Saturday, January 30, 2010

Aspen Colorado 10'

Our Camry in the snow of ColoradoIt’s a great thing we decided to go to Aspen Colorado to see Lindsey Jacobellis and Nate Holland playing in the X Games. Many people don’t follow snowboarding closely and I wouldn’t blame them, seeing as we’re in Florida and all and no one has ever really seen snow, I doubt that anyone would be the very least bit interested in snow boarding. But anyway Cesar and I are having a great time up here watching all these adrenaline pumping sports. One thing that is truly amazing about this place is that the course is over 3,500 ft long. As if that number isn’t scary enough once you factor in all of the twists and turns on this bad boy you get to meet fear face to face. Speaking of face to face, before we came in to the hotel our faces seem like they were about to freeze off! Its simply amazing how in Florida its about 70 degrees and with the wind chills its going below 0 up here! The Trek to get to this one of a kind experience was just that, one of a kind. We’ve been to Colorado plenty of times before but I’ve never got the chance to watch anyone snowboard or ski. Usually when I come to Colorado I’m visiting some of my girlfriends family or just rushing through so we can get to the next state, either way I never really get to take a good look at the beautiful state which seems to have eternal rolling hills covered with a thick soft A snowboarder doing what he does bestblanket of now with dark nearly emerald green trees emerging from different points of the scenic land. Unfortunately I did not get to drive here this time but its okay, im not a huge fan of my vehicles heating anyway, sometimes it just feels like it makes me sick! Our flight over here took a pretty long time I cant remember the exact hours because I fell asleep but I also think the fact that we left so early in the morning made it seem worse than it really was. When we got to the airport we were in a rush, not because we had somewhere to go but because we were cold-actually cold is an understatement it was FREEZING! And of course whenever you’re in a rush there’s always something that just has to slow you down. In this case it was Cesar’s suitcase! It didn’t make it to the baggage claim so we had to fill out a ton of paperwork so he could get some sort of reimbursement for his loss. Luckily there was a nice Enterprise car rental kiosk right next door to the customer service department. We went directly to the hotel to change, or at least I went to change, Cesar lost all of his clothes and shoes and for some reason decided it would be a great idea to travel in a T-shirt to Colorado in the winter! So we ended up spending more time going to purchase a big jacket for Cesar, even though we were late to the X-Games we still got to see our American athletes win so we were still happy. And tonight, we shall celebrate!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Pro-bowl


So it's Pro Bowl weekend; It is the time to see the best of the best battle it out to see which conference will come out on top. Since Florida had not seen the Pro bowl since the 1978 season, we had to head down to south Florida to enjoy the Pro Bowl weekend. It was time for a weekend with the guys. So all the guys headed down to south Florida. Since I didn't feel like dealing with the traffic, I decided to take a flight to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Once there, it was practically impossible to find a cheap car rental. So I called my usual agent back home and they were able to give me a little bit better rate. I ended up driving the Expedition around town again, and it was amazing.


I was the first one to arrive, so I went straight to the hotel and started to make arrangements for the evening. After all it is Pro Bowl weekend, parties all over town. and who knows OchoCinco might be having a party that we might want to go to, after all it is his hometown. It took the rest of the guys about an extra two hours to get to the hotel. They were all complaining about their backs and how the ride was so horrible, while I was napping nice and comfortable in our hotel. Since the sun was still out we decided to go down to the beach instead of the practice that was taking place in St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale. After a nice afternoon in the beach are now back in the room and getting ready for a fun guys night out in the Lauderdale/Miami area, and again who know's we might run in to OchoCinco around the area as well.
We are all so excited to see the showdown between Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, Chad OchoCinco and Larry Fitzgerald should be a lot of fun to watch. It is pretty different now that it is here in Florida and not in Hawaii like it has been for the last couple of decades. But we will enjoy it for as long as it lasts. It's time to watch the best in the sport go out there and have fun together, while also showcasing their talents. The NFL does make sure they leave their mark in the community, a few of the players have taken time out of their busy schedules to spend time with some of the organizations in South Florida. I'm sure that the players miss the beautiful Hawaii environment, but Florida is really not that far behind, I would dare say that we are almost just as popular. Sure Florida attracts a different crowd than Hawaii does, but it is a lot of fun to be down here with friends and family. If you find time to come down to the south and spend a few days in heaven, please join us, and remember you still have the Super Bowl right here shortly.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Fist Pumping in the Jersey Shore 10'

The Ranch we visitedGoing to the Jersey Shore has been something I’ve always wanted to do. Luckily now was the perfect time to do it. I’ve watched the show on MTV and now I want to go twice as bad! Seeing as we are in Orlando, Florida the Jersey Shore is on the complete opposite side of the East Coast but that’s okay. With our handy dandy rental cars from Avis it was easier than it could ever be. We needed to know what kind of car would fit our personalities best when going to the Jersey Shore and what would be able to pick up the most females as well. We decided that we were going to go with the Cadillac CTS mainly because Pauly D from the T.V. show has the word “Cadillac” tattooed on the side of his body, similar to Travis Barkers tattoo. After we rented the car we were on our way. We only made one stop in Florida and that was in Jacksonville. Which was just so we could get some food, I A group of people dancing in the clubfigured that if we were going to stop and rest we were going to at least do it in another state. Pulling into Valdosta Georgia has always been the same every time I’ve done it, there is always a ton of truckers and people and I guess its just my luck but its always a sunny day as well. We stayed at a small motel in Georgia which was pretty much a local bed and breakfast I was thinking we would go with the traditional Holiday in but I’m sure the word Breakfast caught Brock into wanting to stay there. The next morning we woke up pretty early and not wanting to leave Georgia but we had to, we were surprised the Cadillac was so fast, we didn’t know this luxury car would be able to get up and go like a race car. We got in South Carolina in no time so we decided to stop and take a look around. The only thing we really got to do was Jamba’s Ranch, it took about an hour and forty five minutes to walk through the ranch but I had such a great time I made sure I did it another time. I love the ranch environment and seeing all of the animals, and if it were up to be I’d live there, Ceasar on the other had wanted to leave more than any one. He apparently doesn’t like the smell of Turtles, so instead of spending more time there we got to leave after I was finished. After our trip in South Carolina we made our way into North Carolina, our friend Lou was with us and we had him thinking there was actually a West Carolina and East Carolina actually maybe if he never reads this blog he’ll still think that because he slept the whole way through both of those fictitious states. From Virginia to New Jersey was a total and complete blur to us. I fell asleep for a little bit and for the other few hours I was watching the popular TV show The Office on my iPhone. When we got to New Jersey we went directly to my aunts house were we were staying, we were so happy that it was so close to the Me fist pumping like a championshore and it didn’t cost us a dime! We all set our bags down and went for a walk around the block to stretch our legs from that long drive. After about an hour of just aimlessly walking around we went home and freshened up so we could go to the club and fist pump the night away. Seeing as it was very cold there was no one really out on the beach but I wouldn’t be out there either. We patiently waited until night time so we could go out to the club and fist pump! When night came we fist pumped like there was no tomorrow and woke up the next morning feeling like we beat the beat up.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Other Place Cafe 10'

