Saturday March 7th, 2015

Saturday March 7th, 2015
Location - Daytona Beach


Another cold and windy day. High in the 50's. But still better than back home.  If it was 50 at home we'd be in shorts.  We walked down to Main Street to catch part of the parade, which we ended up missing anyway as we were inside eating.  We walked all the way down to the Boot Hill Saloon, checking out all the bars and food vendors on the way. Nothing really stood out, so we ended up back at the beginning, at Cruisin Bar and Grill.  We were seated very quickly for as busy as it was.  One of the special drinks was Mud Slide, which is my favorite.  I didn't realize until the bill came that it included the lame souvenir glass, and was $15!  I was NOT happy about that at all, and feel the server might have mentioned that.
I ordered the Reuben, which was just okay.  John had the grilled chicken breast sandwich which he said was also just okay.  But we were really saving up our appetites for dinner.


We ate next door at the Hilton, where we had eaten last year and really enjoyed it.  Doc Bales Restaurant has a prime rib and seafood buffet on Fridays and Saturdays


It had tons of seafood, including crab legs.  The salads were fresh and the ranch dressing was one of the best we've ever had.  The prime rib was super tender.  We only had room for a little dessert, but they were delicious. Service was great too!
After dinner we wandered back down to Main Street.  It was packed.  Lots of bars had bands. Everywhere was pretty packed.  And since it was later (10ish)  a lot of people had been partying all day and let's say they were not at their best LOL.   One of the bars had Godsmack, so we listened to them for a bit and then the crowd was too much so we moved on and stumbled on Whitesnake!  Any true 80's music lover will know who they are.  We only caught maybe the last hour and were pretty disappointed we hadn't heard it all but we heard them play our favorites.  This to me was definitely my favorite part of Bike Week.  After they finished, we waited around to hear the next band which was a Kiss cover band.  And they were seriously the worst band I've ever heard.  They just couldn't get it together.  Ouch.  We wandered up and down Main Street a little more and then finally called it a night

Sunday March 8, 2015

Sunday, March 8, 2015
Location - Daytona Beach

Today is our 4th day at the Daytona Beach Regency.  We are here partly for Bike Week, and partly just to enjoy the beach.  Today we are taking a break from anything bike-related and just relaxing.  We slept in a bit (hello Daylight Saving Time!) and then walked down the beach to the Pier and Boardwalk

There's a Joe's on the pier, but today we ate on the Boardwalk, at King Pizza. We of course had pizza.



It was pretty great.  Lots of cheese and pepperoni, and NY style bendy-crust.

It's warmer today, high of 72, with just a little bit of wind off the water.  After two cold, super windy days, this felt awesome.  Today the food trucks were back on the beach, as were the beach-goers. After lunch we strolled back along the boardwalk to the condo.  We sat out on the balcony for a bit, but the wind is still a bit chilly.  And the motorcycles going by are SO loud.  I realize they are just excited but they don't need to rev it up just waiting for the signal to change.  I loved the condo last year when we were right on the ocean, the ocean is much quieter than the bikes.  Last year we never heard them!  This year we are one unit back, still with an ocean view but there is a service alley between us and the building next door and it acts like a wind tunnel and noise amplifier.  If we come back next year we will definitely ask for a front unit.

Images courtesy of Google

Happy 2015!

I have a feeling that 2015 is going to be an awesome year! We've got a great winter of traveling planned.  But first, I want to tell you about my daughter's travel blog, and urge you to go read today's post.  I'll just wait here until you read it :D

Click here for Will Work For Travel

It really gives a great perspective on setting those New Year's Resolutions

Finally Home

I really hated to leave the Hampton Inn in Lexington Virginia. We had our usual complimentary breakfast in the beautiful dining room and then I took a few photos.  None inside as it was very busy with families travelling for the Easter holiday. 

Outside corridor

Clock

Pool and spa

We reluctantly packed up and took off, as we had 450 miles to go and I wanted to get home. We got back on 81 and got off at Berkely Springs WV.  This is another beautiful place that I'd like to go back to someday. They have the Country's first warm mineral springs and the town is really cute. Even George Washington has been here.  Here is a castle

 

More mineral springs

We passed a couple other places the day before that I want to mention.  One was the headquarters of Shutterfly in North Carolina. Patti uses them to make the most wonderful photo books!  Another place we passed was the historic Shot Tower, by the New River in West Virginia. 

 

The early settlers used to make ammunition here, more than 200 years ago.  

We also went by Carowinds, an amusement park I'd love to go to someday

After going through Berkely Springs we took 70 West then 99 then I think the 80 to the 219?  Anyway, we ended up in Ellicottville and then Chaffee and Java and Varysburg then HOME!  After being in Florida for 3 months then home for a week and gone again for two weeks it felt like I had been gone forever.  Plus, John didn't go on the Mississippi Riverboat cruise so I hadn't seen him in two weeks and I really missed him. Today I have to unpack and catch up on laundry. Tomorrow is Easter, have a great day!

