SunShine MINIs

Winter storms in New England cancelled our flight back home today, so we’re “suffering” for a couple extra days in Florida – with the benefit that Margaret & I were able to join James & Steve and others at the George & Dragon pub for Sunshine MINIs of Orlando’s “Second Wednesday” get-together.
It’s lighter longer down here than back in Boston – but still it was dark by 7pm, so these pics are poor even by iPhone standards; though like they say “the best camera is the one you have with you”, so these pics will have to do!

Outside the George & Dragon was a London bus, so I lined up GPMINI for a picture – and the other MINIs lined up there too 🙂

I also learned from James of his Library Of Motoring blog, which he’s regularly posting to at the moment; I added it to the Google Reader feed list.

An absolutely excellent weekend – with many many thanks to George, who provided continuous friendship and transportation is his fabulously cute new Mini … and thanks also to Pedro (of MotoringFun), Alex, Barry and everyone in Sunshine MINIs!

Friday evening, after happy hour drinks at the hotel, there was a great dinner get-together with perhaps 80 people attending (sponsored by MinSpeed, previously MyMINI). The food was very good, and after prize presentations (including a hilarious one for best “hard luck” story on the way to the event), we ended with a group picture:

Saturday morning began at a sensible 10am, with a good drive that led us on twisty back roads looping around the Walt Disney World property (and back through it); we had regular stops for photos, and there’s lots and lots of pictures:

Back at the hotel parking lot, we could check out other MINIs (while George washed his Mini), including Jackie’s with a beautifully created Disney themed roof design, and Vladimirs with a stereo system to rival (or beat?) GPMINI, which included Bluetooth controlled equalization!:

On Saturday afternoon, George & I attempted a photo scavenger hunt – it was great fun but a bit frantic, especially since we non-locals didn’t know many of the “secrets” that the locals did know 😉 … then everyone re-grouped at Kitty O’Sheas for food (generously provided by Downtown MINI of Orlando), and drinks! Photo scavenger hunt results were announced, with Brandy & Amy taking first place … And then, it rained!

Thankfully, only for a while … so in the evening we were able to watch the original Italian Job movie, courtesy of the hotel (there was also a go-karting event, which we heard was excellent as well!). It’s quite amusing laying on sunbeds by the pool, in the dark, watching a movie – especially when you can’t really see the picture because all the lights are still on (but of course we all knew the movie anyway, and we could still hear it!)

On Sunday, a MINI golf event was organized at the Disney Winter Summer Land course; George & I sneaked in a game at Fantasia first … and that’s where I dropped my camera(!) and had to find the bit that dislocated from it 😦 so no more pics; but thankfully the camera is now re-assembled and appears to be still fully functional.