The delicious looking Biscuits and Gravy Dixie OrderedIf you’re looking for a good meal, it’s easy to find a restaurant. If you’re looking for a great meal you’ll really have to do some searching! This morning I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my entire life! First off I usually don’t like waking up very early in the morning and with a 7:30am class it’s pretty hard to avoid for the next 14 weeks, lucky I have a great friend by the name of Dixie who will call me at 5:09am and basically forced me to get ready so we can grab something to eat. We both live outside of Orlando in a small town named St. Cloud, we have some franchise restaurants that are open 24/7 but if you want a real quality home cooked meal you have to know where to go. I pass the Other Place Cafe' almost every single day on my way home from work yet I’ve never been in it and neither has Dixie. We both decided it would be a great day to try it out, so we both met at the restaurant at about The Mozzarella and Egg Pocket I had for breakfast6:25am and took our seat. We were pretty amazed that we weren’t the first ones in there, it was like there was a group of people that meet there every morning to sit down and have a nice breakfast, and you gotta love that about small town St. Cloud. When one person left they said goodbye to everyone, and everyone said goodbye to him. It was almost like we were all on big family that has never met before! Our waitress quickly came and took our orders for drinks and breakfast; I was told mine would take about 8 minutes. I don’t know why but every time I order somewhere my food is always the last to come out or takes the longest to make, it’s not like I intentionally do it, but somehow it just happens! Well about 10 minutes later our food came to our table, it was the most beautiful plate of breakfast I’ve ever seen. I ordered an “Egg & Mozzarella Cheese Pocket” and Dixie got the classic “Biscuits and Gravy”. Even though my food is usually the last to come I always end up finishing first, but today Dixie was a beast, it was almost like I blinked and her entire plate was wiped clean! After I finished my meal we paid the waitress and made our way out to the cars. Unfortunately when we got out, my car wouldn’t start and since I had a class to be at in less than 25 minutes there was no time to waste time. Dixie let me borrow her truck and I headed over to school. While she waited at the restaurant with my car she called Enterprise so she could get a rental car for herself so she could make it to her later class. Luckily even though we’re in such a small town we are pretty close to the airport so she was able to get picked up by a friendly representative at the airport and make her way back so she could rent a car for The Ford Edge Dixie Rentedherself. She ended up getting a Ford Edge which was her ex-car before she got a truck, so she didn’t have to really adjust to driving it that much. After I got out of class we traded cars and I went to go pick my car up from the mechanics shop, I then went to go pick Dixie up and dropped her off to our rental car where she then took it to be returned at Enterprise. Besides the fact that my car broke down so early in the morning and I had to go to class I would say today was a success mainly because that breakfast started everything off right! If you’re ever in the St. Cloud area makes sure you check out the Other Place Café on 1018 New York Ave
St Cloud, FL 34769.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Getting Some Tattoos 10'

The Corvette ZHZ we rented and drove to MiamiBrock and I have patiently waited on the Miami Ink waiting lists for months on end just too finally get in line for our tattoos. Some people have been telling us that they were overpriced and overrated but we don’t think that’s the truth at all. In fact we think that judging by their portfolios they are some of the best tattoo artists of all time! The only thing about Miami ink is that it’s in Miami. Which is 3 hours away so it’s not like something we could just do randomly one day we actually picked a day and designated it to getting our tattoos. Well long story short I didn’t want to drive because I had just spend a total of 6 hours detailing my car, and Brock’s car was broken down. We decided to get a nice Corvette from Hertz and made our way down to the land of Miami. The drive down there was completely amazing; the only problem was that it was too quick! We showed up to the tattoo parlor way before our appointment so we decided to check out everything Miami Ink had to offer before we went in. Of course we had to check out South Beach. I love everything about the area, from the beautiful women, exotic cars, tall buildings and more the entire atmosphere is breathtaking especially at night time! Since it was only daytime we really didn’t spend much time at South Beach so we went Outside of the Miami Ink Tattoo Parloraround looking for other things to do in the mean time. We quickly decided we wanted to go to the Miami Metro Zoo. When we first got there we realized it was unlike any other zoo we’ve ever been to. First off we noticed a wider variety of animals instead of just animals from one habitat. The tour guide informed us that there would be a selection of animals from Asia, Australia and Africa. Never in my years have I been to a zoo with animals from those three areas of the world combined into one. The best part about this zoo is that a majority of it is cage less, so you get to see the animals in their own nature rather than in a stationary cage. The second place we went was the Seaquarium which is a smaller scale version to our SeaWorld up in Orlando, I’m not really into the fish but my buddy Brock had a great time watching the dolphins swimming and playing in the water. One cool attraction was the Aquarium section where they had a wide array of tropical fish that were all vibrant and energetic. We were cutting it close to our tattoo time so we rushed back to the parlor where we went right in and had our seats. This is both of our second tattoos so we already knew what was coming, it was a relatively painless experience and I had a great time chatting with the tattoo artist about all of the things that he’s seen in his days in the field. Once we finished we still had a lot of time on our hands so we went down to the everglades for a night tour of the swamp. I’ve been on plenty of day tours before but I’ve never had the chance to go on a night tour. It was an awesome experience especially when it’s almost completely dark and then Our fresh new tattoos!they shine the light from the flashlight into the water and all you can see is bright orange circles surrounding you. Those bright orange circles were Alligator eyes! After we got off the tour we rushed back to South Beach so we could enjoy some dinner. We got a great seat on the outside of the of the restaurant and we got to see a train of exotic cars passing by it was a great site it was almost like a free car show! Sad enough we had to head back home because we both had to work in the morning and we wanted to show off our new tattoos to our co-workers who were sure to love them. The drive back was pretty easy, especially since we were in the Corvette and I actually got to drive this time around. We got back home and got a good nights sleep then woke up early in the morning to return our car before we went in to work.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Kenner Louisiana

Space Station Kenner
So we recently went to Texarkana in Texas for a family reunion, and we were told about some of the local areas around Louisiana. Quiet a bit of our extended family are from the New Orleans area, and we decided that we would like to affiliate ourselves with the state of Louisiana. And since my wife is all about taking pictures we decided that we would visit some of the more glamorous places in the state.

