About eight or nine years ago now, my wife and I went on a vacation to Orlando. We had our tickets to Disneyworld, a hotel, a car, and we were ready for a great week-long vacation. It was my first time to Florida and my first trip to the east coast, so we decided to head to the beach for my first trip to the Atlantic. We ended up picking the perfect day to drive to the beach. If we had stayed in Orlando and gone for another day in Disneyworld, we would have been soaked from the drenching rains that hit that day.

Now the monsoon storms that hit Arizona are nothing to laugh at. We will occasionally get localized winds that approach hurricane force and have been known to knock down block walls. The storm that hit us that day on the highway as we headed east towards the ocean reminded me of a monsoon storm but with a lot more water. It came down in sheets and buckets, and the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up. We pulled to the side of the road to let the worst of it pass before continuing. Not the sort of thing that you want to be caught in on a two-lane highway.

We made it the beach just fine and had a great time playing in the Atlantic. After returning to our discount hotel room, we decided that our next trip to Orlando would have to include a stay in the Grand Floridian. That hotel looks like the way to go. We also want to go on some Orlando tours the next time we’re out there. I’m hoping to win a handheld GPS by signing up for the newsletter from Trusted Tours & Attractions. Win Handheld GPS – Newsletter signup page) They specialize in sightseeing tours of many cities including Orlando.