Surfer Dude

Sunday, March 22, 2015

We really like the Extended Stay America hotel chain. I had never heard of them before but apparently they have been around for awhile. They have everything you need, including a kitchen and what they call a “Grab and Go” breakfast and getting the room for about $50 per night is great! Looking at the weather for the day was again “iffy” in some areas and even Cocoa Beach was not guaranteed sunshine for the day, but we took a chance and headed there. We were so lucky, as the weather was perfect the whole day. Bryan rented a surf board and we had a glorious day at the beautiful beach. The waves were just right for a first day surfing after a long absence. Bryan did great! I went into the warm water to cheer him on. It was fun. We met these really nice people, Carlos and Marjory, from Ecuador. They were so kind and friendly and I got to practise my Spanish a bit, and we were fascinated by Carlos’ stories about his business ventures ..one of those success stories where he came to America with $80 in his pocket at age 18 etc. Such a charismatic fellow, now living in Austin, Texas. He does not swim but so kindly came into the water and took some great shots as well as a video of Bryan surfing, which was really cool! We returned the surfboard to the shop about 6:30 pm and headed to the car to make the 2 hour drive to Orlando, where Bryan had booked a hotel with my Air Miles points..thought I might as well use them up..hate to say it, but at a Hilton resort! I told Bryan I do not want us to pay over $50 and he could not find anything available in Orlando meeting those requirements so Air Miles to the rescue!. It is swanky but really not any better than Extended Stay America and no free breaky and you have to pay for parking. The fun thing about it is that we could walk to downtown Disney and we headed out about 10 pm to do that and have something to eat for supper. We loved touring downtown Disney!!! We ate at Earl of Sandwich, had “The Original 1762”, a delicious toasted bun with roast beef, cheddar and horseradish sauce…yum!! and toured the whole place which was still alive with many families and even very young children touring around. Our last stop was Raglan Road Irish Pub, a beautiful pub that was built lock, stock and barrel in Ireland and shipped here. We were pulled in by the awesome, Irish band that was playing..just sat in there for about 15 minutes,then headed back to our room ..weather forecast looks rainy everywhere tomorrow..but today again was a great day!<img src="