Gulfstream Manor Resort

Gulfstream Manor Resort is in Gulfstream, Florida. If you have not been to Gulfstream Florida, add it to your list. What a substantial area. This resort is like your ultimate wish list for a beachfront resort. With a private beach, great sand, and ocean views, this is dreamlike.

Folks leave sometime in the schedule for romance because this location lends itself to that. With the small private pool, private beach access, and large villas, this is perfect for love.

Day One Arrival

I checked in and TZort did it again, wow my villa was one of the oceanfront villas. Now that may seem like a waste since it was just me on the trip. But hey, I promise while I am here to at least invite one person in to enjoy the view.

Yes, I do realize that being a travel writer with TZort comes with some serious perks. You may not be able to write for them too, but you can certainly travel as I do and for pennies on the dollar when you book through TZort. Harmless plug aside, let me tell you more about the amenities of the resort and the villas.

Villa Amenities

Then the resort itself offers all of these options.

Resort Amenities

These villas are great. Beachfront or pool facing you will love your villa. Because either way you are just steps to the private beach. That itself is worth the booking.

Not sure why Bluegreen has not had a 360-tour made of this one. Maybe because other than booking through TZort they sell out. It is the only thing I can imagine because this site would be a beauty to see in the 360 formats.

After settling in the room and unpacking for my brief stay, I headed right for the beach. It was a no-brainer. The beach was literally calling to me to put my toes in the sand and dance in the ocean. After a dip in the ocean, and some time in the sand, I chose to hose off and find some food.

I chose a local place called Driftwood. The menu was solid, the service, nice, and the location was close by. It offered an interesting menu from great meat dishes to meatless vegan dishes it ran the gambit. I have to remember this location because I have a nephew that is a vegetarian or vegan and sometimes; I worry about him being happy when we go out to eat. This was a place where he could find something great and everyone else could too. All too often if you find vegan, then everyone needs to eat twigs and berries too.

I think it is nice that a restaurant that serves the public has both things covered. While I did not order those items from the menu, I did like my meat lover’s meal. I chose a Driftwood burger and then added shrimp to the order, and some extra sides. Everything was very good. Truly, the chef can cook anything he or she wants a gifted individual.

Back to the resort I went to, but I stopped along the way because while I was full, I started to like to take food back with me to the resorts now. This is so I do not have to leave the resort as much. I just put some extra food (normally a meal) into the fridge and microwave it later.

I saw a good truck that just caught my eye. They claimed to have the best-grilled cheese in the world. Bold claim kind of like the places in NY that all claim to have the best coffee. I was determined to order one and take it back with me.

So, I pulled over, found a spot to park, and walked up to the food truck. It was called Melted Madness there was a bit of a line which was a good sign, and the menu looked great for street food or food truck fare.

Check it out for yourself here. I got the grilled cheese as its namesake, then also chose a few more items. I chose another grilled cheese with pulled pork, and some mac and cheese bites. My thought was the BBQ juices and sauce would incorporate over time and become next level in the fridge. Hours later, I found out that was dead on.

Neither one was the best I had ever had, nor do I think they would have been hot. But that is because I am a grilled cheese dude. I have had them everywhere, and I have made about 10,000 versions of my own over the years. I can say with confidence for many “normal” grilled cheese fans this might become your favorite, however. It certainly made my exclusive top 10 list.

I made it back in time to see the sunset on the private beach. That was nice, but I knew being on the East coast that the thing to see here would be the sunrise. When I hit the villa, I set my phone on alarm for 20 minutes before sunrise. I was going to be up for that sunrise.

Day Two at Gulfstream Manor Resort

I know people reading this may think I am exaggerating the scene here or embellishing my writing by saying that it was one of the best sunrise scenes I have experienced. Maybe it was the weather being perfect or being alone on a private beach, but whatever the secret combination was, I want more of it in life. In fact, this one sunrise now has me thinking I want a condo on the beachfront either in Florida or Myrtle Beach South Carolina. One of the two.

Imagine any day you want to wake up to a perfect beachfront sunrise. I can not think of much I want more in life than that at the moment. When you come here, be careful you might get the bug too. It was so nice I could have watched it from the room, but I felt like the glass made it less real. Almost like watching it on TV, so I bounded outside like a kid on Christmas Morning going downstairs to see what Santa had brought him. Seeing the sunset was like Christmas I got the green machine a great toy that my grandfather had put together one year for me from Santa. Oh, how special it was.

You know it was not until this very moment that I realized what my Grandfather had done. Later in life, when he retired, he purchased a station wagon that looked a lot like the one from Lampoon’s Vacation. He nicknamed it the green machine. I think I was so excited that morning that my grandfather was touched by that and named this green station wagon the same thing. That is powerful for me to just have caught it now. But I guess I had to be his age to understand that feeling of getting so much enjoyment out of others’ happiness. Just wow folks, wow.

Well, after that amazing sunrise, I wanted to get a big breakfast. I felt alive and better than I had in at least a year. Something just clicked with that sunrise. I found a local spot called Sande’s, sorry, no website to share. It looked like a chain spot I went to when I was young. Part dinner, part-whole in the wall kind of deal. But in a good way. The menu looked like it too had been around for 40 years or so. The kind of place where they have a cook and that cook knows how to use a griddle.

Well, I was right. They made great eggs, sausage, grits, and more. All cooked to order and fast. It reminded me a bit of one of the restaurants from the movie “Defending Your Life” which was a comedy-drama favorite of mine and the family.

I had a ham and cheese omelet, grits, eggs, sausage, and toast. The meal was great, and I was rolling sixes from the very start of the day.

