Our Florida Trip: Space Shuttles, Oceans and Beach Villages

Well here you are, the quick run-down of our trip to warm, sunny Florida.

On Friday night we drove to New Hampshire so we could make the early flight in the morning.  I won't go into the entire travel day because it was pretty uneventful; basically, we made it on time and I don't really like Southwest Airlines' "prison rules" seating methodology.

On Saturday we hung around the pool with Rob's mom and later went out to dinner with her, Rob's stepdad, and some of their friends.  We had a lot of fun (and a lot of drinks, whoops!).  It would've been a great night but for the massive gluten attack that hit me when I got home.  One of the worst feelings in the world is throwing up and not feeling better.

The next day Rob and I frolicked about on the beach.  It was too cold for me to go into the beach (yeah yeah, I'm from Maine and I'm a wuss) but we sat for a good 45 minutes just watching the waves and enjoying each other's company.  We went on a goofy little nature walk which was more like a wooden walkway to nowhere, and then ate a delicious homemade meal before going to bed early.

 

On Monday, Rob and I did our first and only tourist-y thing: toured the Kennedy Space Center.  If you are ever in Florida and you are a nerd, you should definitely go to the Kennedy Space Center.  It was nuts, yo. We paid a little extra and got to go inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, where they assemble freaking shuttles.  We even saw the remains of the shuttle Endeavour! WHAT?! I've never been all that into space, unlike my nerd husband, but this tour was freaking amazing.  We also got to see the launch pads from which Apollo 11 and the Challenger took off, got to sit/lay down in models of moon capsule things, went into the shuttle simulator (which was kind of lame, admittedly), and saw the original mission control consoles from the Apollo flights.  Funny story: they told us that there was more computing power in a digital watch than in the entire room of consoles.  Anyway, it was totally worth the money we spent on it and I highly recommend it.

 

The next day (Tuesday) we spent on the beach, and it was finally warm enough to go swimming.  Rob told me that as a child he always built sand "dams" to see if he could stop the waves.  We built a "wall" together, along with our "castle" and "serf houses" to see how well we could protect them.  Spoiler alert: not well.  But it was fun anyway and I love being a total goofy nerd with my husband.  I'm pretty sure everyone walking by thought we were just that. Also, if you're wondering why I'm prancing around like an idiot, it's because Rob wanted to capture a picture of me prancing around like an idiot. Also, appreciate my muffin top.

 

Tuesday was also the day that Rob got the call from Santa Fe confirming that he had the job! It was very exciting and in a way, I think pretty cool that we found out while relaxing and sunning ourselves on the beach.  After that happy little piece of news we drove into Cocoa Beach, where we had lunch with my friend Dorrie.  Dorrie and I have known each other since 4th grade and were always the best of friends.  I hadn't seen her since high school graduation so it was pretty awesome to catch up again.  We also opened our Christmas gifts from Rob's mom and chatted about our beasties.  

On our last day I intentionally bought a later ticket so we could enjoy the day without having to rush to the airport.  We built yet another sand village which was quickly destroyed and scratched ourselves up on some rocks in the ocean.  We tried to go to Orlando early to eat P.F. Chang's, but we couldn't find it in the ridiculous, labyrinthine mall in which is was located, so I ended up dining on potato chips, carrots, and candy. Yay, gluten-free diets.  After lots of flying and driving we got home by 12:30 am or so and totally crashed.

All in all we had a really good time.  When Rob and I go on vacation we tend to do a lot more relaxing than tourist-ing.  Honestly I'm a lot happier just sitting alone with my husband in front of the ocean than riding roller coasters, and I was reminded of this simple joy many times throughout our trip.  I'm a very lucky girl.

Anyway I hope you all had a great week and enjoyed the guest posts!

Our Anniversary Weekend, ¡Ahora con Muchas Fotos!

We are back!

As you all know, Rob and I went on a little trip to the sunburn factory BEACH for our anniversary this weekend.  It was in a word lovely and I wanted to share it with all my fantastic blog readers.

Quick note: I didn't bring my DSLR on this trip, only because I knew from experience that I'd worry constantly about getting sand in it/getting it stolen.  My point and shoot worked just fine for what I wanted to accomplish, which was to chronicle this wonderful weekend.

On Friday Rob came back from his seemingly interminable camping trip in the White Mountains at around 5 pm.  He wasn't quite as eager as I was to hop back into the car for another 2 hours after already driving 3 that day, but he was a trooper and did it anyway. After stopping to get some yummy, delicious, healthy food Taco Bell for him (yes, I did the cross-out joke twice in one post, wanna fight about it?) we were on our way.  We stopped at my favorite restaurant in the entire world, Chipotle, for dinner.  Can I just say how excited I am that Chipotle is gluten-free friendly?

After satisfying my addiction for the time being, we finally made it to Old Orchard Beach.  I had a little bit of a freak out while driving over the train tracks (train phobia alert!) but we got to our room unscathed. We stayed in a lovely little hotel right on the beach, far away from the boardwalk and Jersey Shore wannabes. It was absolutely perfect.  Plus we had a neat little kitchenette and a bed that came out of the wall (WHAT?!)!

We went for a little walk down the beach and admired how far away we were from the melee of downtown:

As a quick aside, I'm pretty sure that we are be the only people below the age of 60 who intentionally try to stay away from crowds of people while on vacation.

Anyway we spent the entire day on Saturday laying on the beach and swimming in the ocean (as much as we could, anyway...was a little chilly).  It was absolutely amazing to just relax with my husband and feel like we were a million miles away from everything.  A few times I forgot I was in Maine, what with the white sand, sunshine and swim-able water.

We covered ourselves in SPF 45, but apparently it wasn't enough, because both of us got extremely nasty burns. Rob, on his chest and stomach, and me, on my chest, thighs and knees, of all places. 

After we were sufficiently cooked we decided to go out on a date to a nice restaurant in Portland. We chose Grace, which is located in a former Methodist church.  The menu was extensive (and mostly gluten-free) and it had just the ambience we were looking for.  Because it was our anniversary date, we went all out with appetizers and desserts...we even tried tuna tartare in the spirit of adventure.  We had a blast together, as usual, and the restaurant was absolutely amazing.  Plus my husband was freaking adorable in his dress clothes and I got to wear my new wedges!

 On Sunday, our actual anniversary, we got up early and got ready before taking a final walk on the beach. I wanted to be like all the other cool couples so I wrote Robbie an anniversary message in the sand.

That's right.

(1) I hate my feet, (2) they are not diseased, just sunburned.

Look, a sheagull!

We finally made it home and reunited with our dog, in agony from sunburn sadness but extremely happy with our weekend.  We topped the weekend off with dinner at our favorite local restaurant before enjoying an evening filled with Netflix awesomeness (if you guessed more 30 Rock, you're right!).

We had such a blast that I'm hoping to make Old Orchard Beach an anniversary tradition for years to come.

Hoo boy, if you made it through that ginormous post than we must be friends.

What did you all do this weekend?