Brett and Florida

When we found out that Cameron was having overnight tennis camp this week in Angola, Doug and I decided that I would travel with him to Ocala.  I hadn't been to Florida since April and was looking forward to it.  In addition we offered to fly Brett and Cal down to join us.  Unfortunately, Cal had to work, but Brett was able to rearrange his schedule and join us for three days.  We picked him up at the Orlando airport late last night and started his mini-vacation today.

Today, I first showed Brett where Doug worked.  That wasn't overly exciting, but he did appreciate seeing it and loved all of the cypress tree with the Spanish moss.  Our next stop was the World Equestrian Center.  Brett was just as impressed with it as we were.  As an added bonus we got to see the horses and riders practice in the arena.  That was the first time that I had visited and there was equine activity.  Brett picked Zaxby's for lunch as his friend Patrick had highly recommended it.  We both enjoyed our chicken sandwiches.  We headed to Sholom park next and thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the shade.  It has definitely become my favorite place in Ocala.  Brett liked the area very much as well.

We rested and cooled off before picking Doug up from work.  He drove all of us to Disney Springs.  We were surprised to find out that we could walk right into the queue for Gideon's bakehouse.  Normally, we've had a three to four hour virtual wait before we could get into the bakery.  Tonight, Doug and Brett tried the new orange pecan chocolate chip which was their cookie of the month.  I picked out the banana bread chocolate chip.  We headed to Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar next.  I had heard a lot of wonderful things about it on a podcast that Meg recommended.  It was the perfect restaurant for Doug and Brett as it was based on the movie Indiana Jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark."  The atmosphere was awesome and the food was delicious.  After dinner we walked to several stores including Disney Trends, The Star Wars Store, The M&M store and the Coke Store.  Brett bought a few items and we tried a couple of drinks at the Coke Store.  It was a wonderful way to spend an evening.