Well, I’m back! On Sunday I drove my daughter and her friend up to camp in Tallahassee, and had a mini-adventure of my own on the way back. As my husband said, traveling is therapeutic, and it was great to have a change of scenery. Read on for details!
The girls are attending a band camp at Florida State University, and had to be there to check in at 1:00 pm on Sunday. Tallahassee is a 6 1/2 drive from our house, so we left at 5:30 am. Oof. I wasn’t looking forward to this part of the trip, but it turned out to be fun. The girls were excited, and the friend had never been north of Orlando before, so once we got up into Central Florida she was astonished at the change. Yes, it looks a lot different up there!
Tallahassee is up in the panhandle, and it really feels like a different state. Beautiful old trees (no palm trees!) very hilly, and the campus of FSU is beautiful. By the time I got the girls checked in and settled in their dorm room, they were ecstatic. It was my daughter’s first time at sleep away camp, but she wasn’t nervous at all. She had no problem saying goodbye, but I got very sad, which I wasn’t expecting. I had a simultaneous flashback to two years ago when I left my son at college, and a flash forward four years to when I’ll be dropping my daughter off for real. I didn’t cry (my daughter would have killed me) but I felt it. Sigh.
But then! I drove away to start my own adventure. I headed back south a couple of hours to get to Ocala, where I would spend the night. Ocala is right in the middle of Florida, north of Orlando and south of Gainesville. I had never been there- all I knew was that it’s horse country, and there’s a national forest. When I googled it, I discovered an online walking tour of “historic downtown,” and decided there must be SOMETHING interesting to see, so I picked it as my destination.
My original plan was to run in Ocala National Forest on one of the many trails. The problem is, the reviews on All Trails app were very positive for winter hiking and running, but overwhelmingly negative for the summer. People said the trails were wet, muggy, and buggy. One person said they pulled 45 ticks off their legs, and another said they had to turn back because there were so many spider webs with “spiders as big as my face.”
Hopefully that last one was an exaggeration, but I still wasn’t too excited about running in the forest. But not to worry! My hotel was right near the Cross Florida Greenway.. What is that, you ask?
“The Cross Florida Greenway is unique in many ways. Occupying more than 70,000 acres of land formerly known as the Cross Florida Barge Canal, the Greenway is a 110-mile linear park that is more than a mile wide in places. It hosts more than 300 miles of trails of all types — paddling, hiking, mountain biking, equestrian and paved multi-use.”
At one point there was a public works project to build a canal across Florida, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to the efforts of environmentalists, the project was abandoned (yes, I can see how having barge traffic going through the middle of Florida would really screw up the ecosystems.) The land that was cleared for the project is now a protected area. Who knew???
I used the All Trails app to find a five mile trail, and headed out for my run bright and early on Monday morning.
You guys! There was SHADE! It was a trail runner’s dream. My five mile run turned into seven, thanks to the fact that I went off course several times. I wasn’t following the app closely- every once in a while I would take out my phone to check it, and one time I realized I had gone almost a mile off course- oops. But that’s okay! I had water, the trail was fun and I wasn’t overheating. I didn’t mind running a little extra.
The only problem was, this was technically a mountain biking trail. Parts of it were narrow, and I was worried about encountering cyclists. But for most of it I was alone. Towards the end I met several bikers, who were extremely polite and grateful when I stepped off the trail to let them pass. Overall it was a great run!
Next up: walking tour of downtown. After showering and checking out of my hotel, I headed to the downtown area. I had downloaded the tour on my phone, which consisted of descriptions of locations that corresponded to numbers on a teeny tiny map. If I tried to enlarge the map, it was very blurry. Hmmm.
Each building featured on the tour had a little plaque with a QR code, which you could scan to read further information. Since these signs were fairly easy to spot, I eventually stopped squinting hopelessly at my phone, and just wandered up and down the streets, searching for signs on the buildings.
This turned out to be a really fun way to see the city! And I saw things that I wouldn’t have seen if I had stuck to the original tour, like this:
A running store! It was right next to “Brick City Bicycles.” As I learned, Ocala is nicknamed “Brick City” because after the great fire of 1883, the city was rebuilt with buildings using brick rather than wood.
I also found a “secret” mural…
and an art center, which had exhibits from local artists- sadly it’s closed on Mondays. Eventually I realized I was VERY hot, so I stopped in at a coffee chop for an iced tea.
As I sat there, I scrolled through the tour on my phone, trying to figure out from the blurry map if I had missed anything interesting. No, I think I saw it all!
I took one last walk around- the downtown area is small- and finally decided it was time to head home. I was sad to leave! Partly because I was enjoying my little tour, and partly because I knew when I got back in the car, my vacation was coming to an end.
A word about food- I didn’t seek out any special restaurants on this trip. While Ocala is not a vegan mecca, there were several restaurants listed on Happy Cow as having vegan options- a pizza place, a Thai place, a diner… none of them were convenient to me, and it didn’t seem worth it to seek them out. The food I make at home is pretty good. The one thing I never eat though is Subway, so that’s what I had for lunch. And dinner the night before! I brought along some Tofurkey vegan cold cuts, and added them onto my veggie sandwich. I also had potato chips and my favorite road trip treat:
I know. You’re probably thinking, “Wow Jenny. You went on a trip to Ocala, Florida and ate Subway sandwiches. You really know how to live it up!” Ha ha… well, I had fun. It doesn’t take much to make me happy!
