Shingle Creek Vacation Recap

Sometimes all you need to feel relaxed is 2 days away. Two days without watches, to-do lists, litter boxes to clean, or calories to count can be amazing.  Trust me. I was just there. And it was glorious.

Kyle & I spent last weekend at Rosen's Shingle Creek Resort which is right here in Orlando.

We are notoriously addicted to this beautiful resort.  We stayed there last summer (recap 1, recap 2, recap 3), last year for our anniversary, for Kyle's 30th birthday in December, and again last weekend.
We love that you don't ever need to leave the resort once you check in.  There's plenty to do, great food, and beds that Kyle and I named "the cloud". Nap time was prevalent.

The only bummer about our weekend was the weather.  A nasty cold front was moving through.  Luckily we were spared the torrential downpours that were predicted and just got cloudy skies.  No pool for me.  No tan either.

After check-in, we headed rushed down to the pool for  7.5 minutes of sun.  Yup, I counted.

The thunderstorms rolled in and we headed to the hotel's sandwich shop for lunch.  It has the best sandwiches anywhere!  Promise!

I had a chicken salad "salad". The chicken salad had light mayo, pecans, craisins, and cilantro.  I put that on a salad with balsamic dressing and lots of banana peppers.

Then it was off to "the cloud" for a well deserved nap time.

Dinner was at our "engagement restaurant" and our meal looked like a carbon copy of what we get at Cala Bella every time.  I feel like that Olive Garden commercial where the guy always gets "the usual". Is there anything wrong with that?


Here's a collage of our food and silly faces:

Saturday am we were prepared for a day inside as the weather said "100%" chance of rain alllll ddddaayyyy lllloonnnnggggg.
We headed down to the breakfast buffet and were surprised to see clouds and no rain.
After we were embarrassingly stuffed (eggs, biscuits, fruit, more fruit, fruit dip) we headed out to hike the hotel's "nature trail".

Eh- not so much, huh?

Luckily we came up with a better idea.  The hotel's fitness center offers equipment to use so we checked out a basketball and tennis rackets. It was my favorite time of the whole weekend.  I have never really played tennis and I was shocked how easy I picked it up.  I'm ambidextrous so I would just stand in the middle of the court and transfer my racket to my left and right hands depending on where the ball was. Is that recommended tennis technique?  It was a calorie-burning blast!

That afternoon was also enjoyed a nap, sandwich lunch, massage, sauna time, and reading. I am reading Portia Di Rossi's book "Unbearable Lightness" and I highly recommend it.

Dinner on our final night was at a tapas place down the road called "Cafe Tu Tu Tango". The restaurant was packed and full of diners and energy. They have artists working on paintings and flamenco dancers. The food was sadly uninspired.

The funniest part of the night was when Kyle was served his dark chocolate cheesecake pops that were covered in balsamic reduction and NOT chocolate.  That's a flavor combination I won't be recreating any time soon.

Not chocolate sauce.

Today I have a major case of vacation blues.  I'm already pestering to Kyle to see when we can do back.

Do you have a favorite local "vacation" spot?

Love and Egyptian cotton,
Carissa & Kyle