Before we left we took to our usual tradition and rented a car from Avis. Now if you remember the last time we went to meet with the family we decided to rent a car that would leave a little bit of an impression on the rest of our family. That Camaro SS was so beautiful… but after careful instructions from my wife we settled on a Chevrolet Impala. Since it’s only a state away there were no plane tickets or train rides, we simply just rented the car and we were off on our way to Kenner, where we decided we would visit the Space Station Kenner. The Space Station is a full sized recreation of the international space station that currently orbits earth. It was a cool little adventure and we really enjoyed it. Around the outside of the space station there is a wide variety of cool space… well stuff. History and science combined, it was really fun and there were a lot of photo opportunities.

Kenner also has this really cool Heritage Park where you can see the town’s history; probably the best thing is the 1930’s gas station. It reminded me of a bunch of funny stories my father used to tell when we sat around on Sundays. Anyhow the park is built primarily out of old buildings and shops. The idea is to physically show you how the town advanced through the years, it’s a really cool all hands on experience.

Serranos Salsa Company, the most amazing food I have ever had. We met up with some of our extended family and they suggested this is where we all go to eat. The place is amazing, I don’t know that I could ever have Mexican food again and be satisfied, that’s just how amazing this place is. I look back on my trip and realize that I would go all the way back to Louisiana just for a night out at Serranos.

Louisiana is great, if you ever just get spare time to explore a state this is the one. Although I guess that’s not really gonna happen until you’re retired like me. But hey, if your in Louisiana these are some cool places you can visit.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Utah 10'

An orange monkey at the ZooWe woke up pretty early so we could get a head start on our trip to Utah, finishing off our trip out of Missouri wasn’t that bad. We actually were ahead of time which left us a lot of room to stop around on the way there. It was a good thing because I was starting to get tired of sitting in that van! As spacious as it was I just felt the urge to get up and walk around for a majority of the time. Once we got into Kansas I really got to do that, we stopped in nearly 3 cities just to roam around since we had nothing better to do, we stopped in Topeka which isn’t a great city of attractions like Orlando but we did end up finding a bunch of things to do there. The first thing we did there was go to the Topeka Zoo, there we saw animals that we’ve never seen before in Florida, of course none of us have been to a major zoo in Florida unless The beautiful snowy rolling hills of Coloradoyou count Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. We entered the zoo and it was like a new adventure into an entirely new world. We saw tons of apes, lions and black bears. It was truly a great experience and if we had more time I would have liked to stay there but before I knew it, it was time to leave! Our gas gauge was getting a little low after we left Topeka so we stopped in a town called Salina where we filled up; we were all starving and tired of eating fast food so we went to a local diner to eat. We’ve been to many fancy restaurants all over the world but we can all agree that nothings better than going to a small restaurant where all the locals bring their families and enjoy a nice meal. We have one of those restaurants where we live in St. Cloud, Florida. It’s called the Catfish Place, you can go in there at anytime of day and see someone you know, that’s the greatest part of a local restaurant is the social-ness of it. After our meal we put the pedal to the metal and took off once again, this time flying through the roads, it’s a pretty nice sight to see the empty roads of Kansas I don’t know what it is that makes it so much different from the boring roads of Missouri. We quickly passed Hays and made our way into Colby where we filled our gas up again, At this point in the trip we noticed that this van was pretty fuel efficient even though our luggage was weighing it down! Later down the road if I decide to have a family I will highly consider getting one of these vans just because it was so comfortable and fuel efficient. Next time I’m traveling for a long period of time I’m definitely getting a Toyota Sienna from Enterprise. We finally came into Colorado where we had a great time, all of the snow and hills made a picture perfect site and I couldn’t wait to get home and show the pictures to everyone. It seemed like I was so caught up at checking out the scenery all the time Thethat I lost track of time and fell asleep and the next thing I knew I was on the Colorado – Utah border! We made it in to Utah and went directly to the national park, we got one of the hotels that were closest to the national park where we finally unloaded and stayed. We had a great time checking out all of the natural monuments and more. I’m honestly not in the mood to go back home! I have countless pictures to show my friends and family but I don’t want to leave this beautiful scenery behind!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

On our way to Utah 10'

Going to Utah was not the best of trips I’ve ever been on but it sure was an interesting one, I travelled with my good buddies Brian and Jennifer who have wanted to go to the park since they got married. First off I have to add in that being from Florida I was twice as surprised to see all of these tall structures as anyone else. Even though I’ve been to New York City a million and a half times and seen all of the skyscrapers and I still cant get over how tall these natural structures were! Our trip to Utah was a very long one in fact we’re not even there yet. We rented a Toyota Sienna from MCO at the Enterprise quickly zoomed out into the west on our journey to Utah. We didn’t waste any time making it up to Georgia. We made a quick pit sop in Rome, Georgia so we could refresh ourselves and take a quick nap before we got back on our wheels. It was pretty tempting to stop in Tennessee since it’s my favorite state of all time but we just didn’t have the time to do it, I didn’t mind at all though considering that I would rather take my time in the state then being rushed by Jennifer and Brian the whole entire time we were there! Once we got out of Tennessee we made a little detour in Belleville Illinois where we stopped for a quick lunch at a local restaurant, it was a good thing because I don’t think I could possibly eat another nutrigrain bar or pop tart on the road. We finally arrived in Missouri which for some reason felt like the longest drive ever, I guess it’s because the roads were so stretched out and plain it didn’t really feel like we were moving anywhere it was so boring that we just had to stop before we fell asleep on the road. We stopped in Colombia Missouri for the night and we plan on picking up tomorrow morning!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Sydney Australia 10'

Us Climbing the bridge in SydneyThe weather has been warming up lately which is all the reason for me to go on another trip, Australia is the place I wanted to go. Unfortunately there is no road from Orlando to Australia so we had to fly. The tickets to Australia were the most expensive plane tickets I’ve ever purchased, but they were worth every single penny I spent. We plan on staying in Australia for over a week so we can do everything we need to do in such a long period of time. We started our flight early in the morning and I slept through out the entire thing, long flights seem to always put me to sleep even though they are extended periods of time. I brought my new iPod which I forgot to charge on the way over to the airport so it probably had enough juice to last for a good song a half! So I didn’t even bother wasting my time with that. Even though I’m not a fan of long flights the best part of long flights is that you get a nice comfortable chair that you can basically live in. Long story short we got to Australia and rushed to the hotel the weather was absolutely beautiful of course its hard for it not to be when you’re on the other side of the world! I’m a huge fan of the nice warm weather on a sunny day with a slight breeze, if it were up to me everyday would be like that for the rest of my life. The weather was so nice I couldn’t even stay in the hotel for long, I just had to go out and at least walk around for a few minutes. And we did just that. I had a printout of things I had to do and could not wait to get started on it, the first thing that I wanted to do was the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb, this was probably one of the best things that I’ve ever done in my entire life! It’s a great thing to be able to say that you’ve climbed one of the most famous bridges in the world. The guided tour was a breathtaking experience and it was pretty scary too but I wasn’t complaining! One thing I noticed when I was looking down (which I was A team member working the sail on the sail boattold not to do) was a collection of sail boats, our tour guide told us that that was also a tour and since we had a ton of time left in the day we decided that we would also do that! Never in my life would I have guessed that sailing required teamwork. It was amazing how quickly we made friends with the others on the boat knowing that we needed each other to make the adventure work, the three hour tour made us a ship full of new friends, it was a great experience beyond the sailing! After such a long day we hurried back to the hotel to catch up on some missed sleep and rest, I slept like a baby the whole night. We are planning a lot of things to do in our next few days here and it seems like time is flying!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Trinidad and Tobago 10'

