It's a sad day when you realize you have made one beach trip so far this year. Seriously, how have I only been once this year? In April we made a day trip to Cocoa Beach, but in true Florida fashion it rained 30 minutes after we got there and we took shelter in a Chili's the rest of the afternoon. Here is the one picture we took that day!
So when the opportunity came to spend a weekend at the beach, we couldn't say no. We booked two nights at the Hampton Inn in New Smyrna Beach. It was literally a last minute trip, like a make plans in 48 hours, I hope someone can look after the dog, do I even know where my bikini is, last minute trip. But those are the best kind of trips....right? I'm an over thinker by nature, and i'm even worse when it comes to vacations, forever torn between planning a hundred things or throwing my hands up in despair and relegating us to the beach the whole time. With this last minute trip I really didn't have the chance to plan much at all. I looked at Google Maps before we left and it appeared the hotel was located about a quarter mile from the beach, and there were some shops and restaurants near by - good enough for me!
We hit the road and drove about 90 minutes North East from where we live in Kissimmee. It was an easy drive, highway most of the way until we hooked a Right and headed towards the coast. My favorite part of the drive to the beach is when you first drive over one if the causeways and you catch the first climps of the ocean.
We found our hotel easily. It was a pretty building, fitting in with the historic homes around it.
We had a quick check in with a very helpful front desk clerk and easily found our room. We were on the second floor just a few steps away from the elevator and ice machine. Disclaimer - I forgot to take a picture of the room...but it was clean, with two queen beds and a flat screen TV. The only thing we missed that wasn't in the room was a fridge. We had brought a cooler for drinks but there wasn't a lot of extra space. I believe this hotel has "suites" that would have a small kitchenette but in a standard room, it doesn't.
After we got settled in our room (read, took a nap) we decided to explore the surroundings a little bit.
Google maps really didn't show how great this location was. We walked Flagler Avenue all the way to the beach, with small shops and places to eat lining both sides of the street. By this time most of the shops were closed (everywhere closed around 5:30pm - 6:00pm I am spoiled with everything open until 9pm in Orlando). We window shopped and made mental notes of the places we wanted to come back too. We eventually found ourselves on the beach, and my heart did a little happy dance. The beach was beautiful, the sand was soft and the waves were still warm.
The perfect end to a Friday night!
All opinions are my own, I was not compensated in any way for this post
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