As soon as Em and I finished renovating our RV in the end of January, we jumped in and B-lined it down to the warm weather of Florida. (So even though we crossed through five states on our way, we consider the first official state of our trip to be Florida.) It was our first experience of being snowbirds and taking our RV south for the winter, and after going from below freezing to sitting on a beach in 80 degree weather, I can see why so many people make the journey!
Florida was an amazing start to our trip to all 50 states! The toughest thing about visiting Florida first was that we were having so much fun that we didn’t want to leave! These are some of the top things that we enjoyed experiencing in Florida.
Florida Keys, Miami, & Palm Beach
What better place to start our trip than near Key West, the southernmost point in the continental US! It was hard to believe that a few days earlier we were worried about snow and now we were enjoying the sunshine on the beach. (However, our frozen cracked RV water pipes did serve as a great reminder of that freezing weather =)
We spent two weeks with Emily’s grandparents at their home in Marathon, and it was such a special way to begin our trip! They have such a beautiful home, but the best part was getting to spend time with family.
For the first week, Em’s whole family was there – major shoutout to Em’s dad for once again being our hero and this time fixing our RV water pipes during his vacation! One day, we went down to Key West and all wore Hawaiian shirts.
The second week, it was mainly just us and Em’s grandparents which was a really special time. We went to an art festival, on their boat, and played a lot of cards. Those two weeks are filled with SO many good memories, and we are so grateful to have began our trip that way!
From the Keys, we made our way up to Miami and decided that this would be the perfect place to practice riding our motorcycles. This was probably only the 2nd or 3rd time Em and I had ever driven our bikes on an actual road (HA whoops!), but we got a lot of great practice in one day by riding on highways, in city traffic, and experiencing almost running out of gas. Actually, just recently Em and I found an old bucketlist that we made from about 4 years ago of things that we wanted to do on this trip – and one of those things was to ride a motorcycle. Haha little did we know that 4 years later we would both be cruising around America together on our own bikes!
As we headed to Palm Beach to spend a few days with Em’s sister Elly, we stopped at the Everglades and did an airboat ride tour and a 14 mile bike ride through Everglades National Park. We saw 60+ alligators!
We really wish we would have spent time in Fort Lauderdale on the way to Palm Beach – we’ve heard it’s such a fun town! Apparently it’s called “The Venice of America” and they have gondola rides, great places to eat, and lots of outdoor/water activities. It’s on our bucketlist to go back and visit!
Spending a few days in Palm Beach with Em’s sister Elly was really special. One of our favorite memories was getting a knock on our RV door the morning after we had arrived – we had forgotten to tell Elly the address of where we were staying, but we looked out and there she was! She even brought a Starbucks for us!
Clearwater & Tampa Bay
From there, we headed up the coast toward Tampa Bay. One of the toughest things about visiting the Tampa area is picking which of the dozens of amazing beaches to visit. We ended up riding our motorcycles and spending a day at Clearwater Beach. (Turns out it is a little easier to find parking for motorcycles than it is for an RV. =)
Em and I joke that we are traveling the country to find the perfect place to someday settle down, and I think Tampa with it’s awesome weather, beaches, and long list of things to do would definitely be up there on the list! After a day at the beach, we headed to downtown Tampa, where we took a little break from the RV and stayed at The Barrymore Hotel Tampa Riverwalk. It was awesome to not have to worry about navigating the RV through the city and to be able to park it at the hotel.
And since the hotel is located right on the city’s riverwalk, we could just walk everywhere! We really could not asks for a better location. It is hard to explain just how awesome it feels to take a full-length warm showers, and have enough space to actually walk around the bed! The Barrymore’s rooms felt like a palace to us and we had an awesome view of the downtown from our bedroom window.
We even ordered room service from Waterworks, the restaurant in The Barrymore, and it was absolutely delicious. The staff was so nice, too, from the front desk attendance to the maintenance crew. It was a wonderful stay!
Our first day in Tampa, we headed just outside of the city to Busch Gardens. Something really cool about this amusement park is that it is a zoo, safari, and amusement park all wrapped up into one.
So not only do they have awesome rides, but I don’t think there are too many other amusement parks where you can have birds land on your arm or be less than two feet away from a tiger!
