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 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.
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!
This past weekend I discovered a new and truly magical park! While I visited in rainy weather, I can’t complain because it was still so warm out!
I feel so grateful that I moved to Florida in time for the COVID19 pandemic to hit. Family and friends are dealing with snowstorm after snowstorm in the Northeast. Meanwhile, I am to be able to go outdoors and explore nature in comfortable temperatures.
I’ve explored parks near and far during this pandemic. But Tree Tops Park might be my favorite discovery yet! Ant here’s still so much more to explore.
Many people have taken up new hobbies during this pandemic in order to quell boredom. Or they have revitalized old hobbies that they left in the past.
I am happy to say I finally revitalized an old hobby and bought myself a bicycle! I’ve been imagining getting my own bicycle for a while so it’s really exciting for me that I have one now.
I’ve been getting myself more comfortable on the bike and exploring some neighboring areas and parks. It’s been a great way to cover lots of ground and see new places right in my Miami backyard. In this post, I share a couple of the rides I’ve taken locally and explore other hobbies I’ve taken up since the pandemic started.
I thought I might stop posting since I am all out of travel content. Then I thought about how everyone is going through the same thing right now. Every traveler is stuck at home. So how are we getting through this life without travel?
In this post, I share some of the little adventures I take locally around Miami. I take my kayak out. I go for walks through an absolutely stunning Jungle forest. I cook from home. Sometimes I meet up with a friend for a socially distant hang out. Other times, I just hop online for some family bonding time inside a virtual, post-apocalyptic video game world.
Here’s a look at two parks I’ve explored as I’ve been staying local during 5 months of quarantine!
The USA continues to surprise me with its natural beauty, innovative architecture, and multiculturalism. The Parthenon and its surrounding park in Nashville, Tennessee are perfect examples of all three of these.
The Parthenon is a replica of ancient Greek ruins still found in Athens today.
But you don't have to fly all the way across the Atlantic to see what remains of it! Head to Music City in the USA and make a detour to Centennial Park to find a replica of the construction as it would have appeared over 2400 years ago.
I loved spending time in Chiang Mai. I even went back and spent two more nights there after living in Pai for a week. Available all over the city are opportunities to go on jungle treks and hill-tribe tours in the surrounding Northern mountains. But I did not need to do any of these to fill my time. I had already spent over a week in Chiang Mai, during which time I met a monk at Wat Chedi Luang, drove a motorbike up Doi Suthep, released a lantern into the sky at the Yi Peng festival, and celebrated Halloween as a Walking Dead zombie. If these activities weren’t already enough, here are three more experiences in Chiang Mai I enjoyed.
Typically, an airport tarmac is filled with airplanes, luggage transport cars, and people directing plane traffic. Berlin’s Tempelhof deviates from this airport norm, however. In 2008, in an effort to reduce air traffic in Berlin, the airport closed down. Since then, the airport has been turned into a space for large fairs, tradeshows, and festivals. Berliners have also reclaimed the Tempelhof as a park, but the people of Berlin had to take to the streets to keep this space open for public use.
Initially, the city mayor had the vision to build a shopping center, condominiums, and plazas in the big empty plot. These plans were quickly extinguished. As I’ve written before, the people of Berlin despise such gentrification and they protested against it.
I like beautiful scenery and a taste of adventure. So here are my top 5 outdoor experiences from my trip to Portland, Oregon this summer.
Forest Park is not the kind of place for an inexperienced hiker. We came prepared with water and snacks because if you don't know where you're going you can easily get lost there. Forest Park is big. Really big. And even though we saw stray locals wandering through, there were long stretches of time when we were completely alone. You can feel totally disconnected from the city and avenues below in there and not know which trail will take you out or turn you deeper into the woods. At times, our hike felt a bit like the hobbit and the dwarves' trek through Mirkwood.
