Solo and Unleashed!

[scholastica]

Your pictures have sold me on CBR. I never really considered it as an option because of the full beds but if I could get a refurbished room I would very much love to stay there. The pool looks so neat!

That first travel day, oy. So painful.

 

[jenseib]

Excellent start!

It's strange to see pics of the pool without little Claire bobbing happily in the water!

Great pics of the resort. We may try CBR next time and it's fun to see the updates. We stayed there back in 2003 I believe.

Sometimes I have this feeling like I left her somewhere because she wasn't with me.

I think the CBR pools is one of the better ones on property. No Stormalong Bay, of course, but very nice.

The pool at the Contemporary was...a pool. While it was nice to be on Bay Lake, there was just SO much concrete everywhere and the slide was ho-hum. Precious little shady areas. And in the August sun, shade is a must for me.

It really is a nice pool....I think Claire would approve of this one too.
I agree, the Contemp does not have a great pool at all and the area is very concretey....(I made the word up. )

Your pictures have sold me on CBR. I never really considered it as an option because of the full beds but if I could get a refurbished room I would very much love to stay there. The pool looks so neat!

That first travel day, oy. So painful.

I was very happy staying there and the beds are VERY comfy!!!!

 

[wiscbugs]

I have a feeling Claire would love that pool!

 

[dizneeat]

Dinner looked nice, but NO dessert????????

The pool area is pretty at CBR, but it can be a hike if you stay in the buildings further back.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Dinner looked delicious and I really like the look of that pool area.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

I have a feeling Claire would love that pool!

I think so too!

Dinner looked nice, but NO dessert????????

The pool area is pretty at CBR, but it can be a hike if you stay in the buildings further back.

I got full...darn it!
I did notice some of the buildings look very far away!

Dinner looked delicious and I really like the look of that pool area.

Corinna

it was a good dinner and did the trick!

 

[petals]

joining in

 

[jenseib]

joining in

 

[jenseib]

The locker rooms/ bathrooms.





I then took a few pictures of the pirate splash area.





The pool started to empty out now.











It was now around 11. Such a shame that the pool closed then as it was still really hot and there were still a lot of people out and about. The bar area was still hopping though.







I started to walk back to the room…..this is a look towards the lighthouse, though it is a very dark picture.









This little courtyard was just around the sidewalk from my room…very cute area….but it is a smoking area, so if you are sensitive to smoke, keep that in mind.





Looking back at my building from the courtyard.



I then headed back to my room and took a few more pictures.













I then got ready for bed and turned on Stacy. It has been a while since I have watched her and there was some new stuff in there….and of course a lot of the old stuff.
I was happy to see the TV’s had timers so I set it to go off in 30 minutes and I set the alarm on my phone to go off at 6 AM and I settled in and soon drifted off to sleep.

 

[jenseib]

Aug. 23, 2014, Saturday, Day 2

Today was going to be a busy and long day, but I was ready!
I set my alarm on my phone for 6 AM and it took me a minute to realize what was going on when it went off. I got up and jumped in the shower. The nice thing about being alone is you don’t have to shut the door when you go to the bathroom….yeah, little things in life entertain me!
One thing that irritated me is that I looked for washcloths and there were none to be found. I had plenty of hand towels and bath towels but no washcloths. I always get annoyed when there isn’t enough towels in a room…..a real big pet peeve of mine. But then I thought about it and remembered the Mickey head that was on my bed when I arrived and went to look at it and sure enough, that had 2 washcloths so I unrolled one of those to use.

It was still dark out in the morning when I first went out. I sat in the courtyard and answered a few emails and messages.



There was this HUGE toad who was planted right in his spot and he was NOT moving for anyone.



(I know that is a bad picture…..but I took it with my phone….I actually took a lot of pictures with my phone this trip)

I went back to my room and finished blow drying my hair and getting ready and then I had to go in search of breakfast. Now I wasn’t sure if the seminar would offer anything or not. Most do, but it didn’t say anything in the paper work and I knew if I didn’t eat and arrived with nothing there I would not be a pleasant person, so to save everyone else from my wrath, I headed over to the food court.

















I zoomed in on the hammock from the bridge.







The playground is on the island….and I think it might’ve still been closed at that time…or I just didn’t have enough time to go in and look.

















I thought this little seating area was so pretty.

 

[KatMark]

I could have sworn I subscribed to this last week.

It sounds like a really long travel day, but glad you got there and found your resort and were able to get something to eat.

I kind of like those rooms at the CBR...I like how they did the sliding door between the sleeping area and the bathroom.

Lovely pictures throughout the resort, Jen.

 

[mom2rtk]

Such a pretty resort. I'm enjoying the tour.

 

[mickeystoontown]

As I said before, I'm loving the pictures of the resort as they are helping out the Disney depression that I've had lately. I need to get away and Disney sounds wonderful right now.

Aren't the resort grounds beautiful? I love all of the different flowers and foliage. I wish that I could have tropically type plants growing around my house.

