soupy11
Cast Member Wannabe
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2004
- Messages
- 1,590
Attendee's - Wife, Sister, Brother in-law, 3 year old nephew and 6 year old nephew. The kids have never been to Florida. Everyone else has been a few times.
We all agreed that we would drive down starting on the Sunday February 1, 2004. My wife and I couldn't wait so we decided to leave after work on Friday January 30th, 2004. (with the intention of grabbing a hotel room for Saturday and Sunday night while we waited for the stragglers to get down on the Monday.) We packed the car and hit the road at 7:30PM from Kitchener, Ontario. (an hour south west of Toronto) We took the 401 to Windsor/Detroit and from there on to the I75 South. (What is up with the route through Detroit to get to the 75? Scary.) So my wife drove from Kitchener to the middle of Ohio were we exchanged around 1:30am. I took over and got stuck in Cincinnati for a good two hours as the road was closed. The police got everyone turned around and we drove the wrong way back north on 75 until we could turn off and take a (long) detour through downtown and out around the city. (I was hopelessly lost). One of the policemen was wearing purple mittens. We think he was without gloves and one of the stopped drivers gave him the mitts. Hilarious.
We got back on the interstate a bit south of Cincinnati and I made it about halfway thru Kentucky and had to pull off at a Cracker Barrel around 7:30am. We had some breakfast and my wife took over. It is very odd to see the sheer number of gas stations and restaurants that you Americans have on your interstates. Very cool though as well. Wife drove a good 5 hours or so and we exchanged again near the Georgia/Florida border. We stopped at a Orlando Info kiosk where we arranged a hotel room for the coming night. We got a room at the Crowne Plaza Universal for $60/night. (The booking agent at the hotel was not prepared to give us this rate, it took about an hour for the lady at the kiosk to convince her that the rate was legit.) We got back on the road and I drove the remainder thru some heavy rain and we arrived at the hotel around 7pm. 23.5 hours from our door and 2153 kms. Total gas bought was under $70 dollars U.S. It was raining so we paid the $8 for the valet parking and got the concierge to get our bags taken up to the room. Beautiful room! The bed was so comfy.
We unpacked and had a quick bite in the hotel bar. The Ceaser salad and chicken was awesome. As was the super spicy Bloody Mary (I asked for a Ceaser drink but she looked at me like I had a second head). Then it was bed time and a much needed rest.
We all agreed that we would drive down starting on the Sunday February 1, 2004. My wife and I couldn't wait so we decided to leave after work on Friday January 30th, 2004. (with the intention of grabbing a hotel room for Saturday and Sunday night while we waited for the stragglers to get down on the Monday.) We packed the car and hit the road at 7:30PM from Kitchener, Ontario. (an hour south west of Toronto) We took the 401 to Windsor/Detroit and from there on to the I75 South. (What is up with the route through Detroit to get to the 75? Scary.) So my wife drove from Kitchener to the middle of Ohio were we exchanged around 1:30am. I took over and got stuck in Cincinnati for a good two hours as the road was closed. The police got everyone turned around and we drove the wrong way back north on 75 until we could turn off and take a (long) detour through downtown and out around the city. (I was hopelessly lost). One of the policemen was wearing purple mittens. We think he was without gloves and one of the stopped drivers gave him the mitts. Hilarious.
We got back on the interstate a bit south of Cincinnati and I made it about halfway thru Kentucky and had to pull off at a Cracker Barrel around 7:30am. We had some breakfast and my wife took over. It is very odd to see the sheer number of gas stations and restaurants that you Americans have on your interstates. Very cool though as well. Wife drove a good 5 hours or so and we exchanged again near the Georgia/Florida border. We stopped at a Orlando Info kiosk where we arranged a hotel room for the coming night. We got a room at the Crowne Plaza Universal for $60/night. (The booking agent at the hotel was not prepared to give us this rate, it took about an hour for the lady at the kiosk to convince her that the rate was legit.) We got back on the road and I drove the remainder thru some heavy rain and we arrived at the hotel around 7pm. 23.5 hours from our door and 2153 kms. Total gas bought was under $70 dollars U.S. It was raining so we paid the $8 for the valet parking and got the concierge to get our bags taken up to the room. Beautiful room! The bed was so comfy.
We unpacked and had a quick bite in the hotel bar. The Ceaser salad and chicken was awesome. As was the super spicy Bloody Mary (I asked for a Ceaser drink but she looked at me like I had a second head). Then it was bed time and a much needed rest.
