Dannon's Journal: What I did on my vacation

Just got back from a weekend with my bride-to-be in Orlando.

Saturday morning: Drove down, and stopped on the way to buy dinner show tickets, and to shop at a discount book sale. Ahhh, books! Yes, I'm a rabid bibliophile. Got there late in the afternoon, and checked into the hotel, which I'd found at Hotwire for quite a bargain. Turns out the reason it was a bargain was that the hotel was in the midst of renovations. Didn't mind the pool being closed, we wouldn't have used it anyway. We did mind the damp carpets on our floor from the construction people hitting a pool supply line. Good news, they moved us up a floor without a fuss. Overall, the staff did everything they could to rise above the circumstances. Had dinner in, took a walk, basically rested the rest of the evening.

Sunday: After a late and leisurely breakfast, headed out to the Lakeridge Winery. Didn't know Florida was in the wine business, did you? Neither did I. Turns out they've got quite a flourishing company, making wines from muscadine grapes and hybrids. After a free tour and wine tasting, we bought a case of various wines (Cuvee Blanc, Cuvee Noir, and Southern Red) and some bottles of muscadine juice, and headed back to the hotel.
That evening, we went out to the Arabian Nights dinner show. The magician was great, the food was delicious, and the horses and riders were amazing! A tip: There's this place that advertises themselves as the Orlando Vacation Bureau, with a trailer-sized office about 5 hours north of Orlando on I-75 which sells tickets for this show and most other theme-ish events at a discount. They'll want to sign you up for a 90-minute sales pitch, but you can still get a discount without the pitch.

Monday: Weather turned foul, spent most of the day resting. Bride got a call from a theatrical improv outfit she's worked with lately asking desperately if she can show up for a gig on Tuesday at 8am. The tough part, she's still got an audition to do at 6:30pm Monday evening, kinda the excuse for the whole trip. After discussing it, we decide it's well worth an overnight drive, especially since we can spend the rest of the day resting. So, at about midnight, we got up, checked out of the hotel, and started driving. I dropped her off at her gig early, made it the rest of the way home, got the wine inside, and crashed in bed.

And now I'm home again.