East Coast Florida Memories

Well I’ve been back from our annual trip to Florida a couple weeks now and I’m slow to get moving. I need a vacation from my Florida vacation! Hah!

Nah, it’s not that bad. I’m just spending all my time outside gardening as usual. I’ve still not got all my plants I’ve grown from seed or purchased in the ground or in pots! I’m nearly done though and since it’s going to be 96˚ F here today, I thought I’d cool off a bit and post to my poor neglected blog again.

Almost every year we try to take ourselves to our favorite Florida spot, New Smyrna Beach and usually have extended family going as well. This year there weren’t too many of us, since we now go after school lets out.

We used to always go to Florida in September, which I prefer, but now it’s harder for my son to catch up on school work and it’s just better for us to go when school is out. But for most of the rest of the family, they either don’t have kids or want to wait for September when the rates are lower. I don’t blame them, but we do miss having the whole giant gang there.

On with the Florida vacation photos

(I know you’re just dying to see, right?! hahaha)

We had beach days everyday, so I’ll spare you the tons of photos I took of my kid digging in the sand and us basking in the sun. Just the hi-light reel.

Waiting at one of our must haves restaurants, The Breakers, on Flaggler Ave. They have great burgers and an even better location right on the beach. I always get the Hawaiian burger with pineapple and bbq. Yum.

One of the best parts, besides just being at the beach each day, was an airboat ride we all took. We’ve done them before, but this one was the best so far. We selected Midway Airboat Rides and had a great tour guide, he was funny and informative and the boats had a system so that we could hear each other talk through microphones.

Here are some of the things I saw…

Waiting for take off. See the jokester on the right. She’s going to be in entertainment somehow, I’m convinced.

Sadly, this was my best alligator in the wild photo.

Strangely enough, there were cattle all around the land areas. We were on the St. Johns river. This cracked me up, a bird on the bulls back.

We saw lots of birds including this beautiful and graceful blue heron.

The guide took us into this swampy area with beautiful cypress trees.

I think I may have to paint a scene with these trees, it was so hauntingly beautiful.

When we started to head back, a pretty big storm was building up.

We had been gone a little longer than we should’ve so we high tailed it back. It felt like we were flying! So fun.

We got back and of course they had alligators for us to hold.

Here’s Hollywood. I think he’s used to being handled, he didn’t even flinch after being passed around to all of us. They also had a giant pig named Pork Chop and a huge turtle walking around in the gift shop but I can’t remember it’s name. I wish I had taken a picture of both of them, but I didn’t.

After our airboat ride, we stopped at our favorite pizza place, Alberto’s in Edgewater. Alberto’s is another must visit each time. So good!

But wait, there’s still more Florida fun…

Another day of beach and pool at the resort we stay at, Islander Beach Resort. This was a special hour of fun in the pool, Eric (the do it all guy there) arranged to have a giant ball for volleyball. Everyone had a great time with that.

I think our last day was a beach day and a bunch of the group rented a golf cart for an hour or so. I stayed on the beach and enjoyed the quiet.

I thought this was appropriate for this weekend being Father’s Day.

Until next year Florida…

---

Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started created more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is is mystery.

If you would like to keep up with what I’m doing, I have a newsletter e-mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. I’d love for you to add your email to my Friends and Collectors list!