Our first (and only) full day in Key West started out slowly … which was fine since we were on vacation after all. Despite our success with taking the dog around the city yesterday, we decided it was too hot and too much for our elderly pooch to handle again. Rather than leave him alone in the hotel room (he tends to bark when left alone), we drove him over to Pampered Pet (in New Town) for day care boarding. That freed us up to bike around Old Town during the day doing all the touristy stuff that wasn’t necessarily pet friendly.
travel
Memorial Day Weekend in Key West: Day 1
Earlier this week we realized Memorial Day was coming up and we really didn’t have any plans for the long weekend. With limited time to plan, we decided to drive down to the Florida Keys and visit Key West. We’ve lived in Florida for 13 years and have never been there so why not check it out over a holiday weekend? Road trip!
Spring Training 2014: Recap
Just like the first day, the last day of trip starts early.
My brother had a 6:30am flight so we got up at 4:45am. The early start was another reason we chose to stay in Tempe, closer to the airport, than further away like we had on previous visits as it gave us more time to “sleep in.” Within 20 minutes we had checked out of the hotel, drove to the airport, and then parted ways at Terminal 4. I dropped my brother off so he could get through security and then I drove the car back to the rental car center and took the shuttle back to the terminal. By the time I had checked my bag at the US Airways counter (lots of people in the wrong long due to codeshare confusion!) and made my way through security, my brother had already boarded his plane. I still had three hours to kill …
Spring Training 2014: Day One
“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” —Rogers Hornsby
My brother and I had to skip our annual Spring Training trip out to Arizona last year due to the arrival of his first-born child (priorities, right?) 🙂 but this year we’re heading back to the Cactus League for three days of spring baseball with our hometown Cleveland Indians.
Our first FastPass+ Experience at Disney
Being Disney annual passholders in 2013, we waited anxiously all year for our chance to test the new Magic Bands. Despite multiple trips and stays at various resorts over the year, we never were “chosen” to participate in the test. This weekend, however, we did get to try out a (somewhat limited) version of the FastPass+ reservation system as part of our staying at the Dolphin hotel … at least, we thought we were going to get to try it out.
Florida vs. Ohio weekend
My recent Florida vs. Ohio sports contests ended up in Ohio’s favor 2-1.
It started two weeks ago when my hometown Indians lost to my current town Rays in the AL wildcard game. Yesterday we drove over to Orlando to see the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Orlando Magic in pre-season play. The Cavs were down by 18 at one point but came back in the 4th quarter to win 110-105.
After breakfast at The Old Spanish Sugar Mill & Griddle House (where you cook your own pancakes on a griddle at your table) in De Leon Springs State Park we were in DeLand to see our alma mater Dayton Flyers take on the Stetson Hatters. This is the first season for football at Stetson since 1956 and (as I expected), the Flyers won 49-20.
So both Ohio teams won the games I attended. I wonder if the current ALCS would have been different if I had flown up to Cleveland for the wild card game. 😉
On the way home from DeLand we stopped at Epcot for dinner at the 2013 Food & Wine Festival. Yum.
Automatic Link
For a while I’ve been wanting to get some sort of OBD-II adapter and software (like Carbonga) so I could troubleshoot the occasional check-engine light on my ’03 Toyota Highlander. After reading about the Automatic Link back in March, the allure of a shiny new gadget for $70 (with no additional service fees) was too strong to resist so I pre-ordered it.
Four months later in early July, Automatic started shipping the Link as part of a limited private beta and I was lucky enough to be a part of the testing effort. Earlier this week, the final 1.0 release of the app and device started shipping, available to everyone.
Heading back to WDW for Labor Day Weekend
It’s been three years since our last Labor Day Weekend trip to Disney so we were excited to hit the road this evening after work and school and get over to Orlando to start our vacation.
We weren’t as lucky as in years past, however, and were delayed on I-4 due to an accident. Our attempt to take the back/side roads to circumvent the jam ended up in just more traffic so even with our early (before 5pm start) we weren’t checked into our hotel (Disney’s Boardwalk Villas) until around 7pm.
After getting settled, we walked over to Epcot and grabbed a light dinner in France. It was raining when we were done, so we fast-walked back to the Boardwalk, avoiding the raindrops as best we could. The weather eventually tapered off so we grabbed some warm drinks from the bakery and a funnel cake and watched what we could see of the Epcot (and Hollywood Studios) fireworks from the Boardwalk before turning in for the night. Extra Magic early morning hours at Hollywood Studios tomorrow morning!
Return to the Animal Kingdom
We spent this past weekend over at Disney as we continue to take full advantage of our annual passes this year. In our continued attempt to check out as many of the resorts as possible, this time we stayed at the Carribean Beach. It was a very nice hotel but due to our short stay and the bad weather we really didn’t get to take advantage of the various amenities (like the pools).
Independence Day Weekend in Cleveland (again!)
The summer vacations continue: although we just saw the Ohio family two weeks ago in Naples this past July 4th weekend we were back in Cleveland (like last year) for my niece’s baptism.
We flew up on the 4th and spent the afternoon picnicking with family before the evening’s fireworks festivities.
We spent Friday at Cedar Point, the best roller coaster amusement park in the world (in my opinion). I hadn’t been there in about 10 years and was looking forward to riding every coaster in the park with my daughter. It rained on and off most of the day, which put a damper (no pun intended) on most of our plans, but eventually the weather cleared up and we managed to hit every ride we wanted to. I had spent the extra cash on a FastLane pass to make sure my daughter and I could get on every coaster (expecting long lines due to the holiday weekend) but I really only had to use it for GateKeeper (the newest coaster at the park) and Top Thrill Dragster (which I went on by myself, and it was fantastic!).
On Saturday, we grabbed lunch at the West Side Market (great falafel from Maha’s) downtown before heading over to Progressive Jacob’s Field to watch the Indians lose (unfortunately) to the Detroit Tigers.
Sunday morning started with mass, followed by my niece’s baptism, and then a barbecue/picnic at a local park to celebrate. After bidding farewell to the family in the late afternoon, we had dinner and “play time” at Dave & Buster’s, someplace else we hadn’t been to in a long time. We had an early flight Monday morning and were back home in time for lunch, another fun holiday weekend in the books.
