[Dizzy]

Sarah... 40 ... that'll be me
DH Martin... 41... 'I wonder if they're dibbers...dibb, dibb, dibb'
DS Dale... 17... 'This time I cant wait to go'
DD Shannon..10... A Proper Little Madam

DD Lauren... 21... Disney Virgin
DSIL Sion... 23... Deserves a medal

Tuesday 10th October... Daytona


I woke up at around 5.30am with a throat that can only be described as feeling it was being scraped with a razor blade, a splitting headache and aching all over. I dozed on and off for a couple of hours before everybody else finally dragged themselves out of bed. Everybody else got some breakfast while I dosed myself up with everything available and by 9.15 we were on the road to Daytona. We had never been to Daytona before but it was so easy to find... I love the I4, it runs directly to Tampa one way and straight to Daytona the other way. Once I get the hang of whether we want to be going East or West I am fine.

The International Speedway is absolutely massive. We paid just over $131 for the 6 of us to enter the Daytona USA Motorsports attraction (just typical that it was only on the way back afterwards that I found a voucher for $5 each off in a book in the car). I wouldn't pay it again. We spent an hour looking at a few cars while the kids played racing games . We then watched the IMAX film 'Nascar 3D' and Daytona500; The Movie and Daytona Dream Laps a simulator ride. Other than that there was Acceleration Alley with a big charge on top of what we had already paid. All in all we spent a couple of hours at the most in there before going outside to the best part of the Speedway for me... the Speedway Tour. You can just pay for this 30 minute guided tour at $8.50 + tax and I would happily have just done this. A tour had just set off so we grabbed some fries and a coke and sat in the sun then took a walk up the stands to watch the cars that were practicing.

The tour took us through the Turn 4 tunnel and out to the middle of the track where we were shown the garage area, pit road and the 31 degree high banks.

We were shown the Fanzone and stopped at Pit Road and the Gatorade Victory Lane. The kids looked less than impressed though ...

I dread to think how Shannon's going to feel in a couple of years when we go back for the Daytona 500. Finally we had a look at Jimmie Johnsons winning car on the way out.


As we got back on the International Speedway Boulevard we were laughing at the trailer in front of us with a settee on the back and a guy asleep on it... wonder how long we would get away with that over here.
I wanted us to park up on the beach so we drove along the front until we found an entrance. My Darling tightwad Husband decided he wasn't paying the fee when it dropped down to $3 in 5 minutes time so we parked up and waited. We weren't the only one's though, bang on 3pm half of the car park decided they wanted to park on the beach. We were given the guidelines about where we could and couldn't park and the Sea Turtles and off we went.

No sooner had we parked up than Martin had disappeared to inquire about hiring a golf buggy for an hour. $40 golf cart + $20dep... a small price to pay to make my dearest happy (well keep him quiet actually). As soon as Sion saw it they decided that they had to hire a quad so we took a drive up the beach with our loving men folk doing their utmost to hit every bump they could in an effort to throw us off... Thinking about this now it may be because they had seen a big poster for Hooters on the way and wanted to pay it a visit. Reluctantly we gave our buggy back after the hour and spent some time playing football and frisby.

By 6ish we were starving so after a futile try to clean all the sand off before we got in the car we set off to find Our Deck Down Under which is under the Dunlawton-Intercoastal bridge. This had been recommended to me by claireD so I was praying it wouldn't let me down, I would never hear the end of it. This is a very casual restaurant which was a relief after an afternoon on the beach...no need to be embarrassed by the sand all over the kids. We wanted to eat outside overlooking the sea but had to find a table first, it was busy but that put my mind at ease... it must be nice food if it is so popular, right? Right, we weren't disappointed at all. I cant remember what everybody else ate but I had the fried shrimp and, of course, a glass of wine. We had a lovely relaxed meal watching the fish, unfortunately we didn't see any dolphins but are still glad we went. We had a look at the bikes parked outside and decided we would definitely make time to come back for Biketoberfest.

The drive back to Orlando was uneventful and we decided that we would call at Prime Outlets, well actually everybody else did when I fell asleep in the car. Sion had been wanting to look in the Nike shop and we knew we wouldn't get another chance so I shook myself awake and dragged myself out of the car. I was amazed at the prices but all we bought was a couple of t-shirts for Martin coming to $21.20. We then spent three quarters of an hour waiting for Sion to decide on a pair of trainers... I have never known a man take so long to pick a pair of trainers. I had a look in the Disney's character outlet and then sat on a bench watching everybody else running around. I couldn't gather the energy to look in the shops and was feeling terrible again. We went for a coffee and I never thought I would be so happy to see the shops shutting. The Adidas shop was still open when we left and Martin bought a t-shirt and shorts for $37.21 which by the end of the holiday I was getting quite sick of the sight of... now why did I bother packing him all those clothes?


At last we arrived back at the villa and I sorted a load of washing out before a relaxing bath and falling exhausted into our lovely MASSIVE bed.