Florida
Sunday, February 2
We arrived in Sanford around 2:30 PM which was earlier than expected. Our car was somewhere in the middle of the unloading
We spent the night in Sanford and had dinner at a Cracker Barrel that was within easy walking distance. The food wasn’t very good except for the blackberry cobbler we had for dessert.
Monday, February 3
Our original check-in at Palm Beach Shores was supposed to be Sunday. I had called from Lorton to let the resort know we would be a day late.
We drove from Sanford to Palm Beach Shores. During our drive we ran into occasional torrential rain showers. It was enough to pretty much rinse all of the salt off of my car.
We had some problems finding the resort. RCI sent no directions with our confirmation, and our GPS sent us on a wild goose chase. I ended up calling the resort. We were only a block away.
We checked in for our one week stay and had a bellhop to help with our luggage and other stuff needed for 3 weeks away from home.
After check-in you are sent to another person to get your parking permit. That person is a timeshare sales person who tries to convince you to take “just a brief tour because you already own timeshares.” We were very firm in turning down this sales pitch, and finally got our parking permit. We were not contacted again; although, we saw a very active sales department.
The resort charges $6 a day for parking whether or not you use the complimentary valet service. The parking lot is small and very full, so we used of the valet service.
We had a delicious dinner at the on-site Tiki Bar and Grill. It was nice not to have to find some place to eat after about a 5 hour drive. We were both still tired from the previous days.
Palm Beach Shores is a lovely resort. This is one of those times when having a timeshare is a benefit. Our one bedroom unit has a rack rate of $550 a night—no that’s not a typo!
We had a kitchen with full size refrigerator, 2 burner stove, microwave/convection oven and dishwasher. It was very well supplied. The bathroom was luxurious by timeshare standards—double sinks with storage space for each sink and a separate tub with a clothesline and a stand alone shower. The living/dining area were comfortably furnished and had a huge TV. The one complaint we had was lack drawer space for storage.
Tuesday, February 4
We started the day with breakfast at the TIki Bar and Grill because we had not had chance to do any grocery shopping.
The food was delicious, but service was painfully slow because they only had 2 servers for the entire restaurant.
Other than going to the nearby, but across the bridge, Publix to stock up on some food and wine we spent the day relaxing because we were both still tired.
Publix is located in a high rise. You must park in a garage and take an elevator down to the store. We were fascinated when we saw someone load the shopping cart on a track beside the escalator then the person and cart traveled up to the garage together.
Dinner in our unit.
Wednesday, February 5
We signed up with the resort for a narrated tour of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach with time to “shop” on Worth Avenue.
It was an interesting tour, and we got to see Donald Trump’s place where something really major seemed to be going on. There were a lot of cars there and police directing traffic. Otherwise, for the most part the mansions are hidden behind very high, very manicured hedges with an archway with a gate cut in them.
Worth Avenue was interesting, but we saw little that was to our taste (or budget). There were lots of jewelry stores with some very ostentatious pieces, a lot of very ugly jewelry and sometimes both in the same piece. Of course, there was some attractive jewelry as well.
In the evening because it was thundering and raining (never saw any lightning) we opted to eat at the on site restaurant, Tiki Bar and Grill. We were pleasantly surprised that there was an excellent vocalist who sang great music for dancing. Dinner was good, but we both thought there wasn’t much more on the menu we would order after having 2 dinners there.
Thursday, February 6
We took a “Then and Now” water taxi tour on Lake Worth from the Sailfish Marina. Seating was a problem because some passengers had their backs to the shoreline that was the main attraction—the mansions and mega yachts of multimillionaires and billionaires. There were a lot of familiar names like Kohls, Nine West, the 2 dentists that invented tooth transplants, etc. Our guide told us that some of the owners take the tour on the water taxi to find out what is being said about them. Donald Trump’s place is not visible from Lake Worth. The 2 tours really meshed well.
Dinner in our unit.
Friday, February 7
Today we visited the Flagler Museum. The mansion was a wedding gift to Flagler’s second wife. You have a choice of several types of tours: docent lead, audio, or self-lead with brochure.
We opted for the audio tour, which was a good choice for us, because we like to tour at our own pace. The audio tour gave a very thorough description of the rooms, and in some cases gave you a choice for additional information.
We had an interesting lunch in the café, which is actually a tearoom. You pay before being seated. Everyone is served the same thing.
You are started with lemonade sweetened with berries, and a pot of tea is brought to the table. That is followed by a 2 tier lazy Susan. The bottom tier has a nice selection of tea sandwiches with 2 of each kind. There was chicken salad, egg salad, tuna, cucumber, and cream cheese in pumpkin bread. There may have been others, but I don’t remember what.
The top tier had dessert. There were cranberry scones with clotted cream and jam, mini brownies, mini lemon tarts and macaroons.
We had planned to go to the Sailfish Marina for dinner. When I called for reservations, I was told that they don’t take reservations for parties of less than 10. I was also told that getting into the restaurant a 7:00 o’clock would not be a problem.
Yeah right! When we arrived we were told that there would be a 1 ½ hour wait for a table. We left. That was way beyond the time we were willing to wait.
We went to Two Drunken Goats. It is within walking distance of the resort. It’s not a fancy place, but there was good live music Jimmy Buffet style. Our dinners were the best we had in Palm Beach Shores. Paul had the fried shrimp platter. I had grouper crusted in almonds and cornflakes and topped with pineapple salsa. That was served with delicious sautéed vegetables.
Saturday, February 8
We walked to the 7-11 to pick up a few things. The rest of the day was spent packing and just relaxing.
In order to make our checkout on Sunday easier, we had a bellman take our large suitcases and other non-essentials down to the car. The valet retrieved the car and it was loaded except for our carry-ons.
Dinner in the unit and time to clean out the refrigerator. It is always nice when there isn’t much left to throw away.
Sunday, February 9
Paul had mapped out the “scenic route” to Kissimmee. We really traveled in some very rural countryside with a lot of huge cattle and horse ranches. There was no place to stop. Just about to the point neither of us could wait any longer we happened on a nice little gas station/store out in the middle of nowhere. Phew!
The following are links to photos in Palm Beach Shores and Palm Beach:
http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3429_zpsbf55d895.jpghttp://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3431_zpsc39990b8.jpghttp://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3434_zpsbaf15574.jpghttp://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3443_zps81a9c92b.jpghttp://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3450_zps292374e4.jpghttp://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3456_zpsd4b40170.jpghttp://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w466/sg407/CIMG3464_zpsaafdb892.jpg
