FloRida Road Talk #2: Weeki Wachee

We had our second FloRida road trip this past weekend! Due to my poor planning the weekend ended up being a little more chaotic then it should have been, but hey, it's all about adventure right?! And learning on the go! There has definitely been a lot of that! Here is how things went on our journey to Brooksville, FL and Weeki Wachee Springs... 

What we did
          
 Friday (free minus gas): We got to Brooksville, FL later in the day than we had planned. So we decided to just explore the area. There had been an old Victorian treehouse I had wanted to find but we searched to no avail! We are thinking it was either torn down or further back from the road with no access. Alas, we did find an old run down factory right off the main road on our way to hike. You can't go inside as there is a 'No Trespassing' sign, but we did peek in a bit and assume it was some kind of produce or grain factory. Definitely really neat!! The address is 10190 N. Broad St. in Brooksville. We found it while on our way to Chinsegut Nature Center, where we hiked. It was a really neat area and a fun hike (moderately buggy) and we even saw deer. There is also a place nearby called the Chinsegut Hill Manor, an old home that is open for the public to explore from 10-4 (not open Sundays). Unfortunately it was after 4, but the grounds were beautiful (there is a retreat center there as well that can be rented out) and we plan to be back. Brooksville has a lot of old Florida charm and I would have loved more time to discover it all!

Saturday (Weeki Wachee-$13 adults, $8 kids + food&drink/ Tubing- $35 per double/triple vessel): We went to Weeki Wachee! To see the mermaids! I had also planned to kayak as well. But you know the whole, "you can't have it all thing"? Well, that might be somewhat true. At least not without running around like a chicken with your head cut off. Maybe if you aren't such an ill prepared planner like myself if might work out better.

Anyways, Weeki Wachee is wonderful! Definitely kitschy, down home Florida, but kind of in the "meet real Florida" way. The mermaid show was really neat (even the boys said so)! We watched the 1:30 show (they had three: 11, 1:30 and 3), which was more of the 'how-to-be-a-mermaid' instructional show, but that was perfect for our men-folk who definitely prefer the technical and historical bits over a storyline. The 11 and 3 o'clock shows were Ariel. We will have to go back to take that one in. You can also swim in the spring and there are awesome water slides that dump out right into the river. If you ever went to River Country at Disney before if shut down the slides are reminscent of that, so that was cool for me. There is also an animal show and a boat ride. Also the drinks and food were really reasonably priced! No need to pack a cooler in my opinion!
*The mermaids, slides, kid splash pad, swimming, animal show (we didn't do this) and boat ride are all included with your park admission. Tube rentals and food are extra.

I was determined that I was going to kayak. What the websites aren't great about telling you is the fact that everything will be booked on summer weekends. I ultimately got us kayaks for later in the day, but it meant we left Weeki Wachee before it closed. It also meant that I spent the first hour on the phone with kayak places, running back and forth from the park to the kayak place that shares the Weeki Wachee parking lot and totally abandoning Babe during our time at the park alone before some of our family got there. Learn from my lesson, DON'T DO THIS! Though I ultimately got us on the river I could have saved a lot of strive 1.) if I had just called ahead originally or 2.) if I had just let it be and tried to call the kayak place later in the day/ be fine to just forgo the kayaking.

**Advice- Call ahead! If you call ahead you can definitely fit everything in, but you have to be scheduled. The best time to be at Weeki Wachee (from our experience) is first thing in the morning. So if that is your main goal and you really want line free slide time, then head to Weeki Wachee first. Spend a few hours doing slides etc and then catch the 11:00 mermaid show. After that you can go kayaking. The kayak place that shares the parking lot with Weeki Wachee does it's last put in at 2pm (12 once summer is over). Then they will pick you up down river and drive you back to the park.

OR you can kayak the river first (would need to get started around 9 at the latest) and then make it back to Weeki Wachee in time for the 3pm mermaid show (maybe even 1:30 depending on how fast you kayak) and then spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach and taking things easy after a morning of paddling. This would be our preference since we prefer kayaking over slides. 

