Florida Adventures Abound

Our trip to Florida was based around a long-term spot in Ocala, with weekly adventures branching out from there. But I’d be remiss to not mention some of the other little delights we found in our time in Florida.

The house belonged to our friend Dave, who pushed us to make sure we found an orange grove, as we were in Florida at the perfect time to breathe in the magical, floral aromas of the orange blossoms. And he was so very right to do so! Towards the end of our stay in Florida, we found a few orange groves a short journey from our main spot. We headed out first to Bellamy Groves, which was a gorgeous spot right on their own little pond. When we pulled up, we saw the owner packing quarts of fresh strawberries, and I knew this would be the place for me. They were kind enough to let us walk Reese and Winston around to stretch their paws while we soaked in the smells of the delightful white little orange blossoms.

Dave again proved to be an excellent guide - this is a beyond magical aroma that is worth the journey to experience. We breathed in the delicate floral scent while we meandered through the groves, enjoying what pops of orange remained on the trees. And to top it all off, we left with 3 quarts of sweet and delicious strawberries. Local foods - my favorite souvenir! (Being a food-tourist is our favorite way to experience a new place.) Since we were on an orange groves journey, we also swung by Ferris Groves, where we learned the unfortunate history of the loss of the orange groves, but they pivoted greatly with an adorable storefront and delicious strawberry milkshakes.

As anyone who has even driven through probably any single part of Florida will know, there are sweet little vintage signs pointing all journeyers to The Orange Shop in Citra, FL. Since we so perfectly passed this on our route north, it would have been silly to pass by without stopping. I have to say, I was a little underwhelmed by the shop when we finally arrived. It was an old roadside orange stand, with a long and interesting history, but didn’t offer much - except delicious orange samples! We thought this might be a perfect stop to finally get our Florida state magnet for our travel board, but alas, my board from 1990 proved hard to track down magnets for. We ended up finding a bigger tourist stop at the Florida Citrus Center locations - where we stocked up on some Ruby Navel oranges and orange marmalades.

OCALA

While we mostly planned our bigger adventures outside of Ocala, there were a few things we enjoyed in the city itself. The first was Sholom Park, a gorgeous horticultural experience on the outskirts of the city. Due to the sensitive nature of the plants being cultivated there, no dogs are allowed to walk around on the premise. We’re lucky these lazy boys get themselves cozy in bed and the temperatures were mild in February, which allowed us to leave them in their home while we took a walk around. The walking trails are relatively short, but rich with different plants and experiences. We took a calming walk through the Labyrinth, which offered thoughtful reflections that aligned with the natural sights at each point along the path. We took a stroll down the olive tree promenade, which rustled delicately in the winds. We fed koi fish in the pond (being sure to leave a quarter in the vending machine to give a would-be feeder an opportunity to experience the same joys) and admired the blooming azaleas and rued missing out on the ginger garden it played host to. Overall, it’s a beautiful local site to enjoy a peaceful and reflective afternoon amongst a large assortment of lovely local flowers and plants.

We also took a tour of downtown Ocala, which offers a self-guided history tour. On our way to walk some of the routes of the history tour, we got distracted by the afternoon sounds of a local bar, Bank Street Patio Bar, where we enjoyed drinks in the sun. And our history tour was much sillier thanks to our cocktail detour, but it definitely seemed like a fun route to peruse through a cute downtown!

When heading from Ocala to Rainbow Springs headspring, we passed through Dunnellon, where we noticed a park and kayak launch on the Rainbow River. Since we were unsure about launching our own boats from the headspring (which turns out, is very allowed), we decided to launch from here one day to explore the river. The launch at Blue Run at Dunnellon Park was well maintained, and led to a beautiful paddle up the Rainbow River. I’m not sure how far it is from the headspring, as we didn’t make it all the way there, but the park adjacent to the launch also offered some beautiful trails through the Florida woods. It was an unexpectedly beautiful stop, but one I highly recommend!

SEMINOLE

We also used our time in Florida to visit some family, who moved to the state a few years ago. It was so lovely seeing my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins while we were in their new home state. And it was great being with people who knew all the fun spots! We arrived on a Friday, where my Aunt and Uncle took us to a nice quiet beach on the gulf for a sunset soak and swim. It was wild swimming in the gulf in late February - the waters were shockingly warm and apparently only getting warmer. It was another benefit to visiting Florida at this time of year. Driving and walking through the Seminole area, I was so impressed to see how many local parks there were that were sprawling and beautiful and well maintained. We took a nice, warm walk with the pups to hopefully get Winston a little more used to being with new people - especially family who love him!

On our way out of Seminole, on our original hunt for orange groves, we stopped by Florida Orange Groves & Winery in South Pasadena. Don’t be fooled by the name, there were no orange groves to be found! But we did enjoy a free tasting of their fruit wines - they make all their wines with a variety of other tropical fruits and avoid using the traditional grape. They were all so interesting and tasty, we also ended up getting an additional flight each so we could try more of their catalogue. I particularly love the Key Limen wine, made with key limes that was sweet and tart and overall delicious. We both also were pleasantly surprised by how tasty their orange and coffee wine was, it tasted like a breakfast buffet in a glass. And we couldn’t resist pretending we were Moira Rose, filming a commercial during our time there.

After our tasting, we were also lucky to have spoken more to the extremely friendly and helpful bartender who adored our boys and offered many suggestions and insights about their offerings.

BUS LIVING

Since this was one of our first major trips on the bus, we learned a few things along the way.

The first was how to live without regular WiFi. We were able to use Craig’s phone as a hotspot, but his plan hobbled speeds after a certain amount, so this is something we’ve since changed to have a bigger plan that allows for more hotspots and tethering. We also took advantage of stores that offered free WiFi whenever we went shopping. As a result, we probably shopped more frequently at WalMart than ever before to make use of their parking lot WiFi to plan trips and download maps.

We also learned a bit about our plans regarding chasing moderate temperatures with the bus. Although we may think temperatures are generally moderate in the area, there are still going to be highs and lows on any given day that present an uncomfortable challenge. This was a motivating factor for our to-do list when we got back to a stationary pitstop in NY. We decided we at least needed A/C working while the bus was running and a heater to make the bedroom area more warm and comfortable for cold evenings. Have we mentioned our Reese is a very spoiled boy, and he deserves a cozy night sleep? Because that was certainly another driving force to make sure we had a cozy sleeping area!

We were so grateful for all we saw and experienced and learned on our trip to Florida. It was so bittersweet leaving - and, as we will learn, is going to be true of so many of the beautiful places we explore and get to temporarily call home.

Check out these amazingly beautiful roadside flowers I couldn't help but be enchanted by as we puttered our way through Florida. Growing like weeds, I was glad to grab a handful of them to continue enjoying the beauties of Florida, even as we headed back north.