28 May 2009 - Orlando, Florida

We got up nice and late. The plan was to spend Thursday in the hotel, enjoying all of the nice things we paid for, and then to hit up one of the Disney parks on Friday before we needed to leave for the other side of Orlando for the wedding. We picked up some snacks/breakfast at the Marketplace in the hotel and then headed out to the pool. The pool at the Beach Club Resort was quite nice, consisting of multiple physical pools, some with sinking sand at the bottom, one with a lazy river, and a waterslide. The slide was very fun to ride and I enjoyed it very much. There was also a huge number of ducks in the pool, including a family with lots of little ducks. Very cool. We ate lunch by the pool after running inside for a brief period to avoid a nasty downpour and relaxed most of the day away by the pool. Nice points about it also included the towel service and the roaming waitresses who brought back food and drinks, including a number of good draft beers. A perfect way to relax for a day.

We got showered off and cleaned up for our dinner. Since the wedding we were going to was on Cin's birthday, we had to schedule our celebration of that day at other times and tonight was her birthday dinner. We went to Citricos in the Grand Floridian Resort (restaurant's webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here and the hotel's webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). The Grand Floridian hotel is Disneyworld's most expensive and fanciest hotel and it truly shows it. It is a grand resort in every sense of the word (we plan to stay here when we return in January for the Disney Marathon and it is going to cost a small fortune!). The restaurant was amazing. We had really good first courses (romaine lettuce with feta and peppers for me and a goat cheese truffle salad for Cin), excellent main courses (braised short rib for me and chicken with polenta for Cin), and excellent drinks. We were not going to get dessert but saw this amazing looking lemon cheesecake with a big curvy cracker in it (about a foot high!) and decided we had to get that, so we did. It was amazingly good too. The service was fantastic and we had a wonderful time. We have been to many very good (and very expensive!) restaurants but this one was fantastic. Highly recommend for a good and romantic high-end meal.

After the dinner, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom on the Monorail to get the bus back to our hotel (to get from one resort to another within Disneyworld, you need to take some method of transportation to a park and then another to the other resort) and got caught in a horrible downpour trying to get to the bus station outside of Magic Kingdom. Oh well. :) Our original plan was to then go to Downtown Disney but it was raining so we passed on that. Cin went to the fitness room within the hotel and I just relaxed and watched some television and read my current book (The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson - very good!). We relaxed a bit more and then went to bed, eager to hit up the park the next day!

27 May 2009 - Orlando, Florida

Cin and I drove to the airport after work today to head down to Orlando for the wedding of two good friends of ours. Since this is a decent length trip, we decided to leave early (the wedding is on Saturday) and get some mini-vacation time in. We got to BWI with no issues and sat down for dinner at the airport's version of The Greene Turtle bar. After some beers and food, we eventually headed out on our AirTran flight to Orlando, about thirty minutes late. No issues on the flight down and we picked up our rental car from Alamo just fine. We drove out with no traffic and found our way to our hotel for the next two nights, Disney's Beach Club Resort (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). This is one tier up from the Coronado Springs Resort we stayed at last summer for our Disney vacation and it shows; this place is really cool.

We checked into our room and found it to be very nice and fairly large with a nice little garden balcony and a big, comfortable, king-size bed. After checking in, we walked over to the Disney Boardwalk area, where most things were closed. They had a dance club and a dueling piano bar, but it was already 10.45p and we just wanted some food. We found the ESPNZone bar and got some snacks while watching one of the NBA playoff games. After that, we walked back to our room and went to sleep. Long day and we needed the sleep.

10 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

We got to the airport with no issues, including a stop in the rain at Starbucks to get some iced teas. When we got there, I wanted to stop at the Northwest (our carrier for the day) to reprint out boarding passes since the website had printed one boarding pass for both flights on the same document. Since I had never seen this before, I wanted to make sure all was well. We walked up to the Northwest area and saw six or so self check-in kiosks that were all empty and a line of fifteen people or so waiting for something. As the kiosks were all empty, I walked up to one and reprinted our boarding passes. About halfway through, some guy near the front of the line of people yelled out that we were cutting in front of all the people in line. I then told him that I assumed they were waiting for a person as all of the kiosks were vacant and apologized if I misjudged. He then yelled that someone told him to wait there. At that point, I pointed to all of the kiosks and told him they were all open and asked why he was not using them. If he was going to wait in line, why did he have an issue with me using the vacant terminal? He didn't really say anything. The lady in line behind him then said something about her thinking I was right and then the line of all the people behind this guy spread out to all of the kiosks and formed lines of two people or so and all of these people started checking in. Oh, the wisdom of crowds! Especially crowds that queue up behind someone who (1) was an idiot, (2) was a jerk, and (3) had apparently never been in an airport before and had no idea how check-in works in the modern world. Geez.

Anyway, the one boarding pass for multiple legs of one journey turned out to be correct. How odd that this is the first time I have seen this, as it is such a good idea.

We headed thru security and noticed that one family, the family of the guy who had made a fuss over nothing at the check-in counter, was having all of their bags searched and the TSA folks were pulling out full tubes of toothpaste and other prohibited items. The guy was looking quite confused, especially when he was about five feet away from the sign outlining the prohibition on these items. Geez again! Anyway, Cin got breakfast and we boarded our flights to Minneapolis/Saint Paul airport. We had the aisle and middle seat in a row of three with a polite and quiet guy in the window seat. All-in-all an uneventful flight and I started reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. More about that book later, once I get thru this amazingly complex and very challenging read.

No issues getting to Minneapolis. We found a bar where we got lunch (buffalo wings for me along with a beer) and then got our connecting flight back to Baltimore with no issues. Once at BWI, there was some delay in getting back to our car as the Airport FastPark buses were slow to get us. Once we got back, all was well and we were back home. Excellent spring break!

9 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

We woke up on Friday morning just as David was headed out the door to work. Marie took Liam to his tutoring session and Cin and I hung out with Chloe and caught some Doctor Who repeats on the Sci-Fi channel. Once Marie and Liam got home, we packed up for a day outdoors and piled into the car Off to Subway to pick up some sandwiches for lunch and we were ready to go. We headed to the volcano area of the Petroglyph National Monument. We parked the car and then hiked up to the top of one of the three extinct volcanoes there. This was a pretty decent climb and the view from the top was wonderful. After eating our food, we all hiked down and Cin and I hiked up to the top of another volcano while Marie and the kids rested up. We saw some more cool views, some odd plants, and then headed down to meet back up with them. Back to the car and off we went. The volcanoes were really cool and well worth the trip. Some good, but short, hikes here.

From the volcanoes, we headed to the petroglyph Visitors' Center and found a good trail that would provide a view of some good glyphs and a decent hike too. When we started the trek up the trail, Liam and I read a sign saying that rattlesnakes were sometimes in the area and this freaked Chloe out. Luckily, a nice guy coming down said that he had inspected the entire area and there were no snakes there that day. Hike saved...that will teach me not to read signs. :) We did the trail in about an hour with a really cool view at the top and lots of cool petrogylphs. Liam did a good job interpreting them. After the hike down, we piled back into the car and headed back to the house. This visit was also well worth the time. The hike was decent and the view at the top amazing. The petroglyphs themselves are really cool and it is amazing they have lasted so long. Makes one wonder about the people that created these so long ago, where they lived outside with the land, where now there is a planned trail near a Visitors' Center. Progress, huh?