OR if you want to be like me, and not plan well, then you can fart around, get to Weeki Wachee later in the morning and then hope that one of the kayak places will have something open up. We used the Kayak Shack and they were really great! They will most likely be the ones I use again in the future- pretty much because being nice to someone on the phone goes a long way in my book. They close at 7 (vs. 5:30 at the Weeki Wachee one) and let us on the river around 4. We did have to paddle against the current, but hey, it made for a good workout. If the rain hadn't come in and washed us out, we would have made it to the big rope swing that's about an hour paddle up river (my intended destination). We would have had plenty of time to get back to the Shack before 7. If you choose this option I would say you could half the time it took you to go against the current and just make sure you leave that amount of time for the return trip. There is also an enticing restaurant (Upper Deck), that overlooks the river, right next to the Kayak Shack. If we hadn't been soaking wet we would have stopped in for a bite. Note- The Kayak Shack will also drive you to the start of the river so that you can just paddle back to them without having to go against the current, you just have to get there earlier in the day (before 2:30 or a little earlier).

*Another great option if able would be to split your days and spend 1 day on the river and another at Weeki Wachee park. Definitely the best of both worlds.
*Also note that the slides and some of the other amenities are only open at Weeki Wachee during the summer. I would call ahead for your intended date to ensure everything is open and to inquire about showtimes before you go. I'm a work in progress so learn from some of my mistakes!

Where we Stayed
            
We gave our free camping card another try and this one panned out way better than the last! Clover Leaf Forest RV Park was great, I mean you can't beat free, but even with that aside we can't complain. There were still a lot of permanent trailers, but most were empty, we are assuming for the snow birds. You also aren't packed in like sardines and it was nice and woody! There is a creek that runs through the park and we made sure to get a spot along it. It was a great view! However, be careful about doing that or you might wake up to waterfront property, if you catch my drift. Flo enjoyed her first flood though! Another perk we liked about this park is that they had septic hook up right at your spot. So nice not to have to wait in line to empty the tanks before leaving! If it hadn't flooded so much that it made ours unusable (we just drove to another empty space on our way out) it would have been so easy breezy to drive off on Sunday! Though we didn't use them, the park also has great amenities that are shared with the 55+ community that takes up the other side of the property, including both indoor/outdoor pools, hot tub, driving range, shuffle board, etc... We would stay there again!

Where we Ate
             
We found this great BBQ place right past the Lakeridge Winery on our drive out to Brooksville. Jack's Bar-B-Q had awesome BBQ sandwiches. It's a hole in the wall kind place right off the road, decorated with hats from all over and all kinds of Gator memorabilia. Definitely a stop for any die-hard Gator lovers out there! I am always very skeptical of BBQ because I tend to compare everything to 4Rivers and nothing matches up. This matched up, just in a different way. The meat here is mostly pulled/sliced (I didn't risk brisket, that's a 4Rivers only things for me) and so moist! I got the mixed sandwich (all meats mixed together) with coleslaw (vinegar based), chips and a drink for around $6.50. You really can't beat the price. The sandwich alone would have been enough (so much meat!) and that's only $4.50. Driving on the turnpike or a local Orlandoian? Definitely give this place a try!!

And of course I forgot to rate this FloRida adventure in the video, but this one gets a: We will DEFINITELY do it again! We will be back to explore the length of the river and maybe even catch another mermaid show; the river though is the definite!

And that's it for this trip! If you made it this far, kudos! And as a little parting gift for the day feel free to enjoy some of the funnier moments of our trip; Babe's reaction to his mermaid surprise and doubts on my tree swing spidey sense, plus Flo's first flood! Have a great day!!

FloRida Road Jams!

We are hitting the road this morning for Flo's next big adventure and I have been keeping it a big secret from Babe, so I can't spill the beans here either just yet in case he peeks! But stay tuned folks, I'm sure there will be tails (hint, hint) to tell. Until then I figured I would join in with sharing the tunes that have been singing to my heart lately for Blogtember, especially given they are pretty much road trip related! 

These three songs have been playing on repeat for me lately! It made it even more exciting when all three were on a CD that a sweet friend burned and sent my way without even knowing how much I had been loving them. 

