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I guess Miami Beach just wasn't the place for me. Not that I gave it much of a chance. I had been considering heading down to Key West but in the morning I decided to head for Kissimmee instead. Right in the center of the state it would let me keep my options open. I ended up booking three nights at the lesser of the two Radisson hotels there. Their rates were pretty reasonable on weekdays but they nearly doubled come Friday, otherwise I would've stayed longer. When I first came in my room I saw a big warning notice on the desk talking about the dangers of ordering pizzas from any flyers shoved under the doors.  The room was very nice and the pool, though not huge like the one at the other Radisson, was very nice. As usual, most people seemed to complain that the water was too cold while I thought it was too warm. But, once again, it was great in the evenings once the air cooled down a little. They also had a number of gas-powered torches around the pool area, which was a nice touch. I ended up talking to a couple people there who were rather annoyed at their travel agent. They got a good deal on their accomodations here but did not realize until they checked in that they had to go on a little timeshare presentation the following morning.   The rooms came with the fancy Sleep Number beds. Guaranteed to give you a comfortable night's sleep. Unless you do like I did. It was around 1am when I decided to go to bed and began adjusting the firmness of the mattress. I decided to put it at its lowest rating first and then adjust from there. Unfortunately, when I started to adjust it, it made such a noise I was scared I'd wake the neighbors. So I left it at its softest rating and had a rather awkward sleep on it. The next day I was able to put it at a much better setting. After eating fairly sensibly for the last week or so, I knew I was in trouble when every second restaurant along the nearby highway seemed to be an all-you-can-eat buffet. I managed to find one buffet that featured corn on the cob, something I had been craving for the last week or so. I enjoyed it so much I inspired the waitress to grab a plateful for herself. (It was a slow evening there, I accounted for half their customers so she had plenty of spare time.) While at the pool in the evening a white heron flew down and started srutting around the pool area. It headed for one of the hedges and then, just like a cat, it started to crouch down slightly and wiggle its rump, preparing to pounce. It lunged into the hedge and came out with a lizard in its beak. The tail was still wiggling as the heron flew up to a nearby roof and gulped it down. On the following day I encountered CiCi's Pizza Buffet. For only $4.95 you get to choose from around a dozen different types of pizza, including the unusual macaroni and cheese pizza. (I wasn't brave enough to try it.) They also had pasta, salad, bread sticks, and cinnamon rolls. I never realized how much I LOVE cinnamon rolls. I ended up eating there several times and despite the bad case of heartburn it would give me each time, just writing about it now makes me want to go again! The funniest thing about the place was that the staff would welcome everyone that came in. The lady at the front cash would call out "Hey, welcome to CiCi's when someone new came in and then some of the cooks behind the counter would yell it out in unison. It was quite disconcerting at first but ended up being rather funny, especially when some of the customers started shouting it out as well. When anyone walked out the door they would also shout out "Bye, thank you!" Occasionally one of the cooks would yell out "Ole!" for some reason and at other times they would shout out the name of whatever style pizza they just finished making. Quite hilarious. After coming back from the pool at one point I couldn't get my key card to work. I tried it several times until I realized that I was using my calling card. Since that was the only card I brought with me I had to go to the front desk and ask for another key. Fortunately, they were able to give me one with no trouble. My three days at the Radisson passed by very quickly but it was an enjoyable stay. I spent the bulk of my time either in the pool or sitting at one of the nearby tables using my laptop. After I checked out I just had to give my car a bit of an inferiority complex.  |