The only empty part of the beach we went to
This weekend just had to be one of the best weekends I’ve ever had in my whole entire life. Honestly every minute of it was perfect and there was absolutely nothing that made it bad! Maybe because I was relaxing in Trinidad and Tobago instead of doing what I do every other day! Unfortunately with the ocean between Trinidad and Orlando we were not able to drive there so we had to take a plane, I’ve been on a plane many times in my life but I’ve always proffered driving simply because we’re on the ground, and I get to be the pilot. Those are just the two main reasons that don’t include the fact that everytime I ever go on a plane there is always a crying baby who wont seem to be quiet! Then theres the fact that about 98% of the time you are always sharing a row of seats with a complete weirdo who is also an armrest hog! Needless to say all of these happened to me on the flight there, but its okay once I got there everything magically got better. The vacation started off just like any other vacation did, we got our bags off the rotating belt and made our way to the taxis so we could hitch a ride to our hotel. We were staying at one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever been in. The Carlton Savannah was just an elegant environment that couldn’t be beat. All of the marble floors and modern art makes you feel like you’re in a completely different world and you don’t want to leave! Other than the weather we felt a warm welcome into the hotel with the ambient lighting and design. We set our bags down and quickly rushed out of the hotel to find everything that Trinidad and Tobago had to offer us. That part wasn’t hard at all, it was almost like we couldn’t avoid finding fun things to do! Everywhere we went there was something that caught our eyes and made us want to do. The thing we were most interested in was the beach! Every time I go to a beach I always do all of the activities they have. When I say all I’m talking everything I mean banana boats, parasailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, and unfortunately this beach didn’t have much fishing, there was however a small child who was catching the same fish over and over again with a piece of drift wood, scrapped fishing line and a paper clip hook. The night started to come in and we were getting tired but since we were only in Me para sailing on a yellow boatTrinidad and Tobago for a few days we had no time to sleep! We went directly to the hotel showered and we were out again! We went to a nightclub called “Sting” nightclub where we met a ton of new people, we were truly amazed at the difference between this night club and every other nightclub we’ve been to in the United States the music was original and everyone seemed so excited and energetic throughout the whole night instead of getting tired at around 1PM! Its almost like these people didn’t know what sleep was! The energy from the people in Trinidad was keeping me awake! That night I went to sleep like a baby! I woke up the next morning in a great mood but I had to go shopping instead of sleeping in because I didn’t want to hear anyone complain about not getting a gift when I return. I went to a little place called Fredrick Street which was lined with shopping malls, street vendors and tons and tons of pedestrians. I usually like to buy hand crafted things from locals rather than buying mass produced things from stores because there is a sense of originality with Sting Nightclub's Live performer every piece. I bought almost everyone I knew something from the chain of mobile vendors who walked the street back and forth all day trying to make a sale that way everyone was happy. The same day we went to check out a museum to learn more about Trinidad, boy were we entertained none of us knew that such a small country had such a rich and vivid history. After the museum we went to the hotel and got all our bags packed for the flight in the morning. We made it home to start our everyday lives all over again!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Deep Sea Fishing 10'

Some of the fish a group on the boat caughtOne thing that I’ve always wanted to do but never had the time to do it was deep sea fishing. I’ve always been a fan but never have been in the real deep sea. My co-worker Jerry unfortunately flipped his boat so we were not able to go out until he got it fixed. We found a great place in Daytona beach that only charged about $65 per person so we had to check it out, since I drive a car and Jerry drives an SUV and neither of us wanted the smell of fish in our vehicles we thought it would benefit the both of us to rent a pick up truck and throw the cooler in the bed so no one had to smell the scent of our catches of the day. The tour started promptly at 8:45 in the morning so we rented our pick-up truck near an Avis at the Orlando International Airport. Daytona isn’t that far of a drive from Orlando, its probably about an hour and a half depending on how fast you drive. We loaded up our cooler in the bed of the truck and we were on our way. We arrived at the boat ramp about 15 minutes early and we hopped aboard. This tour was well worth every penny spent. Included in the price we got to use rods, reels, bait and tackle. We also got free fishing licenses and they offered free fish cleaning as well! We got on the boat and couldn’t wait for the fish to start coming in, Jerry classifies himself as a professional angler because he goes out at least 3 times a week to catch fish and always comes home with Some redfish that were caught by our crewsomething. This time I was on a mission to catch something bigger than him! We were not using our own equipment but that really didn’t bother us at all in fact it as a great thing that we got to use what the people recommended especially because they have been doing this for years upon years and are completely interested in only giving their customers the most out of their money. The first fish came in, the person who caught it was right next to me! That easily could’ve been my fish but its okay I’ve heard there are plenty of fish in the sea enough times to know that there are plenty of fish in the sea. I’m sure that wasn’t the only fish we would see all day. A few minutes later the next fish came in! Unfortunately Jerry caught that one, for it being the second fish of the day it was also the largest fish as well! As soon as Jerry threw his hook back into the water I caught a fish, it wasn’t as big as Jerry’s but at least it was something, about 40 seconds after I dropped my hook A guide cleaning my fishinto the water for the second time I caught another one, I was surprised that they just kept coming in and in! Jerry and I went back and forth on the fish catching competition for nearly two hours straight until we were both pretty tired and wanted to sit down before we did it again. We were pretty disappointed that we weren’t able to see any sharks or dolphins but we were too busy catching every other form of wildlife that lived in the deep blue. At the end of the day we counted pound for pound to see who the winner of this trip was. It turns out that Jerry was by about 4 pounds even though I caught 3 more fish than him! Overall I had a great time and plan on doing it again some time in the near future!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Texarkana

Texarkana State Line, in Front of Post Office
So with the holiday season all wrapped up (yes that was a pun) and us all relaxed after our mid-sea vacation we were happy when we received a phone call about a family reunion at Texarkana in Texas/Arkansas. I say both because the city is right on the boarder, half of it is in Texas, half is in Arkansas. This small town was where our family wanted to have a reunion, at the house of one of distant relatives. However, this little house wasn’t going to support us all, so we had to make reservations to spend the nights in a hotel. We rented a car from Avis, and if we were gonna meet the family we were going to show up in style. We rented a Chevrolet Camaro SS, and you should have seen their faces.