Blue Bandana by Jerrod Niemann- This one makes me want to go out and buy a blue bandana for my next road trip... and maybe even try my hand at Merlefest! 

Wild Child by Kenny Chesney- Oh how so much of this song sings right to my soul, "...a touch of crazy hides behind her wild smile... so innocent yet still a little wild child." For as much as my heart and head have grown to understand, and even cling to, the need for rules and order there is still a part of me that will always be part wild child. "She's got a spirit that can't be tamed, she's a calico pony on an open plain." Yup, just gets me! 

Top of the World by Tim Mcgraw- I have a love/hate relationship with this song. The first time I heard it I turned it right off. I thought, "no way is this Tim McGraw," and I refused to continue listening. Tim is my favoritest guy! Any time I can see him in concert I do. I have loved him for years. Recently though I have felt his music has changed and that it doesn't have the same feel it always had. I felt like he was trying to keep up with the times- trying to be "pop mix" country- and I am a very "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kinda gal. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind pop country, but I just didn't think he needed to be singing it. So the first time I heard it I assumed it was someone else, then when I realized it was him I got frustrated and turned it off. I have since gotten over myself. If a guy wants to change his music then he can. So I listened again and of course loved the song because it's great, I just sometimes find myself having to not picture him signing it (sad, I know. Who would want to NOT picture him signing anything- in person, as a serenade, in his cowboy hat). 
"Don't make a difference to me baby, where the wind takes me, long as I'm with you...
We could be rolling on a couple of Goodyear's and painted rust." 

Which is exactly what we are going to do, turn on our FloRida jams and roll out. 

Have a beautiful weekend!! 

What will be on your play list?

And to end with even more happiness I thought I would share this for my fellow Prime lovers, or Prime fence riders, out there! Amazon is offering their Prime membership for just $67 today only!! That's a savings of $32! And if you already have Prime you can still get in on the savings by gifting a membership to yourself. Have it set to deliver right before you would need to renew and then use the gift code to pay for renewal (you may need to change your payment settings so that it doesn't automatically renew on your current method of payment). Happy shopping!! 

Fort De Soto Camping and Egmont Key Great Florida Parks

Get outdoors and explore the beauty of Florida's parks at Fort Desoto and Egmont Key!

Happy Friday Folks!! This past weekend we had our first maiden voyage from home with Flo in tow! We managed to snag a last minute camping spot at Fort Desoto, a county park in Pinnellas. From there we were also able to explore the beauty of Egmont Key State Park.

I have decided to embrace the idea of blog videos and thought I would start what have now been dubbed, FloRida Road Talks! I figured videos would be a great way to share highlights from our trips and let you know what things you might want to see and what things to you may want to avoid. In this case there wasn’t much to avoid, except for our first try at a campground. But the rest of our trip was pretty spot on with what I had envisioned for Flo’s first big adventure (a warning that it is a little long, so if you would prefer to just watch the sweet little critter snippets of fun, they are at the end of the video)…

Let me first apologize for the thousands of ‘ummms and ‘likes’ that I used! This is all still a learning experience and those are my go to nervous fillers! I thought briefly of doing another when we got home, but then I thought, "no, that's what Flo is for! She is for the freedom to grow and learn and to be free to just be yourself!" So it stuck!

Also, if you are wondering where our first campground was it was Vacation Village. It was a nice place, with a pool, shuffle board and a rec room with pool tables. It was nicely kept and maybe if it hadn’t been our first big adventure we would have just rolled with it. But with it being literally right off the interstate and on a main road, with the ability to see into the apartment that bordered the park it just wasn’t the fit for us. But you may prefer to have lots of amenities nearby. We wanted more of a ‘back-to-nature, different-than-home’ experience. I will just need to look further into the Encore parks so that we know more about where we are staying next time we use our free days. They have their own island in the Keys so that will probably be where we chose to go. Anyone have any experience with the Thousand Trails/ Encore resorts?

Fort De Soto Campground

We had heard that the Fort De Soto Campground was nearly impossible to get into without booking months ahead. Somehow we got lucky! The sweet lady who let us borrow her canoe said that happens. She said that people book months in advance but then when they realize they can’t actually go that weekend they will call and cancel. She said if you just keep calling that you often get lucky. So just know that is an option. Or you could just wait until day of like we did (maybe not the best choice but hey, sometimes things work out). I seriously felt like we had won the lottery!

