Florida
Jason and I left work early Friday so we could drive the 6 hours to Orlando, Florida to the hotel we got through our time share. We left at 3pm and got there around 8:30pm (5 ½ hours not bad!!) When we checked in I was in awe!! The hotel wasn’t just a hotel but a resort!! I was plesantly surprised when we got to our room and saw how nice it was. I like our timeshare and all, but some of the places we have stayed are not exactly top notch. They are all nice but some are in need of a little renovation. Not this place!!!

We ended up in a two bedroom condo. I know…why two bedrooms when there was just two of us? No we didn’t sleep in separate rooms. They only had a two bedroom available when we booked the reservation and since it’s through the timeshare we only paid $69 a night for the room, thats half price!!!! Yes $69 for a two bedroom, two bathroom, living room, kitchen, balcony, the place even had a washer and dryer AND a Jacuzzi tub!!! We paid just as much for a one bedroom for one night in West Ashley that wasn’t as nice on Valentines Day!! I’m pretty pleased with the timeshare at the moment…can ya tell?
Anyway…by the time we got to the room and settled it was about 9pm so we decided to head to the club house to get some grub. The club house was closing at 10pm but they had a guy playing music (he was pretty dang good) and we were able to order some of the best nachos I have ever had!!!
Of course Jason made a friend at the bar. He is a social butterfly, although sometimes it’s hard to tell. So they get to talking and we start doing shots, by the time we got back to the room I was pretty lit and passed out shortly after!!!
The next morning we took our time getting up and decided to go explore a little. The plan orignally was to go to one of the attractions in Orlando but it was raining when we got up. We found an
Premium outlet mall while hunting down a shirt for Jason and ended up spending a couple of hours there. They had EVERYTHING. Polo, DKNY, Coach, Puma, Movado and that’s just to name a very few. Needless to say we both came home with a few things!!!
With our shopping done, it was time to head to Tampa to get the tickets for the concert later that night. We went ahead and got ready because Tampa is an hour away from Orlando. I found general admission floor tickets on craigslist so we had to meet the guy whenever he was ready. This was around 2pm. By the time we got the tickets we had 5 hours to kill before the concert started
We were driving around Ybor City, which is a small town I had never heard of in Tampa, when we noticed one of the roads was blocked off. We had nothing better to do so we got a little closer and realized there was a street festival going on.
We parked and ended up right in the middle of Fiesta Day!! This was a pleasant surprise!!! Fiesta Day is a tribute to the Cuban, African Cuban, German, Italian, Jewish and Spanish immigrants that came to Ybor City in the late 1800's. We walked around for awhile and decided to eat at a little Columbian place we passed while trying to park for the festival. From the outside this place looked like a hole in the wall (which usually ends up being the best places) but as soon we walked in we realized we were wrong.
We were in
Columbia Restaurant. The original Columbia Restaurant is the oldest Spanish restaurant in the United States and one of the largest (with 1,700 seats in 15 dining rooms taking up 52,000 ft²) in the world. Founded in 1905 in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, the landmark is still owned by the Hernandez/Gonzmart family and serves Cuban cuisine.
It was BEAUTIFUL inside!! The place was crowded and they also had seating blocked off in another dinning room for a wedding. There was a 30 minute wait which went by super fast at the bar. The service was excellent and the food was amazing. I had the 1905 salad that they make with their own garlic dressing and the Spanish bean soup. Jason had the chicken with rice, bean and plantains, neither one of us had ever had plantains before and they were delicious!!!
Finally it was time for the concert. Ill post another blog with some pics on that maybe tomorrow.