Susan and I will host a mid-winter family event next winter at our place in Florida. We’re thinking of a long weekend so the nieces and nephews and their significant others/spouses/families can do this with minimal vacation days. We want to avoid holidays and spring break days so airfare is cheap and things aren’t too crowded. In 2016, Martin Luther King day is Monday, January 18th. President’s day is Monday, February 15th . The Yoder and Frey auction date is not yet established, but it is likely to be in the middle of the month. However, the equipment will start arriving so we can gawk at early in the month. So the dates we are proposing are:
Friday, January 29th
to Monday February 1st
If anyone would like to suggest other dates let us know and we’ll consider them, otherwise we’ll stick with these.
The house has four bedrooms (plus a couple more rooms you could use as bedrooms,) and four full bathrooms. It is on 5 acres with lots of camping room. There is a pool and two hot tubs, and nearby boat ramp. The address is 1100 W Southport Rd, Kissimmee, FL 34746 . It is currently equipped with a 12 person 24 foot pontoon boat, golf car, and a few other toys. Nearby is a pretty good airboat place at the boat ramp. Information on the house:
First two links are before we bought it.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1100-W-Southport-Rd-Kissimmee-FL-34746/46292747_zpid/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKlV0qFjjh0&feature=youtu.be
http://scott-bentley.com/Southport/ (stills and Quadcopter video I shot at various times)
If you don’t want to stay in the house or camp, the nearest resort is http://www.cypresscoveresort.com/ - about a 3 minute drive, but might not appeal to the more conservative. There are lots of hotels in Kissimmee proper, but they are all 20-30 minute drive away. You can probably find a house to rent not too far away and pretty cheap – see http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rentals/florida/poinciana/r27954 for example.
Disney and Universal are “nearby” – Disney is about 45 minutes, Universal an hour and 15 minutes – but I think we can find lots of better stuff to do. Gatorland, for example, is a half hour and definitely worth a few hours (sorta redneck, but fun.) One day at Disney is breathtakingly expensive – over $100/person.
No need to commit, of course. We just wanted to stake out the date early enough that everyone could mark their 2016 calendars well in advance.