Florida, 2018

We have never been to the East Coast of Florida before.  We have always gone to the Panhandle, which we love, but we needed a change.  Since we were going to Orlando for a Disney Vacation, it sounded like the best move.  We should have went to the beach after Disney so we could relax.  I'm not quite sure what I was thinking!  We left on Sophia's birthday, so I made sure that I had some cupcakes for us to enjoy on the road.  We made it pretty far driving the first day, and stayed in Jacksonville, Florida. The next morning, we got up early and headed to the beach.  We had never been to this side of Florida.  I was not impressed with the water clarity, but the beaches were nice.  One of the things we love to do is find beach glass and shells.  We found lots of glass to bring home for the beach jar.  Many people were searching the beach for shark teeth. Some of the beach glass is pictured below.
 
             
 
After spending most of the afternoon on the beach, we ventured to St. Augustine.  We absolutely fell in love with the town.  It had such a good vibe to it.  We would definitely like to visit again.  While in St. Augustine, we decided to check out the Fountain of Youth.  It was fairly cheap to get into the park.  We were starving, so I was glad that they had a grill there.  They served up some tasty burgers and fries.  There was ample seating for everyone and it was covered with umbrellas to keep you out of the sun.  We walked around the park by doing the self tour.  When we got to the fountain, everyone was handed a glass to get a drink.  This was the most awful tasting water I have ever had.  It tasted like I took a drink from a garbage can.  It was awful.  I don't know that it made more youthful or not, but it definitely made my stomach turn! They had a lot of peacocks and wildlife running around the park.  The kids got a huge kick out of feeding the birds and the squirrels.  They spent probably an  hour doing this.  We got to watch a worker, who was dressed as a Spanish conquistador shoot a cannon over the bay, which was surprisingly neat and interesting to watch.  It made us jump, even though we knew the sound was coming.  Another worker was showing people how to make nails and other metals from a blacksmith barn.  The kids each got a nail. 

The drive to The Fountain of Youth.
We loved this street and thought it was so beautiful!

Below is the entrance to The Fountain of Youth Park and us getting a sip of the water (blech)
I also included some pictures of the kids feeding the birds and the cannon, because honestly, they enjoyed this part of the park more than anything!
                                                                                 
                           FYI:  Brad thought the water tasted like Satan's butthole as well!

                             
They had the best time with these birds!  It was so funny to see the birds interacting with them!

Braden feeding
a peacock!

We enjoyed the trees.  I know it sounds silly, but we are from the Midwest, and there are definitely not trees like this in Illinois!  


 

After visiting the Fountain of Youth, it was finally time to check into our beach house! We couldn't check in until 3pm, since this was our first day.  Our beach house had a nice ocean view and there were tortoises hanging out in the yard, which was so neat for the kids to see.  While walking on our beach near the beach house, was also ran across some protected turtle nests.           
                           





On the second day, we headed into town and found the Lighthouse.  It was stunning.  We had never been into a lighthouse before.  It was fairly cheap to get in.  The only issue was finding a place to park.  It was extremely packed and seemed to be a pretty popular tourist attraction.  While we were walking around the courtyard, Sophie found a rock that someone had painted!  We made sure to post it to the Facebook page as we were instructed to on the back of the rock. 

We generally ALWAYS rehide rocks, because we paint them to hide as well, but this one was too good to let go.  We kept it and it's sitting in my daughter's room with her other souvenirs.

The lighthouse had a fantastic view of the ocean and the town.  On the way up, there were cases with artifacts, pictures and games for the kids to play.  The games were learning games, such as how much a bucket of coal weighed that the keeper would have to carry up the stairs every day.  It was neat for them to get hands on. 

My honey and I at the top

Braden loved to be up top.  Sophie was a bit more skeptical, like me. The view from the outside, was just as spectacular.

After the lighthouse, we went to Castillo de san Marcos, the Bridge of Lions, and many other historical sites.  The Bridge of Lions is the type of bridge that opens up for large boats to pass underneath.  We saw it go up once to let a large yacht pass underneath. We made an early night of it, because were were heading down the coast to a different beach the following day.   

                          

                

                         

On our third day, we spent our entire day at Melbourne beach, which is were our next condo was located.  The view from our balcony was to die for.  Our condo was huge.  Our room was huge, the bathtub was huge, the shower was huge, literally EVERYTHING was nice and spacious! We didn't leave the condo all day, we just spent the entire time on the beach.  They had a pool, a snack bar, and some games such as shuffle board for the kids.  That night, Brad did some night fishing and we hunted crabs.  The kids love doing this any time we are on the beach.  We collected them all in buckets, then of course release them not too long after. 

The view from our balcony

 Our last day before we headed to Orlando to visit Disney, we laid on the beach the entire day.  The only time we left, was late in the evening for some Chinese food and ice cream!  Overall, I think we would definitely stay on this side of Florida again.  The water clarity wasn't our favorite, but the beaches were nice and not too crowed. We enjoyed it! 

