I think Laura and I were both awake fairly early this morning. We made breakfast and got ready for the day, which included packing up the unused groceries to take to Grammy and Grampa’s. This last full day of vacation sure arrived fast! And unfortunately, it was evident that Laura’s traditional end of vacation snark and attitude had already arrived. UGH.
I think we were in the car around 9:30. I’d love to say that the drive was uneventful. It wasn’t. Google maps tried to save me time by having me exit the turnpike in Leesburg. Its goal was to have me return to the turnpike just north of the emergency road construction traffic backup, but, it apparently didn’t know that the on ramp was closed. So I ended up having to take route 27, which has a fair amount of traffic lights, and even more road construction. To make a long story slightly shorter, it took 2 hours to get to my grandparents’. You may remember that prior to this “emergency road construction” earlier in the week, it took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get there.
Needless to say we both were in great moods when we arrived at Grammy and Grampa’s (NOT). And then I remembered (and Laura found out for the first time) that relatives (cousins of Grammy’s somehow) were coming up from the Tampa area for lunch. That went over well…
Linda, Judy, and Bill (all siblings) arrived within half an hour of our arrival, bringing with them a big lasagna for lunch. There were too many of us for the dining table, so Laura and I opted to create a “kids table” out on the back screened in porch. Of course T was the person that decided to join us.
Lunch was delicious, despite the lasagna being gluten free. And dessert was strawberries and ice cream, since it was peak strawberry season in FL. We visited through dessert, and then when a natural opportunity presented itself, Laura and I headed for Sumter Landing, to allow the “grown ups” to visit.
The REAL reason Laura and I went to Sumter Landing is a store called Peterbrooke Chocolate. We go there every year. It’s a little chocolate shop with some really awesome treats. However, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we wandered a bit first, enjoying the sunshine.
Eventually we made it to Peterbrooke. I picked up a small package of white chocolate covered oreos. Then at the register I added the impulse buy of a dark chocolate filled with coconut cream for Nick, and also a milk chocolate covered pineapple ring. Yeah, this shop is amazing.
Eventually we couldn’t really justify hanging out any longer, so we drove back to Grammy and Grampa’s. Linda, Bill, and Judy were still there so we visited a bit more. They got on the road pretty soon after we got back. Then we visited a bit longer with Grammy and Grampa and Mom and T.
Laura and I got the road back to Orlando around 5:30. The ride back was reasonably uneventful, although we did find a LOT of traffic on 429, because the Turnpike was closed just south of there. But, we still made much better time than we had that morning.
We didn’t go right back to our condo. Instead, we headed for Coronado Springs. If it had been warmer, we would have eaten at Three Bridges, but it wasn’t, so we ate at the food court here instead. Laura and I both really liked both the feel of the resort, and the food court. Lots of great options in the food court. Laura had a bacon cheeseburger that actually looked like a real burger, and I had the beef barbacoa rice bowl. We both were very happy with our meals.
After dinner, we used the indoor walkway to go over to Grand Destino Tower. We briefly checked out the Barcelona lounge, which was stunning, but then took the elevator up to something like the 16th floor, because why go to the lounge on ground level when you can have a view of the parks from a lounge at a higher level?
It took a bit of looking, but Laura and I were able to find seats in the Dahlia Lounge. This is a really cool space, with a pretty spectacular view. There’s an outdoor patio too, where you can see Hollywood Studios (especially the blue lit Star Wars land), and the Epcot resort area. Laura got a glass of wine and I got a strawberry hard cider from Spain. We were able to see some of the fireworks from Hollywood Studios from where we were sitting (inside). Our server wasn’t the greatest, but we enjoyed our overall experience and would come here again. Because this is next to Toledo, it was significantly busier than the downstairs Barcelona lounge.
Once we’d finished our drinks and FINALLY had the opportunity to pay our check, we headed back to Silver Lake to pack. We both crashed pretty late that night, between packing, and Laura did some scheduling for work.
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