Once home, we cleaned up a bit and Marie ordered dinner for the kids (pizza and chicken wings from Papa John's). Their babysitter came over and the three of us headed to El Pinto (website is here and their TripAdvisor page is here), way out on Fourth Street, for dinner. I remembered this place as being very good once I saw it and it did not disappoint. David was already there and we both had a few Alien Amber beers, which I had not had before. I had cheese enchiladas again as this would be the last time I would get to eat New Mexican food for quite some time. It was delicious and their red chili sauce is the best I had on the trip - fantastic! Cin was boring and got grilled salmon, but she really seemed to enjoy it alot more than anything New Mexican would have been. This was a fantastic dinner and I highly recommend El Pinto; check out all of the pictures on the wall with all of the famous people that have eaten there.

After dinner, we went to Billy's Long Bar (PubCrawler page is here), which I had been to many times. This is a big bar with a huge draft beer selection and a really cool atmosphere. One of the coolest things about it is when you walk in after parking in the rear parking lot. When you get near the door, you can usually see men's faces through a long window in the wall an sometimes they look strained. It can be quite confusing. When you figure it out, you realize that you are looking into the men's bathroom; there are no urinals, just one big trough that everyone goes in and the window is at head-level. Really cool. We had some good beer, Marie had a sub-optimal margarita, and we all had a good time. After some time, we headed back to the house. Everyone being tired, that was the end of the day. I printed out our boarding passes for the following morning and we went off to bed. This was a really good last day in Albuquerque.

8 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

We woke up nice and early for our first full day in Albuquerque, which means around 8am their time or 10am EDT. It is vacation after all. :) We woke up when Marie let us know that she was taking the kids to school and would be back later on. We stayed in bed for a while and then got up shortly before Marie got back. From that point, the three of us headed up to Sandia Resort and Casino, as Cin wanted to get some gambling in while we had access to a full casino, something that is not possible back in Maryland. The place was nicer than I thought, but not quite as nice as Turning Stone (website is here and previous experience is here) in upstate New York. All three of us played roulette for a little more than an hour, with me coming out $40 ahead, Cin $16 ahead, and Marie down $10 (this was her first time ever playing in a casino). We watched one guy play fairly high bets and frequently leave the table and come back with more cash. After counting, I figure he lost around $1500 in the hour or so we were there. Wow. I then promptly lost $20 of my $40 playing blackjack, but still had a really good time.

From there, we headed to Old Town Albuquerque for lunch. We ate at La Hacienda, a good New Mexican joint down there (TripAdvisor page is here). I had beef enchiladas with red chili and found them to be delicious. Cin got red chili for her lunch on the side and did not use much of it; at that point I simply drank the rest of her serving (which was fairly big), which amazed Marie. It was really good (and not super hot) red chili! We then walked around Old Town, looking at shops and the various Indian goods that were for sale on the walkways. We walked around an old church right in the main square of town and then got some iced tea and dessert (ice cream, which came in a huge cone that the three of us barely put a dent in). At this point, it was nearing the time to pick Liam up from school, so we headed back to the car and drove out to his school.

Liam goes to a charter school, which is a converted facility that used to be a strip-mall type place. It seemed really nice and all of the people there were great. We picked him up and then went to pick up Chloe. We got her from her (pre) school and then went to get some snacks for the kids as they both had gymnastics shortly thereafter. They got smoothies from a Jama Juice (I had a 1oz serving of wheatgrass juice - 1oz = the same nutrition as 2.5 pounds of vegetables!) and then we got coffees and ice teas from the Winning Coffee Company (website is here and the TripAdvisor page is here). This place was a decent local coffee place that had really good tropical-flavored iced tea. Delicious. The collection of "locals," ranging from typical college students to bikers to various hobos, was extensive and I got the feeling that some of these folks were there everyday and were likely chatting and getting along fantastically with others who would never be back here again, as if on some wandering journey. Very cool place (lots of eeePCs and MacBooks in use here, not many other laptops). Both of these locations are right near the UNM campus in Albuquerque. From there, we headed to a playground for a little while, Cin and I both rode the swings, and then we attended Chloe's and Liam's gymnastics practice which was somewhat interesting (the foam pit looks like so much fun!).

From there, we left and headed directly to dinner, at Los Cuates (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). This night, I got cheese enchiladas again (notice a pattern?) and they were delicious. This place has some odd salsa that is served with their chips (It is red chili based but has something else in it that makes the flavor somewhat off and makes it very hot/spicy - some people like it but it is not for everyone. I am not a big fan and Cin hated it. The regular red chili sauce on the enchiladas was more traditional red chili and was great.). At this point, Cin was horribly sick of New Mexican food so she opted for a guacamole salad (really a pile of amazingly good guacamole and a little bit of lettuce) and a regular dinner salad for dinner. I do have to say that we have gotten guacamole at a few places out here and it is always amazingly good. It is fresh, chunky with avacado, and has few onions in it. It is so much fresher and more tasty than anything you can get on the East Coast...like all the food in Albuquerque, take advantage of it while you can!

From dinner, we headed back to the house and watched a little television before bed. We checked out Harper's Island, a new murder mystery show that was OK but not as good as I had hoped. Hopefully it will get better as it goes along (its very short planned season). We relaxed with Marie and David and the kids a bit and then went to bed, resting up for our full day with Marie and the kids (who were off from school due to the Easter/Good Friday holiday).

7 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Over Cin's spring break this year, we headed out to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit her sister and family (Marie, husband David, kids Liam and Chloe). I had been to Albuquerque many times for work in a previous job but Cin had never been there. We arrived at off-site parking (Airport FastPark) at BWI airport and took their shuttle to the terminal. They had a Baltimore Sun paper waiting for us and the ride to the terminal was pleasant and uneventful. We had already checked in for our flight online and had no bags to check, so we went thru security without any issues and found our gate. We boarded our American Airlines flight and, before I knew it, we were landing at Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Along the way we watched most of Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa, which was a crappy movie except the part with the really funny penguins and monkeys. Other than that, total crap.

We had a few hours at Dallas, so we walked over to the international terminal where the bigger restaurants are. On the way over, we saw a very well put together welcome home celebration at a gate for US armed forces members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Very well put on and looked incredible. We ate at the Reata Grill (TripAdvisor page is here), where Cin got a salad and a bowl of their chicken tortilla soup and I just had the soup. It was OK but nothing special. We then went back to our terminal, saw some birds walking around the waiting area, and then boarded our flight to Albuquerque. A short ride later and we landed and found Marie and the kids there to pick us up. A good way to start the trip.

