St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the continental US. The city was settled by Spanish colonizers in 1565!
In 24 hours, Kim and I had a whirlwind, self-guided tour of the main walking part of the city called “Old Town.” We ate delicious food, explored shopping, observed various opportunities for museum visits and tours, and so much more!
In this post, I give twelve recommendations for various experiences you can have. Each suggestion is accessible along the main tourist street or just beyond it.
I don’t do paid tours all that often but sometimes they are worth it! When Kim and I visited the town of St. Augustine, we decided to also check out the famous lighthouse nearby.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum have been there for almost 150 years! It’s a beautiful, actively working lighthouse overlooking the East coast region just across from St. Augustine.
This was a great activity to do during relatively clear skies—there were no thunderstorms to keep us from climbing to the top (unlike our first visit to the Castillo Del San Marcos the day before)! I also learned a bit about maritime archeology, which I loved to see as a SCUBA diver!
While up north in Seyville, I could not pass up the opportunity to visit St. Augustine. St. Augustine is the oldest city in America founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers.
One of the most famous tourist attractions in St. Augustine is Castillo de San Marcos. I decided to do this very typical tour because castles are just cool!
Along the way, I discovered that accessing one of the coolest parts of the castle is only an option when the skies are clear of lightning! This meant that I went back to visit twice in 24 hours—worth it!
During our stay in Seville, Florida, my friends and I were looking to venture off premises to see a bit of the area. Our Airbnb host suggested we check out some of the natural, freshwater springs in the area.
She mentioned Salt Springs as one of her favorites because of the freshwater pits that we could explore. As soon as I heard we could free-dive into them and that there were even some little creatures we would find there, I was hooked! We had to go!
We packed up my car with snacks and headed there on our second day in Seville.
When I moved to Miami, I thought my food adventures would center mostly around Cuban cuisine. I quickly realized how wrong I was!
Cuban food happens to be one of my least favorite and most infrequently tapped into cuisines here in Miami. Instead, I’ve satiated my foodie desires through this pandemic with a vast diversity of not only Latine foods but cultures from all over the world.
Being in a big city means I can still find some of my favorite types of food as well as some of my all time favorites for a tropical climate with a huge Latine and Caribbean population. In this post, I introduce all of my favorites, as well as giving some honorable mentions and acknowledgements to the Miami standards.
While visiting Orlando for a conference, I decided to take a little detour for a nature fix. Wekiwa Springs State Park is one of many parks with springs in the area surrounding Orlando. It looked like the perfect place to enjoy a couple of hours in the sun.
This park has much to do including camping, swimming, kayaking, and what I decided to do on my trip—get lost hiking!
Well, I didn’t exactly get lost, but I did end up going down a trail that was once a trail but is no longer! I went literally off the beaten path. Oops! I guess Google maps isn’t always the most accurate about its park trails.
I learned a new word this past weekend—Agritourism! Who knew there was a whole word for all the farm stays, farm stands, and farm-to-table dining?
This new word came across my path quote literally as I rode up and down Krome Avenue in Western Miami. This stretch of road is one of several popular bicycle paths, better known for its access to farmed goods and supplies.
I enjoyed a few hours ride in the afternoon sun, visiting different farm vendors. From homemade breads to roasted corn on the cob—this was an agritourism experience I’d like to taste all over again soon!
What’s the safest way to enjoy music during a pandemic? Outdoors!
Recently, my friend Kim took me for a late birthday present to my first concert in years. The concert was held outside at Miami’s North Beach Bandshell.
Nu Deco Nucleus is the ensemble that performed, covering a variety of music. The central allure, at least for me, was their tribute covers of a few hits by Daft Punk. The entire setting was decorated in candlelight, making it an incredibly atmospheric setting. In this post, I share video and photos highlighting this spectacular experience.
I love discovering new hobbies. Even more, I love finding little adventurous experiences not far from home. Both of these loves defined my day trip to the Florida Keys a couple of weeks ago.
Different from another time when I took a day trip to the Florida Keys, I finally went paddleboarding for the first time on this trip! With my experienced paddleboarding friend Meli, we rented paddleboards and explored mangroves and even a tiny island.
All in all, this was a perfect little getaway day trip and now I can’t wait to paddle board again!
Wow! I had an amazing time visiting the new, immersive art space in Miami called Superblue.
After going to the Van Gogh exhibit in May and Artechouse earlier this year—I was already hooked on these types of spaces. But this one totally takes the cake!
The experience is reasonably priced and not so popular that it can’t be enjoyed safely as we continue to experience high cases of COVID-19 in South Florida. You’ll just want to follow some of my “pro tips” in this post to have the best experience possible!
I now live less than an hour drive from Key largo in the Florida Keys. With such close access, I can actually SCUBA dive gorgeous waters and reef more easily—an activity I usually reserve for long-distance and international travel.
This increased access opened up my mind to the idea of enhancing my SCUBA certification. I’ve always wondered about Enriched Air Nitrox (EANx) diving and so I decided to take the “plunge” so to speak! In doing so , I signed up to take the course and pre-paid for 6 dives with Rainbow Reef dive company in Key Largo. Whenever I feel like going, I can drive down, hop on a boat and go diving!