The only sad part about the day was realizing that I am getting older and don’t have as much stamina to run from one roller coaster to the next all day long like I used to =) Busch Gardens had everything laid out so well, though, that thankfully we didn’t have to do that. And their rides were so fun. We’ve now been to six amusements parks so far on our trip, and this really set the bar high as our first!
The next morning, we walked along the riverwalk and then had breakfast with Visit Tampa Bay, who hosted our stay. It was so wonderful to meet with them at The Oxford Exchange, a place we had previously heard so much about.
The Oxford Exchange is a restaurant, bookstore, event venue and more – let’s just say it’s hard to describe it without using the word beautiful! Even the bathrooms were fancy, Em said. The food was delicious too. This is a must-experience in Tampa, and we were so glad we were able to have breakfast there.
Later that day, Em and I got to experience one of my life-long goals: to swim with sharks! See, if you’ve ever talked with me, you might have noticed that I like to ask random “would you rather” questions. And probably one of my most common questions is “Would you rather swim with docile sharks with no cage, or more aggressive sharks but be inside a cage?” So when we found out that the Florida Aquarium allows people to swim with their sand tiger sharks, we both knew we had to try it!
The experience was definitely a highlight of the trip so far. The aquarium gives you a scuba tank and regulator, and then you wear a floatation device so you stay at the top of the water (so you don’t actually have to be scuba certified). The experience was really incredible. We got to swim with tons of stingrays, porcupine fish, angelfish, barracuda, moray eels, a really big sea turtle, and three sand tiger sharks.
The biggest shark was 9.5 feet long and it is incredible how close the sharks and rest of the fish come to you as you are swimming around. Of course, the most common question is was it scary? We had awesome instructors who did an awesome job of guiding us and the whole experience was too cool to actually be scared. And that isn’t just Em and I saying that, my mom was actually in Tampa at the time and did the experience with us! She said that it was one of the coolest experiences and didn’t feel scared either.
(Now I guess I just have to go cage diving with some great white sharks to know if I would rather swim with docile or aggressive sharks =)
It was really special getting to visit with my mom for the day, who randomly was in town visiting her friends. We had dinner that night with her at Ulele, which is another must-experience restaurant in Tampa. Ulele is right near the edge of the riverwalk and has the most incredible atmosphere.
We sat outside and overlooked palm trees and the river as we watched the sun set. The food was delicious too; I ordered their lobster special and haven’t yet on this trip had any other seafood so good as that!
Central Florida
On our way from Tampa to Orlando the next day, we toured an actual orange grove – their fresh squeezed orange juice and orange flavored ice cream was delicious.
We also did a safari! You wouldn’t think that in Florida you’d be able to see zebras, feed lemurs, or kiss a camel, but that is what we got to do at Safari Wilderness. It’s really amazing to have zebra and ostriches coming right up to the safari bus – we got to see just how friendly these animals can be. The Safari Wilderness Ranch stretches over 260 acres of wilderness and is home to dozens of different types of exotic wildlife. The ranch manager, Emily, led our safari – she was so kind and knowledgeable that it made us want to learn more about these exotic animals!
My favorite part of the day, though, was definitely feeding the lemurs. The lemurs were really friendly, and not too aggressive, as they ate grapes straight from our hands! They really seemed like little people as they lined up to get their turn to eat grapes! Em and I loved this experience, especially because how many times do you get to feed a lemur!
When we saw the camel, Em told me to kiss it, and then when I did she said “ew, I didn’t mean for you to actually kiss it!” Don’t worry, I did brush my teeth after our visit ;)
Em and I love riding our motorcycles, but we are always looking for chances to be able to take them off-roading and not just ride them in cities. So on our way to Orlando, we stopped by Revolution Off Road, where we got to do real off-roading with four-wheelers. We also got to try this amazing invention called a mucky duck! This amphibious ATV can go straight from the road into the water.
Our guide was really cool and it was awesome being able to ride down the road and then drive the mucky duck directly into the lake! Revolution Off Road had dozens of trails with all types of terrain, and we had a lot of fun splashing through the mud and cooling off in the water!
For people visiting Orlando who want a break from all the amusement parks to get out and try something a little more adventurous, Revolution Off Road is definitely a great choice!