Overall, I enjoyed Ocala. The downtown area was small, but charming. I wouldn’t make a special trip there again, but if I happened to be passing by- which is entirely possible, since it’s right off I75- I would like to do some further exploring in the winter. Next time I’ll get the vegan pizza!
Have you ever been to Florida? If so, what part?
Do you like road trips? – I love them! Usually not with kids though.
32 Responses
I’m glad you had a good trip! I have only ever been to Orlando, so I’m not familiar with much in the state. I do like a good road trip, for sure. I also like a nice building and hidden mural!
It’s funny how many different areas of Florida there are. Orlando is so different from the panhandle, which is so different from the gulf coast… I’ve always thought being the governor of this state would be extra challenging- kind of like New York in that way.
I lived in Gainesville for several months, so I have been to Ocala! And you forgot to mention that John Travolta lives there in a huge house with a private runway (that is the only thing I know about Ocala really)! Also, when I was in Gainesville I found some great running trails in the area and in winter, I used to go running at lunch (that was great). In summer, it was better to do it in the morning, although the humidity is a killer, and this is where I encountered my first cottonmouth and saw lots of gators (once the water receded…I guess they had been there all along but I had been running right past them!) I also used to go on the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail, which is more developed, but was an easy out and back when I was short on time.
I am glad you had fun on your trip! I love road trips and stopping at small towns and discovering new things! Now you need to plan the same for your son’s drop off!! 🙂
Gainesville is really, really beautiful. We went on a family vacation with the kids were little. Swam in natural springs and hiked down into a sinkhole (which sounds strange, but it was incredible.) Unfortunately I wasn’t into trail running back then! And yes… John Travolta lives in Ocala, which I didn’t know until this trip. It’s such a random, funny fact. Why Ocala? Weird.
No state taxes, plenty of land and most likely less regulations. He was like, I want to have my own runway and it will be loud and ugly and a total waste of space and energy and they were like, sure John, no problem!
Epic! We are food twins because on my first solo overnight trip last year my first meal was…drumroll…Subway!
I’ve only been to the beaches in FL but I’d love to come and explore! Once I run out of stuff to see up here of course;-)
Ha, I would say you’ve got a few more places to explore up there. But yes, come to Florida! There’s a lot more than beaches (and even a FLW house in Tallahassee, as I’ve mentioned.)
I LOVE Subway. I find it ultimate comfort food! We don’t go often, but I always enjoy it!
This is so sweet: “I didn’t cry (my daughter would have killed me) but I felt it. Sigh.”
Yes, I have been to Florida once in my life; Orlando and Sarasota. I went in January and Florida was in a cold freeze (when we got home there were signs at the grocery store saying the reason there was so little fresh fruit was because of the freeze in Florida). It was so ironic coming from Canada! I wore a coat and scarf at the beach and basically shivered nonstop for days. It was sooooo cold. By the end of our trip, it warmed up, but it was a bitter disappointment.
Oh, that’s terrible! I always enjoy our little cold spells, but I do think about the people who are there vacationing and I feel bad for them. It’s frustrating because it could also be 80 degrees in January! You just never know.
That SHADED running trail sounds amazing! It’s nice that adding on extra miles wasn’t a big deal since you weren’t overheating! That town sounds really cool, too.
I have been to FL multiple times. I have 3 sets of aunts and uncles that live in the Venice area, so most of our trips have been to that area of the Gulf Coast. I really love the beaches of the gulf coast! We were thinking about going back to Long Boat Key this spring but then thought about how rough a plane ride with Taco would be and I decided to take Paul w/ me to AZ to visit my sister instead. Back to FL trips… we also did a girls family trip to Miami back in 2015 I think? We were on track to do them every other year but then I got married/pregnant and the pandemic hit… Maybe when my younger sister’s youngest is a bit older, we can resume our every other year girls trips.
Thanks for your commiserating comments about tantrums. It sounds like Taco is similar to how your daughter was. It is hard to stay calm and not get flustered when he loses his mind. One thing that I’ve learned that helps is that when he’s on the cusp of tantruming, I whisper to him. I think I learned that from Dr. Becky who is a popular child psychologist w/ a podcast, etc. It can sometimes really calm him down and he’ll whisper back to me. Paul was a very easy going 2 year old but he has his harder phase around 3.5. We took a Dr. Becky course on emotional regulation/tantrums which really helped so I have tried to use some of those techniques. She talked a lot about using a “loving restraint” – like you hold them in your lap so they can’t hurt you/themselves (Paul would try to bike/kick/hit when he had those tantrums). Taking that class was super helpful as it made us realize that his behavior was kind of typical – like if she had developed strategies for biting/kicking/hitting, clearly it’s a common problem! People don’t talk much about tantrums so you can kind of feel like no one else is experiencing this! Anyways, I know there are other challenging stages ahead but wow, this stage is very hard and tiring – both emotionally and physically. At the end of the day, Phil and I are like – well we made it through another day! Taco is a very sweet little guy but oof these strong feelings are hard!! And he is like a velcro toddler and wants me to do everything for him/follows me everywhere.
