Gainesville & Cedar Key, Florida
A few weekends ago, I traveled to the northwest coast of Florida and hit Gainesville & Cedar Key to attend one of my best friend’s baby shower. Shout out to my girl Jenny on the itinerary for the weekend, while seriously glowing during pregnancy! We have been friends since high school & she’s a fellow traveler as well, so I trust her on finding fun things to explore. She’s a rockstar!
Now if you have or haven’t heard anything about Gainesville, let me tell you what I did already know:
The city is not very large (population about 135,000 people). Every time, I arrive here I immediately get anxiety trying to find an uber or lyft. Ask Jenny she knows! Lol. I have lived in much larger cities & it’s almost a nightmare not being able to get around easily without a car. I love reliable public transportation, but I would recommend getting a rental when visiting in this type of city. No, I was NOT built for the country life, but if you like it, I love it!
Gainesville is nationally known for its college, The University of Florida, aka “The Florida Gators”. Apparently the college football team is basically Florida’s version of the New England Patriots when Tom Brady was present. Florida is serious about college football because they do have some amazing teams. (Some would argue Florida State University, but listen that’s in Tallahassee. Sorry FSU lovers.)
As I went through the weekend, I was pleasantly surprised at what these two cities have to offer!
Stay
I stayed at the Hotel Indigo Gainesville in Celebration Pointe, which is a brand new, chic hotel. I love a contemporary artsy style hotel because that is sooo me. They have locations all over the world and I got lucky with it being located in Celebration Pointe, an area surrounded by nice restaurants and cute shops. We had dinner at Key Grille Piano Bar there the first night where I got red snapper. Can we say, “Yum?!” We also tried a new macaron place, called Le Macaron which was super picture worthy. I’m not a fan of sweets, but I did try a red velvet macaron that was good & my friends absolutely loved it. Check our Instagram @amber.sandiego for a cute reel!
Blueberry Pickin’
Immediately after the shower, Jenny, Samantha, Natalie, Tressa and I went blueberry picking at Red, White & Blue Farms. Now I have NEVER done something like this before, but something about being out in fresh air picking an assortment of fruit does something different to you. It brought me so much joy! Lol.
HIDDEN GEM
I mean seriously look at the pure smile of this city kid doing country thangs.
I learned that blueberry season is mid April through May (there was a blueberry festival happening) & strawberry season in Florida is from the end of November to April 1st. Most farms stay open during that time until they run out. There was also a sunflower garden, but they were not in season yet so there was just little shorties. We wanted the infamous sunflower trend pics, but I’ll just have to return in the fall for that!
Also, picking takes some major time if you want a nice bucket full. I mean I wasn’t as cool as the rest of the ladies because they were filling their buckets and I was chatting it up per usual, but I did alright! Besides, I wanted to get these precious photos for you all! Priorities.
YUM
Look at how much all the girls picked! So pretty! I gave my little portion to Jenny. A true token of bestie love…Ha. Blueberries are somewhat expensive, but much cheaper than the grocery store when you purchase from your local farm.
SIP
Also, grabbed some strawberry lemonade picked and made from fresh strawberries grown the fields. Was only $5 for a huge jug. So good after my hard work! Insert sarcasm here. Lol
Cedar Key Beach
The next morning Jenny planned a nice day of boating out at Cedar Key, which is an island city in the Gulf Mexico. How cool right? Now I’m not a morning person by any means, and being ready to boat and catch fish at 8:30 A.M. is not my usual forte, but your girl is adventurous so I made it! Shout out to her husband, Eric, for navigating, driving & teaching us how to fish on the boat!
TRANQUILITY
It was such a peaceful morning on the boat. We saw dolphins, turtles, sharks (yes just a norm in Florida), pelicans and of course fish! Sam and Jenny did most of the fishing because I was still half asleep. :)
HIDDEN GEM
Explored this little island while some of the others were fishing and came across lots of dead horseshoe crab shells & eagle nests! We wanted to go to this old lighthouse in Seahorse Key, but it’s only open four times a year and we missed one of the dates by a day! Darn.
After boating, we decided to go into downtown Cedar Key because there was an arts festival going on called “Celebration of the Arts”. I LOVE a good festival especially if it involves art, accessories, threads and food! We discovered some cool street art too!
I picked up some bohemian jewelry by a cool company named Bejeweling Jewelry. Recommend getting one of their ear cuffs at bejewelingjewelry.com.
I really loved this historic building. I’m almost positive there was a bar inside of it. A lot of the buildings were very charming but old. Talk about vintage, after all it is Florida’s second oldest town! The city literally has about 1,000 residents. So tiny.
More street art we discovered. Thanks to Sam on the last few photos!
I got a few souvenirs & was a little touristy, like the old “buy the city shot glass routine”, because it was my first time visiting Cedar Key. Ha. I really enjoyed my weekend and needed time to relax away from my norm. I would say if you like historic, quaint towns and most importantly some peace & quiet definitely come check out these two cities!
As always, be well Sandiego Tribe!
- Amber
(@daniellefudge)
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