Gators in Gainesville

Back from Gainesville Florida with a trip to visit my little sister. This was the most impromptu and spontaneous road trip and I love that I had the option to do this.

While I was in grad school, I missed out on so many special family moments...birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. But something that I really hate having missed was moving my little sister into college. I remember giving this girl baths and reading her stories, and it hurt my heart that I couldn't be there to see her get started off in college. Since I have quite a bit more free time these days, I made it a point to head down for a visit. On a whim, Tom and I packed up the car, grabbed the pup, and made the 10+ hour drive down to Florida all in one day. 

Manatee Kayaking in Crystal River Florida

Hello from Florida! 

We are here on a quick impromptu Southern Road Trip to visit my little sister. Today, we had the most memorable and amazing experience with kayaking in Crystal River Florida along the Three Sisters Spring. 

 I don't even remember how I stumbled upon this hidden gem of Crystal River, but it 100% deserves it's namesake. Since it's only about an hour away from my sister in Gainesville, I knew that we had to go. We loaded up the car right around 6AM this morning and headed towards Crystal River so that we could get on the water right at sunrise. We did a kayaking tour and it worked out that the other kayakers in the group cancelled, so we had a guide all to ourselves. We ended up being the first ones on the water today, which gave us a chance to kayak alongside manatees and alligators, as well as seeing so many species of turtles and birds. 

Giraffe Ranch

Beyond excited to share this truly unique experience from my sisters weekend in Florida. Giraffe Ranch is home to many of the animals that you would only expect to find at a traditional zoo, but its run like a true ranch that allows you to interact directly with the animals.

 Short of being a zoo keeper or a vet, you would never have the chance to engage so directly with these types of animals. It was seriously one of the best things I've ever done--even if it has ruined traditional zoos for me for life. 
Follow along on our southern safari!

Sisters in Tampa!

Last weekend, I took advantage of the fact that it was a long one and went on a little trip with my sister. This getaway was a Christmas gift to her and we finally had the time to make it happen. 

Florida Road Trip

One of the best parts for me about this space is having the chance to reminisce. And I've especially loved being able to look back and relive an entire trip simply by reading through our itinerary, so I want to share one here for all of our big trips. 

After 3 years of putting it on the back burner, the stars aligned and we were finally able to make this trip fit into our schedule and our budget. I'm sharing our exact itinerary here so I don't forget a single detail of this epic adventure through the Sunshine State. 

mischief managed!

the cost of visiting Florida's national parks

If you're a regular reader around here, then you may have noticed how much we love the national park system. And it's our goal to visit all 59 of America's national parks. This will probably take us a decade, but is a fun adventurous goal to have.

Lately, we've started visiting all the parks within a state at once, like hiking through Utah's Mighty Five in Seven Days or Wandering Washington. So it should come as no surprise that we visited all 3 of Florida's parks within as many days. One thing I noticed compared to other national park visits is that we had to do a ton of research with trying to sort out our options for each park. Florida's national parks are unique and don't have as much hiking emphasis as others, so it can get costly with paying for activities in each park. I thought I'd share our budget friendly cost breakdown for visiting each national park. 

a camper's guide to dry tortugas national park

With our trip through the sunshine state, we visited all 3 of Florida's national parks. We spotted alligators in the everglades and went boating in biscyane, but by far our favorite was our visit to Dry Tortugas National Park.

This national park is actually an island off the coast of Florida that just so happens to be surrounded by the world's 3rd largest coral barrier reef. Even though the island is closer to Cuba than it is to the US, it used to serve as a major line of defense in the 1800's so it's chalked full of history. 

Dry Tortugas is one of the least visited national parks. This isn't because it's not worth visiting. Trust me, it is. But the only way to access the park is by boat or by seaplane. Add in the fact that the island has no electricity, no internet, no fresh water---most people only visit as a day trip. But Tom and I pride ourselves on not being most people. And a night of dry camping on a secluded island sounded like paradise to us. We spent our time laying out on the beach and searching the fort for hidden treasures. So I thought it would be a fun idea to share what we learned. 

a week of wear: florida edition

I'm normally stuck in scrubs all day every day. While I kind of hate it, one thing it's taught me is that clothes are meant to have a function, not just be pretty. So with packing for our recent trip to Florida, I made sure to not only consider the cuteness factor, but also what would function best.

I literally packed based around what activities we were doing each day. And I was much happier with the outcome, so I thought it'd be fun to share a vacation edition of a week of wear. 

day trip diaries: key west

The Florida Keys and Key West in particular have been on our radar for years, so I'm glad to say that we finally made it happen. 

camping in the keys

We've been camping all over the country, but never on a beach. And I can't imagine a better place to have had our first experience with beach camping then in the Florida Keys. Even a resort hotel couldn't offer this beach front view! 

Snorkeling by day and sandy beach camping by night = PARADISE

alligators in the everglades

Everglades National Park is well known for hosting a unique range of animals: alligators, crocodiles, even jaguars. So my hopes were high with expecting to see lots of wildlife. We only had the morning to spend in the Everglades as we had afternoon plans in Biscayne National Park, so I was the most impatient thing ever with searching for wildlife.

boating biscayne

Lucky for us that within 3 days time, we managed to visit all 3 of Florida's national parks. And Biscayne National Park is one of those hard to access ones solely for the fact that it's a protected coral reef with 95% of the park being underwater. 

There are so many unique options for exploring the park, but we ultimately decided on doing a boat tour with sightseeing and island hoping all around Biscayne Bay. Crystal blue waters and sandy beaches, it was a no brainer. 

packing for florida

There's always lots of prep work going on behind the scenes for any trip that I take. On my recent trip through Florida, one thing that I didn't want to underestimate was the packing. Aside from doing lots of outfit planning, we had all of our beach gear and camping supplies to think about. Literally stuffed the SUV we had to the brim. 

florida bound!

We're off to Florida today and I couldn't be more pleased. With starting clinic this month, treating patients has been my top priority. And it feels like things have gotten a little off balance with managing my personal life. So I'm looking forward to enjoying a much needed week off from dental school. Per usual, I'm making the best of a little time off with a vacation. We've been putting this Florida trip off for so long because it's a pricey one, but are finally doing it and will be crossing several big adventures off the bucket list, including visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (total potterhead here). After Orlando, it's off to Miami and then onward to enjoy the Florida Keys. Looking forward to a relaxing, but adventure packed week. Feel free to follow along on instagram.