Posted on

Place 81 – Day 3: Orlando,FL – Paradise Beach

Paradise Beach

We went to paradise beach today.

The weather was a little windy today, but much more muggy, but we headed out anyway.

We took some chairs and parasoles today to keep us out of the sun for a bit.

Kim and Abbie went in the sea and then went to try and find some surfboards, but were not successful.

We left the beach and headed home for a little bit to relax and get cooled down.

Dinner

We went out to a Chinese buffet, which was just $9 each!

We each stuffed ourselves and then came back and flopped on the sofas to watch Thor:Ragnarok, and that’s how the day ended.

Another chilled day at the beach, but should be something different tomorrow.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Advertisements
Posted on

Place 81 – Day 2: Orlando,FL – Florida Beach

Pancakes

Tom made pancakes this morning, as well as bacon, sausages & eggs.

We ate up and lazed about before we got ready.

Florida Beach

When in Florida, you have to go to a beach.

We went down the road and just found a beach somewhere, which was perfect as it wasn’t rammed.

We chilled at the beach for a few hours Kim and Abbie went in the sea and everyone got sufficiently brown.

We got a coffee whilst we were down there and Kim and Abbie looked in some shops.

We left all feeling very tired and headed back home.

Evening

We had a spinach, feta & beetroot salad for dinner and then Curtis watched the Leafs game.

We all slept at a decent time as we were tired and the both of us have colds, too.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Posted on

Place 81 – Orlando,FL 🇺🇸 – 6 Hour Airport Wait & Reunited

Early Start

We were up at 05:00 but luckily everything was packed and ready to go already, so we didn’t have to worry about that.

We got to the airport with more then enough time and we checked our bags and got to security.

Security took a bit of time but no longer than 15 minutes. We did have to take food out of our bags, though.

Once we got through, Curtis got a coffee and we waited to board the plane.

Austin > Orlando

We boarded the plane and were in the B section this time, so we were hoping we would get to sit together.

Luckily, we did get to sit together, which was a bonus.

The flight was just 2.5 hours, but neither of us felt too great.

We landed and got our bags before finding some seats to chill on.

6 Hour Wait

We waited for 6 hours for Kim’s family to arrive!

We got coffee, Kim napped a bit and we scrolled the internet aimlessly.

Reunion

Kim finally got to reunite with her family and see her sister Abbie for the first time in over 2 years!

We all got to the car rental area and got the car and then off we went.

Florida Home

We have rented an Airbnb for all of us and it is about 1 hour from the airport in the area near Cocoa Beach.

We arrived and were quite tired, but had to go and do a shop. Before we did that, Curtis had a phone interview for a possible job, which only took 10 minutes.

We went for a shop and got enough food for a week or so and then headed back for some dinner.

Dinner

Kim made pulled pork sliders and we had some mac and cheese to go with it, too.

We all finished dinner, cleared up and that was time for bed.

Kim’s family had been up for a while and it was technically 02:00 for them and we had been up since 05:00 with little sleep before that, so bed time it was.

We’ve come to Florida to chill, so we’ll try and do that.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Posted on

Place 80 – San Antonio,TX 🇺🇸 – Old Meets New

San Antonio

We actually got up on time today, got ready and drove out to San Antonio.

We had been told that it was a must see multiple times by different people, so we had to check it out.

We drove for around an hour, found some parking and went for a walk around!

We started with a walk around the river as it was the top thing to do there.

The river was beautiful. It felt very European, especially Italian. It was more of an urban river walk, than a traditional green river walk.

The city is a very interesting combination of old meets new as the majority of it is old but there are hints of new areas around. From each place we have visited in the US so far, we’ve not seen anything like it.

We walked up to the main plaza which has a cathedral on it also. The Spanish wanted to make it similar to Spain, so they made the cathedral the centre point and built a square around it, which is the Main Plaza.

We got hungry when we left this area and found a sandwich shop which we got a Banh Mi from and it was surprisingly good.

We were feeling refreshed after some food so we went to check out The Alamo which is a old military fort area from the 1700s.

The Alamo wasn’t very interesting so we left and had a brief walk down the other side of the river walk before heading to the car and driving home.

Once we got home, Curtis watched the Leafs game and Kim got some packing done. We then ate a pizza and went to get a hot chocolate from Starbucks with the hope it will make us sleep tonight!

We fly again tomorrow…it’ll be a fun time for the next week or so.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Posted on

Place 79 – Day 5: Austin,TX – Chicken Sh*t Bingo & Black’s BBQ

Crazy Lady

We had a very relaxed morning as we weren’t able to get much sleep due to lady going crazy, setting off a car alarm & shouting at 03:00 this morning!

We had plans to be up at a good time as well as go somewhere, but we changed our minds and got a good amount of sleep tomorrow.

Brunch

We went out early afternoon for a spot of brunch and we were hungry! We went to a well recommended diner called Magnolia Cafe.

We waited for 20 minutes for the table and once we got one it wasn’t all that great.

The coffee was tremendous, but the food was just ok. Kim got a pancake, which was burned and the house fries were cold.

We each had eggs and Curtis had bacon and a muffin also.

All in all it was just OK.

Magnolia Cafe | Austin,TX

Rating:- 6/10

Chicken Sh*t Bingo

A weird name, huh? Well, it was exactly what it sounded like.

