Winter Garden Adventure

Winter Garden is just one town over from where I live but what a town it is. My daughter and I decided to head to the Farmers Market and New Plant St. Market.

The Farmers Market runs on Saturdays from 9-2 and it is worth checking out. There are some fantastic vendors out there as well as lots of fresh fruits and veggies. I love getting pickles from Mr. and Mrs. Pickle. So delicious but next time I'm going for the cream cheese stuffed olives. 

 My daughter is a big fan of Holy Cow beef jerky and loves their teriyaki and finer flavored. We also picked up our fresh veggies for dinner - squash, zucchini, red potatoes and more. I'm always fascinated by the colorful carrots at The Farmacy but have yet to try them. 

For the young ones there is a fantastic splash pad fountain that is free for all to enjoy. There was face painting offered and all the kids love the snowballs and soft serve ice cream that The Whip food truck provided. 

What else can you find? Lots!!! Smoothies, Cuban sandwiches, dried fruits and nuts, powdered dip bags, crepes, empanadas, essential oils, pet products and more. 

After the Farmers Market we headed over to the new Plant St. Market. 

It sits just on the other side of city hall from the Farmers Market. What a great concept for an indoor space. Different vendors share their wares and there are lots of food related items, even a small restaurant and The Crooked Can brewery on the back end. The Wandering Wanton was our choice for a snack and we tried the buffalo chicken wanton and the sweet potato and coconut ones. Yummy! 

There were pastries being sold, tea, coffee, pet products, olive oils, jewelry, essential oils and more. 

I was on the hunt to get to The Crooked Can and try the Axum Chocolate Stout. I made it! All the way on the back end is the brewery but what a great set up. They had several beers on tap and flights available to try! Next time!!! They are open until 2am so you can even have a night out and hit the brewery. 

There is a lot of seating offered but my daughter and I made our way to the front steps to enjoy our food. We had a great day in Winter Garden. 

There are a ton of great places in Downtown Winter Garden. There are some superb restaurants and shops as well. Go! Explore! Have your own adventure and let me know what you find! 

Gainesville Fun

So, I've realized that I am really, really bad at keeping up with this blog. But, I'm pretty good at adventures. With that said, we had a pretty good adventure yesterday up in Gainesville.

We started off going to find Hogs Creek where I read that you can find shark teeth in the shallow creek water. Yep. You sure can. We made our way to the creek through the Loblolly Park which is one of the parks run by the City Of Gainesville. It's a short, easy walk and there are a few places to access the water. It was beautiful here and I'll be back. Oh, and if you Geocache there are a few to do out here as well.

After all that hunting around for shark teeth you may get a little hungry. Understandable. We were on the search for something different. One of my AbJ rules is no chain food on adventures. Nope, what's the point in that?

We wanted to go to Satchel's but no luck. They are closed on Sunday and Monday. Don't let that deter you. Delicious pizza to be had there and great sights to see. Don't forget they are cash only as well.

So we aimed for The Swamp. Nope. Closed for some unknown reason. Not sure why. Maybe something to do with the Memorial Day Weekend.

And then we ended up at The Crafty Bastard for dinner.  Yummy and a GREAT selection of beer both on draft and in bottles. The food was very good as well. The menu is a little limited but there are a lot of burger choices and yes, they do have a kid menu. All good there.

We needed a bit of dessert after that and the kids were screaming for ice cream. Mochi had a great selection of toppings and fro yo! The cherry amaretto was delicious!!!

Time for the bats... and gators. Well, first a stop to see The Baughman House and it is beautiful. It is next to Lake Alice where you are sure to see some turtles and gators up close and personal. Enjoy the view while you wait for dusk to see the bats emerge from the bat house. There are over 400,000 bats that fly out at dusk and sometimes you even get to see the hawks go after the bats.

All in all, it's a fun afternoon and a great way to spend it outside!!! Let me know what fun you find in Gainesville when you visit.