Marie and company live in the Four Hills area of southeast Albuquerque. We got Chloe to give us a tour of the house (she is four) and did a little unpacking. By then, it was about time for dinner so we headed out. The one thing I really, really, missed about Albuquerque was the amazingly good New Mexican food, so I was really looking forward to this trip to catch up on what I've missed out on for the past three years. We headed to Sadie's (TripAdvisor page is here), which is one of the favorites. The food was just as good as I remember it and I had cheese enchiladas with red chili (New Mexico is the only state with an official question - red or green? - refering to the chili ... green chilis take some getting used to and alot of people love them, but I am still partial to the red). That and a few Corona Lights and I was in heaven. Right after we were pretty much done, David showed up, coming direct from work. He grazed on the kids' leftovers (neither one ate very much, as they filled up on chips) and then we all headed back to the house. I rode with David and we stopped at their Whole Foods to pick up some green chili bagels, since Cin had never had one, and some beer for us (we are both big beer snobs). We got back to the house and Cin and I watched LOST on TV while the kids did their homework for school (their spring break was earlier in the month)....really good episode! David and I split two good beers, both from England, and then Cin and I went to sleep, exhausted.

The Twenty Most Ridiculous Travel Complaints

Not a travel post by me, exactly, but quite funny. This is a list put together by a British newspaper of the 20 most ridiculous complaints about travel received by the travel agents they interviewed. Some are quite funny and some are quite sad. Wow.

The Twenty Most Ridiculous Travel Complaints

1 January 2009: Key West, Florida

We woke up in Key West and, right away, got ready for our drive to Miami. We checked out, packed the car, the drove up to Miami (this time on the Florida Turnpike instead of all the way up US1). As they are doing alot of construction on US1 around Key Largo, this took alot of time. We ended up at the Alamo office on time and dropped off the car. Point of advice ... renting cars this time of year in Miami is EXPENSIVE (about five to six times what it costs during the summer!). So be careful. We turned on the car, I about fainted with our bill, and we took the shuttle to the airport.

After our trip down, I was happy to be flying home on American Airlines. We checked in with no problems, checked Cin's luggage, went through security, and all was well. We ate lunch the the Island Bar & Grill, which appeared to be an airport-only establishment. It was decent and they had a beer from the Dominican Republic that I had not had before and was pretty decent (a pilsner). We got on the plane with no issues; it took off with no issues; we arrived in Washington, DC, with no issues (to Reagan National this time, as planned); Cin's luggage arrived with no issues). My dad picked us up and took us home. No issues. Thank God for American Airlines.

That's it. I spend the next day writing long letters to executives at United Airlines about our experience and asking how they plan to make this right. When I get a response, I will update this travellog to indicate what they say. Until then, this trip is over.

UPDATE (26 Feb 2009) - Nothing to update. I sent letters (emails, actually) to both US Airways (to thank them for helping to sort out some of the mess United made of our trip down) and to United, explaining everything that happened. I heard back from US Airways a day or so later with a nice personal email that indicated they would pass my thanks on to the wonderful agent that helped us that day. Nothing from United. I contact their normal Customer Service department through their website and via direct email. No response. I elevated to their Executive Customer Service (via the contact information from The Consumerist) and heard nothing back - my emails have gone unanswered and the FAX number just rings and rings without ever being answered. The United website indicates that the gentleman mentioned is no longer the "Chief Customer Officer," so that may be why. Doing some additional research, I seem (this morning so that is why this seemed like good idea for an update), to have identified the new "Customer Officer." As I think I have figured out the United corporate email address structure, I'll try contacting this guy tonight and see if we hear back from him. Confidence is NOT high.

UPDATE (17 March 2009) - Finally heard back from United Executive Customer Service last week, first via email and then via normal letter. That's good. They apologized and said that they were speaking to the customer service management at Dulles concerning our lying CS agent. They also included two $250 travel vouchers, valid on "most" United flights, one for me and one for Cin. So that is good. They did seem sincere about trying to make up for what, I know, is a situation that occurs many times each day for them. So that is good. I'm satisfied with the resolution (but not the time it took to get it) and Cin and I are both looking forward to using our vouchers for a trip in the near future.

31 December 2008: Key West, Florida

We got up for our last full day in Key West and the last day of 2008. We headed down to the hotel's restaurant for some breakfast as we knew we had a big dinner in front of us and we planned to not each much lunch. Cin got the buffet and I got some eggs with bacon and potatoes. Both were quite good and we found that the hotel did a wonderful iced tea that had some mango flavoring in it. We then caught the shuttle to the beach (Smathers Beach, again).

We lied on the beach for a number of hours. I am reading Godel, Escher, Bach, and Cin was reading the novels in the Twilight series. While there, we got some snacks and really good iced teas from the various vendors. At Smathers Beach, there is a line of vendor trucks on the road that sell all sorts of food, ice cream, snow cones, and many other things. I had a hot dog for lunch and we both had multiple iced teas. Cool beans. We both got some reading in and we both got alot of good sun...too much in fact. We both got burned, Cin alot worse than me. She was as red as a radish when we left the beach, an hour before we planned to due to the burning.

Here is the plaque dedicating Smathers Beach.


And here is a dog having fun at the beach.


When we got back to the hotel, we went directly to the poolside bar for a snack. I had a few beers and Cin got some hard cider and a pesto chicken sandwhich (she did not get lunch at the beach, as I did). All was quite tasty. Then we headed back to the room to relax and take showers. We left on the 5.00pm shuttle to Old Town for our 6.00pm reservation at Louie's Backyard (website is here and TripAdvisor page is here). We got to the place around 5.40pm thanks to the excellent shuttle driver (I cannot say enough about the Doubletree shuttle service!). We checked in and were directed to the back area bar, where everyone was waiting...the first seating for dinner was at 6.00pm. The view out here is amazing...this is why people speak so highly of Louie's. The sunset was amazing. We had some beer and then were collected for our table. We had, easily, the best table in the place. It was outside, right next to the bar, and had a great view of the water. Our dinner was quite good. The service was very good and the food very tasty as well. I had prime rib (came out as I ordered it ... extra rare!) and a Caesar salad and Cin had roasted chicken (very juicy!) and a mixed green salad. My Caesar salad had fried anchoves on it but the waitress pointed them off so I could pick them off...how fun! We then split a berry tart for dessert that was fantastic. At that point, Cin was very cold, probably due to a reaction from her bad sunburn. We finished our meal and then walked very fast back to the shuttle stop to head back to the hotel. We intended to just hang out on Duvall until midnight but she needed to change clothes. We got back to the hotel OK and changed. We then opted to hang out until 9pm or so to head back, so as not to be bored. That turned out to be a good idea and we watched the first hour or so of Ocean's 13, which is pretty good. At 9pm, we headed back to the shuttle, suitably dressed, and off to Old Town for New Years!

Here is the sunset view from Louie's.


And here is us at Louie's.


We picked up the shuttle and got back to Old Town. We headed to the northern end of Duvall Street and got some beers outside of a cowboy bar next to Captain Tony's Saloon. Most of the bars were doing outdoor bars so you did not have to go inside to buy beer. The bartender recognized Cin's Johns Hopkins University sweatshirt and asked us where from in Maryland we were from...turns out that she was from Glen Burnie. Fun! We then found some open public bathrooms at Mallory Square and then walked down Duvall Street from the northern end to the area the most south that was closed to traffic. We walked past many interesting people, including a woman without any shirt on who just painted on a shirt to cover her breasts to women with eight inch heels on. Crazy. There was also a drag strip show and many other odd sights. We then walked back up to Sloppy Joe's Bar and hung out outside that bar until midnight. There was alot of good music here and there was a collection of people on the roof throwing beads to the crowd (that we were in!). We did not catch any but it was fun. There was a middle-age women (probably late 30s or early 40s) that decided to pole dance on a streetlight pole...this is suprisingly hot. :) The crowd was fun and very relaxed, save a few people.

