US Cities: Loves & Lusts

Good morning!

We meet again for Wanderlust Wednesday travel linkup hosted by Kate, Kerri and myself. I hope you will join us by sharing your favorite travel-related posts and hopping over to read the travel adventures shared by other bloggers. Although I've traveled quite a bit throughout my life (yet still not enough) I'm running low on new places to post about due to lack of picture taking before becoming a blogger.

Over the past few years I've been trying to cover some ground on the US map and I've been to some cities that have just blown me away so I wanted to share a few of my favorites along with some cities that I've been dying to visit...some of which are already booked for this year.

Loves

San Francisco
I've  visited San Fran twice recently for work conferences but found some free time to be a tourist and explore. It's hard not to fall in love with this city. Here's my San Francisco travel recap.



Savannah, GA
 K and I drove up to Savannah for my 30th birthday a few years ago and had an amazing weekend exploring the history and indulging in some of the best food I've ever tried. Read more about our adventures in Savannah.



New Orleans
K and I made our way over to New Orleans last year to celebrate his birthday which falls on a long weekend. NOLA is another city with amazing food and a rich culture that's worth checking out.

New York City

Well isn't NYC a given? I visited New York for the first time for our 1-year anniversary and I was so amazed by the density of the city and the buildings as we flew in. I'd never seen anything like it. We did all the tourist things possible and really took in all that New York has to offer. 

Chicago

K and I visited Chicago with Kate and her husband in 2014 and once again did all the tourist things we thought were interesting. Some of my favorite things were exploring the Navy Pier, a scenic architectural boat cruise, going to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, having a bloggers lunch with Nikki for some deep dish pizza, and lots more. Chicago is another city you can't help not falling in love with.

Lusts

Denver
Luckily we have a trip booked for the end of this month! Although I still haven't actually planned some fun things to do on the trip.

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Boston

I was hoping to make it to Boston in July when K has to go for a work event but his schedule is way too busy for this trip to make sense so I'm hoping to make it there sooner than later.

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Nashville
Nashville is another trip we have booked for later this year to visit some friends and explore Music City. I can't wait!

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Charleston
I've been dying to check out all the charm and history Charleston has to offer so hopefully I can make a trip happen in the near future.

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Key West
 Key West is just a drive away for us but still a 6-7 hour drive so we still haven't found the right time to make it there. I have been before over 10 years ago for Spring Break in college so I think a return trip is much needed at this point!

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What are your US City travel loves and lusts?

1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin

2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts

3. Grab our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Wekiva Island

I wanted to share some local travel-related adventures even though our Wanderlust Wednesday linkup is not until the second Wednesday of each month. Consider this a save the date to get your travel posts ready for May 11th if you want to join Kerri, Kate, and myself.

I still can't believe it took me over 10 years of living in Central Florida before visiting Wekiva Island for the first time last year with Kate and our second in commands (that's a running joke we have not meant to be taken seriously). What a great day we had relaxing along the river. The water is cold but it's refreshing like spring water and there's a ton of amenities and activities to make it a fun day trip. Plus it's dog-friendly so you know I'm already sold.

Since our first trip to Wekiva Island we've gone back a few times to take my parents and then most recently my best friend last weekend. (recaps here and here).

If you're looking for a fun day outdoors, Wekiva Island offers canoeing/kayaking, paddleboarding, fishing, volleyball, boating and swimming. Additionally there's live music (on certain days), an on-site restaurant, and cabanas for rent if you want to have your personal space. I consider this a hidden treasure of Central Florida.

Wanderlust Wednesday: St. Augustine, Florida

I recapped our Easter weekend trip to St. Augustine a few weeks ago and talked about all the amazing restaurants we tried and some fun things we did but I didn't share too much details about the city itself and what makes this northern Florida city so enchanting.

St. Augustine has some fascinating history dating back to 1565 and claims to be the oldest city in the United States. Today it's a slow paced city with lots of gorgeous Spanish colonial architecture and historical sites to explore. The Castillo de San Marcos stone fortress from the 17th century being one of the more popular sites which overlooks the inlet. St. Augustine is also known for having some cute Bed & Breakfast Inns, quaint antique shopping, bakeries & coffee shops, and lots of history to be learned. I'll let the photos I snapped do the rest of the talking.

As you can tell it was an overcast day but that meant cooler temps to walk around outside and it made a nice setting to take photos of this beautiful historic town. Hope you enjoyed exploring St. Augustine through my camera lens!

Link-up Rules:

1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin

2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts

3. Grab our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Miami Weekend Getaway

On Friday I got out of work a little early to beat rush hour traffic and head to Miami. Of course we still got stuck in traffic but made it there in 4 hours. K had to work a convention on Saturday and Sunday so I decided to tag along to relax and enjoy some down time. As much as I love my own bed, there's something about comfy hotel beds, where you can lower the AC, close the blackout curtains, and have a good night's sleep.

We stayed in Coral Gables which is just a few miles west of Miami and we could see the Miami skyline from our hotel balcony.







We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables which is a beautiful hotel with lovely staff and a comfortable bed. Just the way I like it! By the time we checked in it was already 8 pm so we were starving. Thankfully on the four hour drive I had lots of time to read reviews of restaurants in the area. I chose POC American Fusion Buffet & Sushi which did not disappoint! For $25 we got all-you-can-eat sushi, raw bar (crab legs, oysters, etc), carving station, different ceviches, and a variety of salads, soups, and desserts. It was one hell of a feast and just what our starving bodies needed plus I'd say my sushi fix will be satisfied for a few weeks.

On Saturday morning, I had breakfast in bed while catching up on some blogging and clearing through my inboxes. I got dressed and headed out to Miracle Mile to explore the strip, do some shopping, and get a pedicure at Evolution Salon.

After hours of walking around and exploring I went back to the hotel to relax before getting dressed for dinner. We decided to go to Tarpon Bend Raw Bar & Grill which had amazing seafood and live music.

On Sunday morning, I checked out of the hotel and went to Cherry Blow Dry Bar in Coral Gables to get my hair washed and styled. I figured it was a good weekend for some pampering while K was working.

After K got out of work, we hit the road to head back home. Luckily there was no traffic and we made in back in good timing. It was a lovely little weekend getaway.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending link up.