Booking a Ferry to Egmont Key 

The ferry we booked to Egmont Key State Park is the only one that runs out of the Fort De Soto Park, though they aren’t actually affiliated with the park itself. They have two departure times, but sometimes the return trips change. It was advertised that they have return options at 2, 3 and 6. However the day we went there was only one return trip at 2:30. This depends on weather forecasts and season. So check ahead! 

Things to Know for Egmont Key State Park

If we had better prepared we would have probably gone earlier had we known 1.) how nice it would be and 2.) that there would only be one return trip that day. The crew was great; friendly and informative, and we couldn’t recommend it more. They prefer cash (though they will take credit cards), but I hadn’t thought to make sure we had extra cash to tip the captain. I would recommend making sure you have a few extra bucks cash - or if you end up buying something aboard the ferry (chips, snorkel gear, lunch, etc.) then you can pay with a credit card and add a tip for them that way!

Our experience really was great! We loved Fort De Soto camping and Egmont Key was a great state park. We will be back for sure!

And just for giggles – or for those of you who, like me, might be challenged with assisting in backup of large machinery - here is a video courtesy of the man who doesn’t like to be on the camera often! Yet, for someone who prefers to be behind the scenes wheel, he doesn’t seem to mind as much when he is “teaching” me the proper etiquette on all things hauling and work related!

Things I learned from videos this go around

1.) Be more planned out so as to avoid taking up time with the words um and like. If I had put them all together in one long um and like compilation I'm betting it would take up over a minute of the video (sorry folks)!! 

2.) Condense!! I am a talker and I love little extra blurbs, but it doesn't mean everyone else does. And it makes the video reeaallyy long- again sorry!! 

3.)  Don't sweat the learning process! Like any new thing it takes time and practice, so give yourself the grace to make mistakes and learn on the go! 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you find yourself adventuring soon!!

Monday Funday! Fun with Flo!!

Happy Monday Friends! I hope your weekend was full of all things wonderful!

Don't ask why I am standing like a flamingo, my answer would be just as unsure as yours! We just go with it! 

Today is a day of firsts for this little space and I am nervous as all get out! I have never posted videos before (at least not ones of me), but I figured video documenting would be the best (and in my opinion funnest - maybe make that funniest) way to share our new travel trailer journey with you! 

My dream to get a travel trailer evolved into the little beauty that you will see in these videos. Her name is Flo (short for FloRida Reva) and I am so excited for you to meet her. She is quite excited too! Who may not be as excited is sweet Babe. He has learned to embrace this space I call a blog, but he doesn't like to appear on it, or be mentioned, much. You see his love and my love for social media are about as different as our dispositions (which is to say they are very much opposites). And he had refused any videos be taken of himself. However, he also had denied the idea of any sort of travel trailer at first, and well, we see where that got us. But he loves Flo already and is just almost as in love with her as I am. And I am also in love with sneaking him into my videos. I hope you enjoy these little snippets of our time testing out the waters! *Side note- the place we purchased her asks you to stay over at least one night so that they can help walk you through how to use everything and fix anything that may be an issue. It was so great, we stayed two nights!

Hello Flo!! Her Initial Hello (and goodbye)... 

I was smitten from the first moment I met her. We had been looking and searching, hitting up multiple RV dealerships and never feeling "right". If I feel pressured in anyway I will most likely walk away. Lazy Days made us feel right at home and then our sweet dealer stayed until way past closing time, helping us find just the right fit for us. Flo was the final model we looked at (after already having mostly picked another one out) and she was hidden "behind the scenes" in the incoming sell-back bay (her previous owners had already traded her in for a bigger model, after only 6 months). She was just waiting there, especially for us! Yay for the right timing and fit! Our first weekend with her couldn't have been any sweeter! 

 The Mechanics of It All... 

So learning the ins and outs of travel trailer life mostly boiled down to one thing for us, the toilet. Mostly everything else ran pretty self-explanatory, but the toilet, or to be more precise the emptying of it, got somewhat of the best of us. 

