Last year we had the chance to sneak over into Florida for a quick visit during our mini tour of the Deep South, but since my dad has been living there for there for almost a year for work, we decided to postpone the state until we could plan a visit to spend some time with him. The more we travel, the more we look for ways to make our trips more meaningful. We knew that spending several days with my dad would be much more fun and memorable than crossing the border for a few hours just to check it off our list.
Desperately wanting to avoid Florida in the summer, it took us about ten months to get down to see my dad and check out this green and sunny state. With temps in the upper 80's and frequent (but quickly passing) showers, outdoor activities were a little risky.
Dear [Itinerary] Diary,
Wednesday, October 11th
5:00 am flight out of Minneapolis (Earliest flight ever! We decided to take an Uber and not ask anyone to drive us to stay in our family's good graces)
We landed in Ft. Lauderdale at about 2:00 pm after a three-hour layover in Charlotte, NC
Stopped at my dad's town home in Lake Worth to drop off our stuff and decide what to do with the evening
Headed to CityPlace - West Palm Beach Mall for dinner at Brother Jimmy's BBQ and to walk around the beautiful outdoor mall
Drove along the A1A Highway with stunning views of the ocean (and the incredible home that overlook it)
Thursday, October 12th
It was an early start! We dropped my dad off at work and headed south to Miami for a quick day trip
Stopped in Ft. Lauderdale to see the house from Flight of the Navigator
A quick Yelp searched helped us home in on two highly-rated breakfast options, The Alchemist and Voo La Voo Cafe
The big attraction for the day was Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, the early 20th century estate of James Deering
Lunch was at Pubbelly Sushi (sadly our first choice, Naiyara, wasn't open for lunch) and we grabbed coffee to go from the same strip at Panther Coffee
We picked up my dad from work, hung out at home for awhile and had a very filling dinner at Texas Roadhouse (one of my dad's favorites)
Back at the house we settled in for the movie Idiocracy which, though it had a eerily accurate, 1984-esque ability to foreshadow the future, was not my favorite
Friday, October 13th
For our first big adventure together we went north about 2 hours to the Kennedy Space Center, stopping in Hobe Sound for breakfast at Old Dixie Cafe
Closing the place out we got a quick dinner McDonald's and made our way home arriving barely before 10 pm
Saturday, October 14th
We started the day at Eggscetera Cafe, an awesome breakfast/lunch restaurant where everything on the menu looks amazing
Next we headed to Everglades Holiday Park for an airboat tour, alligator show and mini petting zoo
What's a trip to Florida without seeing the ocean? The evening was spent at Delray Beach with wonderful refreshing wind and waves and a beautiful view from our table at 50 Ocean
Took the slow, winding A1A Highway home for another look at the luxury of coastal life
Sunday, October 15th
We couldn't resist going back to Eggscetera for another wonderful breakfast (although this time we had to wait for it - it's a popular place!) - my dad took me there on his bright orange Honda Goldwing motorcylce while Brandon followed in his car
We went our separate ways to run some errands and re-grouped at home for an afternoon nap
For dinner we revisited CityPlace to have pizza at Mellow Mushroom (it sounds like good pizza is hard to come by in Florida!) and stopped for Dariy Queen on the way home where Brandon and I finished the movie Passengers that we had started earlier in the week
Monday, October 16th
A slightly later flight than our first one had us up at 4:00 am (instead of 1:45 am!) and to the airport just in time to get to our gate and grab some breakfast before boarding and heading out of Ft. Lauderdale
After a two and a half hour layover in Baltimore (and an early lunch at The Green Turtle) we arrived back home at about 1:30 pm
My brother drove us home and we were greeted by three happy kitties who were all too willing to participate in "family nap time"
Getting home from traveling across the country didn't deter us from making the 20 minute drive to get our favorite chinese take out from Ming Tree which was a perfect end to a another great adventure!
See our "Favorite Fifteen" photos of Florida below (and check out our other posts about Florida for more)!
