Orlando 2013: A Girl's Weekend....The Final Installment

On our final full day in Orlando, we got a really slow start.  We decided that it was going to be another beach day and decided to grab brunch before heading towards Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach.  He headed to Dexter's  - which is apparently rather happening on Sunday mornings.  We managed to snag three seats at the bar and although it took awhile to get our food...it was worth the wait!

Once we finally got on the road to Cocoa Beach, we hit a massive rain storm.  We were worried that the day was going to be a bust, but we didn't give up.  The weather finally started to clear and our first stop was capturing pics on I Dream of Jeannie Ln - in case you didn't know, I Dream of Jeannie was filmed in the Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach area. 

Even though it still looked like rain, we decided to brave the beach.....

Why yes, I do have Fred Flintstone feet!

Megan wrote in the sand to commemorate our visit to Cocoa Beach and even included the bottle from I Dream of Jeannie

The tide crept up on us and we lost drinks and magazines, but we took it all in stride.  To me, any day at the beach is a good day and it was a wonderful end to a great weekend!  If you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them here:

PART 1          PART 2          PART 3

I hope you enjoyed the recaps......have a wonderful weekend!

OH, WAIT!!!  I CAN'T END THIS POST WITHOUT GIVING A LITTLE SHOUT OUT TO TWO OF MY FAVORITE BLOGGERS:  KATIE FROM KATIE STORIES IS GETTING HITCHED TOMORROW....I AM SO EXCITED FOR HER!  AND I AM WISHING HEATHER FROM OUR LIFE IN A CLICK THE HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS....HER SPECIAL DAY IS TOMORROW AS WELL. BIG HUGS TO BOTH OF YOU!!! 

Orlando 2013: A Girl's Weekend Part 3

Yes, much later than expected, but here none the less!  Part three of "the girl's weekend".  If you missed the first two posts, you can catch up here:

Part 1 and Part 2    

This day was a busy one, so there are a ton of photos....sorry, not sorry!  Saturday started out with lunch at Gringo's in downtown Orlando....hands down some of the yummiest tacos ever!  You pick your own "protein"  and mine was of course black beans....they were to die for!

We walked around a bit downtown.....Jenn's husband Chris took some fun pics with the big girl camera...ummmm, he is MUCH better than I am!

I took this one

Before our next adventure, we decided to stop for a drink....gotta love the name...

The ladies decided (against my better judgement), to have a pickle juice shot.  For those of you that have been around for awhile you might remember my first attempt at these was during our Chicago Girl's Weekend bar crawl on St. Patrick's Day 2012....I was not impressed.  This time around I was pleasantly surprised and wouldn't be opposed  to having them again....Tabasco and all!

On Friday, Jennifer had mentioned how much fun she had had earlier in the year on an airboat ride on St. John's River.  Megan and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, so that was our next stop!

Here is our boat and a view back at the dock as we were leaving....

And we couldn't forget their resident mascot...Porkchop, who apparently will sit on command like a dog for saltine crackers.....what the what - that is some pig!

Apparently earlier in the year if you take the tour you will see many alligators throughout...we didn't realize that  it was gator hunting season so they were all hiding out.....we only got a glimpse of one little eyeball. You have to look hard, but it is in the center of the picture, right under the grass.....

 It was still a really fun tour and we were able to see other animals.....egrets

Cattle....the area was very flooded so much of the livestock were trudging through quite a bit of water, which made me sad, but they didn't really seem to mind....

We caught a glimpse of a bald eagle....

And quite a bit of really pretty scenery.....

That is an alligator nest.....

 And a tiki face carved into a tree....

Once our tour was over we saw this little guy on the edge of the river...we was wild but had ventured out of the water close to the parking lot....

 This guy has not wild, but still a little scary to hold...and he got heavy real quick!

After all this excitement we headed home to get ready for the evening.  We started out at Ceviche for dinner and Flamenco dancers.

The flamenco dancers were amazing to watch and the lady that was singing had a beautiful voice...I didn't understand a word she was saying, but she was very entertaining as were the musicians!

I kinda love this picture!

 I didn't get pictures of my food, but it was delicious....I started with Portobello Relleno (mushrooms stuffed with spinach, shallots and Manchego cheese and drizzled with sherry) and followed it with Gambas Al Ajillo (tender shrimp served sizzling in garlic and olive oil with red pepper flakes)...I would kill for that about right now!  Jennifer and I shared a pitcher of sangria and Megan ordered Tres Leches for us all to share for dessert...it was massive!

Then we headed over to a bar a short distance from the restaurant.  There were people wall to wall and let me tell you hot and humid doesn't even begin to describe it....and if you know me, I sweat at the drop of a hat.  When we got there at about 11 the "Power Hour" was just starting...that translates into 3 for 1 drinks...uugghhh...I am old!!!!

You can literally see the crazy sweat on my face, but I had to share, because I love this picture...DSLR selfie

At the end of the evening we grabbed one of those pedicabs to get us back to the parking garage.  Although, I didn't take a picture of the cab, we did manage to capture a couple of shots during the ride....everyone was weathering the heat much more gracefully than I!!!!

And that wraps up day 3.  If you made it through that epic photo dump you are truly a trooper. The final day will not be near as crazy and I am going to do my best to have it up before the weekend.  Thanks so much for stopping by!