*Note- Don't do what we did and think you don't need gloves. We figured we would get some eventually, when we could didn't have to pay the uncharge for buying them from the RV store. "It won't be a big deal the first go round, right?" Just get them! It's not the prettiest of business. I would recommend getting some before you ever even get to the dealership. That was one thing we unfortunately left off the Target stock-up list. Not videoed: The obsessive hand washing that followed. 

**On another note- While I was quite impressed with my idea of flushing out the toilet with clear water in hopes that the tank meter would read correctly, Babe just decided to remind me of the actual flush valve located on the outside of the RV for just that purpose. Of course he decides to tell me that now that the video is done and I am all proud of my ideas (or really my use of Pinterest). 

Don't Forget the Bloopers... 

Oh bless this sweet video! I am somewhat partial to it, mainly because sometimes you just need a good laugh at yourself! This was suppose to entail all the things that went wrong with learning to use FloRida for the first time, however, I think it simply became a montage of things I just couldn't seem to get right. And God love my sweet husband, for a man who doesn't really want any video limelight he sure looks pretty sweet to me; not that I am biased or anything. 

Things I've learned from taking videos for sharing:

*Turn the camera sideways!! Sorry folks!! 

*Be super thankful for sweet workers who are super patient with your excitement and put up with you having your camera out the whole time they are walking you through everything. 

*Be super thankful for your husband who puts up with this same problem many days of his life; it's something were working on! I promise! It goes away a lot more than it used to. 

*Learn more about quality and use your nice camera! Again sorry!! 

I can not wait for all the exciting adventures to come!! First stop, Fort DeSoto and St. Pete! Friday here we come!! 

I loved getting to share these moments with you and I hope you enjoyed them! I hope you can forgive the poor quality! It's all a learning process. I am far more comfortable with still life than movie videos, but it sure was fun! 

And in honor of all the fun and Flo's first videos, I thought it would be fun to link-up together to beat some of the Monday blues. So join me by adding any post that you deem fun enough for "Monday Funday"! Peek around to enjoy the fun with everyone, but otherwise there are no rules, I'm not really huge on those around these parts! 

The Sunday Currently

I am linking up for the Sunday Currently with Lauren over at Siddathornton. I haven't done a Sunday Currently in a while so I figure it was a good way to catch up! And then, in writing this post, realized that this entire edition of my Sunday Currently is brought to you in part by Flo, our newest addition to the family and that sweet little thing you see in the about picture. 

Happy Sunday, y'all!! 

reading: The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah. I love all her books and this one does not disappoint. I don't typically like period pieces, but this one is really keeping my interest! 

writing: This post and a post for Monday all about Flo. I am including my first blog video along with it and I am nervous! But Flo's excited! 

listening: to Jerrod Niemann's new song, Blue Bandana. That and Wild Child by Kenny Chesney have become some of my newest faves because I feel like they are such a perfect reflection of how my soul feels when I am riding with Flo! 

thinking: about all the new adventures we will be having soon and about our first big Flo-venture that we will be taking this weekend to St. Pete and Fort DeSoto. Any Florida (or even Georgia) friends out there with great ideas for adventures to be had?!

smelling: the hair product that is still lingering from dying my hair last night and dreading the fact that there is just more to come. Folks, I have dyed my hair from a box before many a time and have never had an issue but last night it didn't take. I used a different box than I usually do because it was a on sale (Garnier Nutrisse) and let's just say this time being a girl who always goes for a deal didn't pan out. I even did it twice thinking maybe I had missed spots by accident and ended up with the same results. (note: It has since been redone with Clairol and no more spots!) 

wishing: That it was Friday and that we could already be en route with Flo. I am noticing a trend... Just have adventure on the brain! 

hoping: For the grandest of adventures and less Florida rain for this upcoming weekend!! 

wearing: My cleaning clothes; I had tried to get some cleaning done and let's just say I hopped on here and... 

loving: FloRida Reva! I just don't know what else to go with, I am quite smitten with our new "baby." 