 

[MEK]

So YAYAYAYAY for a new TR! Glad I stumbled upon it this evening!

Boo to the travel delays and the tiny car. I think I already told you that Denny and I probably had the same car in Feb. It was like a toy but it did get good gas mileage.

So - there is a runway closed in BALTIMORE???? I hope to heck that is open by next month. BWI has become my "go to" airport because its usually cheaper and more "on time" than Philly. Boooooooo!

I love the CBR room. It really looks nice. MUCH nicer than AS Sports. We stayed there for a night in Feb. It was OK for a 7 hour stay but I wouldn't stay there for an extended period of time. I am far too spoiled now.

Love the CBR pool too! Very nice!

 

[jenseib]

I could have sworn I subscribed to this last week.

It sounds like a really long travel day, but glad you got there and found your resort and were able to get something to eat.

I kind of like those rooms at the CBR...I like how they did the sliding door between the sleeping area and the bathroom.

Lovely pictures throughout the resort, Jen.

You may have. I heard from a few people that over the past few days notifications were not working right and people weren't getting them.

I like the sliding door too!

Such a pretty resort. I'm enjoying the tour.

I was impressed and liked it much more than I thought I would.

As I said before, I'm loving the pictures of the resort as they are helping out the Disney depression that I've had lately. I need to get away and Disney sounds wonderful right now.

Aren't the resort grounds beautiful? I love all of the different flowers and foliage. I wish that I could have tropically type plants growing around my house.

I know what you mean about a get away. I do have another one coming up, but it is business once again, though I will make as much pleasure as possible. But after that who knows when my next get away will be. Skip mentioned the other night that if I wasn't doing the trip I am doing at the end of this month then we could've went somewhere as a family...but I know he was just being a downer. He has known about this for several months and he knows the purpose of it...and he knows he could've went with as well as Claire and he said no.
I can barely grow anything anymore at my house...I need the Florida weather and a gardener!

So YAYAYAYAY for a new TR! Glad I stumbled upon it this evening!

Boo to the travel delays and the tiny car. I think I already told you that Denny and I probably had the same car in Feb. It was like a toy but it did get good gas mileage.

So - there is a runway closed in BALTIMORE???? I hope to heck that is open by next month. BWI has become my "go to" airport because its usually cheaper and more "on time" than Philly. Boooooooo!

I love the CBR room. It really looks nice. MUCH nicer than AS Sports. We stayed there for a night in Feb. It was OK for a 7 hour stay but I wouldn't stay there for an extended period of time. I am far too spoiled now.

Love the CBR pool too! Very nice!

It was like a toy car. Were you able to fit anything in the trunk?
I don't know much about the runway except what he told me and for all I know he lied. I guess you could google it and see if anything comes up.

Ok, I googled and got this. Looks like it was set for 90 days, so that should mean by early Oct it would reopen...if they are on time.
http://www.wbaltv.com/news/construction-work-to-close-bwi-marshall-runway/26830092

Yes, I was impressed with the new rooms. I am happy I got one and have been able to share pictures of it.

 

[jenseib]

I headed inside to Old Port Royale to look for some breakfast options.





I ended up getting the kids Mickey waffle meal….and what a deal! This was only $5 and some change for the waffles, sausage, applesauce and milk!





It filled me up nicely and then I headed back to my room.













I packed a bag with the clothes to change into later for the party and a sweater for the seminar…as often those rooms can be so chilly…and headed off and made the drive over to the Dolphin. The nice thing about having a car was that I could drive straight over to the Dolphin and not worry about taking buses and transferring to get there…the bad thing was that the Dolphin charges $16 to self-park. But I felt it was worth it to get there faster and not leave at the crack of dawn to try and make it there on time.
It was a very easy and quick drive, but it took me a few minutes to find the self-park area, which was actually the next driveway after the main entrance. I took my parking ticket and parked up.



I wasn’t exactly sure where the conference center was, but it looked like the end where the parking lot is was the best option and I went in a side door.





This place is HUGE!

I didn’t see any signs of the seminar I was attending down this long hall, but once I turned the corner near the lobby I found people, so I knew that had to be it.



I got signed in and SCORE! they handed me a parking validation ticket..and then I went into the conference room. I debated on sitting closer to the front, but I usually get up to go to the bathroom once or twice and I didn’t want to disturb people so I found a spot in the back row. I also like space so I allowed a seat open between me and the girl on the end. I was hoping it wasn’t a full conference.
I then went back out to take pictures of the offerings for breakfast, which wasn’t much…blueberry muffins, which I don’t like and coffee and several kinds of tea…neither of which I drink. I was so glad I had eaten before I came.



