Operation: Golden Snitch Complete!

 Friday, 25 Feb was our last full day in Florida. Hotel checkout was at 11am and we used every last minute of our time. We of course all slept in, probably a little too long, but made it work. Housekeeping checked on us at least twice to see if we had left yet. At precisely 11am we rolled out of our hotel room. I wanted to pop into the hotel gift shop one last time which also allowed me to give away the three one-ride express passes we didn't use from the day before. Colleen had also made these cute Platform 9 3/4 tickets to give out, but we never brought them into the park so Charlotte placed them all over the Harry Potter items in the gift shop. I didn't find any last minute items I couldn't live without, so we hopped in the car and headed towards home.

We decided to stop for lunch on the way and I remembered Florida has the Mellow Mushroom. Lucky for us it was less than 10 minutes from where we were! I had a tasty mushroom pizza, Charlotte a cheese and pineapple pizza, Colleen had a burger, and Ross a veggie calzone (he is my Ben Wyatt after all!). 

After arriving back at Villa Jynx, we relaxed, did some packing, blogging, and thinking about dinner. Charlotte and Colleen were not interested in going out to eat, so Ross and I had a little date out in Sanford. We found Henry's Depot which was like a food court. They had the restaurant Dharma - Southern Vittles, a vegan restaurant Ross had tried one other time. The food was excellent!

We had a little time before we wanted to get to bed, so we walked up and down the main drag. It had great atmosphere and a lot going on! We stopped in a few shops here and there, including an antique shop. I had spotted a bunch of hats in the window which drew me in. Low and behold, I found a hat that really caught my eye! I tried it on and it really looked nice. I put it back and kept browsing. Meanwhile, Ross stepped out to find a bathroom. I wandered the shop for a while, going back to the hat another couple of times. After the third visit back to the hat, I decided I had to have it. It was handmade by a hat maker in Italy. The woman at the counter was telling me a bit about who she got the had from and even took my photo wearing it to send to the previous owner. We had a nice chat about the area, the hat, and our time at Universal. By then, Ross returned and it was time to get home.

Our alarms were set for 3:30am, which meant an early bed time. The last time we flew out of Orlando, the check-in and TSA lines were obnoxiously long. We planned on giving ourselves 2 hours to get through everything and still have a little time before our flight.

We made it out the door on time and arrived at the airport by about 5:20 for our 7:40 flight. The lines were long, but not as bad as the last time. It still took us about 30 minutes for the process. Nobody can beat the Milwaukee airport! I forgot to check in to our flight right at the 24 hour mark, which meant that we would be one of the last to board. On Southwest that pretty much guaranteed we would not be sitting next to each other. Ross and Charlotte ended up in aisle seats across from one another and I was in the aisle in the last row. Not too bad! I took advantage of Southwest's free movies and watched Eternals while Ross enjoyed the latest Bond movie, No Time to Die. 

From 80 degrees to 15, it was a brisk return home! But home is home and we were happy to be back. The cats seemed to be happy we were home, but it was probably because they hadn't been fed yet for the day. After laundry was started, solar panels cleaned, and unpacking mostly done, I took Charlotte back to Oak Creek.

PHEW! What a vacation! It was fun, exciting, and exhausting. We didn't take nearly as many photos as we could have, but we did just enjoy the time together. I'm super happy to have had a trip like that, but don't need to do another one like it any time soon. We are currently planning a trip to Vermont this June, which should be a lot more relaxing and low key! Until then!

Stats for the last 24 hours:

Friday Steps: 5,472
Saturday Steps: 4,452
Temp change: 60 degree drop
Cats on my lap within hours of being home: 2
Length of Saturday afternoon nap: 3 hours



Comments

  1. MeemFebruary 27, 2022 at 9:20 PM

    THANKS to the two of you for including me in the Universal adventure!
    It was a wonderful week, made extra wonderful by you/s and Charlotte!
    So many things to see and do in so little time.
    THANKS Again!
    Love ~ Meem

    PS
    What am I supposed to do with the 'brick' of Tofu you left behind? LOL!

    ReplyDelete

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