Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay (Lake Towers) 6/4-6/12/10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay (Lake Towers) 6/4-6/12/10
Whenever we get back from a Disney trip I have what I, and maybe some others, refer to as the “Disney Blues”. I don’t know why that is since I already know we are returning in October but it has taken me a month to get down to organizing and looking at all my notes from our last trip. I do this after every trip actually. It’s like I need some time to come to the realization that I am now “outside the bubble”. This time I actually have excuses. About 2 days after we came home my DMIL arrived for 2 weeks. At the same time I had to prepare for our annual physical inventory at work so there wasn’t a moment to breathe, not to mention write a trip report. Once DMIL left we had some friends come down for a week. Such is the life when you live at the beach during the summer. Actually, we love it. Anywho, that’s my list of excuses as to why it took a month to even begin to work on a trip report.
Our trip begins where the pre-trip left off…with a near-death experience.
O.k. so maybe I’m being a little dramatic.
Actually, there was an explosion
….o.k. still too much.
We blew a tire on I-95 just outside of Jacksonville, FL. Thankfully a state trooper arrived almost as soon as it happened and she was a true angel. We were able to find a tire place and get the tire put on within the hour and were back on the road. I honestly can’t say enough good things about what could have been a horrific situation. Our plans were to drive as far as Daytona and spend the night there. We arrived around 6 p.m. and drove straight to Volusia Mall for dinner. There is a sandwich place, Mr. Dunderbak’s, that we absolutely adore. It brings back so many memories. DH and I used to live in Raleigh and there was a Mr. Dunderbak’s in the mall there. It was our favorite place to stop for food and drinks….and then more drinks. This was in our B.C. days (before children).
It was roughly 6 p.m. when we got there and the place was fairly empty. We had our choice of seating so we went to the rear of the restaurant. DH had Der New Yorker-a triple decker of Pastrami, corned beef, Swiss, and cheddar cheeses with horseradish on pumpernickel. I had Der Blue Max-a triple decker of corned beef, Pastrami, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and bleu cheese dressing on rye bread. Devin went with the hamburger with fries and Margaret had the chicken nuggets with fries. We were all stressed from the drive but I think no one was more stressed than DH. He had the largest beer they had to offer while the rest of us just went with sweet tea. It was all fabulous and we were stuffed to the gills. Dessert was out of the question. As soon as dinner was over we got back in the car and went across the street to check in to our hotel.
We have stayed in Daytona almost every trip and we have settled on one hotel as our favorite. The proximity to I-95 and I-4 as well as the abundance of restaurants around it have led us to favor the Residence Inn. The hotel is nice, the rooms are big and clean, they have free internet and full breakfast in the morning. You really can’t ask for much more.
After checking in and getting all of our overnight stuff up to the room, we were wiped out. We immediately settled in, I had a glass of wine (or 3), DH had a beer (or 3) and we just relaxed for the rest of the night. I think we were lights out by 10 p.m.
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Yikes! That is so scary about your tire! I am so glad that no one was injured and that you had wonderful help! What a way to start the vacation!
I hope the rest of the vacation goes much smoother!
I totally understand about the Disney blues. I start to get them the day I have to check out of my resort!
Looking forward to more!
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Actually, we love it. Anywho, that’s my list of excuses as to why it took a month to even begin to work on a trip report. 
We were able to find a tire place and get the tire put on within the hour and were back on the road. I honestly can’t say enough good things about what could have been a horrific situation. Our plans were to drive as far as Daytona and spend the night there. We arrived around 6 p.m. and drove straight to Volusia Mall for dinner. There is a sandwich place, Mr. Dunderbak’s, that we absolutely adore. 
It brings back so many memories. DH and I used to live in Raleigh and there was a Mr. Dunderbak’s in the mall there. It was our favorite place to stop for food and drinks….and then more drinks. This was in our B.C. days (before children). 
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