I thought I’d do a little recap of a long weekend trip David and I took a little while back to Florida. David’s childhood best friend’s sister got married and we decided to make a long weekend out of it!
We flew out of Newark down to Orlando on Spirit and made a necessary stop for lunch at David’s favorite, Del Taco. I was pleasantly surprised at how many healthy options they’ve added to their menu recently. I tried the avocado bowl and bean tostada and both were excellent. It’s a good thing we don’t have Del Tacos in NJ, I’d be eating mucho mucho tacos. ;-)
We then headed to our hotel and got checked in. We stayed at the Hilton Buena Vista Palace on Disney property and I would definitely recommend it. The rooms were clean, the staff was so friendly and helpful, and the pool had an island resort vibe. There’s a wonderful buffet breakfast with everything you can imagine, a 24 hour Starbucks and marketplace on the ground floor, they sell discounted park tickets and have Disney shuttles, and they have a fireworks view in certain rooms (we lucked out with a suite on the 26th floor-room 2642-and had an amazing view of Epcot). There’s also a sky bridge that connects the hotel to Disney Springs.
After getting situated in our room we immediately got changed and headed down to the pool for a cocktail and quick swim. There’s something so refreshing about ditching the dreary, cold NJ weather for a few hot days under the palm trees.
When we were good and prune-y we headed back to our room and got changed. We headed out for a quick and light dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and then checked out Disney Springs.
David shopped at the cigar shop, we walked around some of the souvenir shops and stopped to listen to some live music and then we tried the Coca Cola experience.
For $10 you get a tasting flight of 16 soft drinks from around the world. We tasted everything from lychee flavored soda from Indonesia to a grapefruit flavored sports drink from Spain. Our favorites were an East African ginger flavored soda called Stoney Tangawizi, and the grapefruit rind aperitif from Italy called Beverly. Most people think Beverly is too bitter but we loved it. After that we were off to bed because we had a wedding to attend the next day!
Saturday was sunny and breezy, a beautiful day for a wedding. After getting gussied up and breakfast we started what turned out to be nearly a 3 1/2 hour drive from Orlando to Santa Maria Island. It was only a 90 mile journey but we didn’t realize Disney and beach traffic would be so brutal. We literally had to pull into a Wendy’s so I could drive the rest of the way and David could change into his dress clothes so we were on time for the ceremony. It was my 1st time driving a GMC Yukon XL and it’s like driving a boat! I was white knuckled the rest of the way making sure I stayed in my lane. Way too big of a car for me, but a gorgeous truck nonetheless.
We arrived just in the nick of time for the ceremony and it was absolutely gorgeous.
The bride’s family rented a palatial beach house on the water and we were seated under a tent facing the ocean. Porpoises were playing in the water behind the ceremony as the couple said their vows and I was honored to be invited to such a lovely affair.
Every little detail from the menu to the centerpieces to the cakes (amazingly baked by the bride’s uber talented friend) were so beautifully executed. We had a blast catching up with old friends, walking on the beach, and laughing way too hard until our stomachs hurt.
David was asked to be best man at his best friend’s upcoming wedding in Michigan in September! It was a really special moment we’ll never forget. It truly doesn’t matter how far away you live from special people in your life, when you get together it’s like no time at all had passed. At the end of the evening it was sad saying our goodbyes, but we had a long drive back to Orlando.
That’s the first half of our trip recapped, I’ll be back soon with the second half. Thanks for reading, have a fabulous day! :)
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