Orlando, Part Two.

Like I said, there was a LOT of drinking, and a few cigars burned there at the Tiki bar.



Thankfully, the cloud cover was such that I could swim and lounge around without having to worry too much about getting burned. The Brits weren't too happy about that. Sun worshipers, from a cold, wet, wind swept wasteland (Huh?), but it was cool to me.



I swam, which mostly means frolicking like a seal, or floating like a dead whale in the deep end, when I wasn't sitting in the shade, drinking and smoking cigars.



At one point, I even took a short nap in the sun. No ill effects were felt. Dodged a bullet there.

The second morning, as we were looking out the window of the condo, I noticed some folks looking and pointing out into the pond by our place.



There are a lot of drainage ponds around there, with decent sized concrete drainage pipes going from one pond to another.



Occasionally, one of these little dudes crawls through one of those pipes and takes up residence in one of these drainage ponds. I'd wager this one was about a foot and a half long. Maybe two feet. The condo security guy told us that when they get big, they call the animal control folks and they get relocated to the everglades. That's why they have netting around the "beach," where condo guests can swim in the lake by the pool. It's like shark netting... Only the sharks can't crawl over it! So, I stick to the pool.



Saturday night, Denise and my last night before our flight back to Texas, we all piled into the van we'd rented at the airport and drove off to have a great dinner together.



We had to wait about a half hour for a big table, but it was cool and nice outside. Denise's brother took the picture. Told me that he'd sue me if I posted his picture. Witness protection program, fer sure.



The Longhorn Steakhouse was a cool spot. Yea, we went on vacation from Texas to Florida and look where we chose to eat. But it was great, and I loved the head over the bar and the Texas vibe. Way cooler that what you get at Texas Roadhouse.



I got Mick, Denise's brother's father-in-law, to try a Blue Moon. He was wondering why there's a slice of orange in his beer. These Brits are serious drinkers, which means they spend a lot of time drinking swill like Guinness. I'm just sayin'. Eventually he admitted it was growin' on him.



I had a great steak and baked potato, with some sort of whiskey sauce on it...



And I also splurged on a nice lobster tail, slathered in butter. Yea, it was good.



Denise had a similar steak, and also loved the special whiskey sauce. We all had a great time, and then shared a little dessert. I gave the waitress a signal early, tellin' her to be sure and bring me the check. When she did, Denise's brother didn't like it, but That's cool. He needs to let someone else pay for stuff now and then. And besides, it was our turn. He'd paid for breakfast.



In the end, we all piled into the van and headed back to the condo. Once there, we brought out presents to celebrate Denise's sister-in-law's birthday. The drinks flowed, and we all had a great time.

The next morning, Denise and I drove our van back to the airport, turned it in, and then enjoyed some uneventful flights back to Austin. We stopped at Pappasito's on the way home and shared a big plate of fajitas. In the end, we got home with plenty of time to relax and get ready for the work week.

Well, that's it. Seems like ages now since we were by the pool. Next year will come though, and we'll do it all again. Cheers!