Back to Gainesville

It's New Years Day and the nest tradition I have is to spend it outside! Off to Gainesville we go to look for shark teeth in the water of the Hogstown Creek accessible through Loblolly Woods. A word of warning... this time we went there were signs posted that it was high in fecal bacteria. It didn't stop all of us... maybe it should have. Yuck!

 

Some of the cool teeth we found.

 

We tried to get in a visit to Lake Alice and to see the bats come out but the rain and temperature drop ended that possibility. We headed to The Swamp to have some dinner and ended the holiday with some friends. Good stuff. Next in Gainesville: more locations to explore on Hogstown Creek. 

Longwood for the Day

You don't always have to go far to have an adventure. We ventured over to Longwood today to check out the Sweetwater Wekiva Farmers Market before exploring some more. I will say the market was a little sparse today but then again it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We spoke with a guy that filled us in that this market was started by the same people that started the Winter Garden Farmers Market. With that being said it should go up from here. Nicest people, just not a lot out there today. 

Next up - Big Tree Park The Senator was burned by a crazy meth-head back in 2012 but at least they could save just a little of the tree as well as plant some seedlings and try to clone the tree. 

The remains of The Senator.

Lady Liberty still stands. She's a mere 2000 years old. 

Time for the playground where we ALL act like kiddos. 

But now the fun! Time for Hourglass Brewery and a nice flight. 

Just look at that oh so beautiful Imperial Stout. That's good stuff right there!

Check it out. Make a day of it. Grab some Wako Taco or some Papa Bee's wings and bring them over to the brewery to eat. Good stuff, I'm telling you. You won't be disappointed. 

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. 

Lights in St. Augustine

So we were just sitting around and trying to think of something to do. The kid says, "St. Augustine." I followed that up with, "Lights!" Moments later it was, "Let's Go!" So we did.

It actually was perfect timing since it was already the afternoon and well, you need it to be dark to see the lights. It is roughly a two hour drive for us to get up to St. Augustine and it was perfectly timed. The weather was beautiful and chilly making it feel even more like the holidays.

I mean, take a look....

I'm always on the search for a Geocache in the area and St. Aug doesn't disappoint. This one qualifies as the smallest one we have ever found. It feels a little like finding a hidden treasure. Good stuff. And the street musician playing for us as we searched was quite awesome as well. 

The buildings are beautiful and the architecture is superb everywhere you look. 

The statues and history around St. Augustine are fun to read up on as well. It's not the 4th grade field trip capital of Florida for nothing!

It's getting DARK!  Look at the lights... everywhere!!!

This display wins my vote for the best decorations in the city!

And last but not least we made a stop inside the oldest pharmacy. I was able to see it all before the wax museum purchased the building but the last time we went it was closed. I am glad to see that they have maintained the original shelves and items that were in some of the pharmacy. It's fun to just stand there and read the labels. I mean, there was even a suppository mold. Try explaining that one to the kids. Interesting.

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. 

Time to get wet...

There are plenty of options in Orlando to get wet other than the typical afternoon rainstorms. We have an annual tradition of hitting Coco Key Waterpark & Resort every summer with the kids. Sadly we didn't pick a great day to do that this year with a few too many lightning strikes that closed the park periodically.

Coco Key is both a water park and hotel but they do offer day passes to just the water park and there are often deals on Living Social or Groupon so be sure to check ahead of your visit.

There are 3 taller slides you can see off the side of I-4 and then the splash area with more slides pictured above. Oh yeah, and that big bucket up top... see it... it dumps all over the place every so often. Super fun!

Step inside the covered area and there is a nice pool with a few more slides where you can escape the sun and cool down. They also have a poolside bar along with an arcade and cafe. Check it out and see for yourself!