wanting: A warm cup of coffee! But I am trying not to drink caffeine after 3:30 (note: this post was written yesterday around 5pm). Maybe decaf? The fact that I even consider it is crazy! I swore I only drank coffee for the energy, I would never just drink it for the taste. But oh, how that sweet goodness of yummy has grown on me! 

needing: A good burst of energy so that I can actually be the productive person I planned to be today! Alas, I think the rainy afternoon blues have hit me, so I think the clean house will have to wait. 

feeling: tired; tired and excited!! We got 14 days of free camping with our purchase of Flo (thank you Lazy Days) and I am calling to book our very first campground once I am done writing this! Can't wait!! Fingers crossed that there is a corner unit that backs up to the woods! 

clicking: Through some other Sunday currently posts soon! But also trying to learn how to use this iMovie thing. Definitely a lot of clicking involved for sure! Anyone who has it down? I am happy to hear pointers! 

Hoping everyone has a beautiful end to the weekend and a great start to their weeks!! 

Welcome Flo!! And our {Current} Top 5 Florida Adventures!!

I think this is now the third post where I mention Flo, but this is her first formal introduction. If you don’t know yet, we bought an RV!! I am in love and all things happy!! Babe has been about ready to tape my mouth shut from all the random song bust-outs (yes she has her own songs) and squeals of delight and anticipation that seem to escape my lips without prompting! We are actually in the car en route to pick her up as we "speak". We get to stay the night, learning all the ins and outs of all things travel trailers, before we bring her home.

Flo is short for FloRida ReVa. She was originally going to just be FloRida, but then I was reminded that this is a rappers name and I wanted to her to be her own true “person”, so I gave her a last name. ReVa is for R.V., but I like that it also sounded like Reba (McEntire), which yes is just another singer, but I have now decided to embrace it. So Flo is a little bit country, a little bit rock-and-roll and apparently a little bit rapper too! She'll grow into it! Can’t wait for you all to get to know her more right along with me!!

Until then I thought I would use this 5 on Friday to share the adventures that spurred in me a love for exploring and ultimately to a desire to hit the open road, which let to Flo.

There will be plenty more adventures to come now that we have her, but here are our

 top 5 budget friendly gas tanks adventures from Orlando 

(most at around1/1.5 hours away).

1). Spooky , Swampy Adventures!

(most suitable for able adults; cost: gas and $5 park fee)

Babe and I are both in agreement that our absolute favorite so far was our very first big Florida adventure. I had planned a little Florida surprises adventure for us and Oliver and Kerri (the bro-in-law and his girlfriend) and so I was the only one who knew where we were going. Our main destination was Spook Hill. It’s a little tourist pit stop destination where you try to park on the road and then your car moves by itself. It’s a little corny, but it works and it’s fun! From Orlando you take the Haines City (Highway 27) exit off of I-4. Following Spook Hill, we explored the orange groves down an old clay road and then looked for a place to go hiking. 

We settled on Lake Kissimmee State Park. There are tons of trails to take and we settled on the 6.7 miles loop. It was quite the adventure that’s for sure! The trail description did mention that there might be spots of standing water. That was a “slight” exaggeration, but I loved the water!! It just made the adventure grander in my opinion. At the first spot of water, the four of us (ok, who am I kidding it was mostly us girls) tried to keep our feet dry by building bridges out of logs. And while we did succeed, this was a futile endeavor. Further into the hike we hit a trail of nothing but mid-calf water which we hiked through for about a half a mile. Let’s just say, if you do decide to take this trail (which I would highly recommend) you should be prepared with shoes you do not care about getting wet. Overall it was a great hike, with a lot of different landscapes, and we loved it!

2.) Lake Apopka Adventures!

