Week 37 – Florida Pt. 1

Hi Friends.

We have spent the last week in beautiful Florida. It’s been so nice to be back on the road and traveling again. To be honest, after spending a bunch of time at my parent’s house, I was both excited and a little afraid to get back on the road again. It sounds silly, but I think I was afraid of not enjoying it as much as we did when we first got out on the road. Luckily, this last week has kinda proven that worry to be false. We have been having the best time and it feels like home.

Coming to Florida is something we talked about for a while. But it does look wildly different from how we were originally going to do it. Similarly to everything else, it’s important to be flexible when you’re on the road. Due to us being delayed in getting back on the road, the rate of covid right now, and wanting to get to certain parts out west before it gets too hot – we have decided to cut out a few major things we were thinking of doing. Mainly Disney World, Everglades National Park, and The Florida Keys. We also would have had to find a dog sitter or doggy day care place for Pepper Jack. We have decided that we want to come back and do those places in a few years time and make it the focus of the trip.

The main places we visited this past week were: Tampa Bay, Bonita Springs & Miami Beach.

Tampa Bay
In Tampa, we had a great time wondering the city for a little while before continuing down to Bonita Springs. It was a brief visit, but we know we will be back in Tampa the next time a women’s final four is there. We first parked ourselves near Sparksman Wharf and decided to walk along the waterfront. We stopped for a while once we reached a dog park. This dog park was sitting right on the water, which was so fun to go to and get PepperJack to meet so many new friends. It’s honestly become one of our favorite things to see PepperJack meet new dogs, just be off leash and so happy.

After we got back from our walk, we decided to get some dessert at Sparkman Wharf is the form of Jeni’s Ice Cream. I know Jeni’s is a chain, but if you’ve never had their ice cream before, I highly recommend trying it. We had an Almond Brittle flavor ice cream to split and it was divine.

Bonita Springs
Bonita Springs is where we hung out for most of the week. During the days, we worked while at night we got to hang out with family. Our work days are shifting slightly. Travis got a new job that we are so excited about which will help him grow in his career. This job so far has required a lot more video calls than he’s previously had. We have been a bit more stationary during the days versus our original approach. Before this job, depending on how busy the day was, we would break up the day with an activity in the afternoon, before finishing up work hours. We have started to adjust to doing things before and after typical work hours instead, which isn’t a bad thing as it gets us up and moving earlier.

In Bonita Springs, we visited a really great dog beach for Pepper Jack to run around. We went for sunset which was absolutely beautiful. It required us to roll up our pant legs to walk through some water to get to the main beach area (due to it being high tide), but it was so worth it. There weren’t too many dogs on the beach area at that time, but that’s exactly how Pepper Jack likes it.

The other days we were here we went to different dog parks for Pepper Jack to run around: Bonita Springs Dog Park & The Dog Park at Veteran’s Community Park. The dog parks in Florida have been better than most. They seem to be much bigger in size and better taken care of.

Miami Beach
After we said good bye to family, we went off to Miami. I’ve only been to Miami once before going on a cruise, so I was really excited to check out more. We first made our way to the Wynwood neighborhood with the purpose of seeing Wynwood Walls, which is an urban graffiti art museum. When we got there we realized while a lot of it is outside, we wouldn’t be able to bring PepperJack with us. Luckily, there were so many murals all around the neighborhood we could see for free. Everywhere you looked you could see murals. It was really cool to see what people came up with.

We stopped at Miami Mojito Company to get some drinks (which had the best mojitos either of us had ever had) before driving to get some cuban food for an early dinner. This is where we stopped at Havana Vieja South Beach. While the restaurant was a little tight with tables & the service was a little slow – It was dog friendly & the food was worth the wait. It was absolutely incredible. We had ordered some empanadas, croquetas, seafood paella, and slow roasted marinated pork with rice, beans, and fried plantains. Y’all – I’m salivating just thinking about how delicious it was. I highly, highly recommend going if you’re in the area.

Travis and I drove around Miami Beach a little more before heading out. It was a quick 24 hours there – but it was so much fun. We also ended our time in Miami by watching Scarface. Watching a movie that is based in the different places we visit has been a goal of ours. We haven’t been keeping up with that very well, but it was fun to do and we want to continue doing it.

What’s Next?
Next up is heading up the east coast of Florida. We are heading to Lakeworth to visit with some friends, then will slowly make our way up to St. Augustine to round out the week.

We aren’t entirely sure what’s next for us after that. We may go to go keep strictly to the gulf coast, or head to more central Alabama and Mississippi. Any suggestions on way or another?

Thanks for reading.

Leece

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