Now first off, I’m from Chicago. A Midwest girl through and through. So naturally, I love when it snows and all the winter activities associated with it. I also have certain expectations when something is called a “blizzard”. Sure, the DC area got a lot of snow in one session, but I wouldn’t call it a blizzard. So Goober (Wickett) and I went to bed that Friday night not knowing what to expect on Saturday morning…

 

We donned our winter gear and walked out into the winter wonderland!

The snow was taller than he was! And despite the hours upon hours of snowfall already, not a single snowplow had come through my neighborhood. Nor would one for days.

Without another soul in sight (and armed with some treats in my pocket) I let Wickett off the leash as we headed over towards the park for some fun.

I left the pup behind in the warmth of my apartment to get some brunch with a gal pal.

Having enjoyed our fill of mimosas and an Irish brunch, we ran outside to throw some snowballs at some silly kids having a snowball fight. Naturally, we forgot our jackets inside and ended up freezing! (I changed into my pink hat if you’re trying to spot me!)

After such a chilly snowy day, I headed home to make some hot cocoa and relax with the pup. There’s really not quite like curling up with your best bud in front of a fire!

So the second half of my vacation was mostly hanging out with family. We had rented a few bicycles so that’s how us kids got around everywhere. It was quite a workout!

It was really nice to have the basket. That way, when we went to the beach we could fit our towels and beers in the basket easily. Or if the whole family went, we could just take the rental.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have any beach chairs to take with us. Luckily, we had our own sand engineer with us! He went through and made a set of sand chairs for us so that we could be comfortable while reading on the beach.

We stayed until sunset. Although I think that the sunsets in Michigan are more beautiful than the ones we saw in Tampa, I still thought I should snap a picture.

The last morning we rode to the Sponge Docks. They were very touristy and capitalistic. We only spent about 10 minutes walking along the docks before riding the 70 minutes back home. But there were some interesting street art and signs seen along the ride!

It was really a fabulous trip. Until next time!

Instead of staying home for the holidays this year, an executive decision was made to go to Tampa to visit my Gramma for Christmas. Since I’m on the east coast and my family in the midwest, we flew separately to Florida. Due to (what I assume were) mechanical problems, my flight kept getting delayed until we finally boarded the plane 5 hours later. No worries, friends! While I was sitting at the bar awaiting the updates on my flight, I made some pals! That’s how 4 random strangers shared a few hours of friendship. Naturally, we took a selfie.

This was the best we could do with our given lack of sobriety and tiredness and airport lighting. Why didn’t I correct for any of this before posting it? I want you to feel the way we felt before boarding.

Naturally I did make it to Tampa (very late at night) and after some decent sleep, was ready to rock on day one! We grabbed a mimosa and the brothers and I sat on the beach and walked in the waves collecting seashells.

It was a day for relaxing. We did some running and exercising but mostly just adapted to the southern heat and humidity. We spent a lot of time the next day with family, cooking and preparing gifts. It was Christmas and I didn’t have time to take pictures to share!

Day 3 we got up early and packed some lunches and headed south to get on a boat and go fishing. I slept on the drive down because I am absolutely not a morning person.

We ran into a couple dolphins as we were searching for fish. They played around us for a bit. It was exciting to me!

We finally started dropping pools in various spots. I waited to take pictures of all the fish until the end of the trip. But we did accidentally catch some other critters!

We ended up catching 5 fish total that were within the size range acceptable to keep. I caught 2 of them! Which was surprising to all of us, since I haven’t been fishing in many years.

I was so proud of my little fish! Well only one was that little. They were both sheeps head fish and they were both delicious! We cooked up the fish for dinner and boy oh boy was it scrumptious!

A bit of a ways back, Wickett and I went an one last quick hike before it turned too cold out. We barely made it before the sun fell below the horizon.

So we headed out on our way as quickly as we could to try to make it to the overlook above the marsh.

As you can tell, it wasn’t super clear where the path was going except for the occasional bridge. Since the park closed at dusk, we didn’t see anyone else. Well except for a couple deer. I tried to get a picture but they ran away too quickly.

We reached the marsh! In case someone was questioning where they were, there was a very informative sign declaring “End of Trail”. Thank goodness!

The birds on the marsh were squawking pretty loudly! I thought that maybe they would calm down being that the sun had set and it was starting to get dark. Not true!

It started to get very dark so Wickett and I sprinted back down the path to the car. We kept hearing animals moving around us in the woods, but we couldn’t see them. It started to give me a fright that maybe we were entering a horror film! Alas, we survived!