Yes, the gulf coast is nice- I love the white sand beaches.
The whispering trick is brilliant! I do remember getting the advice to stay very calm when you’re faced with a tantrum. I think my son Paul had two tantrums in his entire life! The universe definitely got even with me when I had my daughter.
I am not a huge fan of road trips, but there can be something delightful about a solo trip when you can stop where you want to. I always make lunch a Big Deal when I do a solo trip. A lot of times I have my lunch packed, but I’ll find a local county/state park and go there to eat lunch at a picnic table or under a tree or something. But I’m so impressed with people who can drive a long way. Between my small bladder and my right hip (I’m like a 70 yo when I get out of the car “oh my hip”), I have to stop a lot and so road trips take a while with me in tow.
Last weekend we had a family gathering and my SIL’s family (3 kids) drove to Colorado from Iowa and they only stopped three times. THREE times. I stop twice just between our house and theirs. LOL.
What a cute little town Ocala is! I’m glad you’ve spent some time exploring it. I’ve been to Jacksonville/St. Augustine/Orlando, but don’t really feel like I’ve ever really explored Florida. It’s a big giant question mark in my mind!
Ooh, St. Augustine is nice! I was there years ago but it would be fun to go back there.
I definitely enjoyed the solo part of the trip more than when I had the girls with me. In part because I also like to stop a lot, and it was more of a hassle stopping and trying to hurry the girls along- every time we stopped they wanted to buy gummy bears or something. When I’m alone I like to stop frequently, but briefly.
This sounds like such a great mini adventure! Love that your trail run went so well.
It was really fun, and so great to run on a different trail.
The only time I’ve been to Ocala was when we were trying to flee Hurricane Irma in 2017! (We ended up fleeing Ocala as well and ended up all the way in NC, since my sister lives there!). Would totally go back. But spidery trail runs – probably not on my itinerary 🙂 🙂
Ha, that’s the problem with trying to flee a hurricane- they can follow you!
What a great idea to make this into a two day trip. I do love visiting and exploring new cities.
I’ve been to the west palm area as well as Miami and Orlando. Also Naples and Sarasota on the other coast. And then Panama City. There’s so much more. I do have a friend in Tally. But she stopped running. Boo.
I’d like to visit the Clearwater area too
Those trails look more like the ones I walk on.
Clearwater and St Pete are nice! I’ve never been to Panama City. We drive through that part of Florida on our way to Texas, but we never have the time to stop.
I am glad you had the chance to have a little getaway-you deserve it. It is always fun to run in new places. I cried every time I dropped my kids at summer camp and college. I still get sad when I say goodbye to them when they visit. I grew up in Hollywood and lived there until I was 11. We went to Tallahassee on a school trip once but I can’t remember it.
I always forget you grew up in South Florida! School trips tend to be more about socializing than appreciating new areas so I’m not surprised you don’t remember Tallahassee!
I worked for the opera in Sarasota one season, and we took a day trip to Fort Myers. Oh and I tagged along with my Husband on a work trip to St. Petersburg one time. I remember thinking Florida was a lot bigger than I thought. And there are so many major cities in Florida.
I don’t love being in the car for long periods of time, but I do like exploring cities and towns. Every place has some kind of history and origin story and that’s always interesting to me.
How wild to think that there was once plans to put canal through the state!
That trail looks so lovely. What a pretty place to run, but yes, the prospect of mountain bikers on the same trail is a little off-putting. It sounds like yuo had a lovely break away by yourself. Well done taking advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself.
Maybe when you pick the girls up, you can check out Bok Tower and Gardens, if you never been? There’s actually a 5k there, too (in the spring usually. they’ve changed which month before). Although, it is SW of Orlando so probably too far off your route.
How nice you took a little trip by yourself. I love it.
I love this little trip! And now I want to plan a little short getaway to Ocala to do that historical walking tour. I love tours like that! I’ve never been to Ocala but have driven through it many, many times.
Yes, I’ve also driven past Ocala many times but never actually stopped there. I definitely think you should check it out, but winter would be a much better time to go.
Aww how fun! I like the idea of exploring a place that might not really be a tourism hotspot exactly. Also, I like people (like you) who can find enjoyment in the smaller things too, like a good Subway sub or a simple, quaint small town downtown! I generally am the same way- I find most places interesting in their own way; I am usually a pretty happy go lucky traveler no matter where it is. My dad always says, ” I think I could throw a dart at a map and find SOMETHING I’d be interested wherever it landed!” 🙂
Ha ha, I like your dad! But it’s true- there’s always something interesting to find.
What fun to get a mini vacation by yourself! I also love how your daughter and her friend were so excited about camp – I hope they had a wonderful week!
There is nothing more fun than wandering around a new (not too big) town and finding unexpected treasures. 🙂
Yes, I really enjoyed it. And it was an added bonus that the girls were so happy at camp- it would have put a damper on the whole thing if I had left them all sad.