Orlando!

We got back from the Bahamas on the 24th. On the 29th Frank informed me that he had gotten invited to a special conference in Orlando on February 10th and that I should go.

I was obviously intrigued but my first thought was "I cannot leave again, I was just gone for 9 days!" But Frank pushed me a little and I decided, what the heck, gotta live right?

So I told him I was in and broke the news to Dr. Free that I would be leaving again for *only* 3 work days. He wasn't super happy but he does know how to just accept reality. So I found people to help cover my shifts and I was booked!

Frank had to be there on Sunday but there were no cheap flights so we ended up flying out on Saturday February 8th. We used points to get a hotel room so it didn't even cost us anything to go a day early. The snafu was that I had promised to babysit William on the 8th and when we were booking the trip I completely forgot. Luckily they were able to get Harley's dad to do it but I felt sooo bad!

Day 1- We arrived in the afternoon of the 8th and took a nap of course. Flying across the country is exhausting for some reason.

We decided to go to Universal City Walk for dinner. We didn't realize what a hassle it is parking and how much walking is involved going there but it was fun nonetheless. We walked around and enjoyed the ambiance. 

We ended up eating at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. The food was quite good (we got bar seating with no waiting!) and the portions were just right so that we had room for dessert.

We took pictures of the food for my brother's sake. They always like seeing food. Haha!

We got our dessert to go so it wasn't as pretty but we still took a picture. It was very yummy! We were a little chilly actually due to a breeze and evening air...Frank wore shorts and was downright cold while eating the ice cream

It was a lovely night a good start to the trip!

Day 2-Sunday

We decided to drive to St Augustine Florida, about a1.5 hour drive from where we were for a relaxing day of sight seeing. St. Augustin is billed as "the oldest city in the U.S."  We did a walking tour which was fun.

The tour told us all kinds of fact and also stories about the various things we passed.

I also stopped for food and ice cream of course!

The final stop on the walking tour was a really cool fort: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. If we'd only had our national parks pass it would have been free! I can't count the number of times we've needed that pass but, no, it's sitting in our car at home.

The fort was very cool! They let you walk around all kind of places. 

They. had reenactors there as well.

This was a small area where it is rumored that two people were left to die. The tour made it sound like it was accepted fact but then the signs at the actual fort made it sound like just a story.

Either way, here is Frank reenacting that murder. LOL

It was a tiny little room so I hope no one was locked inside!

The reenactors set off a cannon with like 1/16th the amount of gun powder that would have been used back in the day. It was incredibly loud!

After the tour we drove over to a beach and relaxed on the sand. It was a lovely day out. 

We had no towels or blanket or swimsuits so we were ill prepared but still enjoyed some time napping on the beach.

A bunch of military aircraft flew overhead but I only got one picture.

And no pictures of the beach! gah!

Day 3-Monday

Monday is Annavon's day off so she planned to come over and visit me.

We chatted a bunch, went to a local chocolate factory for a tour and samples. Afterwards we tried some of the most amazing hot chocolate ever (I think they called it something else but my memory is subpar)

We went to lunch at a local restaurant and then just went back and sat by the pool at the hotel.

We really enjoyed just seeing each other again and chatting all day!

I've been getting lots of migraines lately and got one that day so relaxing by the pool in the shade was the perfect solution.

I'm so grateful Annavon came all the way to see me!

Day 4-Tuesday

This was my day to go to a local theme park.

I had a hard time deciding since I only wanted to do one but in the end I chose Universal Studios for the Harry Potter World and I did get a park hopper pass because you really do have to attend both sides!

I took my first ever Lyft ride and got there early. I had no agenda but to enjoy myself.

I walked around and just looked at everything.

The iconic castle:

I rode pretty much every ride. I took the single ride line and had very few long waits.

The longest wait was for the Hagrid motorcycle rollercoaster. I ended up in line next to a really nice lady and her son from England. We chatted for the nearly hour long line. It made it really enjoyable!

Hagrid's hut (seen as you wait in line for the Hippogriff ride):

In line for the Hagrid roller coaster

This is kind of the last stairway before reaching the line. Spooky!

Hogsmeade

The train station

Hogwart's Express

Entering Dragon Alley

I ended up going back and forth a few times. It was fun!

Unfortunately I got another migraine in the afternoon and it was pretty bad. I spent time kind of wandering around the parks just sitting in shady areas and trying to feel better.

They don't have any spots to lay down or truly relax but I found a few chairs or benches here or there.