XOXO...Becky                             

Florida, 2017

 

Who doesn't want a picture with a mermaid?



The entrance to Weekie Wachee

We spent 4 days at Universal Studios and then we trekked across Florida towards the Panhandle. Along the way, we stopped by Weekie Wachee.  I had heard of this place because of Instagram.  I love kitschy, odd and bougie type places, so it was right up my alley!  We were only there for half a day, unfortunately. When we left Universal, we made our way to Weekie Wachee.  We had made a whole day of riding rides and using up our park tickets, so we got a late start.  We spent the night somewhere near the park.  The morning of July18th, we got up super early, because fairly early in the day, the Weekie Wachee park meets its maximum amount of visitors for the day and will not allow any more in, unless the crowd thins out.  I WOULD NOT let this happen to us, especially since we stopped just to see this.  It was really cheap to get into the park.  We were able to take in our towels, a beach bag and a small cooler.  When we entered, we got in line for the first mermaid show.  Sophie and I were stoked.  Brad and Braden, not so much.  The huge auditorium was underground.  It was quite large.  There was a huge glass window with bubbles blowing on the outside to look like a curtain.  Once the curtain bubbles lifted, the mermaids put on quite a show.  We had to laugh at one point, because a turtle in the river continued to harass the mermaids until they finally gave him a snack!  We enjoyed the show and the girls really did a great job! 

A small part of the show 

After watching the show, we went down to the springs and found us some chairs!  The water was ice cold! The water is around 72 degrees, even at the hottest point in the summer.  The water gets extremely deep toward the back of the springs, and there is a huge dock that people can jump off of and into the water.  Water slides are also on the springs.  There is a warning that there are alligators present; however, we did not see any.  We did ask about it, because locals were acting very nonchalant about that, and they did tell us that the alligators, fish and manatees steer clear of the roped off swimming portion of the park due to there being so many people.  The bottom of the springs was sandy and there were some shells at the bottom.  Many people were snorkeling. There were nice bathrooms with showers, and a bar/snack shop.  I would suggest making sure you brought your own cup with a straw, because they only give out paper straws. I understand, and I want to do my best to help the environment, but God love it, I HATE paper straws. Reusable is best, anyways!  We hit up the gift shop before we left for some souvenirs.  While walking around the park, there are peacocks and other birds roaming around, which is kind of neat.  Overall, it was a neat way to spend an afternoon.


Mr. Braden!  You can see the dock in the background and how crystal clear the spring water is!

After we left the park, we made our way to Panama City Beach!  It took us quite awhile because of traffic.  We got to our condo late that evening.  We had the Reflections at Baypoint booked.  We have stayed there another time.  It sits on the bay and there is a shuttle that takes people over to Shell Island.  The condo is nice and there is a fantastic pool that the kids love.  We haven't used it, but there is also a nice restaurant and a spa.  We enjoy the pier and the Bar and Grill, called Pelicans.  Pelicans serves yummy drinks and a pretty good meal!  That night we didn't do anything, except walk the pier and look for crabs along the bay. Baypoint has a private beach along the bay that is very nice. You can watch dolphins playing in the bay, and there are huge crabs always walking around near the water.

The following day, we went to St. Andrews State Park.  Every time we go to PCB, we hit up this park.  It is our most favorite state park in Florida.  There are two sides.  One side is not protected and you get the big waves and currents.  The opposite side, is a protected area that they call the jetties.  There are huge boulders that encircle a very large area to help block the waves.  There is good snorkeling and calm water for the kids to swim in, with ocean water that constantly comes in and keeps the water fresh, unlike the bay.  In the park, there is a large lake that has alligators.  Of all the years that I have been there, I had never seen an alligator, until this time, so that was neat.  My kids asked if we could feed it.  Uhmmmm....NOOOOO!  That evening, we ate at Pineapple Willies and snacked on some alligator tail.  We sat on the large deck that has a decent view of the beach.  There was a nice breeze from the ocean.  After four crazy days at Universal, driving, and Weekie Wachee, it felt great to just lay on the beach all day and to relax. 

Pineapple Willies...Poor Braden, the sun got to him!!!

On day three, we swam in the resort pool and then took the shuttle to Shell Island.  On Shell Island, there are no bathrooms or places to get drinks or food.  You are completely on your own.  We packed plenty of snacks and drinks to be prepared.  The shuttle comes back every couple of hours.  The water was perfect and the waves were fun.  Lunch was enjoyed at Pelican's on the pier at our condo.  We got some shopping in at Pier park that evening. 


Shell Island

Day four was spent just like the day before.  We took the shuttle over to Shell Island.  The kids enjoyed seeing the dolphins from the boat.  We spent most of the day on the beach and that evening we ate at Hammerhead Fred's and then played some putt putt at Pirate's Cove.  Unfortunately, this was our last full day on the beach and it was time to head home.  The kids have a surprise for them in the morning.  We are making a special pit stop.  I will go into further detail in my next post! 

XOXO...Becky

Hammerhead Fred's