I have been to Florida a number of times since some of my friends have lived in Florida and I go down to visit them. This page will be set up slightly different than the other pages since I won’t be doing a day by day journal of what I did but I will try to chronologically map out what I have done in Florida over the years.
Keep on reading for my occasional trips to Florida!
July Visit to Miami: August 14, 2008-August 27, 2008
So my freshman year of college, I met two really good friends… Milena and Claire. Claire is from the suburbs of Chicago and Milena is from Miami. Her family is Cuban so most days her grandmother prepared Cuban meals for us including plantains at almost every meal. Milena’s family also drank a ton of espresso. Espresso before breakfast, espresso with breakfast, expression after breakfast… then before lunch, at lunch, after lunch, mid-day expression, before dinner, with dinner, after dinner and before bed. I’m surprised I was able to sleep at all! Claire and I both flew in together and arrived on a Monday. The first thing we did was jump into the pool that Milena’s family house had. We spent the first day just hanging out and catching up since we hadn’t seen each other since school got out in May. It was exciting because we were all going to room together the next year. The next two days we just played card games inside, played in the pool and walked in some parks. Thursday was the ocean! We played in the water and hung out in the sand. After the ocean visit, we hung out by the pool and swam some more. I guess the water at the beach wasn’t enough water time! That evening we went to the Dolphin Mall to do some black light bowling. The next two days we drove around Miami and I got to see Ocean Drive. We spent one day having a picnic off of Ocean Ave.
The next week Claire left to go back home, but I stayed another week with Milena and her family. We took a visit to the Zoo and met up with friends and family to go to a Florida Marlin’s baseball game. Before we left, I really wanted to see the Everglades. However, it was the wet season so there were mosquitoes everywhere. It wasn’t very enjoyable and I felt like I didn’t get to see everything the everglades could offer. The last night of my stay, I went to Bayside with Milena, her sister Miry, and her boyfriend Manny. I had a lot of fun visiting a friend and eating Cuban food almost every night. I was glad that Claire and I could come out and visit with Milena’s family.
May Visit to Becca’s Internship: May 5, 2010
So my summer before my senior year of college, my friend Becca had been interning down in Florida. She flew me out to Florida at 6 in the morning from Midway (South Side Chicago at 4am is not very fun)… and then I was up the rest of the day playing on the beach and hanging out with the rest of her interns. The next morning, we were on the road to drive back to Springfield. I was mainly there for car company. It was a very very quick trip to Florida but enjoying the beach for a day was nice, especially since I had just finished my last finals exam the day before!
January Visit to Panama City Beach: January 6, 2012-January 15, 2012
After a short breakup with an ex, I decided to leave St. Louis for a while to get away from things in St. Louis. Becca and David were living in Panama City Beach at the time, and I thought it was a good time to go and visit. Overall, it was just nice to have some company. We went to some bars and even Club La Vela, the largest nightclub in the US. It was there that some random guy proposed to me. I’m pretty sure I turned him down because he didn’t have a ring. Hah, or maybe because I didn’t even know his name! We spent time at the beach, walking Pier Park and just hanging out in the apartment.
August Visit to Panama City Beach: August 2, 2013-August 4, 2013
I took a trip down to Panama City. I left on a Friday and came back to St. Louis on a Sunday. I think most of the time was spent in the car but it was nice to visit the beach for a little while. The first day we walked the beach and went to Pier Park, the place where all the shops and restaurants were, just to walk around. Saturday we spent the day playing on the beach and playing in the water. That evening, we got dressed up and went to Club La Vela. Sunday it was time to leave already. We ate at Spinnaker Paradise Grill before I got into the car and left.
March Visit to Panama City Beach: March 3, 2015-March 9, 2015
I took some of my comp time off work and went down to Florida. I usually fly Frontier because it’s super cheap so I got a really good deal for flying out on a Wednesday and flying back to St. Louis on Monday. Becca worked at a resort at the time, so we got a free resort room (2 bed, 2 bath). Becca and David stayed in one room and I got the master room with a king bed. The first night, we just hung out in the apartment. I know it was raining for some of the trip, so we ended up doing some shopping. Well, I didn’t shop since I only had a carry on. By the time Friday came around, Becca and I did some Kayaking and then we went out to Club La Veela. I think I was feeling much older than the crowd that was there. The first time I went, I was 23 years. This time I was 26. It’s not that many years apart, but the crowd there definitely felt younger and I felt out of place. On Saturday, since it was spring break time, David, Becca and I went to a beach party. It was like one big frat party on the beach, with drinking, no clothes, loud music, and dancing. I think we all just felt out of place. Sunday, before I left, we did some more kayaking and then David and I swam in the kid pool at the resort. Becca just took pictures of us swimming. Monday, before I left, we had brunch on the balcony and saw dolphins swimming around!
June Visit to Hudson (Tampa): June 24, 2016-June 28, 2016
Becca and David had moved to Hudson, Florida, right outside of Tampa. Another road trip in the car! We left on a Friday but got in really late. So Saturday, we spent time in the water and at the beach. That night, we chose a restaurant on the beach where we could eat outside and watch the sunset. It was really pretty. The next day was David’s birthday. We opted to go to some bars and have some drinks. It was pretty low key. The next day, I headed to the Chihuly museum on my own after we spent the morning at a winery. I bought a case of Florida wine! They had these really fruity flavors, a wine that tasted like a margarita and even a wine that tasted like grapefruit! Delicious! Chihuly is located down in St. Petersburg and has a number of his works on display. Chihuly is an glass sculptor and some of his work is really amazing. The middle picture (above) is the ceiling in one of the hallways. After our day of touring, we got some ice cream at the Hudson Ice Cream Shop. There was also a “beach”. Becca doesn’t think this small area of water counts as a beach, but I decided to jump in it. I’m not sure that was a smart idea, but it was smarter than that time I jumped into Lake Michigan in the winter just for fun.
November Visit to Hudson (Tampa): November 12, 2016-November 14, 2016
I decided to fly to Florida for a weekend by myself to visit Becca and David. I got in on Saturday and we did the Orlando Disney Shops. It’s all the fun shopping and dining experiences that one would get in the park, without having to go into the park and pay Disney World Park prices. It worked out, since I ended up flying into Orlando that day (an hour from Tampa). The Lego store was my favorite shop there because of all of the fun sculptures built with legos! Sunday we just hung out and then Monday we went on an alligator walk. The wooden walkway kept you above water where the allegators would swim. There was a sign there that said “Don’t feed or molest.” It said that Gators could mistake “taking a hand for a handout!” Just another quick weekend in Florida to visit my friend. But then it was time to head back to the cold of the Midwest and back to work.