Here is us in the crowd in front of Sloppy Joe's.


Here is the conch shell, ready to drop.


Here is the "sushi shoe" ready to drop, much further down Duvall.


Here is the crowd to Hip, Hop, Hooray!


At midnight, the conch shell dropped (just like the ball in NYC) and 2009 came in to being. It was fun. Alot of people sprayed champagne all over the place and we got drenched. That part was not fun, but oh well. We then headed back to the shuttle stop, waited 20 minutes or so, and headed back to the hotel, with 50 people on the 25 people-capacity bus. Lots of people standing everywhere. We got back by 12.45am and went right to bed. Happy 2009!

Here is the conch shell drop.

30 December 2008: Key West, Florida

This was our day to see some sights and be tourists. We woke up late and headed out, via excellent shuttle, to Old Town. We then went to Margaritaville for lunch. I ordered a hamburger and Cin got a salad. Her salad came out fine but my burger came out with cheese on it ... eww! I pointed this out and about five minutes later, a new, very rare, burger came out that was delicious! One of the best burgers I have ever had. Excellent! After lunch and some beers, we did a little shopping (they have a little shop!) and then headed down Duvall Street to the Southernmost Point.

We walked down and then headed to the end of US1 (which we live off of!). We had seen this point before, but figured it would be a good time to see it again. There were alot of people there but it was fun.

Here is me at the end of US1.


And here is Cin.


And here is both of us on the other side of the street (the southern beginning of US1).


After we saw the end of the road, we headed to the Green Parrot Bar (TripAdvisor site is here). This is the "first and last bar on US1). This place is apparently popular with the locals. They have alot on draft and good service. One word of warning...they only accept cash, so do not come here hoping to pay with a credit card. It is, however, well worth a stop.

Here is the bar.


And here is their sign.


After our visit here, we walked to the Southernmost Point. This is the point in the continental United States that is the most south (90 miles to Cuba!). The marker they have usually has words painted on it to indicate this, but it did not when we saw it this time. How bizarre.

Here is the marker.


Once done with this, we walked back up Duvall, visiting some shops and getting some iced tea at Starbucks (I know, I know, why did I go to Starbucks on a trip to Key West? They were the only place around with iced tea and their tea is good!). We then hit up the shuttle back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before getting ready to go back to Old Town for dinner.

We got the shuttle back to Old Town and hit up La Tratorria for dinner (here is their webpage and here is the TripAdvisor page). This is one of the only Italian places on Key West. We had a wonderful time. We arrived without reservations and the host told us there would be about a 30-40 minute wait. No problem, we asked to sit in the bar and wait. He informed us, and directed us to, two different bars, one in the front and one in the back. The back bar actually was two bars and we headed to the back one. We someone walked outside, which was very well hidden, and had a great time. 25 minutes or so later, we headed back inside and our table was ready. We both had salads (Cin had a caprese salad with some of the best buffalo mozzarella either of us have ever had and I had a wonderful Caesar salad with one lone anchovy on it that was very tasty) and then Cin got gnocchi and I had spaghetti with oil and garlic. Both were delicious! Our waiter was very good as well. This place is a great place to go if you are in the mood for a wonderful Italian meal while on Key West. As an aside, when we sat down, the host pointed out that we were the second party with our last name that was there that evening. Since our last name is fairly unique, this intrigued me. The host pointed out the other couple, but they appeared lost in a romantic meal so I did not interrupt to discuss this odd occurrence with him. In retrospect, I probably should have.

After dinner, we headed up to Sloppy Joe's Bar (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here) for dessert. We got a table and ordered some beers. Shortly thereafter, Cin ordered some Key Lime Pie for dessert, which was quite delicious. They had a country music cover band that was really good. We then learned that for the next night, New Year's Eve, they would be removing all of the tables and would be charging a cover. So there would be no hanging out in this bar, sitting down, for us. We resolved to finalize our plans and then headed back to the shuttle. We arrived back at the hotel and headed off to sleep, getting ready for our last full day of vacation.

29 December 2008: Islamorada and Key West, Florida

We woke up in Islamorada, both still surprised to actually be here. :) We got up and headed down to the hotel lobby for the free Hampton Inn breakfast. It was very crowded here and they were out of alot of stuff. Luckily, they refilled the egg patties (Hampton Inns have scrambled eggs cut in to circular patties for breakfast...they are very tasty!) and I got a few for Cin and I. We took our breakfasts out to the beach to eat. The hotel has a small beach, complete with hammocks, outside near the Outback bar we visited the night before. We ate on the sand and then sat in the hammock for a little bit to relax. So nice. I wish we could have had our full day on Islamorada but United saw fit to not let that happen. While on the hammock, I talked to my parents who flew (from Dulles on United, nonetheless) to visit my brother in Oklahoma. They had massive delays but finally got there too. After this, we packed up and loaded up the car for the drive from Islamorada to Key West and headed off.

Here is the beach area we ate breakfast on.


And here is the hammock we sat in after breakfast. Were it not for United, I would have sat here for an entire day.


It took about an hour and a half to get to Key West. It was a relaxing and enjoyable drive. It would have been better in a convertible, but oh well. We arrived in Key West and drove right to the hotel, arriving at about 1.15pm. We checked in with no problem and our room was ready. We stayed at the Doubletree Grand Key Resort (hotel webpage is here and the TripAdvisor page is here). This place is great. Check my TripAdvisor review for more details but the crux of the deal is that the hotel is on the "quiet" side of the island and they have an amazing shuttle to the "party" side that includes Duvall Street and all of the bars and such. The hotel is very good and highly recommended. We checked in and then caught the shuttle to Smathers Beach. We lied down and relaxed, reading and getting some good sun. It was quite alot of fun. We then caught the shuttle back to the hotel a few hours later and headed back to the room to get ready for Old Town and dinner.

We headed down and caught the shuttle to Old Town. We checked out a few places for dinner and settled of Fogarty's (TripAdvisor page is here), the restaurant that is together with the Flying Monkey's Saloon, Cin's favorite bar in Key West, and possibly in the whole world. We had excellent bruschetta for an appetizer and both ordered salmon for dinner. The salmon was somewhat undercooked and the waiter missed my request for rice instead of mashed potatoes, but everything else was quite good. The drinks from Flying Monkey's were both good and the atmosphere was wonderful. Recommended, just be careful with the salmon.

Here's a picture of Cin enjoying her drink at Fogarty's.


We then headed up to Captain Tony's saloon (website is here and TripAdvisor page is here). This is the bar that is the focus of the Jimmy Buffet song, Last Mango in Paris. Currently, it is a good bar with good service, a decent amount of seating, good beer including a Captain Tony's Amber Ale on draft that is tasty, and good, local, live music. Recommended if you are at all interested in Jimmy Buffet and his music, or just a good place to have a drink or two and enjoy some good music.

Here is me putting my business card on the wall, along with thousands of others.


And here is the iconic writing on the bathroom wall, the center of Last Mango in Paris.


After a few drinks, we headed back to the shuttle stop and then the hotel. On the way back, we traded travel stories with the others on the shuttle and everyone felt really bad for us and our misfortune in getting to the Keys. We got back to the room and drifted off to sleep. So much to do and so little time...