When we pulled into the driveway three days later all the grandchildren came out, and of course all of them wanted a ride in this yellow car. The funny thing about past family reunions is that I would always show up and be told someone is my uncle or ant… that I had never met. Strangely enough, now it’s the opposite, and I feel old. They bring grandchildren to me, and apparently I am related to these kids. Distant relatives of our kids husbands and wives are always surprising, because they don’t even know my name, nor I know theirs. However I guess that is the point of these reunions, to meet everyone.

We ate at this fantastic restaurant called Bryce’s Cafeteria, the food is amazing. They scheduled to have the entire place to ourselves, and boy was that fun. I really should say this again, the food was amazing. Everything they make is from scratch, at least that is what they boasted to us. And wow, dare I say it again, the food was amazing.

The next day we went to the post office, not because we had to mail anything, but because there is a sign out front that you can stand in front of and be in both Texas and Arkansas at the exact same time. It was a neat little photo opportunity, and we both got our pictures taken. Our family there suggested it, and it was a neat little opportunity.

We spent the next few days visiting some of the local attractions and enjoying some of the shopping areas around town. Or should I say my wife was enjoying these shopping experiences, I was just overjoyed to drive the Camaro around. We went to the Museum there, and learned quite a bit about the town, it’s an interesting little place. If you get a chance I would definitely check it out, but more than that, rent a Camaro, I wanted to keep it.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The View leaving Orlando AirportBrock and I decided it was about time to take a random vacation to the nice state of Vermont so we could check out the area. The only reason we chose such a random state was because Brock is an ordain and is interested in marrying people in the state of Vermont. When I say marrying people, people usually take that the wrong way! But back to the subject, We just got back from our very long road trip to Colorado and we were on a pretty tight schedule and really didn’t have enough time to drive out, even with Brock’s lead-foot it just wasn’t possible, but that’s okay we decided to take a plane to Vermont instead only because the tickets were very cheap, we found some great deals on airfare tickets online and saved about 18% on our total order! We started off our trip with a good start we got to the airport on time and even though we were afraid that our flight would be delayed because of the bad weather it all went smoothly, we actually boarded the plane a few minutes early. Ever since I was a little kid the thing I enjoyed most about going to an airport is just observing the people at the terminal, let me tell you there are some weirdoes there! Brock and I had a great time silently making fun of the people, there was this one big-framed glasses wearing goofball that we were making fun of until he turned around and to our surprise it was our buddy Caesar. We sat and talked to Caesar for Brock's losing hand in Rock Paper Scissorsquite a bit over some great quality airport terminal food, I’m telling you it doesn’t get any better than that! It turns out Caesar just got back from his honeymoon in the Bahamas apparently it was almost as cold as it was in Florida down there as well! But then again Caesar has proven himself to be an over exaggerator at times. After we were called to load our planes Brock and I had to play an intense game of Rock Paper Scissors over who would get the window seat, needless to say after 143 sweat inducing rounds of hardcore Rock Paper Scissors action I came out victorious. I made my self comfortable in my well earned window seat and Brock got to sit in the middle, we patiently waited to see who Brock would get paired to sit next to. To Brock’s surprise one of the most Our view coming into Vermontbeautiful women we’ve ever seen came to our row and took a seat, Brock looked at me with a smile trying to make me feel bad about winning rock paper scissors, however in about 30-seconds she got up and left. Apparently she only sat down because she had to fix her shoe! I was aimlessly browsing through my SkyMall magazine when the crew prepared everyone for take off, before we knew it we were cruising down the run way and up into the air. I don’t know what it is that puts me to sleep in airplanes, it could be the boring SkyMall articles or it could be the high altitudes, but whatever it is makes me fall asleep like a baby. I woke up to a near freezing temperature and we were about to land, if there’s anything I hate about traveling is that minute or so when you land and the pilot tells you to remain seated even though you are on the ground! I feel like at that exact moment everyone wants to jump out of their seats, grab their bags and get on with their life. As soon as we got off the plain we went directly to Avis to rent Our Cool Cadillac CTS we got from Avisa car. We decided we would go for something with great traction just incase we had to go down a road covered with ice and snow. We ended up choosing a Cadillac CTS and let me tell you, that car heats up probably as fast as it can get to 0-60. We went from freezing our toes off to as warm as we could in less than 10 minutes! After we checked out we drove directly to our hotel to get rest, a long day of travel is usually always followed up with a good amount of sleep, even if you are traveling in the same time zone! Tomorrow we plan on taking a drive around and looking for some of the main attractions that Vermont has to offer!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Breckenridge, Colorado 09'

