Dillon and I have officially started our cross-country road trip!! While we are based in Florida, this was our first time going to the Panhandle. First we drove up to Tampa from South Florida and then we drove to the Panhandle. Scroll down to read more about our 1st stop of this road trip 🙂
Tampa
Our first stop was Tampa to visit my sister and brother-in-law. I don’t get to see them all the time so it was great catching up! We were only there from Sunday to Tuesday morning. My brother-in-law gave us a mini tour on Monday.
First, we did Armature Works for lunch. It’s actually a big building built in 1910 that used to be a warehouse and now got transformed into a food court. I loved how unique it was! They have tons of food & drink options ranging from sushi to pizza to Greek food…and the toasted coconut ice cream that we ordered was AH-mazing!! Yum! Outside they had some chairs and lots of space to sit and socialize. You can even see the river that flows through Tampa and walk alongside it. You’ll notice a lot of people biking, running, or riding their electric scooter by the river.
That evening we did Lorita’s for takeout. If you’re someone who loves tacos, definitely check this place out! They serve authentic Mexican food. I ordered their shrimp quesadilla and it was delicious!!
30A
Tuesday morning we made the drive to Florida’s panhandle. The moment we checked in to our Airbnb in Panama City I so excited about this place! Scroll below for the view of our balcony. We were on the 25th floor so the view of the ocean was stunning! In the 3rd photo below you will see a mini desktop calendar that I customized with photos of Dillon and me. It was actually a Christmas gift I gave to Dillon from Artifact Uprising. I knew we would be traveling a lot so I figured we could bring a little piece of “home” with us wherever we go.
After getting situated, we went to the beach that evening. In my opinion, the beaches on 30A beat the ones in South Florida. The sand is silky and white which is so unlike the ones I’m used to in SoFlo. But each beach has its own beauty! Panama City Beach was gorgeous!
The following day we went to Alys Beach. Now I actually never heard of this place up until recently. They are more secluded and private. I even read somewhere that this town has no hotels so it’s pretty much just residents over there. This place was so aesthetically pleasing! The houses are all white and they just look different than anything I’ve seen. I’ve never been to Santorini in Greece but I imagine it has some resemblance.
We ate lunch at George’s At Alys Beach. I was craving a seafood salad so I ordered one with crab meat and pita. It was the number salad on the menu (it actually has a #1 right next to it in the menu so it’s popular opinion). I’m glad I ordered it because it was refreshing and filling. We finished our healthy meals with chocolate brownies and ice cream for dessert because balance, right? Then that night we went to the beach again while the sun was still shining.
Vacationing in different places throughout Florida was so fun! Even though I live in Florida, there is just so much to see and do. Now we just made the drive over to Texas so stay tuned for more of our road trip adventures… 🙂