28 December 2008: Islamorada, Florida (for real this time?)

We got to Dulles, again, early on Sunday morning. Back to the United ticketing counter to check-in. They printed out our United boarding passes, to Philadelphia, and then told me that they could not print the ones for our US Airways flight to Miami. We would need to check-in with US Airways, either at Philadelphia or here at Dulles. That seemed odd since they printed our US Airways ones the previous day. Huh. We decided it was best to go visit US Airways here at Dulles, as something smelled bad. And bad it was.

We went to US Airways and told the agent there (Yvonne was her name) what United said. She looked at me funny and said there was no reason why United should not have been able to print our boarding passes. She punched around on the computer a bunch and could not find us on the flight from Philadelphia to Miami. Not at all. She spent about an hour on the phone with the United helpdesk to figure out what had happened. We learned that when the CSR booked our new flights the previous day, he booked the US Airways flight under its United codeshare flight number (what looks like a United flight but maps to the real US Airways flight) and had not converted the reservation over to the "real" US Airways flight number. So the reservation was not confirmed and the flight was now completely full. She could not figure out how this mistake was made, nor why the United ticketing agent had not found it. So, not only did the rude Mohamed from yesterday mess up our flight reservations, but the United agent who checked us in either did not notice something was wrong (which seems unlikely as Yvonne told us that the only way they could not print a US Airways boarding pass was if something was very wrong with our reservations) or they just ignored it and figured it was not their problem. At this point, the horrendous customer service from United was really starting to get to me.

It got worse when she pointed out that there were multiple flights from Dulles to Miami, on both United and other carriers and there were multiple flights, in the early morning, from Reagan National to Miami that had had multiple seats open. So, not only had Mohamed messed up our reservations, he lied about other possibilities. I do not think I can describe how upset this made us. Luckily, Yvonne from US Airways resolved this, even though it was not her issue to resolve, and made sure we had boarding passes from Philadelphia to Miami. Thank God for her.

We got through security and to the gate for our Philadelphia flight. It boared on time and we sat there ready to go, finally thinking we were going to make it on vacation. Then we sat some more. Then the Captain announced that the bathroom was broken and we needed to wait for maintenance to come and "seal it up" as we could not fly with an open maintenance problem. We waited some more. Then they said maintenance was not there yet, so if anyone wanted to get off the plane they could. Then they made everyone get off the plane. Then we waited some more. Then they cancelled the flight.

At this point, we both realized that this vacation was, most likely, not going to happen. Cin got in line at the (lone) customer service station, behind forty other people, and I went back to the gate to get them to pull Cin's luggage off the plane, less it go to Philly on the next flight (that would not be good). We did see Mohamed working at the desk again, yelling at yet another customer. Shortly thereafter he was walking around the area looking pissed off and we heard from someone else he was removed from the desk due to his attitude (finally!). The agent at the gate "put a message in the system" to hold Cin's bag at Dulles and told us it would be upstairs in the baggage office in two to three hours. Great. Meanwhile, Cin was in line and, while she did that, I called United on the phone, trying a new strategy. I got a hold of a very polite and helpful lady who immediately booked us on a 12.25p flight (it was now 11.40a) direct from Dulles to Miami! I pulled Cin out of line and we ran, across the airport, to the new gate. Finally, we were going to make it to Miami, all with one two-minute phone call. Cin's luggage was going to stay at Dulles, but we would worry about that later. Or would we?

We got to the new gate to check-in and the gate agent informed us of our next problem (I know what you're thinking ... how can this get any worse?) According to the agent, we were booked on the flight, for tomorrow. Ugh! She tried to do some magic and said we may be able to get on the flight, but first we had to be un-checked in from the US Airways flight to free up our coupon, which was necessary to fly. To do that, United customer service needed to call US Airways customer service. Cin got in line at this customer service desk while I called United again. I got a very unhelpful, rude, lady and promptly hung up and called back. I did and got another very nice, helpful, and polite lady. I explained everything that was going on and said she that she showed us booked on the flight for both today and tomorrow, and she could resolve the coupon issue. However, the flight was in the final stages of boarding and this would need to be quick. We ran back to the gate and the gate agent found us for today, but needed to get the coupon issue fixed for us to board. The United ticketing agent (still on the phone) was on hold with US Airways. At one point, they were talking to each other through my cell phone. With the Captain of the plane telling the gate agent they needed to go, they agreed to resolve the coupon issue later and let us board, taking the very last two seats. This was the first and only time I have ever boarding a plane without a boarding pass. :) We sat down, the plane started to move, it took off, and I was amazed we were FINALLY on the way to Miami and then the Keys.

We landed in Miami. I called my dad and explained the luggage situation and he suggested we go to the baggage office at Miami and see if they could ship it from Dulles to Key West and bring it to our hotel (as this was all their fault). We did so. We talked, right away, to a very helpful lady there named Linda. We filled out the necessary form, provided our hotel address, and other information to her. During this, she kept going to the back office a few times. Then, after we had almost filled out the form, and she had typed a bunch of stuff in to the computer, she walked over to a corner of the baggage office and asked if this bag was ours. Sure enough, Cin's luggage was sitting right there in the Miami baggage office! I had to kick it to see if it was real. It had made it to Miami the previous day on one of those other flight options that Mohamed could not find for us. This was an amazing piece of luck and made us so happy! Now, off to the Alamo off-airport office for our rental car.

We got off the Alamo shuttle to a mass of about one thousand people, both in and out of the office. I have seen this type of situation before and it usually indicates that they are out of cars and people with reservations are waiting for cars to be returned before they can get theirs. I got in line and the guy there said it would be about an hour-and-a-half wait from that point. Ugh. As people moved up, it seemed some were getting keys right away and some were not. It actually only took me about 30 minutes to get to an agent. We filled out all of the paperwork and he went to get my keys. He came back and said they did not have any convertibles available then and that it would be atleast a half-hour, probably more, and he could not offer an upper bound on the wait time. But I could take a fullsize right then. So I did, happy to get out of the airport and this office. I picked up our fullsize car, and off we went, down I-95, to US1, towards the Keys, luggage in hand, finally on the way to Islamorada!

There are two main ways from Miami to the Keys, straight down US1 or the Florida Turnpike to about where US1 hits Key Largo. I erred and took US1 directly which is full of traffic lights. Oh well, it was a nice drive. We hit up a Cracker Barrel right before Key Largo (delicious and very efficient; we were in and out in 20 minutes!) and then got to our hotel in Islamorada, the Hampton Inn and Suites (hotel webpage is here and the TripAdvisor page is here). We checked in with no problems and went to our room, which was very nice. This was a great hotel and we had a view of the pool with its close-by bar, part of the attached Outback. We relaxed for a bit, found that the Baltimore Ravens made the playoffs (woot!), and then headed down to the bar for a little relaxing and some live, local, music. The music was good, the bartender (Diane) was good, and the beer was good. Too good ... I had nothing to eat all day before Cracker Barrel and then drank four beers so I felt quite sick. Moderation, Jeff, moderation. :) We headed back to the room and off to sleep. Our stay in Islamorada was going to be basically non-existant thanks to United, but we were in the Keys and ready to go to Key West tomorrow! Let the vacation finally begin!

