Florida: Day 1

After a great night we slept like logs (or would it be driftwood in Florida?) and woke up to this view:

And out of the left-hand window was this marina:

To whoever the man was at the front desk when I checked in who gave us this room, you absolutely rock!

After taking a while to soak up the view, we left in our Eclipse and went to our favorite food chain that’s not in State College, but is everywhere else I’d want to live: Jamba Juice. If you’ve never heard of it, go check it out! One of their hallmarks is that they start with shaved ice, so the smoothies are just that: smooth. And if you order an orange juice, they literally grind up between 8 and 12 (or more?) WHOLE oranges, including the peel. It’s delicious. Doesn’t the logo even look yummy?

After our trip to jamba-land, we went to see my grandma, who seemed to be in wonderful spirits and maybe only a little less spunky than the last time I saw her. She had, on many occasions, whipped my cousins and I in almost any card game we played!

From there we went back to the Hard Rock Casino and walked around the outdoor area again (the same one from the previous night) and only found a few places open for lunch, but this Mexican place had pretty great food:

After lunch I snagged Heather in front of one of those palm tree courtyardesque-features (yes, that word is made-up, but I don’t really know what else you’d call them):

We met up with my aunt and cousin, her boyfriend and another family friend of theirs and went to dinner at a fabulous little chain of authentic Cuban restaurants called Las Vegas. I only say a little chain because at the first one, after we had consumed a pitcher of sangria and many appetizers, their kitchen literally caught fire! They put it out quickly, but needless to say could not continue to cook in it, so they sent us to another one a few miles away (having comped our drinks and food). By the time we got there, all of us were already stuffed. But we plowed through and ate another full meal! I highly recommend them if you ever see one…you won’t be disappointed! By the time we got back to the hotel room, I was so stuffed I think Heather had to roll me in!