Staying in the US: A Keystone Run + Alligators

No! I am not talking about a cheap beer run!

Taking a break from overseas travel, Mike decides to pack in a couple of trips across the contintental U.S. in February. First stop? Denver for a team meeting. Mike decides to add a day of vacation to the trip to venture to Keystone as a warm up for our upcoming annual trip to Copper.

Hitting the slopes

He’s sore for three days after. At least he got the kinks out…

A day at home and then off to Orlando. I just roll my eyes when I see the hotel – wait, resort – he stays in. I think this may be why he doesn’t tend to talk about the hotels or the restaurants. But, that’s just guess.  Anyhow…you can judge for yourself by taking your own virtual tour of the Gaylord Palms (it already sounds fancy, doesn’t it?) 


Inside the Gaylord Palms

I can’t believe he didn’t hit the Disney properties while he was there. You’d think he was working. Just for fun, I did a little virtual sightseeing of Orlando (next best thing to being there!)…betcha you didn’t know that…

  1. According to Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s Trends Survey, Orlando is the second most popular domestic travel destination in the country (Las Vegas placed first).
  2. Orlando has the second largest number of hotel rooms in the country (after Las Vegas, Nevada). Wow…look at the coincidence with the first fact!
  3. Orlando is home to more than 100 lakes.
  4. The region sees an estimated 52 million tourists a year. And out of the estimated 52 million tourists, over 2 million are international visitors, with the majority of foreign tourists coming from the United Kingdom. (Hence the hotel room stat…)
  5. Orlando is in Orange County, which was once known as Mosquito Country. (It might have something to do with all those lakes. Bring the bug spray!)

And, yes, all this was packed within two weeks.  Home just in time to go on vacation!

Jen