature trail between there and Fort Wilderness. We then caught the boat back via the Contemporary Resort.

Dinner was at Sweet Tomatoes again. There was a thunderstorm while we were in there and the rain certainly brought the temperature down.

Sea World again tomorrow........