I also rode a few rides that looked calm.

I stood by the water ride for quite awhile and let the mist cool me.

I kept thinking that I should just leave and go sleep at the hotel but I knew that if it got better I would wish I had stayed. Plus the Lyft ride was like $20 bucks each way!

I ate at the Leaky Cauldron which was cool and kind of dark so that was nice.

I did eventually start feeling better, thank heaven!

I walked through the whole castle. There was hardly any line for that ride so I just meandered as I wished. If people came up I just let them go by.

I loved it

Mirror of Erised

Greenhouses

Love all the details!

There are whole scenes that happens in several of the rooms but I guess you only get to see them if the line is slow enough. I made sure to stay to see everything!

The portrait of the Fat Lady

How cool are the candles?!

The is where the ride loads. I rode it once but the second time I just left at this point. No sense upsetting my head.

I crossed back over one last time and just enjoyed walking around for the rest of the time til closing.

I just really enjoyed it

I got a little lost leaving the park and ended up walking all over that park before exiting.

It was actually very nice out and a good end to the day.

I may have been asleep before Frank got home. I honestly don't remember!

Day 5-Wednesday

The event had a big party on the last day and I came as a guest. They rented out a whole section of the city walk (I spent a lot of time at Universal!). We had dinner, entertainment, drinks and desserts.

There were several different venues with different types of entertainment.

We spent some time listening to a band that played reggae music.

They had these two people on really tall stilts who walked around, danced and interacted with the guests. 

They were amazingly comfortable on those stilts!

The other fun thing was the karaoke bar.

It was not your usual karaoke bar!

They had a live band, backup singers/dancers and fancy lights.

Frank said it wouldn't be that fun since people tend to sing terribly but honestly I could have spent all night in there! 

I had no desire to sing but I loved singing along at my seat and just enjoying the fun atmosphere.

One of Frank's coworkers sang and he was actually really good!

We flew home Thursday morning fairly early. 

We went for breakfast and then headed out.

We actually got to the airport pretty early so we found the airport lounge (we have access from our credit card) and we got breakfast and relaxed.

We sent Dion the pics below to show him our good luck getting into a lounge since he loves Airport Lounge Life

Frank RELAXING

It was such a fun trip to me.

Just relaxing and doing whatever I wanted was so amazing!

Bahamas 2025-Day 9-January 23, 2025

 Today was the day we had scheduled an escursion! We have a sailboat with snorkeling!

We left at 8:30 for our 9:45 appointment since traffic was often not great. Traffic was fairly slow and when we arrived, there didn't seem to actually be any parking at the dock. Luckily some local guys let us park in a spot right by the ferry and we were there in plenty of time.

We enjoyed the ride out and sat inside for awhile at the back of the boat and also in the front where it was nice and breezy.

The boat stopped at a spot where there are sea turtles so we watched those for awhile.

Next stop was snorkeling. Frank and I both snorkeled and Rob joined us for awhile. There was a nice reef and we saw lots and lots of colorful fish! I enjoyed it a lot.

My main issue was that I had to pee soooo bad. I felt like my bladder would burst.

I am paddling around in the ocean so you'd think I could just...do it. But no, I couldn't.

I finally admitted to Frank that we had to go in because of this and he laughed so much at me. He said, "Just go in the ocean! Just tell me before you do it so I can swim away"

But I literally could not do it.

Anyway we went back to the boat and I rushed to the bathroom. I was scurrying down the ladder when one of the crew told me to stop and dry off before going down so I don't slip! LOL 

I was so frantic but I did it and I made it safely to the bathroom. 

TMI but there you go.

Next we had lunch on the boat which is always delicious after swimming.

Lunch was ribs, chicken, rice & peas (a Bahamian thing that was served everywhere), salad and rolls

The final stop of the day was a small island, Rose Island, where we were supposed to spend a couple of hours enjoying the beach and ocean.

At this point the wind had picked up and the waves were pretty serious.

The had to anchor fairly far from the beach and told people to be careful when going down the ladder as the boat was moving quite a lot with the waves and they didn't want the ladder to hit anyone.

I watched the girl ahead of me (she was quite tall and a bigger girl) sort of jump out from the ladder and make her way in so that seemed like a good idea.

I went down the ladder and the waves were really big! I tried to wait til it calmed down a bit but also felt like I was holding people back so I finally just jumped.

Well...the girl before me was a lot taller than me and I could not touch the bottom!

I wasn't particularly worried and just started swimming.

But I was going no where. 

