Anniversary Florida Trip

This year for our anniversary, Chad and I went to visit friends that moved to Florida a little over a year ago. We were hoping that we would be escaping the cold when we booked the flights about 6 months ago, but that was not the case. In Colorado, we have had a fairly warm winter with a few exceptions. We left nearly 60-degree weather to go to temperatures in the 40s and 50s. When factoring in the humidity and the breeze, it felt cooler than that, and we were not prepared. The good news is that there are fun things to do even in cooler weather. 

On Sunday after church, we went to Blue Springs state park to see the manatee. They congregate around the springs which are consistently 72-degrees because they can't be in water less than 68 or they will die. With Sunday being in the 40s, there were over 800 manatees in and near the spring. This made for great viewing! It was fun to watch them swim around and see the groups of moms and babies. 

Monday, we went to Sea World and Disney Springs. We had a lot of fun at Sea World. We went to all of the shows, viewed the aquariums and habitats, and rode the few rides they had going. (It was too cold for most of the roller coasters.) This was my first time going to anything like this. I haven't even been to the Denver Aquarium. The shows were amazing! I clapped and squealed in excitement multiple times. Going to Sea World was not on our original list of things to do. I'm glad the weather didn't cooperate to do the other things because I loved seeing everything there. 

Disney Springs wasn't that big of a deal to me. This part of Disney has no entry fee. It is kind of like an outdoor mall area with shops and restaurants lining the "streets." We went to a cookie shop, hat shop, the Star Wars shop, Marvel shop, and a chocolate shop along with the restaurant we ate at. The restaurant was way overpriced for what we got. I had a club sandwich with fries and a Cherry Coke. Chad had a grilled grouper sandwich with fries and a coke. It was good, but not something particularly memorable. Of course, we may just have a problem with fancy food. Who knows? The cookies were ok. Again, they were a bit overpriced for something that wasn't particularly memorable. At the chocolate place, we got a big s'more to share. That was fairly good. It was definitely fresh and had a hint of cinnamon. This was the only Disney type thing we really saw, too. I would say, I'm glad I went to know what it was, but it's not something I would really seek out now that I know what it really is. 

Tuesday morning, we went to a French bakery, bought a variety of pastries, and brought it back to the house where we all shared them. They were so good! It was a wonderful breakfast!

Then, we ended our trip with a boat tour of De Leon Springs where we learned about a lot of different birds. We say how the trees adapt after storms and how interconnected the water systems are. I wouldn't say it was the highlight of the trip, but it was fun to learn about the vegetation and wildlife in Florida. It was a good, calm way to end our trip before heading to the airport for the long trip home. 

13th Anniversary Trip

 Chad has been looking forward to our 13th anniversary for a long time. As soon as he found out that my first marriage lasted 12 years, he said that we needed to do something big for lucky 13. At first, we were planning an Alaskan cruise. That idea changed to a train ride across the country. Then, we thought visiting our friends in Florida and going to Universal Studios would be fun. (He can get free tickets to Universal Studios because of his job.) Eventually, we landed on a trip to Colorado Springs where we would stay in a historic hotel and play tourist. 

Friday night, we headed down to Colorado Springs and checked into The Mining Exchange. This historic hotel was probably the fanciest hotel we have ever stayed. We took advantage of the valley parking, checked in, and went up to our room. We were impressed right away with the amazing customer service, the cleanliness, and the many amenities. 

After checking out their art gallery, we changed into our nice clothes and went to dinner at Red Gravy, and little Italian restaurant around the block from where we were staying. This was the kind of place where we didn't feel out of place dressed up, but there were also people there in jeans. The food was good, the service was decent, and we lest happy that this was the place we chose.

In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and headed out to play tourist more. 

We started with hiking at The Garden of the Gods. We had stopped here with the kids when we did our staycation in 2022, but they didn't want to hike, so we just walked around one little area and took pictures. This time, we hiked what we could of a small loop (some of the trail was closed for maintenance). It was beautiful! I hope we go back to hike other parts of it in the future. We even saw a small heard of big horn sheep as we were leaving. 

Next, we went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We had heard plot was one of the best zoos. The kids have been talking about it since they went with their grandparents years ago. It was very nice, but smaller than we had expected, and some of the animals were inside areas we couldn't get to because of the cold. We were able to see a lot of animals, though as we made our way through this cute zoo build on the side of a mountain. 

Finally, we went to Ivywild School, a historic school that has been made into a food court. It was cute! The classroom were the restaurants and stores. For the most part, the school feel was still there. We got souvenirs at the small gift shop and ate deep dish pizza after roaming the halls of this unique building. I would totally recommend going if you are into historical buildings. 

This trip was perfect for us. We were able to do everything we planned, have good conversation, and not totally break the bank. I wish we could do stuff like this more often, but I guess it wouldn't be a big, special anniversary trip if we did. 

Preparing for Next Year's Travels

Within the last four years, I have been traveling a bit more than I ever have. Most of the trips have been within Colorado, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being a tourist in my own state. I know there is more to see, but I also want to branch out more. 

I have exciting plans underway for next year. First, we will be going to Florida for our anniversary in February. Chad wants to do something big for lucky 13, and we have friends that just moved to a lakefront property that have asked us several times to come visit them. Since Chad works for Comcast and can get free tickets, we will also be going to Universal Studios while we are there. Then, we will be going to Utah in June. We will visit his mom for a few days in southern Utah before heading North to visit my dad and (hopefully) run a marathon. Later that month, I will be going on a cruise with one of my best friends. She got some kind of killer deal through her job and has invited me to go along. I'm sure we will fit in at least one camping trip later that summer, but that is yet to be decided. 

I am so excited for next year! Now, all I have to do is save the money to make all of this happen. Wish me luck!

12th Anniversary

 Twelve years ago, I made the best decision of my life by marrying my amazing husband. He was exactly the person I needed to heal the wounds of life. I would go through it all again knowing it led me to this man. I am the luckiest woman alive!