Daytona!

If you like car racing like I do, you must visit the International Raceway in Daytona. I have been a motor sports fan my whole life and visiting Daytona was a surreal experience. The history and the technology that this speedway has is unbelievable.

Start/Finish Line

 When we arrived at the raceway we found out you can take a couple of tours. We took a 30 minute tour which you ride on a seated trailer pulled by a truck. The driver has a microphone and he talks about the raceway and drives you around the track and to "Victory Lane". This tour cost is $16.00 each.

41 degree banked turns

As a first time visitor this tour was well worth it. There is also a 3 hour tour that is a walking and driving tour that I would like to the next time we go.

Pit Row

There are days at the raceway that race cars are not actually driving on the track. If you go on one of those days, the tour we took allowed us to actually go one lap around the track. We saw the 41 degree banked turns, the grand stands, Pit Row, and the other tracks within the larger NASCAR track.

Victory Lane

This track is much larger that you can imagine. The infield alone is one mile and has a lake, a hospital, a campground, restaurants, and oh yeah, a pit area. This is one place you have to check out when in Florida. It's well worth your time. 
 
By the way, my favorite NASCAR race
driver is #48, Jimmie Johnson!!

Can you believe the emptiness?

Tomorrowland

One of our favorite days to go to Walt Disney World is.......Labor Day!! Seems kind of strange - a bit holiday weekend. But by this day, most of the summer visitors have left to return to their "normal" lives, and it leaves the parks really empty.

Fantasyland

This past Labor Day, we went to the Magic Kingdom.


We were there by opening (9:00 am) and in the first two hours we rode, Buzz Lightyear (2x), Space Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was especially nice to walk around Fantasyland without all of the millions of strollers!

 

I think that the trick is to get there at "rope drop" and leave before lunchtime!

 

Val even got a picture with Chip and Dale.

Worth the "Drive"!

As an avid golfer, I thought it I would recommend a couple of my favorite golf courses in the Central Florida area. These golf courses are the Ridgewood Lakes Golf Course and the Southern Dunes Golf and Country Club. They are both located in gated communities. To enter, just tell the guard at the gate that you are going to be golfing and they will let you enter.


The link to Ridgewood Lakes Golf Course: www.ridgewoodlakesgolf.com/

Some reasons I like Ridgewood Lakes course: If you are a beginner or someone who plays more advanced golf, this course is for you. Most of the fairways can be short and wide for great drives for the beginner and the par 5's are long and challenging for the advanced golfer. The greens can be forgiving for folks like me who are still working on their short game. The surroundings are beautiful! It's worth playing a round just to enjoy your surrounding. 

 

Just one suggestion to those who have not golfed in Florida: DO NOT TRY TO RETRIEVE YOUR BALL IN THE WATER! Florida waters can have alligators living in them and you can get hurt. You can not believe how shallow of water a large alligator can hide in. It's not worth the value of your Pro-V ball. Just drop a new ball and play on.

The link to the Southern Dunes Golf Course: southerndunes.com/

The reasons I like Southern Dunes: First of all, this course has to be the most amazing course I have ever golfed. It is a very challenging but also a very fun course. Some of the fairways are narrow, some are wide. The greens are the fastest greens I have ever played. The name of the course is very fitting. There are sand traps EVERYWHERE!! However, the sand is soft and well groomed. If you are an advanced golfer, you may hit a sand trap once in awhile. But if you are a golfer like me, you will learn how to play in the sand. This golfer highly recommends that you play Southern Dunes at least once while you are in Central Florida. (By the way Southern Dunes has a great app for your iPhone. Check it out! It is your own personal golf GPS.)

Just a couple of recommendations for golf courses. I like to say that golf is a real value for me: I always get a lot of swings for my dollar. But I always have fun. So have fun and keep swinging those clubs!!

And it begins..........

We have been living in Florida for a little while now, and one of the things that we love the best about where we live is our proximity to Walt Disney World. We estimate that it takes us about 25 minutes from our residence to being on DisneyWorld property. So we are never to far from all of the gloriousness. 

We have our Florida annual passes and probably visit WDW a few times a week. We love the theme parks, the resorts, Downtown Disney, and all of the other activities. It is most probably that many posts will be on this subject. For those that know us, this is not a surprise. For those that have yet to get to know us, it will not be a surprise for long! 

Anyway, enjoy!