May 13, 2010 Today was going to be Theme Park Day #2. Thank God we decided it was not worth it! After having spent the day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure we had already ruled-out another day at Universal Studios... we considered SeaWorld as it had come highly recommended by several of our short-term British friends we met on this trip... hubby even wanted to consider Aquatica ~ despite the fact that our hotel has three large pools, a jacuzzi, an amazing water slide, and a lazy river that can probably stand-up to most water parks. What did we do today?? We did what two, hard-working adults should do on vacation ~ slept-in and then spent the majority of our day at our hotel water park!! It was fantastico!
We started the day by my blogging (finally) and hubby sleeping-in (for the first time). Then we strolled over to IHOP where we quickly decided it was dirty, it was old, they didn't have chocolate, chocolate chip pancakes... and we weren't going to eat there. We paid for our iced teas and walked five minutes up the road to Denny's, yet again. Denny's was clean, cheap, and had a better menu. Besides, the waitress knew us by now ~ especially since she had dumped an entire glass of tea and ice on hubby previously in the week. We were nice about it so she thought we were just the greatest tourists ever. WHO is the tourist that gets mad at their waitress for making a mistake?? Seriously. Sooooome people.
After eating we took the trolley up to the top of I-drive and wandered around at some touristy shops ~ we are both good at being wanderers on vacation. Two ladies from the Department of Defense convention had recommended we check-out Salt Island Restaurant so we found it and looked over the outdoor displayed menu. They were closed so hubby got the phone number and decided to call later for dinner reservations. Had we been interested and willing to stick around, they offered a happy hour special of 25 cent oysters, $3 margaritas & $3 beer from 4pm to 7pm. It sounded like the ladies at the DOD had enjoyed that special the day previously. Hubby and I both gagged at the thought of fresh oysters! Yucko! We walked down I-drive going in and out of shops. We purchased a few souvenirs, had some conversations with a couple of people, and slowly made our way back down I-drive closer to the area of our hotel. It was really, really hot today so we tried to stay indoors as much as possible.
We got back to the hotel and spent the afternoon at the hotel's water park ~ as I like to call it! The Hilton Orlando has a lazy river that goes on... and on... and on.. plus an adult pool, a big other pool with basketball hoops, a tall spraying fountain and a waterslide that is made for kids and adults! We had a blast! I was a bit timid at trying the waterslide but the lady at the top said to me "You go down once, you come back and go down 10 times, You try it!" Well, she was right!! I went down and then practically ran up the stairs wanting to go again. She just laughed at me!! Hubby was so awesome about me and my pool/water addiction this week ~ he got in the lazy river with me EVERY single day and he even went down the waterslide at the hotel. Frankly, I think he enjoyed himself at the pool as much as I did. He spent a couple of hours reading his book in the shade while I floated around the lazy river but he didn't get hot because they have small misters that went off by him every few minutes so he was nice and cool. This was the single best hotel waterpark I have ever been too! They have a big food court/bar area in the middle of the pools so lots of people were eating buffalo wings and drinking strawberry pina coladas today ~ strange how one person starts and then everyone follows. It did look good but we had Denny's and I had Baskin-Robbins pistachio ice cream just before we got in the pool.
So, we finally got out of the pool ~ every night my toes were completely wrinkled. Hubby was beat so he took a nap and I decided to update this blog before we had to get ready for our 8:45 pm reservations at Salt Island. Lo and behold... hubby started mumbling in his sleep and I went to check on him and realized my computer was a full hour behind and it was 8:21 pm and he was still sleeping and we were not ready!!! I woke hubby and told him I had forgot about the time difference and we were late so get-up, get-up. He gets up and starts throwing his clothes together in a suitcase and mumbling around and finally I realize ~ he thinks it is time to get-up and go to the airport. He was still basically asleep!! I busted-up laughing and stopped and told him it was only Thursday and we were late for our dinner reservations. Then he finally started laughing. We threw clothes on, caught the trolley, and ended-up at the restaurant about fifteen minutes late ~ pretty good, I thought.
Salt Island is an experience. I would highly recommend it! The scenery alone is something to behold. The food at Salt Island is not just "good" ~ it's nice. Very nice. After talking to the DOD ladies, we had asked the guy in the store across the street about them earlier in the day and he had RAVED about the porkchops. Who raves about a pork chop??? Well, now... me. It was the best pork chop I had in my life. No kidding. Anyway... back to this neat restaurant... I know we went late and most people were leaving as we arrived but this place should be PACKED. I think it is a hidden gem. The prices can be quite expensive ~ a minimium of $20 a plate ~ but they had three mouth-watering specials ~ crab cake, tilapia, coconut shrimp, 12 oz steak, porkchop, etc.. ~ all between $10 and $14. The meals come with a wonderful spicey bread and two sauces ~ one being a curry sauce with a hint of ginger. I was in luv with this stuff! I wasn't even hungry when we got there but the food tasted different, looked beautiful, and was fantastic. It has a Caribbean flair and boasts how fresh the seafood is. I liked the bread, I liked the house salad with a warm vinagrette dressing, and I loved my crab cake/pork chop combo. Actually, I ordered the crab cake with coconut shrip and talapia. Hubby ordered the pork chop and roasted jerk chicken. We split everything ~ except I don't like shrimp so he got those. Again, wonderful food and a fantastic experience.
We took the trolley home... and hubby was asleep by 10:30pm. I had to check on my Farmville crops because I had planted 4-day watermelons and I didn't know if my dog had ran way (he had not!). He fell asleep mumbling something about my farm dog running away ~ which cracked me up!
Wondering about our names? These are our travel names - because everyone calls us by our first names on flights, tours, etc... and they pronounce our names "Eee-duh" and "Jaw-un" ...Every. Single. Time. :)
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