Have you ever had those days where they start so good that you feel nothing will go wrong?

Well, if not, or if you do not recall when you had your last day like that, maybe it is time to book a beachfront vacation. If you have read about one of my trips before, you know I love touristy things and trips down memory lane. So the natural thing for me to do today was to check out the Silverball Museum which is dedicated to pinball.

What is neat about this place is that you can go in for free, kids under 4 can go for free, and then you can also purchase a pass that lets you play all you want and it is very affordable. This would be an amazing thing for a father or grandfather to take the kids to. Just saying.

There are tons of pinball machines that are lovingly restored and maintained. It is a very cool place. They offer passes for locals, even monthly memberships. It is a great idea. I could see someone doing this with the old video game machines too, and it is popular. They offer food and a bar as well, so it is a very cool place to visit. I am glad I did. I stayed playing for about 2 hours, I kind of got sucked in by the place.

Next, I wanted to find something else cool. My day was still going all 10, so I did not want to stop the fun. I had a drink when I started playing pinball, so I kinda wanted another.

That’s when I ran into the weirdest combo yet. Throwing Axes and drinking. It works,, but it so feels like it shouldn’t. The spot was called Game of Axes and the idea is simple. Little known or accepted fact about me. I was once a martial arts expert. Now that I am out of shape (let myself go) you would never guess it. But at something like this muscle memory takes over. Now I am not saying that I threw axes in martial arts. I would have, but I did not. I barely even threw knives, stars, or darts. But the body movement that makes you good with one weapon often translates to others.

So I ordered a beer and watched a few groups for a bit. Then one nice person from a group was like “hey, the big guy do you want to throw some” I answered back sure but looser pays for the next hour. The group of like 3 gals and 2 guys was excited to hear my friendly challenge.

I got up, finished my beer, and the next 6 throws I let fly all were on target. You would have thought they felt like they just found some lost movie hero. After winning the game with ease, which was a blast. I purchased a few more rounds and the guy that invited me to the group paid for the next hour of the lane with the target.

My dead reckoning aim continued. But after I while I bowed out and thanked them for the invite. We shook and exchanged numbers and things. It was a really great group of folks. I was having fun, but whatever was going on with my day, I did not feel that staying in one spot made sense, or that my luck and positive mood should go to make someone else feel like a loser. That was why bowing out just felt like the right thing to do.

I did talk to the 3^rd gal who had not paired off with one of the two other guys. She too felt like the 3^rd wheel of sorts. I explained I was staying on the beach and were and told her if she wanted to come to hang out later or tomorrow give me a call, it would be nice to chat again. She smiled and put my number into her phone.

I am not a pickup king or anything like that. But she was a nice person, and we just spent an hour laughing, so I was like why not at least invite her and see if that sounded fun to her? I likely should have invited the entire group, but they were from the area so I guess I thought like for the most part they would think chilling on the beach that they can go to any time might be boring or something.

It was like a friend of mine years ago. He was born and raised on St. Thomas and he loved the island but left because it was just the same thing all the time. Most of us dream about living on a resort island or beach, at least until we have been there for a number of years. Anyway, I am ready to test that out in my life. We shall see what I think if I pull the move to the beach off.

Day Three

My perfect day continued to be perfect. But it was mostly me lying on the beach and relaxing. This means as a writer I am moving on to the next morning with you. This AM I remembered that I had eaten the one grilled cheese, but not the BBQ one yet. It was time to knock that sucker out in the microwave and give it the test.

As I said before, I was right the juices and BBQ sauce made it better now the morning of day three. It was like how leftover spaghetti or fried chicken sometimes tastes better the next day. The BBQ sauce and meat just got better. Which made it all amazing.

Today I did not miss the sunrise again catching it, and it was great. But not the same as the day before. Still magical, just not epic life-changing. The pulled BBQ grilled cheese did help the mood, however.

Today was going to just be a beach day, at least until time to grab some lunch. I broke out my towel and laid out for a few hours after putting on the sunscreen.

Then the phone rang, guess who the nice gal from the ax-throwing group was yesterday. She wanted to see if she could drop by and see the beach location. I said sure I am on the beach now come on by, then maybe we can grab some lunch.

She arrived in about 20 minutes and was looking cute. She had tons of energy and seemed to be a very positive person. I am a glass-half-full guy for sure, but yesterday I think she saw me at my current best. My mood and everything was at 10. So, I was not sure how today would go, but I was along for the ride at least.

Well, the morning went well and as we got hungry, I asked what her favorite place was to eat that would be open now. She hinted around at a few things but did that girl thing when they do not want to decide. I have dealt with that for years, so I just chose one she mentioned and we got in the car and headed over.

She had mentioned Andy’s Latin Food, so we headed on over. As I get older, I have noticed that most women I ask out for food choose something that a man of means can afford. They choose an expensive place so that you a treating them to something they may not be able to afford to regularly go to. It kind of makes sense, I guess. But this place had great good and was a great value as well. The menu items were from $5 to $8.50 which was very affordable for something in a resort town. It also suggested to me that this lady was a keeper.

The lunch was great and afterward, we headed back to the beach and the villa to spend some more time talking and getting to know each other. It was a great afternoon. Later said we should do it again, and she headed off into the sunset.

It was a perfect day, in a way. It was also the ending of a trip that brought up fond memories and thoughts and gave me one of the very best sunrise experiences of my life.

I love all the resorts I have been to for different reasons, but if you want a great beach vacation, this is one you should not miss. Remember to book through TZort and travel resort style.