Thursday: Wine tasting

Rainy went to work while Hank and I went to the local winery for their tour and wine tasting. We bought two bottles of their offerings. I learned that many folks who used to get headaches from red wines no longer do because more and more wines are aged in steel rather than in oak casks. It's the tannins produced by the red grape and the oak that cause headaches.

On the way we stopped at the Visitors' center where there was a vintage chevy on display.

I made the shallot mushroom cream sauce and overcooked a turkey breast to go along with it. That, some baked potatoes, and a salad were our evening meal. Then we all watched while Omorosa and Piers duked it out on Celebrity Apprentice.

Wednesday - Orlando to Leesburg

Two years ago at Rainy's we kept trying to spot the resident Sand Cranes- with no success. This year we had no sooner entered the development than there one was.

My plan had been to cook dinner - chicken breasts with a shallot mushroom cream sauce that Chef Pasche had taught us. But Rainy had already put a roast in the crockpot, so dinner was set.
We ran down to the Publix for a few things then unpacked and hung out until she got home. Then we had a good visit and watched some tv.

Hilton Grand Vacation Club

Our Unit

Tiny kitchen with no counter space and ugly view of back of microwave.


Bedroom is fine except there is very little storage and no mirror.

Cramped living room - furniture too close to tv


Bath has no stall shower - small jacuzzi tub has very high sides one has to climb over to take a shower. (how is that a handicapped bathrom?)
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A regular one bedroom unit



large kitchen - lots of counter space

Nice living area

jacuzzi in bedroom - and mirrors

stall shower

Turns out we aren't where we should be

I had a laundry list of things I dislike about the one bedroom units here. At the time share dog and pony show we learned that we are in one of the handicap units. The regular one bedroom units are quite nice. We'd have been a lot happier with our stay had we been in one of them.

And no, we didn't buy into their plan - although it is a lot more flexible than buying a timeshare it's still a very expensive deal. If you want two weeks worth of points it's over thirty grand plus a grand a year in maintenance and fees.

It rained like the dickens yesterday and there was a tornado warning for the area. We're all packed and the car is mostly loaded but I woke up early and can't get back to sleep. I made the mistake of running the dishwasher and it's noisy as heck so here I am on the computer.

We leave for Rainy's in Leesburg this morning. It's about an hour away.

Somebody STOP ME!

In exactly one hour we have the preview of this vacation resort (read 'timeshare').

I am afraid that my first words to the sales rep are going to be "I hate this fucking place. I loath detest and despise it. You would have to pay me real money to return."

Of course, I also hate the state of Florida (except for St. Augustine) so that doesn't help.

This morning, we went down to the tiny fitness center. There are several televisions. One was on, turned to a news channel. I got on a treadmill that was right in front of a tv which was, blessedly, off. A woman who was too stupid to work the remote herself but had to have her hubby do it got on the tradmill beside me and turned the channel -not to the news channel which the other tv was on, but to a different channel. Hell is having two competing tv's only four feet apart.

Worse, the channel she chose was a Christian broadcasting station with some brain dead female preacher who was clearly a Floridian, She had NO command of grammar nor syntax even though English was her native language. Yet this imbecile had the unmitigated gaul to tell us how to live our lives.

I punched the off button on my treadmill and stormed out of the gym, determined to walk back to our buuilding, which proved quite a chore as there is a useless lake in the center of the property. I finally called hubby (who by that time had had enough of the fitness room himself) and he came to pick me (and my steaming ears) up.

I now have in my pocket a list of all the things wrong with this place.

But I do hope I can wind down enough to sound rational rather than like a cast member from the Sopranos.

I keep repeating "I am an well educated person with a reasonably high intelligence quotient. I can be rational to a fault. Nothing will be served by going ballistic. I should rely on my Mr. Spock persona."

Please wish me luck.

Failing that, there is a roll of duct tape in the car.

Left behind

Yesterday we emptied the room at Castillo Real and check it TWICE. But when we unpacked our tech stuff at the Hilton Vacation Club I was missing the charger for my cell phone. I reckoned I had left it plugged in to the recepticle next to the bed and the cord had slipped down behind the night stand.
I called the hotel and explained the problem to the desk clerk. She sent a woman from housekeeping off to look but I think something was lost in the translation because houswekeeping came back with the information that there was "nothing left in the room".
O well, Easily enough replaced.

This morning we went out in search of a Radio Shack to buy replacement charger. We took Sassy. Hank stopped at the fountain in front of our building to take a picture. (Sassy loves fountains.) He set her on the fountain's rim for some shots.
We found the Radio Shack and then went for lunch at a Golden Corral. At dessert I reached into my purse to get Sassy. She was gone.
Hank had left her back at the fountain.
I was far more upset than one should be about a rubber duck, but Hank wasn't far behind me.
We scarfed down our dessert and rushed back (8 miles) to the Hilton. We pulled up to the front where we could see the fountain. No Sassy.
I ran to the fountain to see if she was in the water -- and there she was, happily floating in her element.,
It's amazing how attached one can get to a rubber duck.

The beer tasting evening

This evening, at the Hilton Vacation Club in Orlando, there was a beer tasting. Five beers. Two were very good indeed.

We toasted Greenie and Lesley who have recently bought a pub, The Eleanor Arms on the east end of London, in Bow.

Hank - the peanuts are making him thirsty.

Back in the room.