(suitable for any age or ability depending on what you do; drive is great for families with small kiddos or elder folks looking for an adventure with AC; cost- gas only)

After reading about the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, in an article through the Orlando Sentinel, I planned a full day of exploring for Babe and me. We began the day at the Oakland Nature Preserve, which is really neat because it borders an animal sanctuary and, depending on the day, you might see anything from ostrich to zebra hanging out by the fence along one of the trails. My history buff also enjoyed taking the boardwalk to Lake Apopka, where you read about its history. We then ate lunch at the new brewery in Winter Garden before continuing our explorations. We drove from Winter Garden to the Ferndale Preserve, which had a nice trail, but if you are going to skip any part of this adventure this would probably be the one I would skip. The trail wasn’t well covered and it was hot, plus -though it did offer great views of the lake from up high- you couldn’t get right near the water. There is a really awesome playground though if you have kiddos! There was also a roadside stop we stumbled upon called the Green Mountain Overlook (yup Florida mountains haha) with a great look out tower. We were only there about 5 minutes, but it was a nice little stop (it’s the start to a bike trail for any avid mountain bike riders out there). We then drove from there to our ultimate destination, the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. This is a one way drive through a water management system that they are using to try to clean up Lake Apopka. It’s a slow drive, but there are a lot of spots to get out, see things and search for gators! To start our adventure we took the 408 West towards Clermont, but once we reached the Oakland Nature Preserve we spent the entire day on back roads, taking the Florida Scenic Highway and that too added to the charm of the day!

3.) Merritt Island Adventures!!

(great for all ages, something for everyone; cost- gas and $5 park fee per car)

We spent one afternoon exploring the National Seashore at Cape Canaveral/ Merritt Island. There is a lot to do out there that we didn’t know about. They have a great visitors center where a ranger will give you a map and tell you about all there is to see around the area. Our main points of interest were the wildlife drive and the beaches. The drive was nice, though we did see a lot more wildlife on Lake Apopka. We got out a few spots, but mostly just enjoyed the drive together. We opted for the Black Point Wildlife Drive, which is a maintained gravel road and is included in your $5 park fee. There is a free wildlife drive, however that drive is not maintained so there will be more potholes. We can’t wait to go back and try that one! We also went to the manatee area (which is basically the boat ramp) and there were tons of cute “little” sea cows!! We ended our day with a swim in the ocean! I had never been to the beaches there at the National Seashore and it was nice to be in a place with no hotels for as far as the eye could see.

4.) Back to Nature Adventures!

(great for all ages, cost: $5 donation fee per person to see the animals)

While out hunting down more hiking fun Babe and I stumbled upon a place called the Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge, unfortunately it was a Monday and they weren’t open. But we did get to hike at the trails that are on the same road. It is the Split Oak Forest trail at Eagle’s Roost Preserve. It was a really nice hike, but I was most excited to get back the next day with my bestie and peek around the refuge. Back to Nature rescues animals that have either been hurt in nature or by people who think they can turn wild animals into pets. They house them and release them if possible, but it is also home to some sweet friends who will not be able to be released back into the wild. We had a great morning visiting with the critters and taking the short trail out to the lake!

5.) Pancake Adventures!!

(Something for all ages; cost: $5 entrance per car, extra possibilities: pancake house, canoe rentals)
De Leon Springs has a lot to offer, from a playground to a swimming hole, hiking and canoeing, there is something for everyone. But the biggest drawl for me was the pancake house. I had not been since I was a kid and was really excited to try it again and take Babe, Ol and Kerri. While it was a fun experience I doubt we will go back (at least not for the pancakes). There was a long wait (over 1.5 hours), which was perfect because we were able to hike while we waited. The hike was nice, but very buggy (a few ticks too).  The pancakes were a nice treat after a long hike (though there was no ac and it was very warm), but I think we are more of ‘BBQ-after-a-hike’ type people and the pancakes just weren’t cutting it. One major perk was getting to explore the old run down orange factory that sits right outside the entrance to the springs. I do love some old Florida exploring!! 

Bonus: Only cheap with a birthday buddy!!

While these are our top 5 options for being really budget friendly, with most only costing the half a tank of gas it takes to get there and back, I do want to give an honorable mention to Boggy Creek Airboat Rides. I had always wanted to go and recently did and while it was not as thrill seeking as I had thought it would be, it was still a really cool experience. We did the 30 minute ride which was, in my opinion, the perfect amount of time. We got to see a lot and the ride was fun AND a huge perk is that if you go on your birthday it is ABSOLUTELY FREE (for the birthday person)!! Otherwise it's a little less than $30 per person. Great for any age as it's a super safe ride. 

Have a fabulous weekend and I hope you get to spend a little time getting lost!!