It has been 5 years since I last dove with Rainbow Reef and it was amazing once again! The visibility was great for diving 2 wrecks and encountering 2 sharks!
After my friends visited Miami, my friend Kim invited me to spend Memorial Day weekend in Orlando at her Airbnb.
Happenstance led me to eating a bunch of Asian cuisine from 3 separate countries in one day. We also visited a gorgeous botanical garden and kayaked lakes connected by canals.
This was an awesome, post-vaccination weekend and one I’d definitely do again sometime to see more of Orlando.
The vaccine for COVID-19 changed a lot of things in the last few months. Places all over the USA are opening up, including New York City this past weekend for Pride events. And Miami has been opened up for a while.
I didn’t feel comfortable going out fully until about one month ago when two of my friends visited. In anticipation of their arrival, I put together an itinerary of activities based on their requests. We were all eager to not only spend time together but to also go out like “normal" and explore a city—the city of Miami!
For me, I am basically still new to Miami since the pandemic hit only a few months after my arrival. So this was a really awesome 4-day adventure around Miami including a hotel stay at Miami beach, tons of great food, awesome rooftop bars, and so much more.
Our experience serves as a guide for any vaccinated visitor or staycationer in Miami!
I missed pre-pandemic visits to art exhibits and museums. Especially as a newcomer to the very art-centric city of Miami, I couldn’t wait to dive back into the art scene here. As people get vaccinated and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, there’s now more opportunities to get together with friends and see art safely indoors.
Two weeks ago, my friends visited from New York and Denver. I took them to the immersive Beyond Van Gogh exhibit. The exhibit made me feel like I was inside of Gogh’s paintings. It was awesome!
In this post, I share some background about the exhibit as well as photos and a video depicting our absolute joy during this experience.
My friend’s birthday was coming and I wanted to gift her an experience. Artechouse in Miami had COVID-19 restrictions that made me feel safe enough to visit—so I bought tickets to take her there for their current exhibit.
Aqueous is a cool, blue, ocean-inspired multi-media art experience at Artechouse. Far from art hanging on a wall, Aqueous is video production and atmospheric audio. This art makes you feel it emotionally and interact with it in a physical way!
I loved this exhibit and feel lucky to live in a city like Miami with access to art like this. Sometimes, you don’t have to go far to experience something new and creative!
Who knew there was a top beach with insanely soft, white sand within short distance from my Miami home? Rated the #1 beach in the USA, Siesta Beach did not disappoint on this last night of my Gulf Coast trip.
After a weekend of solo adventuring, I felt so fulfilled by this opportunity to safely chill with some friends and eat a great meal while relaxing at this beach.
The bonus was discovering what is now my favorite beach in the world! Learn more about why in this post!
After a morning at Myakka park, I was ready to get in the water!
Kayaking was on the schedule next. This would be my 2nd adventure on the 3rd day of my Gulf Coast trip. I was excited to experience what Sarasota Bay had to offer in the way of mangroves!
This time I would get to be physically distant by not socially distant. My friend was coming in from Orlando to join me on this adventure. We indulged in much-needed friend time while remaining responsible outdoors and with masks.
The mangroves in Sarasota Bay turned out to be the best I’ve ever experienced! We had an amazing time exploring them and having some wonderful laughs as friends.
I found my way to Saratoga county for day 3 of my trip on Florida’s Gulf Coast. I started my day off with a visit to Myakka River State Park.
I became a little obsessed with wooden observation towers in parks after visiting Tree Tops park in Davie, Florida a few weeks before. The observation tower there was so cool that I started searching Florida for other structures like it.
This research brought me to Myakka. This enormous park had so much to explore that, while I went to see the park’s famous canopy walkway, I stayed for its other features.
There are few experiences where you can interact with wild marine animals on their terms. I tried it with humpback whales in Niue without much luck. I tried it with seals in South Africa to no avail. I was determined this time on my trip to Florida’s Gulf Coast to snorkel with manatees—Florida’s gentle, herbivorous, “sea cow.”
I was ready to get in the water with them after kayaking near them on not one, not two, but three occasions,. The city of Crystal River is the only place in the United States that allows people to be in the water with them.
Through self-guided means only and maintaining my ethical animal tourism and COVID-19 standards, I managed to kayak to and snorkel near manatees at Three Sisters Springs. Learn how I did it all on my own in this post, complete with photos and a video of these awesome marine mammals!
I love it when travel activities fall into my lap unexpectedly. By sheer circumstance, I stumbled across Rainbow Springs State Park. This park has some of the most gorgeous crystal clear, aqua blue water I’ve ever seen!
Only a 2 minute drive from my Airbnb, I decided to spend my morning exploring the park. I thought I might check it out by kayak but the chilly air of the morning and a tight schedule led me to hiking the park instead.
I had no idea I’d end up enjoying this park as much as I did. Sometimes the best travel moments happen without prior planning!