Our Trailblazer covered with snow one morning!Something I rarely enjoy doing is going to cold places, for most of my vacations I’ve strictly traveled to warmer places so I could soak up the sun and relax in a nice calm atmosphere instead of freezing my butt off in knee-high snow! Going on this trip I would be taking my good friends Brock and Jordan on this 1 day and 6 hour journey to Breckenridge, Colorado. The main and only reason we are going to Colorado is because of the Dew Tour that will be taking place on the 15th we are all very excited to see the free skiing event even though none of us have really ever skied before in our lives but it sure looks cool and we all love the Dew Tour mainly because of the pretty ladies, cool events, and impressive stores with all the newest styles and more. Going to Colorado required us to go through 7 states; of course we started off in our hometown of Orlando, Florida where we rented a Chevrolet Trailblazer from Hertz that comfortably seated the three of us on our long journey to the snowy land of Breckenridge. We left Orlando and it almost felt like we made it to Jacksonville in no time, we stopped for a little and had a great quality meal at a Taco Bell, a wise man once said “all of life’s greatest journey’s start at Taco Bell” assuming our Dew Tour Destiny was calling we headed even further up to Georgia. Jordan is the type of person who likes to move around a lot, and when I say Miro District before it gets busya lot I mean a lot he cant sit still for over 2 hours so we stopped in Valdosta, Georgia where we spent the night at a local motel. Brock and Jordan were very happy about this hotel mainly because it had a small gym, at night when I was sleeping they were too busy pumping the guns and burning some calories. In the morning we all woke up with no problem and hit the road on time, that’s the best thing about traveling with Brock and Jordan is that we never have to wait on anyone-unlike my girlfriend who will spend hours upon hours applying make up that she will just take off the next time we stop! We were headed to one of my favorite states of all time Tennessee but once again before we got there Jordan had to get out and move around a little in Atlanta, Georgia. Which wasn’t such a bad thing after all in fact it was a great place to spend time and go for a nice walk in the city, Atlanta is honestly one of the only major cities that I haven’t been to more than 5 times, after we “explored” for a bit we A view of Topeka from our roomheaded to Tennessee where I made it a mission to stop at both Nashville and Memphis, of course Jordan didn’t mind but Brock seemed to have a problem with it, seeing as he’s the driver and wanted to make it to Colorado in as little time as possible! When in Tennessee we ate at my all time favorite restaurant in the world, Miro District. This restaurant is basically the best of both worlds, you can order the classiest of classy and the finest of fine foods, but the food isn’t what I love so much about the restaurant. What I love the most is the genuine and sincere southern hospitality you get when you take your first step into the restaurant. At some points it even makes you feel like you want to invite the servers into your own home for being so nice, I’ve referred and endless amount of people to this place and haven’t had one person say they didn’t love the service. If I could spend my life in a restaurant Miro District would be where I would stay. Since we spent so much times in the first few states we really had to catch up on time and jump into gear so we could get up to Colorado for our Hotel Reservation. We booked it through Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri as fast as that Trailblazer could go! We were having so much fun playing car games that we didn’t even notice the time The workers setting up the event for the Dew Tourflying by. We stopped in Topeka, Kansas so we could catch up on some much needed sleep, I’ve never been to the city of Topeka before but I can assure you, it was a pretty site to see! Not wanting to leave the next morning I forcefully had to go but its okay because knowing the Dew Tour was only a few hours away was a comforting thought to keep in my head. We finally arrived in our hotel at exactly 2:16pm and unpacked our bags we have about 2 more days to wait until the tour starts in Colorado and none of us can wait!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Tibet China

Tibet China
So recently we were reading an interesting story about an Indochinese Tiger being killed in China. And it brought about an interesting conversation about the jungles in China, and we came to the conclusion that we really wanted to go on a safari. And since we already had China in mind, we thought it would be an awesome adventure if we got the opportunity to go. Now were getting older, I have to admit it, so trekking through the jungle for a week wouldn’t be possible, however driving out to the forest and taking five hour hikes would probably suffice for us. So we booked the first flight to Tibet China that we could find, and arrived a week later.

When we landed in Tibet we went straight to the nearest car rental which was Budget and rented a Ford Escape; sounds appropriate right? We found our vacation planner, who found our lodgings for us, because we couldn’t speak the language and arranged for us to meet with an English speaking man in the morning that could help us with our plans.

Tibet ChinaWhen we awoke in our simple room we checked to see if our guide was there and then met him the lobby. Her arranged for us to visit a national park and directed us to the local “super store.” Would you guess that they have a Wal-Mart there? I didn’t know they stretched so far. When we got everything we needed we headed out into the forest, it was a three hour drive, and we realized once we got there that we wouldn’t have a lot of time. That was a big disappointment, but we made plans to wake up really early the next day, and we arrived around 9am at our destination.

Our “Safari” was a dirt road that went back in the nature reserve about ten miles, and ended it a wide area for parking. From there you could roam around or make reservations for camping. We must have walked for three hours before we got tired and started to eat. Now while we were hopeful to see some incredibly exotic animal, i.e. the Indochinese tiger we had spoken of, the best we saw was a large sloth. The best part of our daily visits there were the pictures we took. If you walk a good distance on the marked paths you slowly go uphill until you’re above everything. It was so awesome seeing the miles and miles of… well just jungle.

We probably would have hiked a few more days, but… well were getting old, and we only spent three days out in the jungle before we started touring the area for more… civilized ways of entertainment. This place was awesome, and the local attractions were great, however the jungle expiditions are tiresome, so it is probably more for the young folks. But if you ever get a chance to go to Tibet, on a business trip or anything then you need to do this, its really an adventure.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Cardinals Game



Playoffs are finally here. So with that it's time for another road trip. Since We have yet to catch a live game this season, We decided to ride out to Arizona and watch the Cardinals take on the Packers. Since its such a long drive and we are trying to stay within budget, we rented a Toyota Prius.


This amazing machine will be saving us so much in gas. It's estimated 50 mpg is just out of this world. It's such a sweet vehicle to drive. Prior to renting the vehicle, I was a bit upset that we would not be taking our usual big SUV. But once we started driving the Prius, it was worth the change. It has so many fabulous features, such as the Lane Keep Assist which helps keep you in your lane by warning you when you are getting too close to another lane. This was so helpful with the long 33hr drive from Central Florida to Glendale, Arizona. The XM NAV TRAFFIC feature was also very helpful as we were on the highway, we were able to avoid traffic delays since this particular feature lets you know the average speed of traffic ahead. So we simply had to re-route and stay right on time for the game on the way up. The GPS was a life saver, it has bluetooth capability and we were able to contact a local restaurant that the GPS found for us and make dinner reservations without having to touch my phone. Its was so convenient when you are driving so fast in the highway. It is definitely a must have when taking long trips such as this one.

While driving to the restaurant we decided to use the satellite radio feature in our awesome Prius, all over the sports stations they were talking about how much the Cardinals needed to prove themselves in this rematch. Since the last game they went down so hard against a Green Bay team that showed up to win. The Cardinals were embarrassed in front of an excited home crowd. This week they must show up to play, last week really didn't matter to either team. But this weeks game is when everyone must put everything on the line, It's do or die time in Arizona. It will have so many fans at the edge of their seats. It will be a game that we are making sure not to miss.

Morning of the game is an indescribable feeling. You know you are about to see some hard hits and some amazing catches. During breakfast it seemed that everyone at the hotel was there for the game. It felt like we had just walked into the set of sports center. Packers and Cardinals jerseys everywhere. It was exciting to sit down and have random conversations with strangers about the game last week and what will be different this week. Funny how sports can bring people together and no matter which team you are cheering for everyone can get along. Looking forward to the game the drive will be a long one due to traffic but worth every minute stuck in traffic.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Dallas, Texas 09'

