Travelogue: Florida, Part 8

February 2021
Where We Stayed: Margaritaville Resort Orlando Cottages

Saturday, February 26, Cocoa Beach + Departure
Time to head home! Nooo. I truly didn’t want the trip to end, which was saying something considering how exhausting theme parks are, how expensive everything was, and how sick I was feeling for the majority of the trip. The kids had an amazing week and I didn’t want that magic to end for them. 

We spent the morning packing up, cleaning the kitchen out, and trying to arrange all of the suitcases logically in the car. 

We made a quick stop at Disney Springs to pick up the R2-D2 popcorn bowl that Mike was lusting over all week (if you see it, buy it!). We also made one last stop at World of Disney so the kids could use what remained of their gift cards. I found the monorail mug that I have been loving for a year; it was never sold online and I didn’t see it at all in the parks. But there it was at the World of Disney: a few of them tucked in the corner of the coffee mug section. SCORE! 

After our shopping wrapped up, we headed east toward Cocoa Beach! 

The beach was about an hour and fifteen minutes away. The waves were intense and we saw a real lifeguard rescue because of the bad rip tides. (See… this is why I hate the ocean!) Mike and the kids went swimming and loved it. I’m one of those weirdos who hates the beach.  I am scared of the ocean, I don’t like to swim in general, and I find sand to be too messy and chaotic (it gets everywhere… no thank you!). 

But this was not all about me, so I sat on the shore and watched them all have fun in the waves. I did enjoy all of the rainbow beach umbrellas and I very much enjoyed all of the tan, beautiful lifeguards roaming about. It was like real life Baywatch. 

We stayed at the beach for just a few hours because we had a flight home to catch.  We grabbed lunch/dinner at Publix on our way back to Orlando (“don’t they have Pick ‘n’ Saves here?”). 

Our travel home was smooth – but late. We got to our hotel in Milwaukee at midnight (really 1am Florida time). We were exhausted but happy – a successful and fun vacation was had by all. 

Highlights:
S: the beach
E: the beach
A: the beach
Mike: swimming at the beach with the kids
Annie: Monorail mug and rainbow beach umbrellas

My pin lady status has reached new heights.
My EPCOT Mexico skull – plus happy to be snugglin’ with Coco
New mugs!