BlogHer Food and Vacation in Florida

A few weeks ago, Dave and I traveled to Miami, FL so that I could attend the BlogHer Food Conference for work and we decided to extend the trip with a few extra days of vacation. While at BlogHer Food, I met a lot of great bloggers and reconnected with a few of the past CornQuest bloggers (#IACornQuest). I was fortunate to travel to the conference with a few CommonGround Iowa bloggers, Julie Kenney (Farm Eats, City Streets) and Kellie Blair (Home Again Finnegan). These ladies were great bloggers to have along because they enjoy talking to other bloggers about the food they grow on their farms to feed consumers! Read more about the BlogHer Food conference here.

At the BlogHer Food closing party, I was fortunate to meet The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. She was a very down to earth gal, and was easy to talk to and even gave a little chant, 'go agriculture' as we were getting ready to take our photo with her!

The Pioneer Woman and I.

After the conference was over, Dave and I were on vacation for the next few days! He graciously rented a convertible for our vacation days in Florida. I was excited but he was bummed when he found out it wasn't a mustang!  Oh well, we felt pretty cool driving down Hwy A1A with our top down, enjoying the sunshine. 

View from the sunroof while traveling along A1A.

As we cruised up the coast to our next hotel spot, we hit up a few shopping areas and enjoyed the patio that overlooked the pool and beach. Each of us were eager to read the books that we had brought along. Dave finished two books and I finished one. I read The Longest Ride by Nicolas Sparks. I never used to read for fun until I came upon one of his books several years ago and I've read nearly every one of them.

View from our hotel balcony - not too shabby!

On Sunday evening, we enjoyed a walk to a delicious dinner location called Houston's, 2821 E Atlantic Blvd, Pompano Beach, FL. If you are in this area, you must check this out. Plus, the views are amazing because it's right on the water. 

Dave and I enjoying Houston's Restaurant.

During our wait, we were able to see the bridge being opened up for guests that just left the restaurant. I wonder what it would be like to live live traveling around on your yaht to dinner?

View from the dock at Houston's Restaurant and photo of the bridge opening for the that.

On Monday, we got up early so we could drive up the coast. First, we thought we should enjoy the sunrise, it turned out to be a great idea.

Sunrise at the beach!

Dave also wanted to see the Everglades while on our drive. The whole time I kept thinking, this is just a swamp area and we aren't going to see any wildlife. Low and behold, we saw three alligators and one turtle. Dave was excited and he made sure to mention several times that the last few hours we spent on the road were totally worth it! 

Everglades and gators!

After we arrived back at the hotel, we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful pool area and beach! The waves were pretty vicious so we made sure not to venture into the water too far. I was caught in a rip current while in Australia trying to surf so I didn't want the same thing to happen to me again. I'm a strong swimmer but it's difficult to get out of one of those.  

A little ocean fun.

We woke up early on Tuesday morning, 4 a.m., to drop off our rental car and head to the airport. 

Sad to say good-bye to our sweet ride!

We choose an early flight so that we could get home to see our kiddos. 

Home Sweet Home - The Midwest!

Yes, after five days away from them we couldn't wait to kiss and hug them. Although, time away from them was nice too - and we enjoyed our full nights of sleep.  

Our two bundles of joy we couldn't wait to hug! Thanks to my sister for taking care of them.