Here is the welcoming sign at our hotel. We were so glad to see this!

27 December 2008: Islamorada, Florida (nope, just kidding ... Washington, DC!)

As we like to do, Cin and I planned to go to Florida, specifically the Keys, for vacation between Christmas and New Years this year. So we booked this months ago and got up this morning at 5.30am to head to Dulles International Airport for our flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then continuing on to Miami, Florida. From there, we would drive to Islamorada for two nights and then Key West for three more. Awesome plan, no?

We drove to my parents house and then my dad drove us to Dulles. So far so good. Being on multiple carriers on the way down, I could not check us in early so we had to go to the person-equipped line at United check-in. OK, they fixed that easy enough and we had boarding passes. Except that Cin's for the Charlotte to Miami leg said "Paper Required" on it, indicating a paper ticket. Weird. When our 8.55am departure became 9.55am, I got in line at customer service to ask about that, less our now-very-close layover in Charlotte backfire if this meant she could not get on the plane. After about an hour of waiting, the very nice lady informed me that this happened from time-to-time when dealing with travel sites (we booked thru Expedia) and it was OK. And the connecting flight in Charlotte was late, so we would be OK. Sweet.

The 9.55am departure became 10.30am, and then noon. No shot of making the connection. We got back in line. Now, in the A terminal at Dulles, which is all United flights, there is one customer service station. When we started in line, there were two agents. Finally there were three. As we waited in line, we noticed that one agent, an older gentleman named Mohamed, was being very indignant and yelling at the customer he was assisting. When we got to the front, we noticed that he was going to be the guy we were going to have to deal with. Not good.

Being nice and polite, we explained our situation and how we needed to get to Miami. He cut me off in the middle of my explanation and said he would see what could be done. OK. After ten minutes or so, he told me that there was no way to get us out of Dulles to Miami today. He found one set of flights, a United flight from Dulles to Philadelphia and then a US Airways flight to Miami the following day. I asked him if he had checked out airlines (Rule 240!) and other departure airports (as we could leave from Reagan National after a short taxi ride or from Baltimore/BWI after a ride from my dad) and he seemed insulted I would even suggest there may be something he had not checked. He repeated that these flights were the only ones that could get us there anytime in the near future. So we agreed and took our new itinary cards. We called my dad to pick us up and had some drinks in the airport bar while waiting for him to arrive. He called when we did and then we sat through the long, depressing, ride back to the house.

On the way home, Cin called her friend Erinn and we decided to go to Outback with her and her husband tonight. The original plan was for Cin and me to go to Outback in the Keys for dinner, as there is an Outback attached to our hotel. So, instead, Erinn and her mom came over and the four of us watched this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special and then met Erinn's husband at the Outback. The special was wonderful (I am sooo going to miss David Tennant when he leaves!) and dinner was good. The whole evening, however, was quite depressing.

We headed off to bed, me worried about what could possibly go wrong the next day. Little did I know how wrong things could go.

10 October 2008: Owings Mills, MD

This entry is a little different, as I work in Owings Mills and I found a travel-related error that I just had to share.

They are doing a lot of construction on Owings Mills Boulevard right now and they just put up a new traffic light at the intersection with Dolfield Road. Here is a picture of the sign they put up, indicating that. Something about this sign just is not right...


For anyone in the area that wants to see for themselves, this sign is on eastbound Owings Mills Boulevard right after the ramps for I-795.

15 August 2008: Orlando, Florida

We got up, picked up our bill, and went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, which was good. Then we got to the airport and after dealing with a lot of people that did not know what they were doing at check-in/baggage-check (What do you mean I need to pay extra for my 68 pound bag?!?), we sat the the airport bar (Outback) for a mid-day beer and then proceeded to our gate. And saw our flight that was scheduled for 11.45am now delayed until 1.53pm. Wow. Off to the chairs to relax we went.

We picked up some Outback salads and ate them while we waited. The plane finally took off and we got home with no issues. Cin's mom picked us up right on time and back to home we went.

End vacation.

14 August 2008: Orlando, Florida

We got up and headed to Hollywood Studios for our last day at Disney.  We rode on the Tower of Terror (multiple times, making a total of nine rides for this trip!), the Rockin' Rollercoaster, the Muppet 3-D show, Star Tours, and the Toy Story Midway Mania.  All were as fun as the first time we rode these rides earlier this week.  We ate lunch at a place near Star Tours where I got a hot dog and Cin got a turkey sandwhich, both of which were pretty good.  We were supposed to leave around noon to meet up with some friends at the Magic Kingdom but they were delayed and then ended up not coming at all, so we stayed at the Hollywood Studios all day.  Around 5.00pm, we headed back to the hotel, checked in for our flight the next day, bought some gifts, and dropped all of this stuff off at the room.  Then we headed to Epcot for our 8.00pm dinner reservation.

When we got to Epcot, we found it they had late hours, so we got the wristbands to allow us to stay in the park around 9.00pm.  We went thru the World Showcase again and our dinner reservation at the Italian restaurant in the Italy section.  We checked in and got our table right at our reservation time.  We split some buffalo mozzarella and tomato for an appetizer and it was the best cheese either of us have ever had.  I got chicken and Cin got pasta for dinner, both of which were good, and then we split a canoli for dessert, which also was good.  We then did the ride at the Mexico area of the World Showcase and saw the fireworks show that was pretty good.  Finally, we did the Finding Nemo rides and water animal / coral reef exploration area and then went to the Character Spot where we got our pictures taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Stitch, and Goofy.  That was cool.  Then we headed back to the hotel, arriving around midnight, and packed up for our trip home the next day.  We really lucked out with the extra hours at Epcot tonight.

13 August 2008: Orlando, Florida

We got the news that our new niece, Kara Thrace Neat, was born today (she will also be our goddaughter).  Very cool.

We did the usual Disney routine and arrived at Epcot, our park for the day, right after they opened at 9.00am.  We did a number of rides and ate lunch at the Sunshine Seasons, where Cin had a goat cheese salad and I got some excellent black bean soup.  Good selection, healthy choices, and a cheap pricetag.  Score!

Here are the rides we went on.

• Spaceship Earth - This is the ride inside the big Epcot sphere.  Cool ride that I enjoyed a bunch showing the history of man and projecting out to the future.
  
• Test Track - This is a GM advertisement, hiding as a ride.  You get in a car that is undergoing testing and it does things like swerve to test the ABS, go under heat lamps to test for heat wear, etc.  This is all pretty boring actually.  The only really good part is when it goes outside and gets going to about 60 MPH.  But that only lasts a short time and then the ride is over.  This is worth doing if there is little or no line but it is not worth a long wait.
  
• Mission: SPACE - This is a ride that makes a lot of people sick due to motion sickness.  A huge deal was made about this when it opened and now there are warnings all over the place until you actually get on it.  You can also choose the green, less intense, version...not for us!  The ride simulates a shuttle trip to Mars, complete with takeoff, Earth orbit, slingshot around the moon, and landing.  It spins very fast to produce the appropiate G-forces and they warn you not to look to your side or your will really fall victim to this.  At these points, I could barely move my arms and my head was very heavy.  Neither Cin nor myself had any issues with this ride.  It is a lot of fun, but seemed too short for all the press it gets.
  
