My Trip ~ Part 2of 3. ;-)
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| Sun, 04-27-2003 - 9:26am |
Daytona Beach – Long – an excerpt from my blog.
My DM has lived in a town near Daytona Beach for many years. There isn’t a hotel near her home and we didn’t want to stay with her, … There were four adults and one toddler. … so we stayed at a hotel.
I know next to nothing about that part of Florida. When I think of Daytona in particular, I think race week and bike week, noise and chaos. So … I surfed the Internet and located a hotel right on the traffic-free stretch of Daytona Beach where all the rooms have ocean views.
I was pleasantly surprised! The hotel was lovely and the staff couldn’t have been nicer! There was secure parking with unlimited valet service. There was a nice restaurant, a lounge with entertainment and a small dance floor, and a gift shop that had everything anyone might have forgotten at a reasonable price. There was a pool and health club and a poolside grill for outdoor food and beverages.
We stopped by the lounge just before dinner and late each night … toddler in tow … and I enjoyed huge pina coladas with whipped cream, pineapple spears, and a cherry! Delicious!
The beach is lovely despite the rip tide warnings and undertow. The sand is soft and gray-white. There are very few shells, no rocks, and no seaweed. With 85* air temps, 73* water temps, and lots of sun, the beach was a great place to spend our down time. We walked for an hour each morning and then ensconced ourselves on beach chairs under an umbrella to read, talk, and relax for the rest of the morning.
This is considered off-season for this part of Florida and the hotel was only at about 30% capacity. Perhaps this is why we got such royal treatment for such a great price. We are thinking this would make a good Easter trip each year to visit my DM. We’ll see.
Now there’s not much to do outside the hotel proper. There were no concerts at the Ocean Center … just a trade show … and the restaurants are the same nationwide chains you’d find at home. We managed to find a few locally owned restaurants that were excellent and when we weren’t dining at the hotel, we tried two.
Because is was Easter weekend and because of my DM’s Baptism, we spent lots of time at church … more than usual because she had to attend more than one service every day except Easter Sunday. We attended one with her from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
We spent time at my DM’s home visiting, talking, and catching up. She joined at the hotel a few times, too. My DM is doing quite well and Great Aunt Nellie who is 101 years old is doing well! God bless them both! We met her neighbors and at the reception after her Baptism on Saturday evening, we met all her friends. One of her cousins, who is only five years older than I, attended as well. I hadn’t seen her or her DH in 30 years. Great! Huh?
So that’s the Daytona Beach segment of the trip. We arrived Wednesday. Monday morning after breakfast we headed for Orlando.
More later, Board Buds!
F.

Poof!!! I'm gone!!
KaCee