We did some laundry briefly and then we drove out to the ‘saloon’ that was putting on the event.

We got there and got in line to buy some tickets. We eventually got our tickets and then it was a waiting game.

So, as the name suggests, you purchase a ticket and each ticket is numbered between 1 & 60. A chicken is put in a cage with numbers on the floor in squares and wherever it poops is the number that wins.

People got very passionate, but we were there for the show really.

Wierdly, it ended up being Curtis’ lucky number 13, but our numbers were 18,19,20 & 44, so we didn’t win.

We left right after that as there were just too many people.

Black’s BBQ

We got in the car and drove to a BBQ place had heard was good and it clearly was, judging by the line!

We had to queue for over an hour, so were hoping it was delicious.

We got inside and saw the sides and the meat and it all looked incredible.

We got 3 sides, green beans, mac & cheese and coleslaw.

We then got to the meat section and got a few slices of brisket and a rib each, which was more than enough. We also got some cornbread which we didn’t like.

The meat and sides were outstanding. Delicious and a pretty good price.

Terry Black’s BBQ | Austin,TX

Rating:- 9/10

Wine

We got back home and drank some wine which our Airbnb host had given us earlier today, which he gave along with chocolate covered strawberries, which was very nice to receive!

We chilled out for the evening and are having a good early night due to heading out for the day tomorrow.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Posted on

Place 79 – Day 4: Austin,TX – Axe Throwing & Monster Jam!

Axe Throwing

We slept in and had about 10 hours sleep, which was excellent!We left the house and went to Urban Axes, which is an indoor axe throwing place.We booked in for 15:15 and went for a coffee at a coffee shop nearby.We got back to Urban Axes, filled in our waivers and threw some axes! It was an hour of axe throwing but this was shared with 6 of us in total, as we joined in with a family.

We did a small tournament at the end and we both did alright!

We left the axe place and drove back home to relax briefly before heading back out again.

Monster Jam

We went out for some food before we went into the Monster Jam. We got to the event centre but as we needed food we stopped to see what food there was around.We found a German pub to go to, so we took the short walk down to that. It was very busy in here, but we got a table.Curtis ordered a Bratwurst and Kim got a pulled pork sandwich.

The food here was just OK, but it filled us up a bit.We ate up and then headed back to the event centre and into Monster Jam.We had pretty good seats and the show started shortly after we entered.There was first a monster truck parade, which was loud!

We then saw the first event which was racing. This was alright, but ended a bit too quick.

There was then some ATV racing involved and then monster truck two wheel challenges, donut challenges, more ATV racing and monster truck freestyle.

We left the event having had a pretty good time, but it wasn’t as good as we thought it would have been.

Monster Jam

Rating:- 7/10

Downtown At Night

We walked for 20 minutes to get to the main party area to check it out. There were a lot of bars but they went all that great, so we left. It did look cool at night, though.

We got a Lyft home, watched something when we got back and then headed to bed.Another busy day but good fun!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Posted on

Place 79 – Day 3: Austin,TX – Horse Riding, Shooting & Barton Springs Pool

Ranch Experience!

Horse Riding

We got up with plenty of time to get ready, but someone else was in the bathroom, so this meant we really had to rush when it was available.We hopped in the car and drove to a ranch called Lone Star Ranch. We got there, were welcomed really nicely and signed some forms.We got led out by our wrangler to meet our horses and get helmets.Curtis got a white horse called West and Kim got a dark brown horse called Julian.We were shown what to do and how to control the horses and off we went!We walked though creeks, up steep hills, down steep hills, through jungle areas and beautiful fields. We even got to trot a little bit, which was exciting!

Ranch Animals

After our horse ride, we had some time to kill, so we had a snack and said hi to the other animals on the ranch. There are some sheep and goats, as well as some cats, so we said hi to those.

Washers

We played the game washers for a bit, which is similar to cornhole. Both of us got much better at this as time went on.

Shootin’

We were next taken by Robert to do some clay pigeon shooting. We were using military style pump action shotguns and it turned out Curtis was pretty good at shooting but we both had a great time, if not a bruised shoulder.

We shot for a while and it was great fun!After we finished shooting, we olayed some washers with Robert, and Kim beat everyone!We then went leave but bumped into the owner who was very lovely. We got talking and she was interested in our blog, too, which is great! We thanked everyone again and headed to the car.

Lone Star Ranch | Austin,TX

Rating:- 10/10

Barton Springs Pool

We got into some shorts as it had gotten warm and we drove to Barton Springs pool.Before we paid our $9 entry fee and entered, we sat outside and ate our chicken wraps we bought.This pool is a natural pool which has been created in the middle of a large river/creek.The water was incredibly cold, but it was beautiful and the sun was in the perfect spot.

There was a diving board there, too, which Kim took full advantage of!

We spent a couple of hours here and then drove back home, but it took a while due to rush hour traffic.

Accidental Nap & Dinner

We had been out non-stop for over 8 hours, so we were very tired.We showered and then watched one video and before we were having dinner, we had an accidental nap! It felt amazing to get some solid sleep for an hour.We then had dinner, which was the exact same as yesterday.We have another fun day planned tomorrow, but just a bit less hectic.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale