Gardening is Always an Adventure

In the last year or so I've become the crazy plant lady. Yes, crazy plant lady is the new cat lady and there is even a hashtag for it : #plantladyisthenewcatlady

I'm in the learning and experimenting phase and really, I'm trying to go low maintenance and pretty much with natives for the plants. I've joined a local plant swap. Yes, me. I pick up nearly dead plants at a discount and try to revive them. I'll drive to someone's house when they say they're thinning out their flowerbeds. Yep. I've done that a few times.

So what is growing well in the Florida Winter months? A few different things. Take a look.

Yep, the green leaf lettuce is doing nicely and we've had a few salads with it. That broccoli was delicious when I roasted it for lunch one day. I'm watching a few strawberries to see how that goes as well. The arugula is ready to plant as well so wish me luck there. My daughter especially picked that out and says she will eat it! We'll see.

What are your go-to winter veggies in Florida? Any tips to help a newbie out?

Back to the Palm Coast We Go!

Off to my happy place. Well, really, it's one of my 3 favorite spots that include sand and water. The list is long but I would say Washington Oaks Garden State Park is easily in the top 3 along with Lover's Key and Blowing Rock.... and.... and...and... Okay, I'll stop there. The list of favorites is long.

But look at this! How could you not love it?!?!?

Doesn't even look like Florida, right?

Shadowy self-portrait.

Panoramic view of the rocks and the ocean.

 Nice little archway letting some light in.

 Rocky view.

I imagine the rocks in Sedona looking a bit like this.

Rocks as far as you can see.

Playing with the light.

I always seem to find my way into this little spot with this same view.

And if you go across the street to the gardens you'll see ponds, the rose garden and the beautiful view of the bay. 

I won't bore you with tons of details since I've reviewed this one before but pack a lunch. Check it out. Check the tides before you go. Seeing the tide in is just as cool as seeing it out. Getting to see BOTH is worth it!

Oh, and on the way back stop in and eat at The Funky Pelican in Flagler Beach. Yum!!! I had some delicious shrimp and grits. 

A Day at Harry Potter World!

Okay, okay. It's not called Harry Potter World but it is now such a HUGE part of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks. In fact, that is really all I even cared about seeing. The rest of the gang had much more on their lists for the day but really, the new Happy Potter area in Universal Studios was the first stop.

We got their bright and early and hiked our way over to the new area and looked at the Knight Bus and fountain outside of King's Cross station. I was in awe already. Luckily I really hadn't seen or heard much about how the new area was set up so I had no idea that when I walked the other side of a plain brick wall I would stand there with my jaw dropped open. Seriously amazed and awestruck!

The dragon on top of Gringott's even breaths fire about every ten minutes or so. Awesome! The Gringott's ride was thrilling and fun as well, so much so that we rode it twice! There are so many little details in this area that I could stay for hours looking in the stores, walking through Knockturn Alley, buying a wand to use on all the windows and displays, people watching and eating crazy food. Yep, you can get Butterbeer here as well as Butterbeer ice cream! Chocolate chili ice cream and Earl Gray and Lavender ice cream are both choices as well. Add a few beers that are made just for the park as well as the specialty candies and such and you're set with treats for the day.

Don't forget to take a ride on the train to the Islands of Adventure side of Harry Potter World. But, plan on riding it both ways since it's different each direction.

Once you get to the other side the view changes and it is just as wonderful. On that side you have the rides for Hogwarts and the dragon roller coasters, both large and small. There are many things to see on this side as well, but it has been there for about 4 or 5 years now so the wow factor really goes to the Universal Side for today!

And don't forget there is more than just Harry Potter World to explore at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios! We even caught up with some cute, green aliens on the set of Men in Black!

Happy Exploring!

Let's go to Lakeland!

There is actually quite a bit to do out there in Lakeland and usually I just drive through on my way to Tampa/St. Pete. But not today! Time to stop and explore. The mission today is actually to hit two college campuses to check out the, wait for it... architecture!

Yep. First up is Florida Polytechnic University. I'm sure you have seen the futuristic, white dome from the side of I-4 in the area referred to as Orlampa. It is technically in Lakeland but Orlampa has such a nice ring to it!

This beautiful building is open to explore on the weekends and explore we did! Just be sure to be nice and quiet when you enter because sound does carry in that building. The whole place is done an a bare, industrial style while still being futuristic. The floors are concrete and the walls are stark white with glass here and there. There are interesting chairs placed here and there in sitting areas and upstairs is the book-less library. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. The offices are small, glass pods with windows to the outside. Downstairs are the classrooms, the robotics lab, the gaming design center and more. The space I love the most is the outside area that surrounds the building where you can sit under the slatted roof. The view is pretty amazing.

Surrounding the main building there are a series of 7 different ponds. The ponds and grounds are also beautifully maintained and you can catch a glimpse of wildlife here as well. Next time though, I want to see it at night! Looks beautiful all lit up as well. 

Oh, and the roof, well... it doesn't open but the panels shift to allow the light in or to keep the heat out. A pretty neat concept. We learned that if a storm is in the area it shuts down and then has to be manually turned back on to start doing it's job again. Pretty neat. 

So time to head to the next campus! Where? Why Florida Southern College, of course. Did you have any idea that right here in Lakeland there was such a large collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture? Yep, it's right there in Lakeland. 

This campus is absolutely beautiful and the area looks more like a park than a college campus. The Frank Lloyd Wright designed walkways take you around from building to building and allow a nice covered pathway around campus. There are several different tours available that you can sign up for or you can do it yourself by purchasing a map from the visitor center. 

Starting your walk out at the visitor center will let you see two different buildings as well as a water feature designed by Mr. Wright, himself. 

Besides the architecture there is a beautiful rose garden you can walk through and be sure to catch the water dome fountain when it is on. They are in the middle of a renovation of the dome but it does come on every half-hour. The day we visited it was only running at 50% instead of the full 100% but still, it was nice to sit and watch the fountain under the bright blue sky. There is a little coffee shop on site that serves Starbucks as well. Take a break, sip on some refreshment and take it all in.... ahhhh! Right here in Lakeland.

ABJ Road Trip - Day 5 - Hobe Sound & Jupiter Inlet

Sadly it is time to depart the Keys and head up the East Coast of Florida. I really, really wanted to go to the Blue Heron Bridge at Phil Foster Park but that is truly something to be done when the tides time out in your favor and that just wasn't going to happen today. Another time. Another time for sure! 

Instead we will go straight to Blowing Rocks Preserve in Hobe Sound which has been on the destination list for a while. This part of the coast has rock formations of limestone and some of the best shelling on the East Coast. It was absolutely beautiful. 

This is another location that you want to check the tides on before you go. The parking lot is only open until 4:30 so know that as well. If you want to explore under the rocks and into the shore line you need to aim for low tide. If you want to see the water splashing and blowing up you will need to aim for high tide. Makes sense, doesn't it? I wanted to see both but the timing didn't allow with the lot closing. 

If you go down just a little ways past the rocks the water is pristine and clear for swimming. In four feet of water you could still see your toes. It was refreshing and beautiful. Oh, and it looks so crowded, right? Nope, not at all. There were a few families out there and was so pleasant and absolutely enjoyable.

Even the walkway to and from the beach is beautiful lined with tunnels of trees. 

However, we did see the saddest of all things on the walk back... There was a sea turtle nest high up from the shore and some of the little ones didn't make it. I'm not sure if they were attacked, confused, too far or what but seeing these babies on the sand was absolutely sad. The only positive I can take away from that is usually there are 100 in a nest so I'm hoping the 90ish we didn't see are swimming happily in the ocean. This is one of the eggs some of the babies hatched from. 

We also explored the area a bit more and saw the lighthouse and drove down Beach Rd. This is where the stars vacation as we passed Tiger Wood's and Celine Dion's beach homes. Seriously huge homes with main entrances and separate service entrances. The road is beautiful as well and has a section that is canopied by beautiful ficus trees. 

Another long and beautiful day of our road trip has come to an end. Tomorrow we depart for home with tons of memories and pictures from the road trip. All in all it was a great trip. 

Time to get an oil change. 

And sleep.

ABJ Road Trip - Day 4 - Key West

Southernmost Point of the Continental United States... here we come! Whew. Wordy, isn't that? Well,  we are heading to Key West and they do claim that fact but it's a little off in actually being that point, but you can read more about that here.

There are quite a few mandatory things you have to do in Key West and we were all too happy to oblige. The Mile Marker 1 sign was our first location we hiked to and then we ran into the store across the way to pick up some stickers.

Now off to the Southernmost Point Buoy as we pass Hemingway's House, the Key West Lighthouse and more beautiful properties with the banyan trees draping across the yards. My daughter was determined to get a coconut but was so disappointed that she didn't have a good tool to really get inside of it and tear it all apart. 

Time to eat some lunch after all that hiking and playing tourist! One of the true traditions is Sloppy Joe's and it didn't disappoint. Lunch consisted of fish tacos and wings and some live entertainment! Perfect!

Time for more walking and sightseeing. We hit Mallory Square, the marina, all of Duval St. and more. All in all we hiked about 10 miles today. It truly feels like it. We wanted to wait for the sunset at Mallory Square but had so much more to do. We headed back to the middle keys and pulled into Bahia Honda State Park. We didn't have snorkeling equipment but we really should have grabbed some for this trip. We could have done a good bit of snorkeling here and it was beautiful. Walking over to the old railroad was on my list... I have a thing about bridges apparently. It comes up over and over. Going under them is my favorite thing and some of the best geocaches we have done have been under bridges. This bridge didn't disappoint. Just look at the view. How could you not love this view? 

Time for sunset but back to the 7 Mile Bridge for that. See, I do have a bridge thing. Or a nature thing. Or a sunset thing. Or a being outside thing. Or just an adventure thing. Yep, that's it. Adventures by Jen. Overall, a great ABJ day.