Another big wave came and pushed me back under the boat.

The guy on the boat was yelling "kick! kick! kick!"

I and just yelled back "I am!"

I kind of grabbed the ladder and tried to push myself back out.

Another wave came and pushed me toward shore. I was very discombobulated but came up and could stand. One of the boat workers was there and kind of grabbed hold of me.

Frank had already gotten off and was standing in the shallow watching all of this.

He yelled "Where are your glasses?"

And I realized my prescription sunglasses had gotten ripped off.

The boat hand grabbed my glasses which were apparently on top of my head and smashed them onto my face...right then we were hit by another big wave which completely bowled me over and churned me under the water like crazy. I have no idea if it knocked over the boat dude but I assume not.

When I emerged, I was covered head to toe in sand and the glasses were, once again, lost.

I was pretty embarrassed and my little tumble convinced Diana to just stay on the boat.

Most of the other passengers waited a bit for the waves to die down before attempting it.

But in the end I was the only one to have such a dramatic exit.

Frank was concerned for my safety but had a good laugh at how completely covered in sand I was (once he realized I was fine physically). I tried to rinse off a bit but found sand in my ears and scalp for days afterwards.

We walked around on the island a bit but the captain decided the surf was too rough and blew the horn for us to return to the boat. 

I was a little nervous to return but figured my mistake had been swimming not walking. So I determined to keep my feet on the ground no matter how deep the water and I did make it back on the boat with no incident!

After we got back on the boat, the guy who had grabbed me in the water came up and said, "Did someone lose some glasses?" and he produced my sunglasses!!

I couldn't believe he found them in the water.

That was pretty awesome. 

I thanked him for saving both my life and my glasses!

We had a nice boat ride back and even went pretty close to a humongous cruise ship and watched it depart.

We were back on shore by about 5 pm

(car was safe and sound in our parking spot)

We decided to hit the favorite Meze Grill for dinner.

Diana and I each ordered different pastas and shared them and so we had leftovers for lunch the next day.

We ordered another 30 layer cake but shared it this time.

After we got home we enjoyed a lovely sunset and Frank enjoyed another coconut!

It was a fun and eventful day!

Bahamas 2025- Day 8-January 22, 2025

The day started off windy and rainy. The guys fishing trip was first postponed and then cancelled due to rough water/bad conditions.

We decided to pump up the paddle boards and give them a try. It was a fair amount of work to just get one of them pumped up. Then we realized that we only had one paddle! ha!

So Frank and I shared a paddle board and did a little paddling around. Then I went by myself for awhile. The water was pleasant. 

Our backyard:

We took a few pictures from the paddle board back to the house

Later in the day we talked Diana into going on the paddle board for a bit as well:

It got kind of windy and with only one paddle, we had trouble getting back in. Luckily the water is very shallow and Frank walked out and helped tow us back in!

For dinner that night we finally made it to the restaurant we had tried to eat lunch at (that Frank found online) Nesbit's. Lots of locals there and dinner was pretty darn yummy.

We went out for Ice Cream and had another show before bed.

Bahamas 2025-Day 7-January 21, 2025

Tuesday, January 21st we went to the Clifton National Park. We planned to spend the day with tours of the old plantation as well as snorkeling and swimming. When we arrived we found out it was cash only so we had to run off to find an ATM which took us a little while. While gone we bought some Subway sandwiches for lunch and some drinks.

We missed the official tour while we were off getting money so we opted to just do a self tour of the grounds. It was HOT. We saw the gardens and the old slave quarters. It's always hard to see old slave quarters and things like that. I don't understand how we humans can treat each other so badly.

We were plenty hot by then and super happy to head toward the beach. It was just gorgeous!

We walked to the beach where the snorkeling was. There was a sculpture garden in the water and we were excited to see it. Supposedly it's been used in various movies as well. Frank and I snorkeled out (water was a little rough, we were glad to have our fins) and saw the sculptures as well as a reef nearby. It was enjoyable but the sculptures were a little underwhelming. We thought "garden" meant lots and lots but there were only about 4 big-ish sculptures and several concrete balls to help create a reef. The reef itself had quite a lot of fish which was nice.

In order to get into the water we had to walk though at least a foot high pile of seaweed. It was gross and I wish I'd gotten a picture of it!

We spent a little time just enjoying the lounge chairs and eating our lunch and then we walked to the next beach down the road.

We relaxed there for some time before the park closed and we had to leave for the day.

The guys have a plan to go on a fishing trip tomorrow