Ciao from not so sunny southwest Florida! Thank you to my loyal 23 subscribers who are staying to tuned for my adventures back home in the US. I still have a couple stories I want to tell about about Italy but I wanted to take a quick break to catch up on my latest adventure. This adventure is a little different than my past travels across Europe, but definitely just as exciting. So cute little Benji got invited to play on the west region team for the olympic development program (in soccer) and the family decided to make it a vacation. On the 16th I spent my day hostessing up in Park City before I returned to the valley around 10 pm to finish up some school work. BIG SHOUT OUT to Hayley for meeting me at school and helping me. By the time everything was printed and we were walking out of the architecture building it was 1 am. I got home, finished up my packing and then woke up two hours later to head to the airport. I was not entirely sure of what I packed because I was using my phone as a flashlight while Grace slept. My only rule was that I had be able to EASILY zip up my suitcase meaning I could not spend 5 minutes sitting on it getting it closed. Lets just say that lugging 300lbs across the Atlantic ocean was a traumatic experience and I was not about to do that again. (also what is my deal with getting negative hours of sleep before a flight/big vacation? that is some backwards thinking on my part)

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We arrive in Florida welcomed by blue skies and 70 degrees weather. Our drive from the Tampa Airport to Anna Maria Island was beautiful. It has been while since I have been to this side of the country. I was met with green palm trees, blue oceans, and white sand. We made a pit stop in Saint Petersburg for a 4pm linner. One theme you will see on this trip is we have a hard time “staying on schedule” with our meals, sorry grace. Anyways while we are eating we get a call from our hotel saying their office closes at 5, but here is the code to get your key.  Huh, interesting but we finish our food and head back on the road. Upon arriving at our hotel, more like a small bed and breakfast, to find that we are the only ones staying there. Now this was a first for all of us, and felt a little weird especially for the more experienced travelers like dad. But we weren’t complaining; it felt like our own little resort with a pool and palm trees completely surrounding us. We then crossed the street and headed out to what is probably one of the most beautiful, dreamy beaches I have ever seen. 

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We even got to catch the sunset. lucky for us because IT LITERALLY RAINED FOR THE NEXT WEEK WE WERE THERE. Yup thats right. and not only did it rain but there were also 3 tornados that touched down in Tampa!!!! Hahahah so a week is a little dramatic. The next day we woke up, had a nice beach walk, and took Ben to meet up with his team at IMG Academy. This is where the interregional camp ben was playing in took place and where he was staying for the next couple of days. Now if you have never heard of IMG, think $55,000 (a year) boarding school for top athletes around the country sponsored by both under amour and gatorade. Very futuristic, very boujee. Let’s just say ben took soccer a little farther then I ever did (proud big sis). After saying goodbye we headed south to Sarasota where we enjoyed yummy food and some shopping. We drove back up the key during the sunset and woke up to more blue skies, but this only lasted about an 3 hours before the rain took over our lives for the next three days. despite our best efforts lets just say the entire state of Florida spends its rainy days inside. Not that we really need to go into details but many of the cafes/restaraunts we tried just weren’t even open and then the one we did find closed half way though the day. Us Utahns were not used to this reaction to bad weather. I mean I have never once in my education gotten a day off of school for because of the snow. It’s okay tho, we made the best of it taking naps in the car, going to see a star is born and mom’s personal favorite: driving around in the rain seeing many of Florida’s exotic birds in peoples front lawns.

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Once the rain had finally subsided and ben was able to play we went to watch his game. needless to say these kids were very talented and it was the first time in a while that I actually enjoyed watching a game of soccer. We picked him up from camp and headed back to the hotel to spend the last day at the beach. I got in the water even tho it was freezing. The next day we headed up to clearwater to see the manatees (definitely one of my new favorite animals) and go on a dolphin speed boat tour. 1000/10 recommend this if you want to be smiling for an hour and a half straight. Dolphins are so playful there is no way you can’t smile. We ended the last day with a family outing to Creed 2 and dinner. Then another early morning for a 5 am wake up to get to the airport whichhhhhh leads me to where I am now finishing up this blog post on the plane. overall you could say it was not quite the trip we expected but it was just nice to be hanging out with the family.

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side note: for anyone who find themselves in the Southwest florida Area here is a list of my favorite places that we ate.

Hawkers – Saint Petersburg

Shore – Armond Circle, Sarasota 

Poppo’s taqueria – Anna maria 

The Donut Experiment – Anna Maria

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Grillmaster – Tampa

Smoqe House – Bradenton 

this was our 2nd favorite and there is a another location in saint paul, mi should you find yourself in the area

Fresh Kitchen – Tampa 

our favorite literally so good especially if you are gluten free and/or lactose intolerant (lol me)

honestly this note is mostly for myself but there for others if ya need it 

also shout out to my mother and father because these are literally all their pictures. 

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL

love gabi