• Soarin' - This ride is amazing.  You get in a chair and strap yourself in.  The chairs elevate leaving your feet danging and yourself suspended in front of a giant IMAX screen that shows you soaring over various landscapes, just like the ride's name.  This was awesome - it really felt like we were flying over these amazing places.  If you do one ride at Epcot, do this one.  It should NOT be missed.
  
• Living with the Land - This is a tour of environmental research and needs.  Decent ride where you get a good environmental message and a tour thru the Epcot greenhouse where they grow all sorts of things.
  
• The Circle of Life - This is a short film with Timone, Pumba, and Simba from The Lion King.  It is a big heavy-handed at times with its environmental message but it is a good movie and should provide good motivation to kids to do something about rampant pollution.
  
• Honey, I Shrunk The Audience - This is a takeoff from the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie.  This is a 3D movie that is a lot of fun.  If you do this one, make sure both feet are on the floor the entire time.  You'll know why when it happens.
  
• Journey Into Imagination with Figment - Neither Cin nor I know where this Figment (of your imagination) character is from.  This ride is decent and encourages kids to use their imagination all of the time.  It is a little silly, but I do not think a married couple without kids is the target audience.
  
• Innoventions - This is a collection of short technologies exhibits.  We tried to do the StormSurge 3D show here but while we were about to go in, a gentleman in front of us collapsed.  A couple of us that were close to him helped him to the ground and he was alert and conscious the whole time, he was just hot and could not stand up.  They had EMS on the way and wanted everyone to clear out, so we left.  Hope he is OK.

After the rides in Future World (the first half of Epcot), we started to walk thru the various countries of the World Showcase.  Here, eleven countries from around the world are all represented with a fairly small recreation.  We walked thru Canada, had a pint in the UK, I had another beer in France as they had Kronenbourg 1664, we walked thru Morocco, Japan, America, and Italy, we got bratwurst and beer in Germany, and then we walked thru China.  Norway had a ride, the Maelstrom, where you ride a Viking boat that goes forward and backwards.  This was kind of neat.  At the end, you queue up and then go into a theater where you can learn more about Norway.  You are given the option of just walked thru the theatre and not staying for the movie.  I did not see anyone actually stay for it.  How disappointing.  We then walked thru Mexico but were pressed for time so we just headed back to the front.  After we arrived back at the front of the park, we hopped on the bus and headed back to our room.  The World Showcase was really cool and each country was well done.  All of the employees for each region were really from that region and that was cool.  Very nice and I wish we had more time to enjoy them all.

We left our room to head to the Magic Kingdom for our dinner at Cindarella's Royal Table, the restaurant in the huge castle.  We arrived at our time and got our picture taken with Cindarella.  She was very polite and nice and this made Cin's day.  We then headed up to the restaurant, which was very royal looking, except for all of the screaming children.  For the price and the relative obscurity of this place, we expected a more intimate experience (we dressed up pretty nice), but there were families with many screaming children wearing normal park-going clothes.  When you book this, you prepay and it is a fixed price menu where you pick one appetizer/salad, one main dish, and one dessert.  We both had salads with mixed greens, walnuts, and blue cheese (excellent!), I had prime rib and Cin had salmon (both excellent!) and I had raspberry sorbet and berries while Cin had this chocolate cheesecake thing (again, both excellent!).  In the middle of dinner, the Fairy Godmother and two princess mice showed up and sang a song that everyone in the place really enjoyed.  By the end of our meal, many of the screaming children had been replaced with slightly quieter ones and that was most welcome.  This place is really cool and well worth doing.  But be ready for a very loud and very chaotic dining room.  The dinner cost is all paid at the time of reservation and does include a big print and some smaller ones of the picture with Cindarella.  They also gave us two champage glasses for our one year anniversary, which was a really nice touch.  

After dinner we came out right around 10pm, which is when the Magic Kingdom fireworks show is.  We walked right out of the castle to the massive crowds, whom I waited at as they were clearly all there to see Lord Jeff and Lady Cin who had just eaten with the royal princess.  We walked into the crowd and got a standing location right at the edge of the castle, basically the front row of the crowd.  We did not have a great angle on the fireworks, however, do to a banner that was in our way.  We still got to see a good chunk of the show very well, however.  After this was over, we sat down a bit to wait out the huge crowd and then headed back to the hotel for the night.  What an excellent evening.

12 August 2008: Orlando, Florida

Today was our waterpark day. We started off our day as usual for a Disney day, getting up at 8.15am, getting a breakfast of bananas and a shared pastry, and catching the Disney bus to the park, Typhoon Lagoon in this case. We rode a bunch of rides (all of them, actually), hung out in the wave pool, and had a good, and cheap, lunch.

Here are the rides we went on.

• Castaway Creek - This is the lazy river. It is like any other lazy river except that it is really long (about 20 minutes to float down the whole thing), there are multiple stops to get in or out at, and there is no point where you have to get off and give up your tube. A tube is required, however.
• Keelhaul Falls - This is a one-at-a-time, ride on a tube, slide. It is pretty good but a little short.
• Mayday Falls - This is a one-at-a-time, ride on a tube, slide. It is longer than Keelhaul Falls and quite fun.
• Gangplank Falls - This is a slide-like float ride where you ride as a group on a big raft. There are plenty of waterfalls to get you wet while you ride. This is kind of short and kind of boring.
• Storm Slides - This is a set of three slides where you go one-at-a-time, without a tube, You get going pretty fast. Each of the three slides is a little different and they are all fun.
• Humunga Kowabunga - This is a close-to-straight-down speed slide. You go really fast and end up with a huge wedgie when you are done. Lots of fun.
• Shark Reef - Here you put on a snorkel and mask and swim on the surface of a salt water reef populated with sharks, rays, and fish. The water is quite cold and that took a little getting used to. This was fun, but not nearly as exciting as the reef at Discovery Cove. This one, however, was included in the cost of the waterpark and therefore was not nearly as expensive as Discovery Cove. That and they had a hammerhead shark which we did not see at the Cove or at SeaWorld.
• Crush 'n' Gusher - This is a "water coaster." You ride in a two (or three) person tube and go through a slide that has many rollercoaster-like parts, with uphills and downhills. The uphills are accomplished thru high-pressure water jets that basically spray you up the hills. There are three different runs and each is a little different (and one is available only to two person tubes). The line for this one is pretty long and the rides are pretty short. However, this is a lot of fun. Just needs to be about five times longer per ride.
• Surf/Wave Pool - Typhoon Lagoon advertises that they do not have a wave pool; they have a surf pool. This thing is huge, by far the biggest such pool I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot!). The wave machine releases a six foot tall wave every 90 seconds and it is very strong. For each wave, there is always a group of about thirty to forty people out in the six foot deep area that try to bodysurf it in. At about the five feet cutoff, there are huge numbers of people all awaiting the wave (and the deeper people landing on top of them). Every time a wave is released, everyone screams and panics. This is insanely fun. We did three sessions in the wave pool, each of which was a really good time. This cannot be missed.