I did a search for some water or milk, but there wasn’t any. Back inside the room I found some water and poured myself a cup full.
Another lady sat next to me and we started talking. The room was really filling up. Close to 8:30 when the conference was to begin, another lady sat next to her and asked if we would move down so her friend who was running a little late could sit next to her when she got there. OK, fine….but the lady next to me wasn’t too happy and said something like “maybe you should get here earlier if you want to choose your seats and sit by each other.” I thought that was kind of funny as I had thought the same thing.
The conference started promptly but for the next hour people kept rolling in. I was shocked at how many people were arriving so late. In the end every seat was taken and they had to put more chairs along the back wall for people to sit in. Someone said later in the day that they were told we would have 80-100 people and we ended up having around 120. What surprised me is this was something you had to sign up for and pay for in advance so you would think they would’ve known the number of attendants ahead of time and would’ve had enough chairs and tables set up.

After our first segment we had a break and I went outside. Believe it or not, the conference room was actually kind of hot. I had heard from others sitting in the middle under the AC vents that they were freezing, but where I was sitting was warm and I, whom am normally cold at things like this, never once put on my sweater.
On the way out, I saw Paul, a guy from one of the facebook groups I belong too and he had seen me posting on facebook the day before and told me he would be at the same seminar. We said a quick hello as we exited out of the room.
Outside I checked my emails and I called home to see if Paige had picked up Claire for the day. There was a mix up where Mil was supposed to get her later in the day and Paige said she called to tell her what time she would bring her home and MIL said she already had plans. I am not sure how that happened as she had the dates on her calendar for a month, but she moved things around and arranged to be home later.









I went back inside and found a bathroom nearby. This one was not as close to the conference room and I don’t think many knew about it, so I used that one and was in and out.

 

[jenseib]

I then wanted to try and get a few pictures of the lobby before we had to go back for the next session….and search for a diet coke as that water was just not cutting it for me.









It’s a very pretty resort. The ceiling was kind of odd though….it had like a draping cloth.



I found a coffee type shop, but it didn’t appear to sell bottles of coke, so I kept moving and taking pictures.







I found the gift shop and headed there hoping they would have something.



It was actually pretty small in there and I asked the ladies working where I could find something and they acted put out and told me downstairs, but I have to say they were not friendly and almost acted like they didn’t understand me.
So downstairs I went.



This place was closed.





I think this was a table service? But whatever it was, it wasn’t going to help me.



Aha! I bet that will be my best chance.





Yay! They had some and I got in line to make my purchase!







I then headed back to the conference with just minutes to spare….of course that didn’t matter as so many people were late and had no concept of time.
The 2nd session started and I took my notes, etc. A few times we had to break off in groups to do an activity…how I hate that, but the one lady was really nice and I later got to talking with the other girl on my other side and she was really nice too.
At one point several people came in and started handing out flyers to everyone. I just assumed it was part of the conference, but then the lady who checked us in came running and yelled at them and scurried them out. One guy dropped his paper and one of these people picked it up and threw it at him. I looked at it and it was about mold in hotels…..OK? At first I thought why are we getting this as it has nothing to do with our conference AT ALL! Then when the lady scurried them out, we found out they are some kind of environmental terrorist group and they were “spreading the word” I guess. They were escorted out by security after they were reported to the Dolphin staff and from then on, our door was locked on the outside. If we had to leave, the lady outside would use her key to let us in.
Who says conferences are boring? LOL

At 11 we broke for lunch and Skip called me and I talked to him for a few minutes. I then headed downstairs to the Buffereria…only to find out they would not be serving lunch till 11:30. I had about 15 minutes at that point to wait and I decided I did not want to. I decided to head towards the Yacht and Beach Club and perhaps go to Beach & Cream for an ice-cream lunch.









OH! And it was HOT! Like over 100 degrees hot! My friend Jeanne was also in the area with her daughter and she had been messaging me off and on throughout the day and she said she thought we were setting record highs for this particular summer on this day. Oh goodie!



I think I take this picture every time I walk by here, but my room a few years ago was on the first floor on the left corner.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Before now, I really hadn't seen many pictures of the Dolphin resort. Kinda neat seeing it. I do have to agree that the drapey ceiling does look a bit odd.

Why in the world was it so difficult to find a gosh darn Coke? I'd have been wandering all over the place to find one too since that's my caffeine and I don't like water or coffee.

Seriously? A terrorist group at a conference? What the heck? Only in Jen's world!

Oh and I almost forgot...so Skip's trying to play the blame game when he's known all along that he and Claire could be going with you? No sir, that won't work.

 

[JKSWonder]

8/23 was the day our cruise docked and we arrived at the Contemporary. And OMG it was hot! My family was kind of grumpy too. You know, cruise over, too hot, everyone hungry, etc.

 

[Beth D]

I made it over here! All caught up!

Hooray for solo trips! Sometimes it's nice to have time for yourself to do what you want!

I had to laugh at the milk with the pasta for dinner. My Italian grandma would be rolling over in her grave. In our house you could never have milk with pasta/tomato sauce/pizza. She swore the acid from the tomatoes would curdle the milk my stomach! Even as a baby I had to drink juice when there was spaghetti! To this day it still sounds gross to me, and I don't let my son have milk with pasta either!.

I get a sort of solo trip next week, but with co-workers - to Las Vegas! It will only be my 2nd time there. I can't wait!