Monday, August 13, 2007
Orlando, one hell of a town
It's a great example of urban sprawl too. Orlando just keeps growing, but don't worry; you'll never be more than 10 minutes from McDonalds, Target or a check cashing place. I really don't mind Orlando but they're almost at a breaking point as far as traffic congestion goes.
Ugh, I didn't find the Kwik-E-Mart. Well I found it but it had reverted into a stupid 7-11. All that was left was a few pink donuts, a sign above the donuts and a few Squishee cups. Uh-oh, it appears that some Indiana chain of stores stole the Squishee name for their frozen drinks. Good luck with that Family Express.
So I picked up a couple Squishee cups. I chose their Blue Vanilla and Coke, which melted into a delicious treat and just what I needed since MIL's car (actually my mother-in-law's father's old car), a 1989 Mercury Sable didn't have air and only the passenger side windows rolled down. See? Sure power windows are great and all but in 18 years, they won't work anymore! I've never tried to fix power windows before and if it hadn't been 100 degrees (37 C) in the shade and even hotter in the garage (if it wasn't chockful of crap), I might've taken a stab at fixing it, but the FL heat won and I did nothing. Maybe next time.
We arrived Thurs. and hung out with the fam and had Moe's for dinner because it's delicious and 3 minutes away. Friday morning after Broinlaw went to work as did Fatherinlaw, I got up and went climbing. There were a couple groups of kids but there was still enough space to climb and boulder. Lots of fun and a great work-out. The place is called the Aiguille Rock Climbing Center and since the highest point in FL is 345 feet and in the panhandle, you pretty much are restricted to indoor climbing which is fine by me cuz who wants to climb outdoors in the sun in 100 degree weather? Right, crazy people.
FIL smoked a couple pork butts for lunch Sat. He began the process at 8 pm on Friday night or even earlier counting the prep work and seasoning the meat. I snuck a peak at the spices and he used some Butt Rub. I was slightly disappointed that he had store-bought BBQ sauce to put on your pulled pork sandwich, but I think that is the next step after you've mastered smoking the meat.
After the Kwik-E-Mart fiasco, we went to the MALL OF THE MILLENIA! Nice mall and they have any store your little heart can desire. They definitely live by the "Our prices discriminate because we can't" philosophy. Louis V, Gucci, Cartier, Tiffany.... My personal favorites were the Sony store, the Apple store (love the iphone except for the text interface, I wanted a stylus or bigger buttons). For women's clothing my absolute favorite was Betsey Johnson. I had forgotten how much I LOVE HER! Her clothes are so fun and colorful. I truly believe you cannot get depressed wearing her clothes. They're not even outrageously priced either. Expensive but not crazy. My favorite store for men's clothing was Salvatore Ferragamo. Ever since I laid eyes on his shoes, I knew they were my favorite. Such classic styling and fine Italian craftsmanship. At $480 for a pair, you don't buy those lightly and you most certainly don't wear them all the time. But if want to look dashing and debonair, these are your shoes. Aren't they pretty?
The employees in the store were so nice and personable too. I'm pretty sure they knew we were just looking but still struck up a conversation and treated us well. I wasn't expecting to be ignored but was pleasantly surprised. We spoke with the man in charge of the Orlando store and the Miami store. Wonderful gentleman.
It was such a relaxing trip and the flight time of 58 minutes beats the hell out of an 8 hour drive any day of the week. So a big thanks to Allegiant Air and their vacation destination flight service. We'll be flying with you again.
Ugh, I didn't find the Kwik-E-Mart. Well I found it but it had reverted into a stupid 7-11. All that was left was a few pink donuts, a sign above the donuts and a few Squishee cups. Uh-oh, it appears that some Indiana chain of stores stole the Squishee name for their frozen drinks. Good luck with that Family Express.
So I picked up a couple Squishee cups. I chose their Blue Vanilla and Coke, which melted into a delicious treat and just what I needed since MIL's car (actually my mother-in-law's father's old car), a 1989 Mercury Sable didn't have air and only the passenger side windows rolled down. See? Sure power windows are great and all but in 18 years, they won't work anymore! I've never tried to fix power windows before and if it hadn't been 100 degrees (37 C) in the shade and even hotter in the garage (if it wasn't chockful of crap), I might've taken a stab at fixing it, but the FL heat won and I did nothing. Maybe next time.
We arrived Thurs. and hung out with the fam and had Moe's for dinner because it's delicious and 3 minutes away. Friday morning after Broinlaw went to work as did Fatherinlaw, I got up and went climbing. There were a couple groups of kids but there was still enough space to climb and boulder. Lots of fun and a great work-out. The place is called the Aiguille Rock Climbing Center and since the highest point in FL is 345 feet and in the panhandle, you pretty much are restricted to indoor climbing which is fine by me cuz who wants to climb outdoors in the sun in 100 degree weather? Right, crazy people.
FIL smoked a couple pork butts for lunch Sat. He began the process at 8 pm on Friday night or even earlier counting the prep work and seasoning the meat. I snuck a peak at the spices and he used some Butt Rub. I was slightly disappointed that he had store-bought BBQ sauce to put on your pulled pork sandwich, but I think that is the next step after you've mastered smoking the meat.
After the Kwik-E-Mart fiasco, we went to the MALL OF THE MILLENIA! Nice mall and they have any store your little heart can desire. They definitely live by the "Our prices discriminate because we can't" philosophy. Louis V, Gucci, Cartier, Tiffany.... My personal favorites were the Sony store, the Apple store (love the iphone except for the text interface, I wanted a stylus or bigger buttons). For women's clothing my absolute favorite was Betsey Johnson. I had forgotten how much I LOVE HER! Her clothes are so fun and colorful. I truly believe you cannot get depressed wearing her clothes. They're not even outrageously priced either. Expensive but not crazy. My favorite store for men's clothing was Salvatore Ferragamo. Ever since I laid eyes on his shoes, I knew they were my favorite. Such classic styling and fine Italian craftsmanship. At $480 for a pair, you don't buy those lightly and you most certainly don't wear them all the time. But if want to look dashing and debonair, these are your shoes. Aren't they pretty?
The employees in the store were so nice and personable too. I'm pretty sure they knew we were just looking but still struck up a conversation and treated us well. I wasn't expecting to be ignored but was pleasantly surprised. We spoke with the man in charge of the Orlando store and the Miami store. Wonderful gentleman.
It was such a relaxing trip and the flight time of 58 minutes beats the hell out of an 8 hour drive any day of the week. So a big thanks to Allegiant Air and their vacation destination flight service. We'll be flying with you again.
Labels: BBQ, climbing, family vacation, mall, The Simpsons
# posted by Seth @ 8:38 AM 
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