Florida!

Thanks to my amazing friend Sara, I was able to visit Florida last weekend *yay* She was staying with her family on the Gulf Coast and invited me to join her for a couple of days. So I got on a plane friday morning and flew down south. It was AMAZING! I mean, Florida? The beaches? WOW!

...see what I mean? We went to Longboat Key for some tanning on Saturday. It was beautiful. We had perfect weather, not too hot, a little cloudy but overall very sunny! Oh, and the water? Oh My God....

 I've never seen water as clear and as beautiful as this! I was happy :)

On sunday, we did some outlet shopping (and yes, I spent most of my money on good old German sportsware - Adidas outlet *yay*) I also checked out the winter jackets from Columbia - I think the color suits me ;)

On Monday, Sara and I rented a car and went on a road trip even further south - towards the Everglades. The trip itself was a lot of fun already and the Everglades were definitely worth the drive! The highlight of the trip, however, was Mel's Diner :)

It was so beautifully kitschy and just so American and Rock&Roll and *hmpf* SO much fun! And the food! Oh, the food.... *yuum* Ok, but enough about the Diner. So we drove down to Everglade City (cute!) and went on the thousand islands boat trip. We were the only two people on board, which was kinda weird at first, but actually, it was pretty awesome, because it was like having a private tour. Steve and Dan were very helpful and pointed out a lot of wildlife for us. The highlight of the tour was a dolphin which swam with the boat for a little bit - I'd call that awesome! After the trip, we went "Gator hunting :) yep, that's right, Gator hunting ;) we went all Crocodile Dundee :D

I was a little scared, but Sara was totally cool... even when she exclaimed "look, it's moving" and I added "yeah.... towards us!" :D but we survived and were alive enough to visit the smallest U.S. postal office :) so cute! 

 

So, if you got a postcard from Florida, it might have been stamped here :) On our way back, we drove through Naples and were desperately looking for the Cheescake Factory we had seen on our way south - we couldn't find it! So we drove down to the pier instead, visited another Gulf Coast Beach and looked around in downtown Naples, then we headed to the Interstate - and found the Cheesecake Factory :) Full and happy, we finally hit the Interstate to return to Sara's aunts house...

However, shortly before getting back to Braedenton, we decided to drive to the Beach instead to catch the sunset - turns out that was our best idea of the entire trip :) It was absolutely breathtaking! So, here's the last impression from Florida on Anna Maria Beach. THANK YOU SARA!