It did rain while we were at the park and some thunder and lightening made them close down for about thirty minutes. This did get a lot of people to leave, freeing up the rides for those of us that waited it out. Lunch was a good deal here - I got a personal pizza that was really good and a side Caesar salad, Cin had a big tuna salad, and we each had a drink at a cost of around $20. Good deal. After all of the rides and such, we headed back to the hotel, showered and relaxed a bit. We then called for a reservation for dinner, which we got, and then left right away for it.






We ate dinner at Artist Point, a high-end restaurant in the Disney Wilderness Lodge, another resort at Walt Disney World (here is their TripAdvisor Page). To get there, we took a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then another bus to the lodge. The restaurant was amazingly good. It is themed after the Pacific Northwest and their specialty is a cedar plank grilled salmon, which neither of us got (it was $42). I got a buffalo sirloin steak and Cin had a pork chop, which was the best pork chop she has ever had. The buffalo steak was really good too (cooked nice and rare, as ordered). Cin had some wine and I had some organic pale ale that I cannot remember the name of. All was really good. We then split a berry and ice cream dessert that was really good. The service was amazing and everything about this dinner was just perfect. I highly recommend this place for a delicious, quiet, and relaxing dinner (that will cost a bunch).

After dinner, we took a boat back to the Magic Kingdom. This was a nice relaxing ride and very romantic; we sat at the very front of the boat. Then we took the monorail from the Magic Kingdom around to its varied stops and got off at the Grand Floridian, Disney's premiere hotel (here is their webpage and here is their TripAdvisor page). This place looks like it is out of a high-end classic movie and they had a orchestra playing in the lobby when we entered. Very cool. We checked this out and then took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom, picked up the bus back to our hotel, and turned in for the night.

Turning all of our traveling on the Monorail, I sang the Monorail Song quite a bit. Cin hated that, but I caught her singing along too. :) The Monorail is a pretty cool bit of engineering; it is a pity this didn't really catch on elsewhere.

This was an amazingly fun day.

11 August 2008: Orlando, Florida

We got up a little later than usual and headed to SeaWorld, arriving around 9.15am. We went to the Krakken right away. This is one of three rides that SeaWorld has and is a rollercoaster. This is a much more extreme coaster than anything Disney offers, with seven inversions and many corkscrew-style turns. It was really good and we rode it twice. We also did the Atlantis-themed ride which is a boat ride with a big drop and then some not-in-water rollercoaster-like turns that start right when you think the ride is going to end. This was also a really cool ride.

We saw the Shamu killer whale show that seemed too short, saw the sharks and penguin exhibits, and then hit up lunch at Mama's Kitchen that advertised healthy alternatives. We both got garden salads that had a huge assortment of vegetables atop lettuce. Cin did not like this nearly as much as I did - it really was good. What was not good was the line; I waited about 45 minutes in line to get our salads. The rest of the park is very well managed and organized and this was the stunning exception. SeaWorld, you need to fix this.

After lunch, we rode the last of the three rides, Wild Arctic, which simulates a helicopter ride to an arctic research station. This is very much like the Star Wars ride at the Disney Hollywood Studios park. When the ride is over, you see the arctic animals, which include walrus, beluga whales, and a polar bear. The whales were all playful and the walrus liked to fake-fight with each other that was fun to watch. The polar bear was sleeping so his area was clear. Right when we were about to walk away, he woke up, proceeded to stretch, poop, pee, and then go right back to sleep. Thrilling. :) We then fed some stingrays, fed and petted some dolphins, which was a lot of fun. We saw some manatees, did some shopping, got a cookie dipped in fudge, and then called it a day.

SeaWorld was fun. I think, however, we both would have enjoyed it more if we had not spent the two previous days at Animal Kingdom and then Discovery Cove. We were both animaled-out. But it was still a lot of fun and a good time.

We got back, Cin went to find an Internet connection so she could do some more work, and I read. We then went to nearby Cracker Barrel for dinner, as we wanted to eat cheaply today since we have been spending a huge amount of money on food while down here. They do not have the chicken tortilla soup that they introduced during the summer; I guess this was a limited-time-only item. I really hope it comes back. This was good, cheap, and a welcome break from the still-quite-good Disney food. We then picked up some beer from a supermarket and headed back to the hotel.

Beer and such are very interesting here at Disney. They sell beer at the gift shop and the restaurants but it is very expensive. Earlier, I bought a six pack of Corona and it cost me $29. That is more than a case of this beer costs normally. So while we were out we picked up some beer at a more sane price. I think the heavy markup at the resort is Disney's way of providing drinks that adults want but making it so expensive that it encourages them not buy too much of it. This reminds me of the power of taxation that Congress uses to get people to buy more or less of a certain type of product (like the heavy taxes on cigarettes). Very interesting. Anyway, we spent the rest of the night relaxing, reading, and watching the Olympics.

10 August 2008: Orlando, Florida

We got up a little later than usual and headed out to Discovery Cove. This is a sister park of SeaWorld and we booked this day of our vacation months ago. Basically, you book a day and it includes everything. They have beaches and a huge reef with coral, thousands of fish and hundreds of stingrays, and a river you can swim or float down. Breakfast and lunch is included, as is snacks and drinks (including all Anheuser-Busch alcoholic drinks you want). They only have 1200 people per day, no more. This is a really neat park.

What you are really paying for is the reserved dolphin encounter. At our assigned time, Cin and I headed to the cabana and then got into a group of eight to meet our dolphins. We spent a half hour in the water with two dolphins (well, three really since one had a one-year-old baby who was not listening to the trainers and wanted to come out too). We petted them, learned more about them, hugged and kissed them, and then they took us for rides, one at a time. This was absolutely amazing. I have wanted to swim with dolphins for as long as I can remember and it finally happened today. It was perfect. There is nothing more about this that I can say.








After the dolphin encounter, we ate lunch, did some reef snorkeling, some sunbathing and reading, and just hung out for a couple hours. We did not leave the park until closing, at 5.00pm, having arrived around 8.15am.

This day was well needed. After three full days at Disney, we (especially our feet) needed a break. We spent the day relaxing and swimming, with lots of cool aquatic animals. Discovery Cove is expensive (however, the one day admission to this park includes a 14-day pass to SeaWorld, which we will use tomorrow) but it is absolutely worth it. The dolphin encounter is, hands down, the highlight of this trip and possibly this year. The reef was also amazing. Lunch had many selections and all of the food was excellent (I had salmon, corn-on-the-cob, potatos, a Caesar salad, and some strawberries). Well done, Discovery Cove. Well done.

For dinner we wanted to go to a brewpub at the Disney Boardwalk area. To get there, we would have needed to take the bus to the Hollywood Studios park and then a boat to the boardwalk. We waited about 15 minutes for the bus but then left as Cin felt it was taking too long and she needed to get some work done on her school stuff. So we left to the main region of the hotel (with the bus pulling us right as we left) and the Maya Grill (TripAdvisor page is here). This is the high-end restaurant in our hotel and it has gotten fair-to-not-so-good reviews. The service was OK but slow and the food was very expensive. Cin got a salad and beef tips and I got ribs. Cin had a dessert that was OK and for that (no alcohol) our bill was $70 without tip. The ribs were really good but this meal was in no way worth its price and the service was quite slow (but very polite and friendly). Oh well. We went back to the room and I read while Cin worked on her school stuff. Then off to bed...what a long and amazing day!