Florida Vacation: Our Last Day In Florida

We were super bummed to be leaving Florida. Luckily our flight didn't leave until later in the evening so we had some time to kill before heading to the airport.

We were pretty bummed to be leaving Vero Beach but we said goodbye to my parents and headed off to Orlando.

If you've been reading along for awhile you probably know I'm a fan of Julie's blog Peanut Butter Fingers.  So I had been reading her blog getting suggestions of things to do while we spent the day in Orlando. It was pretty cloudy so we didn't want to do anything too crazy so we followed her suggestion to grab lunch at Hillstone Restaurant.

Of course, being the fangirl that I am I tagged her on instagram and got a nice reply!

Tim got the Hickory Burger and says it was delicious.

I chose the Famous French Dip which I had read about on Julie's blog but I never would've picked it on my own. It was absolutely delicious!

Anytime an ice cream sundae comes with its own container of hot fudge, I'm in! It was delicious and so filling we couldn't even finish the entire thing. I wanted so badly to just dip my spoon in the hot fudge though- yum yum yum!

We even walked out on the dock where Julie had her engagement dinner! (Yes, we were totally using her blog to find every cool place in Orlando at this point- sorry for stalking Julie!)

After looking a the huge fish milling around we decided to drive around Winter Park (a gorgeous area in Orlando) and then went to walk around Lake Eola.

There were swans everywhere within the park which was really cool. We just slowly made our way around the lake looking at all the animals and sights!

Watching the baby swan interact with the turtles was an interesting sight. The baby swan was so cute following it's mother around but it had some guts heading right at the turtles!

Lake Eola was really interesting, but definitely not the best taken care of area. There was a lot of trash and junk in the water which was a little sad!

However, there were a lot of pretty areas and it was really cool to see the side of Orlando that you don't usually see when you head to Disney or Universal!

We headed to the airport fairly early and had some Starbucks drinks, wandered the stores, ate dinner and had a few drinks at the bar.

Then it was unfortunately time to head back to Rhode Island! As much as I love the state where I live sometimes you're just not ready to come home and get back to reality! I was not excited to head back to work after vacation!

And now, back to reality! Thanks for reading along through our entire vacation! I will be updating the  Travel page to include all of our Florida adventures soon.

Downtown Vero Beach, Lizards and Mulligans

After having brunch in Downtown Vero Beach on Easter morning, Tim and I decided that we should make a trip there on Monday morning to walk around and see if there was anything interesting to do. We quickly discovered two things. Number one: Most of the shops were marketed towards woman. Number two: All of the shops were VERY expensive. So we decided instead of wandering the commercialized streets we would head to a nearby park and see what we could find.

We ended up discovering the Veteran Memorial Island Sanctuary, a place I had never heard of before. Each section of the island is dedicated to a different branch of the military. It was an extremely peaceful place where veterans can take a seat on the bench of their branch and civilians can walk around, enjoy the scenery and thank those who have served our country.

There were not many people within the park which was great for us since we were able to walk where we pleased and take in the sights. Tim did find a new friend though:

I still loved seeing the different birds on our trip, there are so many in Florida that we never get the opportunity to see in Rhode Island. Everywhere you go there is new wildlife!

After spending some time in the park we headed to Publix to grab some grinders (In case you aren't a Rhode Islander a grinder is another word for a sub or sandwich made at the deli. I tend to confuse people when we are on vacation by referring to them as grinders!)

Seriously, if you are in a place with Publix consider yourself insanely lucky! They make the best sandwiches! If you haven't had the opportunity to eat at Publix next time you are near one check it out, it'll be worth your time.

We parked the car down by the water in Sebastian and took a walk down the dock, looking for lizards as we walked.

See this little green guy?

Tim yelled at him not to run away because he was his new favorite. He was the only all green lizard we saw during our trip but we saw many different varieties during the week.

Above is another lizard who let us get pretty close!

We also came across this guy who was blocking our way.

Who nicely stepped aside to let us cross.

We spent some time on the dock just soaking up the sun and taking in the beautiful sights. Then headed back to the house for some down time before dinner.

Tim played some video games...

And we hunted some more lizards!

Around 6 we decided it was time to head off to Mulligans the place we had chosen for our last dinner. Tim and I decided to go to dinner alone for our last night of vacation knowing that we would be at the airport the following evening.

Mulligans is a restaurant right on the water in Sebastian and we were actually able to see dolphins swimming by during our dinner! I was so happy that we chose this restaurant for that fact alone.

We started off with the nachos as our appetizer and they were delicious. I don't eat ground beef so I just picked around that part but we both dug right in and finished them off.

The salad course was a little icky. Not the freshest salad I've ever had and I honestly was not feeling salad at that point, I wanted my main dish so I picked at it a little bit and then pushed it to the side.

Tim watched the dolphins out the window while we waited for our main course.

Tim ordered the steak and cheese sandwich and onion rings and reported that they were just okay. He wasn't a huge fan of them but he did eat quite a bit.

I ordered the fettuccine alfredo and it was awful! I had been very good about not ordering pasta the entire trip and was SO disappointed in my meal. It had a fishy taste to it which led me to believe that they had maybe boiled the pasta in something that was used for fish. Whatever it was, it wasn't a meal I'd ever order there again.

After dinner we headed home for a fairly early bedtime because we were on our way back to Orlando in the morning....

Florida Vacation: Easter and The Jungle Trail

Easter Sunday was spent with a late morning brunch with my parents. We ended up settling on the Driftwood Resort to eat since they were able to seat and serve us right away without a reservation. It ended up being a great decision because in addition to the beautiful setting right on the beach, everyone complimented their meals. 

After brunch we made a quick stop by the Disney Resort in Vero Beach. It's a beautiful resort so we snapped a couple of pictures outside after stopping in the Disney Store to pick up a gift for my moms friend.

We headed back to the house in the early afternoon and Tim and I decided that we would head out on the Jungle Trail. I had been on it before but not extensively so we decided to drive the whole way through. The Jungle Trail is a dirt road that brings you through different areas where you can head off on hiking trails and into different areas and explore.

Tim was super excited to explore! Also, since this is a picture of hm behind the wheel it seems like a good time to talk about our rental car! We ended up renting a compact vehicle from Alamo and it was great! It was a white Nissan Versa and fit both of our suitcases perfectly. It was a great car for two people and amazing on gas!

After driving for awhile we decided to stop and explore The Centennial Trail.

There was a nice walkway on The Centennial Trail that listed all the nature preserves and we were able to find Trustom Pond!

I love hiking and walking around and even though it was super hot and muggy I enjoyed exploring the area.

 We didn't get down every trail, but did explore quite a few. I would highly recommend this area because there are so many different places in the area!

After a long day of hiking we headed home where my dad had made a delicious steak dinner for us! We had one more day of Vero Beach left and two days left of our vacation when we went to sleep that night....