Vacation Life | little talbot island state park

While visting family in Jacksonville, Florida -- we were led to Little Talbot Island State Park. We were on the hunt for a clean, family-friendly, fishing-friendly beach and LTISP delivered.

We went on a Monday, and it was pretty much deserted. There were a few people fishing, around 3:00 a few families arrived, but there was so much space you didn't feel cramped or like you were intruding on others beach day. The cost to park the car was $5, and you can buy a season pass. I believe it costs $120/year but it gets you into ALL Florida state parks -- there is a military discount as well. 

We drove down the main road, and you pass the first beach area and keep driving for a little ways. Then you will reach the end of that road and another parking lot -- this is where we went. Now, I'm not going to lie --its a bit of a walk. BUT -- it is SO worth it.

There are more than 5 miles of white, sandy beaches along with a variety of landscapes and animals. They were flying the purple flag when we were there, which means "dangerous marine life", because I guess there is an area quite far out that sharks swim through. We saw nothing dangerous of the sort during the 4+ hours we were there -- including a swim out to the sand bar. Update: we have gone two more times and both time tides were out when we arrived and we saw a lot more wildlife. We saw a bunch starfish, some jellyfish and a GIANT horseshoe crab. 

There are also campsites available. We did not camp, so for more information on that visit this website.

There are also hiking trails, great fishing and surfing. We truly enjoyed our day there and are making plans to go again soon!

Weekly Wrap-up | photo.a.day

Another weekly wrap up for the books! These are photos from 6/14-6/18 and all of them are from while I am in Florida visiting family! The prompts are from Fat Mum Slim and her photoaday challenge, check it out!

14. cross. i took this picture at an origami owl party (google it). i was at my sisters friends house and as we were walking out the door, i saw this pretty cross hanging in her hallway...so i creepily took a picture of it. 

15. lovely. now, i am in the minority here, but i don't like to be hot. hot = sweaty = annoyed esther. BUT, being in the water when it is hot out is lovely. so i took a picture of the empty lounge chairs at the pool.

16. in the shadows. we were at the beach, little talbot island state park, and i pretty much stayed in the water the whole time. but when i wasn't in the water, i was in the shadows under the beach umbrella.

17. peaceful. this is my sisters cat, minnow. he was being super snuggly and napping. 

18. quirky. this is my 6 year old niece, E. she is a quirky kid, she always wears socks up to her knees to go to bed, she has a super specific way that her bed needs to be made and she hates kisses (sad face).

Stay tuned for the next weekly wrap-up!!!

High Five for Friday (link-up)

Greetings from Jacksonville, Florida! I am here visiting my sister and her family for the next two(ish) weeks! Let's get down to why we are all here, okay?

1. I live about an hour and a half away from Detroit, but love to go down and explore all that it has to offer. My fiancé and I went the Detroit Institute of Arts on Sunday and explored about 1/4 of what it had to offer. I wrote a whole blog post about it so if you want to learn more, check it out!

2. I am a huge library nerd. I try to get my picture taken outside of every library I encounter. As it turns out, the DIA is directly across the street from the main branch of the Detroit Public Library!

3. Along with our Detroit Adventure, we went to a film festival called Cinetopia. We viewed a documentary called Rich Hill and it was about rural poverty. We viewed the film at Detroits ONLY independent theatre, Cinema Detroit. When you pull into the parking lot it looks like an abandoned building but it is a fully operational (including concessions!) two screen cinema. Read more about this experience in the previous blog. 

4.

I flew down to Jacksonville and am staying for two weeks! The flights were uneventful and the clouds were looking marvelous!

5. Reunited with my nieces! I am so excited to spend the next two weeks w them, hanging out and experiencing life in the sunshine state!