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U-Pick Oranges at Showcase of Citrus in Clermont, Florida

27 May U-Pick Oranges in the Sunshine State

Posted at 09:19h in Blog, Central Florida, Florida, United States, Urban Adventure

Juice ran down our arms as we peeled back the rind; we quickly hustled to lean out the car doors.  These were some of the juiciest, freshest oranges we had ever encountered.  We just picked our own oranges from the U-Pick orange grove, and it...

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ICE! at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Florida

23 Dec ICE! in Florida for Christmas at the Gaylord Palms

Posted at 10:08h in Blog, Central Florida, Florida, United States, Urban Adventure

What's 9°F and located in Orlando, Florida? ICE! at the Gaylord Palms, this year featuring Frosty the Snowman! With a little time to kill before picking my parents up at the airport, we decided to head to the ICE! exhibit for a taste of the...

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Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Whales, FL

26 Apr Bok Tower Gardens in Central Florida

Posted at 10:20h in Blog, Central Florida, Florida, United States, Urban Adventure

Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Whales, FL, is about an hour drive and a welcome escape from the busyness of Orlando.  Developed by Edward W. Bok in the 1920's on top of Iron Mountain, one of the highest points in Florida, the historic landscape garden...

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Radisson Celebration

07 Dec Good Bets for Orlando Hotels

Posted at 09:40h in Blog, Central Florida, Florida, United States

The Orlando area has a ridiculous amount of hotels and I always find myself unsure of trying out a new place when visiting. While there are many budget friendly hotels, some of them are downright scary. I have found a few middle of the road...

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U-Pick Oranges at Showcase of Citrus in Clermont, Florida

05 Dec A Day in Orlando, Minus the Mouse

Posted at 10:38h in Blog, Central Florida, Florida, United States, Urban Adventure

I'd be lying if I said Orlando wasn't overflowing with Mickey Mouse and theme parks galore, but underneath all the theme park hype, Orlando really does have many other fun and unique activities to offer. I can't even begin to count how many times I've...

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Another hike that we went on during our time in De Another hike that we went on during our time in Death Valley National was the Golden Canyon Trail with the Red Cathedral extension! We really enjoyed the landscape throughout this hike—it was another one of our favorite trails in Death Valley. The trail is 1.5 miles each way (3 miles round trip), and the last 0.5 miles of the trail, aka the Red Cathedral Trail, requires some scrambling, ledges, and low overhangs.

The Golden Canyon/Red Cathedral trail was so fun and we loved weaving through, under, and over tight rock formations. Plus, the views at the end of the trail were beautiful. Apparently, some scenes from Star Wars were filmed in this area, and I can see why—it looked like we were walking through an entirely different world!
At first, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National At first, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park doesn’t look like much, but when you learn more about this piece of land, it’s quite interesting. Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation point in North America, at 282 ft below sea level. The land here is made up of a salt flat that stretches nearly 200 square miles. If you look hard for the tiny white sign in the mountains in the 5th photo (straight up above the Cruise America RV) you can see where sea level is. Standing on the salt flat and looking up at the sea level sign really puts the low elevation into perspective! We couldn’t help but imagine standing at the bottom of the lake that once covered this area.

We walked about a mile out onto the flats and loved seeing all the salt polygons and unique formations all around us. The farther we walked the less people we saw, and it was quite peaceful during our sunset stroll. We ended up visiting Badwater Basin twice during our trip, and I already want to head back again. There’s just so much to see if you take the time to look!
When standing at the Zabriski Point Lookout in Dea When standing at the Zabriski Point Lookout in Death Valley National Park, you overlook stunning hills and canyons of the Badlands. And if you look close, you might see people hiking far out on the landscape. One of the trails that runs through this area is the Badlands Loop, and it is a fantastic option for a hike!  Wandering through the narrow canyons and up along the hills of the Badlands provides a beautiful vantage point of this colorful area. 

The Badlands Loop is a 2.7 mile trail that runs through the gulch and up along the top of the ridges. There isn’t much shade on this trial, especially if you hike it during the heat of the day, so try to avoid a midday hike here when the temperatures are high. There are several trails that intersect in this area; you can connect to both the Gower Gulch Trail and the Golden Canyon Trail to make it one longer 7.8 mile loop hike. We hiked Golden Canyon earlier on our trip, so this time around we just hiked the Badlands Loop. Photos 1-8 are from the Badlands Loop trail, and 9-10 are from the Zabriski Point overlook the day prior when the skies were much more cloudy!
We spent 2.5 days exploring Death Vally National P We spent 2.5 days exploring Death Vally National Park this past winter, and we sure packed a lot into our visit. Hiking the wide variety of trails was our favorite way to explore the park. All of the trails were fantastic, but the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes was one of our favorite stops. We visited the dunes several times during our three days in the park, and each visit was at a different time of day. We were there for sunset, at night to see the stars, and at sunrise. When we went for sunrise, we hiked our way out to the summit of the tallest dune. The summit is roughly 1 mile from the parking lot, although there is no formal trail to get there and back. 

Along the hike, we spotted someone painting the sunrise from the top of one of the dunes. We couldn’t help but stop and chat with her and Micah snapped a few photos—we absolutely loved her artwork! We also enjoyed finding lots of animal prints in the sand. Even though the distance was short, the hike was tough as the sand is very hard to walk on. It felt like every step forward equaled two steps back! But the feeling you get from conquering the tallest dune is well worth it. It’s a beautiful portion of the park to explore!
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