Orlando & Kissimmee
Of course, no road trip would be complete without a trip to Orlando/Kissimmee and a trip to go see Mickey. Em and I had a ton of fun running around Magic Kingdom and Epcot. It might take us more than a year to drive around the US, but we made it around the world in one day at Epcot ;)
It was the beginning of the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, so it was extra beautiful!
Even though we don’t have any kids, Walt Disney World definitely transcends age and brings out the inner kid in Em and I. We had a lot of fun running around all day and trying to fit in as many rides as we could before the fireworks at night! And what trip to Magic Kingdom would be complete without a picture in front of the castle!!
Another must see theme park in Orlando is SeaWorld. Not only do they have some awesome animal exhibits, but Em and I loved their unique roller coasters – especially ones in the water!
We had a lot of fun getting to see the sea lion, dolphin (Em’s favorite animal), and killer whale shows! But my favorite exhibit of the day definitely had to be the penguins – it was so neat seeing them up close!
The next day, Em and I decided to head over to the Orlando Eye, a 400-foot tall giant ferris wheel, for awesome 360 degree views of Orlando. This isn’t like a normal ferris wheel; each cart is a fully enclosed room that is able to fit up to 15 people. However, when Em and I went we got a whole cart to ourselves!
So we had an awesome 30 minute ride with just ourselves and some awesome views of Orlando. (And of course Em couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to have our own dance party at the top of the ferris wheel! =)
While visiting Orlando, we stayed at Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa. This was an awesome resort with a huge suite, pool, and spa! The suite came with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen with dishwasher (a real luxury for us to wash our dishes whenever we wanted and not have to worry about bumping into each other while cooking!), and a washer and dryer! Lake Buena Vista Resort would be perfect for a family, a couple, or friends. The pool has a huge pirate ship in it with a water slide, which Em loved!
Since we were still getting used to the whole RV living thing, Em and I were feeling a little sore and decided to get a couples massage. (I know, really rough life being on the road ;) The massage was really relaxing and made me want to take a nap afterwards! But instead, we went to Disney Springs which was a lot of fun. One of the best things about the resort is that it is really close to all the amusement parks, and they have a free shuttle to take you to the major parks!
Crystal River & Gainesville
After Orlando, we continued our trip through Florida and spent a few days at an RV campground outside of Crystal River. We are very glad that some family friends told us that in Crystal River, there are tours which take you out to swim with manatees in the wild. Crystal River is apparently one of the best places in the USA to see and swim with manatees! So one day, at 5 in the morning, Em and I jumped on our motorcycles and headed to Bird’s Underwater Dive Center for a manatee tour.
The tour was really awesome and definitely another highlight of our trip. We were one of the first tours of the day and got really lucky to see a lot of manatees. (The tour guide reminded us that although this is one of the best areas to see manatees, they are wild animals and don’t exactly give the guides their schedule of where they will be that day =) It’s amazing just how big the manatees really are when they are swimming right up next to you.
The tour guide did an awesome job of making sure that, although we were there to see the manatees, we did not harass or upset the animals. So we made sure to respect the manatees space and not disturb their rest. However, a lot of the manatees are friendly and curious and would swim right up, nudge us, and sniff around! I highly recommend swimming with manatees next time you’re in Florida!
A little bit up the road from Crystal River, we stopped into Gainesville to visit my cousin Jason and his wife Ashley. He took us kayaking at Silver Springs, where we saw a bunch of turtles, alligators, and even another manatee. The water was so clear and the forest so dense that the whole area looked like something out of a movie (and probably for good reason because apparently a few movies have been filmed in that area).
But probably one of the coolest/craziest things that happened during our kayaking trip was seeing wild monkeys! We probably saw 25+ monkeys as we were paddling down the springs. My cousin told us that there were monkeys in that area, but I honestly thought that he was joking until we actually saw them! We sat in our kayaks and watched them for a while until one of the monkeys started getting a little more aggressive and we decided to keep moving down the river! (a good reminder that although wild animals may be cute, it’s always a good idea to keep some distance. That’s why I made sure that Em’s side of the kayak was closer to the monkeys than I was ;)
At this point we were about 6 weeks into our trip and still hadn’t made it out of our first state. We saw and did a lot of other things, including the Kennedy Space Center and Pensacola Beach, but this post is already super long and I should probably start sharing about some of the other states we visited!
Florida, you set the bar high!!
