Orlando Vacation: Stuff We Did!

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week. I'm ready for the weekend. The week after vacation is always difficult and I'm feeling it for sure. Anyway, I'm back with a fun post where I'll get to re-live all of the awesome things that we did while I was visiting my friend in Orlando! I have a lot of pictures to share so I'll get right into it.

The very first thing that we did on Thursday (my first full day) was head over to Blue Spring State Park early (while it was still chilly) so we could see the Manatees!!!! I took a panoramic picture so you can see just how many there were in this one little section.

The manatees like to go there during the winter when it is cold because the water is 72 degrees all year so they can find warmer waters in the winter month. I felt comfortable going here because they do not allow people to touch, feed or interact with them as it disturbs them so they just allow us to observe them in their natural setting.

For those of you that may be new here, manatees are my absolute favorite animal on earth. They are so sweet, kind, gentle and even playful. They are also freaking adorable and I always have a pretty emotional reaction whenever I am near them. I am so happy that we got to go and see them.

As you can see there were TONS there on that day. I think I heard someone say that there were over 400.

There is a nice little trail you can follow with viewing points along the way. It was a great way to spend the morning and I loved every second of it.

This viewing section allows you to get closer to them (still not close enough to disturb them) so I was able to get this great picture of them really close up.

After we went to the park we popped over to Cassadaga as it was only a short drive away! I have been there before and we always enjoy making a trip over. It is a spiritualist town full of psychics, mediums, spiritualists and have people doing readings, shops where you can pick up crystals, jewelry, cards, books, etc. and a nice area for you to take a walk.

We've been to Cassadaga before but I've never had a reading and I decided that this trip was the trip to do it. I scheduled my reading for 1:00 with April but I actually ended up being rescheduled for 1:30 with Gypsy because April wasn't able to get there in time. They say everything happens for a reason and I'm a firm believer in this because I had an AMAZING reading with Gypsy. I was really overwhelmed by it if I'm being honest. It was also really fun so that was an added bonus.

While we were waiting to have our readings done (my friend went right after me with Gypsy as well) we took a walk around the nice wooded area and I snapped a few pictures there as well.

Another picture from Cassadaga.

After Cassadaga we were both starving and that was the night we went to Loving Hut for dinner. It was a really fun day finished up with the most delicious meal!

The following day we decided to go to the outlets for a little shopping excursion. I took a picture of the Disney Character Warehouse because that was why I chose these particular outlets. I really wanted to see what they had since I had to skip Disney this trip (thanks to my budget, wah!) and it's interesting to see what they have and the prices. I did see a great set of dishes that I loved for only $10 but I decided I just didn't need them so I passed on it.

After the outlet shopping I was exhausted and not feeling great (I was on day 3 of a migraine, had a really bad travel day on Wednesday and a long day Thursday - all in the middle of a Fibromyalgia flare) so we went home and relaxed a little. I cooked dinner that night and made the pasta dish that you saw on Tuesday. It was the perfect meal to make because it came together quickly and required minimal effort.

The next day we met up with our friends for brunch after a quick trip to the farmers market and then decided to pop over to Michael's and Sprouts!! I've never been to Sprouts and have only heard great things. He told me it had opened and I knew I had to check it out! I didn't want to grab a lot but we did grab the Daiya Chocolate Cheezecake (on sale for $6.99!), the Sante Fe Burrito from Daiya, a Live Cola kombucha which I can NEVER find, some trail mix and chocolate almond clusters. I am SO JEALOUS that we don't have a Sprouts!

That night we decided to have a quiet night and the reason why we got the cheezecake was because we were going to play the Golden Girls Monopoly game that was part of my Christmas gift to him this year! We thought it would be hilarious to get the Cheezecake to enjoy while we played and it was perfect. As I mentioned on Tuesday it was so freaking delicious, I can't wait to enjoy it again!

Since I was flying home at sunset on Sunday (I landed at 6:00 because my timing is perfect for Superbowl Sunday 😂) I had to take this picture of the gorgeous sky! It was the perfect sendoff I think.

So that is what we did during my Orlando vacation! Have you ever been to any of these places? I highly recommend all of them, I had a really wonderful time and seeing the manatees was a highlight of my life. It was really magical for me because I love these animals so much.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here for regularly scheduled programming on Tuesday!