A Visual Tour of Orlando Theme Parks

On Monday morning I was so excited to see an email from a representative with Marriott asking if I could post this fun infograph on my blog! You bet I will!

I will never forget my trip to Disney World...and wont forget how my parents told us we were going. I was in 5th grade and my brother was in 1st grade, we were taking a walk and my mom said guess where we are going tomorrow? My first thought was school...duh, it was going to be the one of the last days of school before Thanksgiving break. She said no and I guessed all the attractions around San Antonio and she said no to all of them and for me to think BIGGER! I said, "Disney Land?" She replied, "BIGGER!" and then I said, "Disney WORLD?!?!" YES!!!! Pack your bags because we're leaving tomorrow!

We were there for the 25th Anniversary and we stayed at the Polynesian Resort across the lake from the Magic Kingdom and we also spent some time at Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studio (Animal Kingdom was under construction).

{This Infographic was Powered by Marriott}

The only downside was that Cinderella's Castle was decorated like a cake and my brother claims he doesn't really remember it...I guess I really don't remember much from 1st grade either...sorry bro!

What are your Disney memories? 

Houston to Destin and Back

Over the weekend I took my Norwegian friend for a road trip from Houston, TX to Destin, FL. On our way there we took a detour to New Orleans so she could see the city, we intended on getting some lunch but all the cafes around Jackson Square had a really long wait. So walked around the square and took pictures of St. Louis Cathedral and then we continued on our way. Before getting into NOLA we hit some pretty bad traffic from the LSU game and we didn't have time to stop at the USS Alabama before they closed. We rolled into Destin right was the sun was setting! Perfect timing!

The next day started with with us relaxing on the beach, we also took in some stand-up paddle-boarding (SUP). And neither of us fell which we were happy about! Around lunch we headed to the docks to board the boat that was going to take us parasailing (we used Sun Dogs next to AJ's Seafood). She had never been parasailing and this trip was all about doing new things! After that we headed back to the hotel for some more beach time before our sunset/dolphin cruise. We were able to get the dolphins to swim with the boat which was really cool!

{we like to wear safety gear!}

{thank you for the awesome pic GoPro!}

On the way back we made a pit-stop in Mississippi for a Swamp Tour at Gator Ranch. We held a baby alligator and enjoyed a ride in an air boat. They had plenty of gators for us to see and we saw two that were actually in the swamp (wild).

Our time in Destin was short but it was fun! There are actually quite a few stops you can make along I-10 to make your trip even more fun! You can stop at the Infinity Science Center and the stop to see the Blue Angels in Pensacola (we couldn't do this because of the government shutdown), there is even a little zoo along the way.

Have you ever taken a road trip? If so where to?

Key West: Day 3 & 4

Saturday we had the day to do whatever we want. The hotel had Jet Ski rentals so we decided to rent one and go on a trip around the island. It was really cool! We saw this are where the Navy was carving out a “hide-a-way” base for submarines but since they were doing this during the space race they quickly figured out that you could see these channels from space and that there weren’t so hidden so they scrapped the project. They were about 90ft and now they are about 60ft, freaked me out not going to lie. You can see them from google earth too. Sliding over the crystal clear water was really cool! It was only a few feet deep. Then when we got to the southern tip of the island our guide had us cut the engines and wait and see if some dolphins would show up; and they did!!! After that we went to the pool and had some more drinks…yummy Bahama Mamas! And after eating an early dinner we went for a drive north on Highway 1. We drove all the way to Marathon Key, seeing some funny named Keys, privately owned Keys and seven mile long bridges; of course the top was down! Made our way back and just rested; we surprisingly went to bed really early! But aren’t vacations for relaxing! 

Sunday came and it was time to leave, we made our way to the small airport where I had my 1^st slice of key lime pie (haha, I was so full at all the other restaurants)! Then we headed to Tampa (side note, had some Mexican food at the airport there and they didn’t have refried beans! Don’t know what kind of Mexican restaurants they run in Florida but that’s BS!) And then made it home to Houston! Good to be back!

Key West: Day 1 & 2

Since we didn’t have an official honeymoon we kind of count this as it! Six months after our wedding and over the Thanksgiving holiday we decided to go to Key West, Florida. We get onto a little puddle jumper (18 passenger plane) and head for the keys! Since this was our first real vacation together we even rented a red mustang convertible! Ugh, so wonderful! We drove around the island to be familiar with our surroundings and then we headed to the hotel to relax, have some drinks and figure out what we were going to do for Thanksgiving dinner. To our surprise when we got to our room Matt’s parents had sent us a welcome basket with coronas, chips and salsa! So sweet! I had plenty of time to plan this trip so I found tons of coupons online for free drinks and deserts. So we decided to go to Two Friends Patio for dinner. Since it was thanksgiving night the busy part of the island wasn’t so busy; we had a really good dinner and then went across the street for some drinks. I was feeling pretty sleep though so after a few drinks we headed back to the hotel.

The next day before our parasailing trip we had breakfast at the same place we had dinner. Just as good too! The waiter asked, “What can I get you to drink? Orange juice, coffee, one of our grey goose specials?” Matt said, “I didn’t know I had that option!” It was funny. So after that we waited on the pier for our boat to take out into the water for an adventure! Parasailing was so much fun, but if I had to choose between that or sky diving I would do sky diving again….I don’t know, something about the water makes me nervous :P After that we hung around the square for a while and then headed for our next activity. We went sunba diving but since the water was choppy (making the water murky) we couldn’t go to the reef, we should have asked for our money back then and there. Instead we went to this lame area and didn’t see any fish, just other stuff. And the girl that did it didn’t know her job very well b/c she didn’t put enough weight on my weight belt and I kept floating up. So I think it’s safe to say we won’t be doing that again! After we got cleaned up we went to dinner on Mallory Square at Hot Tin Roof. The food was wonderful! And if it hadn’t been cloudy we would have had a perfect view of the sunset, but…you can’t predict the weather.