*All images courtesy of Google, as for some reason my mom doesn't like me going 75 and taking pictures. 

A Long Day of Driving

We had a quick breakfast at the hotel this morning and then took off. By the time we got fuel it was almost 11.  Back on Route 301 which I really love but it makes me sad too.  This was "the" way South years ago, before the 95 opened.  Now it is full of once-beautiful examples of mid-century architecture.  Deserted and abandoned motels, diners, and gas stations, once thriving and now run down

From 301 we got on 321 and took that to 77 I think?  We got stuck in a horrible traffic jam in Charlotte. It looked exactly like this

Two hours and only 20 miles later we finally emerged from the snarl.  Almost 500 miles today and we ended up in Lexington Virginia, after being on 81.  This is our gorgeous Hampton

The front part is a bed and breakfast and there are regular rooms around the side and back. We were too tired to eat and just snacked in the room.

Home by tomorrow night! 

Heading Home, Part II. 4/16/14

So today I found myself making the trek from Zephyrhills Florida home to New York for the second time in 3 weeks.  This time driving my Mom (and her car!) back.  The good news is she had a recheck on her broken wrist yesterday and it was healed enough to take off the fixator

 That's the 'before' and here is the 'after'

Just a Velcro brace! 

We were packed up and ready to leave around 1:00, which is actually a day earlier than I thought so that's great. Traffic was light on 301 and we managed to go 300 miles before we stopped in Statesville Georgia around 8.  We got a room at a brand new Hampton Inn and it's really nice. 

 It has a keyless tap and go entry which is super handy when you're loaded down with luggage like a pack mule.  We went next door to the Mellow Mushroom for dinner, a place I've never been but now love.  We started with the signature soup

 Which we were leery of at first but loved at first spoonful. We also shared a small pizza and each had an awesome beer, Terrapin Tree Hugger.  It was the special today and we got to keep the glass.  Yay for free swag! 

  After a quick call to the husband, I'm doing a blog post and Mom is reading the paper.  Maybe we'll make 400 miles tomorrow? I want to get home to this sweet face

Foreigner and Strawberries 2.28.2013

One of my favorite things about this RV is this cabinet.

I call it my breakfast cabinet.

Open Sesame

Almost there...

It holds my Keurig

Blender

And toaster.

And it's always plugged in.

Makes that first very necessary cup of coffee super simple. And hides all those small appliances. I hate clutter so it's really perfect for me.

The Florida Strawberry Festival started today, and today's free entertainment was Foreigner! Nice. We got advanced sale tickets yesterday at Sweetbay and they were $8 so I guess the concert isn't really free but whatever

After being disappointed by both the Florida State Fair and the Pasco County Fair, we felt like this was what we had been looking for.  Rides, food, vendors, exhibits, livestock, and of course everything strawberry!  I tried to get some photos of the midway but it was just too big.

 Elsie the cow was there!!   I was confused because she had horns which I didn't know the girls had.  Huh.  I asked her if she personally produces ALL that Bordon cheese and she said Moo which I think meant yes.  She was very soft and shiny.

 Then I saw the Strawberry Guy getting dressed up.  I was shocked because I thought he was a real strawberry.  First no Santa, now this.  Sads.

 Here he is, riding the merry go round and daring to wave at me. Faker!!

 Here is my dream strawberry shortcake!  If only it was real.  I did have one similar to this, only 1000 times smaller.

 These girls were great!  They were sisters, and danced ( like, dance a jig danced) and played the violin and sang.  I can't remember their name but we're going back next Saturday so I'll find out.

Next we saw a show called the LumberJills.  We thought they would be pretty cool but well...here they are cross cutting I think they called it?

 Then they did a thing where they stood on a big chunk of wood to split it.  They said it only takes them 30 - 45 seconds to do this normally, but Florida wood totally owned them.  One girl just gave up, and this one took probably 10 minutes?

 She gave it her all for sure.

They also did some log rolling and axe throwing.  I did buy a t shirt though, on the back it says "Walk softly and carry a big axe".  It should say "and also a chainsaw, just in case".

Scary ride...

 This one was even scarier!  It's called the Sky Swing, and it goes way up that support thing to the top.  Umm no way!  It was really too high for a carnie ride with really no safety harnesses etc.  I know, I am a total kill joy.

 Speaking of kill joys, due to my totally ridiculous fear of heights, this was the best seat we got for Foreignor.  Boo.  Yes, that is a big high sound stage thing right in front of us.  And right in front of the stage obviously.  I could only make it up 3 of the crazy steep steps.  If I had gone up farther, we would have been over the top of that little building but I just couldn't do it.  They were LOTS of great seats, just none that I didn't have to crawl to on my hands and knees.  Anyway, they had two giant screens to we could really see just fine, and the sound system was really good.

 Yeah, don't bother taking me to concerts that aren't flat to the ground. Someday I will overcome this irrational fear and triumph over steep stadium seating!

When we got home, we shared a 7-7 and that was the drink of the day.  No photo because I gulped it down!  Cheers!