Inverness, Florida
Sunday, May 1, 2011 - Thursday, May 5, 2011
A quick, and impromptu, trip to Florida - and (unfortunately) this wasn't a 'vacation' for us. Jill's mom had open heart surgery at Citrus Memorial Hospital in Inverness, about an hour and a half from Orlando.
Jill and I headed to Rochester on Sunday morning for our AirTran flight to Orlando International. We arrived 'home' around 3:00, grabbed our Alamo rental, and headed upstate - Upstate Florida that is. We got to the hospital around 6:00 and spent some time with her mom, and then went out to dinner with her dad at a restaurant in Inverness called Stumpknockers. Checked into the hotel after dinner, the Holiday Inn Express on East Gulf to Lake Highway in Lecanto.
Monday brought more visiting with her mom, and Monday night we drove to Crystal River in search of somewhere 'different' for dinner, settling on Cracker's Bar and Grill. Tuesday we went for a run at Whispering Pines Park in the morning before going back to the hospital. We had lunch at Coach's Pub and Grill, and at night we decided to head to Downtown Disney (you didn't think we could be this close to Disney and not go there now do ya?). Had reservations at Wolfgang Puck's place, but when we got there they informed us that their kitchen was serving a 'limited' menu (pizza's for the most part), so we told them no thanks and headed across the way to Bongo's Cuban Cafe' for dinner. Back to Inverness afterwards.
Wednesday hit and we spent our last day in Inverness hangin' with mom at the hospital. Went to Coach's again for lunch (great beer menu here by the way!). Jill's dad drove us around the area for a bit in the early evening, showing us their house, as well as Marty 2 and Kathy's house, and Marty 1 and Diana's farm (complete with calves, pigeons, horses, and parakeets). Back to the hospital where we said our good-bye's with mom, then the three of us went to Sonny's BBQ for dinner.
On Thursday, we got up early, packed up and headed to Orlando. We made a couple of quick stops at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot to wander around, having lunch in Mexico (in honor of Cinco de Mayo of course!). To the airport for our return flight to Rochester.
After landing in Rochester, we began the drive home. Along the way, we stopped at Twin Trees Restaurant for some really good wings and pizza before completing our trip back to Binghamton.