I’m so excited to be back and recapping my vacation with you guys! I had such a great time, and can’t wait to share all about it. If you don’t regularly read my blog or you just don’t know, last week my family and I took a trip down to Florida. We drove down from New Jersey, which was about an 18-20 hour drive. Today I’m going to be recapping each day and what we did while we were down there.
Saturday
We left Friday, April 7th around 3 pm and didn’t get to my grandparents house (where we were staying for the week) until 12 noon on Saturday. We drove through the night and didn’t get much sleep at all so we didn’t do much of anything on Saturday. We just caught up and spent time with my grandparents.
Sunday
On Sunday we were ready to start exploring and my brother heard about a place called Blue Springs where you can see manatees and it happened to be just 10 mins from my grandparents house. So on Sunday we all went to the Blue Springs State Park and got to actually go boating with the manatees, which was crazy when you think about it because these animals are known as Sea Cows because of how big they are. Since they are also known as the Gentle Giant, it was safe to be near them as well, which was so cool.
This was most of our’s favorite day. It was really unexpected too because we didn’t plan this day until we got down there and didn’t know we could boat with the manatees either. It was super fun.
Monday
On Monday we went to New Smyrna Beach. It wasn’t quite as warm as I hoped that it was going to be because once we got down by the ocean it was about 10 degrees colder (around 70) than back at my grandparent’s house. It still was fun though. We got to sunbathe and just see how different the Florida beaches were from New Jersey beaches. My favorite part is the palm trees. It just gives the area such a different feel to it.
My camera was dead this day so I didn’t pictures. I took this one from my iPhone.
Tuesday
On Tuesday we went to the Central Florida Zoo that was about 15 mins from my grandparents house. Tommy loves animals and I was so excited to go with him because he makes it so much more fun. We got so many good animal shots.
Wednesday
On Wednesday we went to another spring named DeLeon Springs about 45 mins from my grandparents house. There was a pancake house that had a griddle in the middle of each table where you got to cook your own pancakes. The place was just awesome looking and so historic. We got to swim in the spring and also go boating again!
After we came back from this we at dinner together, like we did every night (which was really special). Then my grandma showed me how to make the cookies that she made all my life. It was really cool because Tommy and his grandma also made them as he was growing up too. They’re called Pizzelles and are so delish.
It was really special to me to learn how to make these from my grandma.
Thursday
On Thursday we traveled to Orlando (about an hour from my grandparents) and visited an aquarium! We wanted to go to Disney but since it was so many other’s Spring Break too the prices were a bit steep so we decided to wait on that. It would have cost us $150 per person just for the tickets for one day! So we settled on an aquarium instead and it was really fun too. It was really hard to get pictures of the animals here since they were swimming the whole time, haha.
After the aquarium we headed back to my grandparents and took them out to eat for dinner for their 57th Anniversary!
Friday
On Friday we woke up at 4 am and drove all the way back to New Jersey (1100 miles!) and got home around 11 pm. It was rough but totally worth it for such a great trip. I can’t wait to go back already!
