Putts, Balls and Snow Falls Day 2 - The joys of jetlag and sublime swimming

[Wobbles]

Back to Day 1

I apologise for the short post - the cats made his desire for food known by pressing post...

You know that moment, that moment when you wake up, relaxed, you've had a good sleep, you are pleased that you've slept through... and...

12:30! - how on earth can it only be 12:30? ! I've been asleep for hours

Yeah the joy of Jet Lag... Want to take bets how long it took me to get back to sleep?

[Wobbles]

Apologies for the short intro to this post - The Cat decided food comes before trip reports...

.. so where was I? Oh yes, it was 12:30, jetlag and Arrgghhh, once awake, I couldn't get back asleep.

I spent the next couple of hours, napping and waking and going for a drink, and napping again. At some point Mr W also woke up because at about 5am, I discovered that the Household Elves and Monkeys were up and helping with the inflatables.

By 6am, we both gave up trying to sleep and decided that showers, breakfast (outside and the pool) was in order.

I love the range of fresh fruit from Publix, this was the smoothie mix with lots of berries, the strawberries were nearly as big as the palm of our hand and were so juicy. The blueberries were huge and was really refreshing.

Changes from the Pandemic

Our first day in Florida usually took the same pattern, we would hit a waterpark (usually Aquatica or Volcano Bay) to clear the cobwebs away, nothing like Roa Rapids to blow away jetlags and then eat at Sweet Tomatoes.

Because we were unsure of the weather we had jotted in a pool day instead of a waterpark and we REALLY missed Sweet Tomatoes. There were a couple of times over the holiday when we couldn't decide where to eat that we would have filled it with Sweet Tomatoes... We really missed it.

And I am going to finish this post here as the cats are back wanting food :-)

What I am up against

[Wobbles]

Despite only being a couple, we love the space in a villa and the privacy that comes with a private pool. This was particularly important this year due to COVID safety and so that we could chill when we wanted to.

We also like noodles and inflatables and tend to fill the pool with them

And I also like to spend time chilling on sun chairs with Orlando the Monkey

This is our core for this holiday, space and time. Because we know the Windwood Bay area so well we didn't need to engage brains which enhanced the notion of space and time as it took away a lot of stress.

But we did need to eat... and no Sweet Tomatoes meant we needed to find something to eat, so where was close? where did we know would be open? and what had we missed? MILLERS!

Miller's Ale House - Championsgate
As it was almost 11:30 we decided to head out to Miller's Ale House, as we weren't too sure how busy they would get on a Sunday. We were seated in the porch area in one of the booths. It wasn't until the second visit that we realised the booths have had frosted plastic put between them. It keeps them light but increases the privacy.

We knew what we wanted to eat and had ordered within seconds of sitting down. Zingers, Onion Rings, Fried Jalapeños and Raspberry Lemonade Cider and a Pint of Voodoo Ranger for Mr W - we had been talking about it for about a week.

The onion rings are still some of the best in Florida and the zingers were flavoursome with a really tangy sauce (we go for medium). The Fried Jalapeños are a limited item - it is literally sliced chillis with ranch dip - wow they take the top of your head off.

Safety Millers Ale House - I would give them 3 out of 5, it was busy, most of the staff had masks on unless they were talking to each other. It was busy round the bars with patrons but the booths did feel very safe and most patrons wore masks when walking around

After that, we needed more time in the pool to take the steam off

[Wobbles]

We had a lovely time in the afternoon by the pool in the afternoon. Do you know that the pumps make great rapids for small monkeys and elves in drink holder inflatables? neither did we until that afternoon?

I don't think it had really sunk in that here we are in the middle of December and it's over 80 degrees and we are in a pool in the middle of the afternoon.

Around 4pm jetlag caught up again and we both feel asleep by the pool... and suddenly it was gone 6pm and dark, and still warm and we were hungry again. There is a definite difference in the heat intensity between October when we usually go and December.

After a very short discussion we decided on Buffalo Wild Wings (spoiler alert, we eat a lot of chicken - mainly of the Buffalo variety). We got ready and headed out to Formosa Gardens.

One of the things we enjoyed looking at whilst driving around was how much the different communities decorated their entrances for Christmas, there were lights everywhere.

Buffalo Wild Wings
B-Dubs was not too busy for a Sunday evening, they were showing the Sunday Night Football , including the Tampa Buccs, who were winning and scoring so that added to the cheering.

The Menu - or some of the menu

We like Boneless but the Cauliflower sounded interesting - who has tried it?

I went for medium and fries with salt and vinegar sprinkle. Mr W went for Caribbean Jerk and fries with Lemon Pepper sprinkle. The portion didn't look too big when it came out, until I realised that they no longer serve the food in the little cardboard trays and they are just spread out on the metals trays.

The food was very hot and filling and we enjoyed the football.

Safety Buffalo Wild Wings - I would give them 2 out of 5 as the floor was very dirty under the table and lots of people without mask. But the staff did a very good job of keeping groups apart and trying to keep things clean.

Jetlag was really kicking in by then (it was about 2130 at this time) and we travelled home and were asleep almost at the point we got back to the villa.

Spend Review
Millers Lunch (inc Tip) - 39.73
Bits and Pieces from Walgreens (including loo roll) 28.78
Buffalo Wild Wings - 49.56

Total Daily Spend - 118.07
Total Spend - 232.02
Average Daily Spend - 116.02

Back to Index

On to Day 3

[mick]

Lovely day

Joan

[Goldia]

Oh no a pain you woke up so early. Darned jet lag! A lovely chilled out day in the pool and tasty food.

[pho3nix]

Lovely chilled first day 😊

[Wobbles]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Oh no a pain you woke up so early. Darned jet lag! A lovely chilled out day in the pool and tasty food.

See more...

We need to develop a way to travel without Jet Lag or a tablet - it can't be too difficult

[lfc_sarah]

Fried Jalapeños?! Wow!

Also I love Buffalo Wild Wings!

Love the pool, it looks so inviting!

[katebush95]

Sounds like it was a nice relaxing day. Really useful to know about the offsite restaurants, as we’ll be doing similar ones when we’re there in November 👍