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!
Blueberry Pickin’
Cedar Key Beach
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.
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!