The Gator Claw Brock Purchased in Louisiana.We were just about to leave Pasadena when we came across two great tickets to the Eagles vs. Cowboys tickets for Dallas which was a very funny story actually. Brock had purchased a load of souvenirs from Pasadena and Louisiana and realized he didnt have space for his clothes and other things that he really needed, If it were up to be I would just put everything in a plastic bag and ride out, but no Brock had to go get an entirely new suitcase. We went to a few local stores but they were all huge and were very expensive so he tried his luck on Craigslist to see if he could solve his problem. After a few minutes of searching he found exactly what he was looking for, we had to wait until the owner got off work so we could meet up and purchase the suitcase from him. In the mean time we continued to browse Craiglist aimlessly for good deals and we found someone trying to trade their tickets for the Eagles vs. Cowboys game! Now we were away from our homes not able to trade any of our possessions we did not bring along with us, Brock had purchased some authentic Albino Alligator claw in Louisiana and we offered the guy that, unbelievably we got a call just minutes after and it was the guy with the tickets saying he accepted our offer! We drove out to get the suitcases and tickets and packed our bags and headed to Dallas. We used the same Infiniti M35 that we rented on the way to Pasadena even after we were thinking about returning it and getting something a little smaller. Our trip from California to Dallas was not such a big deal, The Infiniti was one of the most comfortable cars I’ve ever been in so the drive was not long ago, this time we really only stopped to fill up gas which was really a big surprise but it was pretty cold so there wasn’t much to do anyway and neither of us wanted to be stuck out in the cold at all. Since we were cutting close to our trip back to Florida we really had no time to stop at all. We arrived in Dallas and stayed at a Ramada Inn which was a pretty comfortable hotel and we are currently waiting game day! Instead of just sitting around waiting we decided to see all that Dallas has to offer us one thing that we made a great effort to go see was the Dallas World Aquarium, it was one of the greatest and most original things I’ve ever seen! We experienced animals and plants from all over the world, one of the guides told us that these animals have been collected from the largest seas and the smallest rivers in places I’ve never even heard of! Going into Dallas Cowboys Fans we saw earlier in the daythe aquarium I was ignorant thinking I was only going to see fish there were free-flying birds all throughout one exhibits. The birds along with some of the fish are part of an extinct species and it’s a great thing that the Dallas World Aquarium is helping in trying to repopulate it. Another thing we noticed was the Zero Gravity theme park where there was an insane amount of rides that looked like they would have your adrenaline rushing as fast as possible, it was way to cold to do any of that too and I’m sure Brock was afraid as well. We killed enough time during the day just aimlessly driving around Texas but now its game time, in about an hour or two we will be heading to the stadium to hopefully watch the Cowboys win! We just can not get enough of two things in the world 1) Traveling and 2) Football I hope all goes well and I hope Brock’s Albino Alligator claw was worth it!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Barbados

Barbados
Barbados, yes the island in the Caribbean. We decided that after all the hectic and stressful days the Holiday Season had brought we needed a break. And we decided renting a condo on the waters edge and just relaxing for a week was the way to go. We have been looking at pictures and talking with friends who have been there and we honestly want to go and just sit on the beach at Fortescue. And when we got our plane tickets we sealed the deal.

Now upon arrival we stopped at Advantage and got our Hyundai Accent, and wow that car looks pretty. The thing doesn’t make a sound, I mean it, if we wanted to slip in under radar that’s the car I would take. We planned to just go to our condo and relax for a week, but as soon as we arrived we realized that there are so many local attractions. I mean like ancient dances and midnight fires, all that great stuff you can just go and watch. Of course the beaches were gorgeous, I mean amazing, the water was blue and the sand white, couldn’t ask for more. There were clear skies the entire time we were there, which was surprising to me because I always thought that being on an island and all there would be a lot of storms.

Our condo wasn’t really a condo; it was like a luxury resort, no joke this thing was amazing. I keep wanting to go back just because of the amazing shower, the thing sprayed you from 3 sides (It was fantastic). We took a tour around the third day in a wooden canoe, the guide rowed us for several miles up and down the islands coast and then we were rowed way out to an uninhabited island. The trash was kind of a dead giveaway but they said “no one” had ever been there before.

Barbados is the perfect place to just relax in the sun. It wasn’t to hot, it wasn’t to cold it was just right. If you get a chance to go I suggest Fortescue, although we have never been anywhere else on the island. However if you do go, you cant take my condo, its mine and I really don’t wanna share.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Pasadena, California 09'

The Infiniti rental car from HertzPasadena has now become one of my favorite places to go, the only reason we are here is because of the Longhorns game that will be taking place tomorrow. I’m almost positive that this was the longest road trip that I have taken in a very long time, our entire drive time was estimated to be exactly 1 day and 15 hours, but of course I was driving with my lead footed buddy Brock who would make you believe you’d get there in less than 15 minutes. Since it was just the two of us on this road trip we really didn’t need that much room in a rental car, but we still needed some room to stretch our legs on our 39 hour journey. We ended up renting an Infiniti M35 from the Hertz Prestige collection, and boy was this thing spacious. At one point during the trip I just moved to the back seat and lay down! On the way there we had no time to stop for ANYTHING because according to Brock we had to get there as soon as possible, that didn’t stop me from making an excuse every time we drove through another state, you’d think that making a pit stop in every state would become obvious after a while, but after we stopped 6 times he still didn’t The house I used to live in when I grew up in Louisianaget the clue! I made sure we got to see at least one attraction from every state on our way there. I’ve seen almost all of the attractions in the south east but there are a bunch that I will continue to go to because they are so fascinating! Brock and I have already done everything that was worth our time in Florida so there really wasn’t much to there, we did stop by and see our old high school buddy who is attending UWF in Pensacola which added about an hour to our time but that was okay considering the time change. Our next stop was mobile Alabama where we had a blast at the Explorium and Science Center which was one of the only indoor things to do since we did not want to freeze in the cold outside at this time of year. We had a great time checking out their exhibits and interactive experiments while staying warm! Next on our list to visit was the wonderful state of Mississippi, there was one place that we absolutely had to eat at which was the Fisherman’s Harbor. I’ve been there a time or two before; actually I think it’s safe to say that One of the deserts we drove through in Arizonaevery time I’m in Mississippi I eat there. I spent a lot of time in Louisiana growing up however it was a state that Brock was not familiar with so I had to show him around, out of all of our time-wasting pit stops I think he liked this one the most even though all we really did was drive around and do a lot of sight seeing. Texas was one of the best places to go, mainly because I’m not a road side attractions kind of guy, I would rather look at a small town or local community rather than seeing everything everyone else sees when just passing through. The best part about Texas is that’s where a majority of Brock’s family lived so we went to a very small town in Texas and spent a day there, we had tons of fun just shooting guns and riding around on atv’s as well as heating some quality Texan food (which was probably the best part of the trip) we spent the night at Brock’s family’s house and left early the next morning to head to New Mexico. I’ve never really spent a lot of time in New Longhorn Fans lined-up outside of Downtown DisneyMexico but that’s okay because we were in a rush to see the Longhorns play! On of my favorite states was the one we went into next, Arizona we drove through what seemed like hours of desserts and were pretty amazed at how the landscapes of houses were comprised of Cacti instead of our traditional Florida Palm Trees! We finally arrived in California and set our things down in the hotel. We went to Downtown Disney and saw a heap of people just waiting for the Longhorns to play! The news was there it and everything we’re waiting for the game tomorrow so we can see how everything goes. We’re both on the Longhorns side and cant wait to see them win!

