In our last blog we started our three day road trip and headed to Fort Myers. As I write this blog, yet another hurricane (Helene) has come through and devastated the west coast of Florida. Fort Myers is still recovering from Hurricane Ian and it got hit again. Luckily, it was not as bad as two years ago.
Scott and I started the day with a delicious breakfast at Ella Mae’s Diner in the hotel. This was one of the best breakfasts we have ever had. The service was outstanding and the food was delicious! I had the avocado toast and as you can see below, it was no ordinary avocado toast.
Our first stop on our way to Ocala was Sun City Center to visit Scott’s uncle Bob. We had a lunch at his community golf club cafe and then headed to Ocala.
Change of Plans
Scott and I were about 10 min into our trip to Ocala when we got a text from our friends that they suddenly had a family emergency. So change of plans – we’re heading to Orlando. We were about two and half hours from Orlando and decided to stay in Downtown. We booked a room at the Embassy Suites “on the lake”. This was a pretty old hotel, but we still paid close to $300/night! In addition, they don’t have on-site parking. In the photo below, I’m looking at the lake!
After wandering a few blocks downtown, we ended up at the Smash Burger restaurant. Scott liked it, but it was not my favorite. It’s the type of restaurant where you place your order at the window and then they bring your food to you. They have about eight specialty burgers and I just wanted a plain lettuce and tomato burger. I got it, but it was literally ice cold. (no joke – burger too, like it came out of the fridge).
Needless to say, we ended our evening in DT Orlando early, so we could get a good night’s sleep.
Daytona Beach Here We Come!
Daytona Beach is less than an hour from Orlando. We had reservations at the Hilton Oceanfront and I called to see if we could check in early. Luckily, they had rooms. This is also a very old hotel and it reminded me of Vegas.
I reserved an ocean front with a patio and this is what we got! Crazy! The drone footage Scott took turned out awesome (be sure to watch the video – link below).
Daytona Beach
After we checked in, Scott and I headed down to the beach to check it out. This sandy beach is as hard as a rock! This is why cars can drive on part of it.
We walked the boardwalk in both directions and came upon a very cool memorial, dedicated to the Daytona 200, a motor cross race on the beach.
Dangerous Weather
We soon noticed a squall was coming, so we headed into Joe’s Crab Shack for a light lunch. Joe’s is located on the pier at the beach.
Scott and I wanted to head to wear the cars drive on the beach, and thought had a weather window. Boy were we wrong!
We sheltered at the Landshark Bar and after an hour headed back home. First stopping at a souvenir shop to get some goodies!
Unfortunately, the rain never let up and we ended up as drowned rats. Because the weather never let up, we had dinner at the hotel. The sunset was beautiful although we could only see it from the hallway of the hotel.
Since we haven’t on the ocean before, we were excited to see the sunrise. Again, be sure to watch the video for the time lapse sunrise. Our three day road trip was over on Labor Day and it was time to head home. Would we go back? Probably not, but there are a number of places we do want to explore like Mt Dora and Crystal River Springs. So another road trip is in our future.
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Cheers, Scott and Ally
