The Suite Life

I got the chance to really live it up this weekend. Hubby had a golf tournament down at Hammock Beach Resort, just over an hour south of where we live. I was working the event handling registration and scorekeeping, and with the grandparents out of town the kids had to come with us.

The original plan was for us to drive down Friday night, have my sister-in-law and her daughter stay with us and have a bit of vacation in return for some babysitting, and then I’d drive home and pick the kids up from her house after the tournament Saturday night while hubby headed on to Orlando for a Sunday event. But the resort was just so incredibly, wonderfully beyond anything we usually do for vacation, I didn’t want to leave after one night. And my incredible husband said, do you want to stay another night? Oh, very much so. My one-night stay was extended to two – and a late checkout today was thrown in to finish it off.

The drive down to the resort Friday night was a typically wet Florida summer afternoon. Ferocious thunderstorms followed us the 50 minute drive down the interstate. Since it was 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, no one was slowing down just because they couldn’t see ten feet in front of their car. Some of them were thoughtful enough to at least turn their headlights on; several didn’t see the point. And at least three of that group ended up on the side of the road filling out accident reports in a downpour. Luckily the collision scenes seemed to all be vehicle damage, not human.

We left the rain behind when we turned off I-95 onto Hammock Beach Parkway, and the 10 minute drive out over the toll bridge and onto the resort grounds was done in almost no traffic. The parkway was all windy roads, towering sawgrass, cabbage palm, magnolia and oak trees that soared overhead and met to form a canopy of green. By the time we pulled up to the resort itself (where three valets and two bellmen were charmingly trippin over themselves trying to help me from my car) the stress from the drive down had melted away.

Check-in is a luxurious matter. No counters and standing in line; please come have a seat in one of our library chairs while we pull up your reservation on a screen, recessed under the desktop so eye contact and a smile can be offered to the guest at all time.

A quick trip up the elevators, a wander down a few halls (the sign telling us which hall was ours was a bit hidden behind one of the plants), and we were soon walking into our suite. Long expanses of marble, mahogany, and Egyptian cotton duvet covers were waiting – along with a view to cry many happy tears over, from the glass doors leading out to our 75 feet of balcony.

The kids had a fun 10 minutes running back and forth between the three bedrooms, looking in drawers, checking out the 4 tvs to see which had DVD players (all but one!), VHS (all of them), and where the internet connection was hidden. Ok, that was me looking for the internet connection – I’d called ahead and found out there was no wifi in the rooms, but the master bedroom and kitchen would have wall jacks. By the time my sister-in-law and her daughter arrived (bearing wine, cheese, and crackers), me and my brood had settled in nicely.

Hubby ended up getting hijacked by the golf directors and held hostage at a steak dinner (sounds great, but Friday night dinner time at a steak house meant his food was undercooked after he waited an hour for it). We had a much more relaxing time at the resort – that bottle of wine went down very nicely on our outdoor patio, overlooking both the ocean and the driving range of the golf course. We carried a glass down to the pool at one point so the kids could do laps in the water instead of around the suite, then headed back up and ordered room service when it was growing dark. If you’re going to live it up, do it right! By 10 the kids were showered, fed, and snuggled up in front of a movie with pillows and blankets while we enjoyed the second bottle of wine on the patio.

It wasn’t all work – when hubby finally made it home from his working dinner, we had paperwork to get ready for the next morning. And 6am came early – that’s when we had to head over to the course to set up for the tournament. And even paradise can’t promise perfection – around 11:30 those Florida storms (and their very dangerous lightening) came back with a vengeance. Seventy plus wet golfers milled around for a few hours waiting to see if we’d be able to get the tournament finished, but just as they were about to give up the light show burned itself out. Happy to be playing such a great course – even if they were playing it wet – the golfers returned to their rounds, and my “work” day kicked into high gear.

It was almost nine and the sun was setting before the last trophy was handed out, the last skin was paid, and the scoreboards were packed up for another day. And it was the most wonderful end to a tournament to be able to drive across the street, exchanging one parking lot on one side for a valet’s service at the other, and go up the elevator to my waiting shower, spa gels, and super-soft towels.

Hubby stayed long enough to wash off the days sweat and say bye to the kids, then he had to head down the road to Orlando. We all felt more than a little guilty to be sitting in the lap of luxury while he headed off to the Quality Inn.

But that didn’t stop us from enjoying it.

I did a load of laundry in our in-suite washer (I’d only packed for one day, not two!) and  enjoyed a few drinks while the kids told me what they’d done, and my sister-in-law relaxed in the peace of her room for a few minutes. By 11 we were all in bed (well, except the teenager) and resting up for our last day.

Today was all about relaxing. Coffee on the patio, then late morning spent at the pool and slide, and finally a sad goodbye when we left it all behind to head north again. But it was a vacation I’ll remember – and that’s one course I’ll be sure Hubby puts on the schedule again next year!