Timeshares? Yes, please!

Back in 2008 I went on a family vacation with my mom, sister and brother – our last family vacation with it being just the four of us and it was one of my most memorable vacations.  We got along great and did so many things in Florida.

One of the days while we were wandering around, my mom got sucked into an offer – come visit our resort, listen to us for 2 hours and we’ll pay you 200! Why the heck not, right?  The entire drive over to the resort my mom made us promise, multiple times, to not let her say yes to the offer. We agreed we wouldn’t.

While she spent the couple hours in the office listening to salespeople, the three of us lounged by one of the many pools in the Florida heat. They came and got us on a golf cart and took us back for a complimentary lunch on the veranda. Afterwards, the sales guy came up and was talking to my mom, practically begging her to sign the papers.  She looked at us and asked if she should get it.  We shook our heads, but said yes!

As she signed hundreds of papers, we laughed at her because we knew she would want it.  She bought a timeshare for Westgate Resorts and there are a bunch of them throughout the United States.

In 2010 we went back to Westgate Resorts in Orlando and the place was gorgeous.  It was my mom and her boyfriend, his two kids, my brother, and my boyfriend and myself – so there were 7 of us.  Our place had a master suite (complete with a jacuzzi), a second room with two queen beds, and a loft with two double beds, plus a living room with a pull out sofa.  We were styling.  Our balcony over looked a pool and hot tub which we used daily.  The main building had a movie theatre, complimentary breakfast and a lot of activities.

In 2011 we went to the Westgate Resort in the Smokey Mountains and it was even more gorgeous.  The log cabins were on the mountainside and we had the top floor to ourselves.  The layout was similar but different.  Instead of the layout like a house it was split into two different rooms – so there were two bedrooms, two living rooms, two kitchens (thank goodness, cause we needed an entire fridge just for our alcoholic beverages). This year it was my mom, my boyfriend and me, my sister and her boyfriend and their son, and then my moms boyfriend and his kids drove out later.  So there were more of us, but we still had a blast and everyone had their own space.

Timeshares may seem like the’re more expensive in the long run, but you really do get what you pay for.

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Road trip to Eldora Speedway!

This past weekend my boyfriend and his friends and family picked me up on their way to New Weston, Ohio to watch the races. I got in the car around 10:30am Friday morning and we got to our hotel around 5pm.  Before we left Michigan we stopped at a little restaurant/bar right off the highway that had Harley Davidson motorcycles displayed in the windows – it looked pretty BA. Inside was a mini arcade with about 8 games and a pool table, so we played pool while we waited for the food to come.  Then we were on the road again. Long car rides can be exhausting and somewhat boring, so check out this site for some fun games to play in the car!

Right off 127 is Eldora Speedway so we stopped there for a couple of minutes and then went to the hotel.  Everyone was irritated with the hotel we stayed at because when they made the reservations a week in advance the front desk representative said they had a bar connected which is the whole reason they chose this specific hotel.  But when we got there, the bar was closed and had been closed for at least 2 months. Now that’s faulty advertising. And we don’t like faulty advertising.

The races were cancelled Friday due to rain so we bar hopped around Greenville and St. Henry’s.  We ate dinner at Tail Gators and then went to the speedway for a couple of beers, and then St. Henry’s Night Club, then Danny’s, and then one more bar until we decided to call it a night.

Saturday was amazing.  We got up and around, ate breakfast at a cute little restaurant and went to the Speedway again at 1pm.  It was $40 for a pit ticket so we all got those and went in.  This was my first time at a race and I had a blast!  We walked through the pits looking for some racers they knew, there were over 120 Michigan Modified race cars and they all looked awesome, and sounded even better.  They started the qualifying rounds so we sat on the bleachers watching dozens of cars speed around Tony Stewart’s dirt race track.  Some times the cars were going about 120 mph and whipping their cars around the corners. The races started probably close to 5pm and it got a little chilly outside but thanks to many layers and hot chocolate, I survived.

During some of the final races, I walked to the infield with a couple of the guys and stood at the fence watching 20 some cars racing.  The ground literally shook from their speed and noise coming from the cars.  I stood less than ten feet from some of the cars as they went around the corners doing over 100 mph.  It was a great experience getting to do it all in my first trip.

Some things I recommend to people who are traveling in a car for multiple hours – grab blankets, pillows and maybe a book or homework to do along the way.  Or play a couple of games from the site provided above, or talk to people in the car, sing, do whatever! Have a blast while doing it though.