My Washington D.C. Wrestling Trip

We were on our way. My entire wrestling team and I had to take a trip up to Washington D.C. for a huge wrestling tournament. This could possibly be the biggest tournament of my life. We departed from Orlando and made our way North and hopped on the turnpike for the shortest trip time. I was excited!

We made it to Atlanta, Georgia when all of a sudden the hood of our 12 passenger van began to smoke. Not a good sign! My coach pulled over the van and popped the hood to take a look at the damage. Some how the long trip blew out the radiator. Normally this would not be a huge problem and could be taken to a shop and fixed within a few hours. Unfortunately for us however we did not have that much time to spare. We needed to be in Washington D.C. in less than 12 hours! We needed a plan and we needed it fast!

We were towed to the nearest shop and I pulled out my phone and was able to look up the Enterprise rent a car phone number. I called up Enterprise and set us up for a 12 passenger van rental. Enterprise picked us up right from the Atlanta shop and within an hour of my call we were on our way again.

We made it to Washington D.C. in the nick of time. I quickly proceeded to weigh ins, got dressed and was ready to wrestle. I ended up placing second in tournament and now have my medal at home to prove it. By the time the tournament was over our van was ready to go from the shop. If we weren't able to rent that van so quickly we never would have made it there in time.

Monday, January 4, 2010

North Carolina

We had long been desiring to go skiing again, we said previously, or a long time ago how good we used to be. Now I am getting older but I don’t think I am to old, so we picked a place out we could stop on the way back south. We decided to go skiing in the Appalachian Mountains, around the town of Blowing Rock. One of the cool things about the area is that they rent houses out for very short periods of time, especially during the winter around the skiing season.

We began our way back down south and if your remember National gave us a Dodge Journey after our Chevrolet Taho got permanently decommissioned. We began our way through the states and when we arrived in North Carolina our jaws dropped. The place is beautiful during the winter; it's just gorgeous covered in snow. Not only that but the place we stayed was high up in the mountains with an amazing view of... well of everything.

The next few days we went skiing, it was fun, although we never really ran any of the big slopes we enjoyed or leisurely glide. The best part about the skiing was the 20 inches of snow that had recently come down just before we got there. Apparently 80% of the towns residents were out of power during Christmas. A huge ice storm had ripped through an enormous amount of power lines, and our cabin was only fixed hours before we got there, otherwise we to would have been out of electricity.

North Carolina or the Appalachian Mountains are beautiful, we were so glad to get a chance to go exploring the magnificent country-side. We spent most of our time on scenic routes in the car or nature walks around the lake. Our most fun probably came from the scenic walks; we found so many great photo opportunities and an abundance of beautiful sites!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Canada 09'

The Minivan we rented from AvisWhen I was younger and living in New York we used to drive up to Canada at least twice a year to visit some family members, now that I live in Florida driving up there has never been something I’ve never had time for until I got a few days off for the new year! One thing I really enjoyed doing is road trips so I rented a minivan and a few guys and I went to drive up, the first thing on my mind to do was go to the Skylon tower, I’ve been there a million times before when I was a kid but my friend is afraid of heights and I wanted to make sure he got a nice view of the bottom when we look down from the glass bottom of the tower. Before we left we made sure we rented a car for this journey because a few months ago we thought it would be a great idea to buy convertibles which aren’t as warm as other cars but that’s okay because Avis made it unbelievably easy to rent a car from the Orlando International airport, even though it was only 3 of us we decided since we would be on the road for many days we would need as much space as we can get, We’re down in Florida where the sun is shining and it seemed to get darker and colder the more time we spent driving I was actually very surprised how cold it was in North Florida! We stopped at a few motels on the way there and saved a bunch of money using some coupons we found online, it was a lot better than sleeping in the minivan I’ll tell you that much. When we got to The Skylon tower view from our hotel roomCanada our first stop was Niagara Falls it was a great sight to see all of the snow and the rushing water, without wasting time we made our way over to the Skylon Tower which is located right in the center of the Hotel District. We slowly went up, which seemed like it was taking forever for my friend that is afraid of heights and when we got on the top he was afraid to walk over the glass, but rest assured that didn’t prevent any of us from pushing him on there. The unique thing about this trip is we didn’t really want to drive back home so we returned the car at Avis and stayed a few more days at the hotel instead of using those days toward driving. We got a taxi to the airport on our last day and just drove out with our bags, hopped on a plane and returned to sunny Florida. We all had a great time and I can’t wait to do it again!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Lincoln New Hampshire trip

As one of the largest car rental brands in the industry, Thrifty maintains an average fleet of 148,180 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. Generating a rental revenues of $621 million in 2007, Thrify aspires to expand it's franchise business.

Operating in over 70 countries, Thrify boast over 1,061 locations throughout through out the world.

Traveling to Lincoln New Hampshire, there is a 34-mile highway near Route 112 nestled between Conway and Lincoln that traverses through beautiful White Mountains National Forest. Choosing the right rental for the occasion is very important. A SUV was recommended due to it's large storage capacity.

Begining the adventure in Conway, the tour stopped off to get a map at the rangers station on the highway including some brochures and other articles. At each end of the route, one can encounter these info stations. In order to avoid missing sites, it is recommended to ask where the best places can be found.

Recommended first stop was the campground adjacent to Covered Bridge. Fortunately, there is a large parking and just a short stroll to the covered bridge. This spot is breathtaking to say the least, boasting a running river under the bridge. Resting a bit, ample crowds of people meandered about, and the group strolled across the bridge winding down through boulders to the rivers side. Resting a spell at this spot, it was just natural to bask in the warm sun absorbing the amazing picturesque scenery. Do not bypass this spot, if you travel this highway.

Continuing for a spell along the highway, discover the Lower Falls. At this point, an outcrop of some small waterfalls are discover where people enjoy paddling and sunbathing on the rocks.

At this location, campgrounds are ubiquitous along the route for those who enjoy the activity. By in large, most hikers stop-off to saturate at these scenic views. Detouring from the principal route, the tour ascened to Bear Notch Road. From here, some of these views are highly recommended.

For breathtaking lush scenary, there are 3 stops, offering the splendor of the surrounding green canopy over the hills. Albeit arriving in June, one can imagine stunning green lush foliage during the fall season.

Because of the remote location, one will not encounter much traffic or people for that matter, but at the peak of summer months, or fall, traffic has the potential to be bumper-to-bumper.

But without a doubt, it is worth the trouble.