We love hot weather. But I think we both found our heat threshold when we visited Gainsville, Florida, during the heatwave in July this summer. We seem to have a knack for temperature extremes this summer, our trip to Crisp Point Lighthouse in June had us in multiple layers in 40-degree weather, and then this Florida trip went the opposite direction with extreme heat that took me days to recover from when we got home, not to mention the New Orleans trip a few weeks ago. But that being said, we had so much fun in Florida.

We flew into Orlando Sanford International Airport on a Friday morning on Allegiant Airlines, which has direct flights from South Bend Regional Airport. Car rental prices are astronomical right now, so we decided to try out Turo, which is an AirBnB type app, but for vehicle rental instead of lodgings. The owner posts the vehicle with details and pricing on the app, then they drop it off with a lockbox attached for pickup at the appointed time. We rented a 2018 Corolla at a great price for our five-day trip to Gainsville.

It’s about a two-hour drive north from Orlando to Gainsville and we had some great things planned for our visit there. I love finding fun places to stay and especially love to use AirBnB or VRBO. We like to have more than just a hotel room with beds, a kitchen and living room are so much more comfortable, and for this trip especially, because we did stay at the house quite a bit more than we usually do on a trip. We went down to Florida to visit one of our kids who is doing a work-study program for his last year in college for the summer. We found a rental that was just two blocks away from where he is staying, so he and his girlfriend spent quite a bit of time with us at the house. Our rental was called The Duck House and had 10 ducks with a pond in the back yard. All through the house it had all kinds of cute duck decor, and even a duck egg refrigerator where we could buy eggs to make for breakfast. The ducks will come to the door and tap on the glass to beg for treats. I spent a lot of time watching and feeding those ladies.

We found a place a little closer to Orlando, called King‘s Landing where we could rent canoes and kayaks to paddle down a natural spring. It was HOT that day and being inland, you have to be very careful of where you swim because I swear, alligators are the squirrels of Florida. There are two directions down the Rock Springs Run to take, one direction is the crystal-clear waters where you can see many different types of birds and fish, the other direction is murkier waters where you have to watch out for the alligators. First, we headed down the clear spring. It was about 90 degrees out, but most of the way is shaded with tall trees and greenery with a nice warm breeze. There are several stops along the way where you can get out and it’s mostly safe to cool off in the springs.

Now the other direction, we went part-way down there, but it was direct sun, so it was sweltering heat, very murky water and we saw multiple gators, which totally fascinate me and terrify Curtis. We turned around after just a few minutes down that waterway. Even though we had been drinking water all day, it was time to get out of the heat.

The next day we took it easy and went to a few vintage shops around town. We love hitting up local thrift stores and vintage shops when we travel. I usually end up buying something cute and I especially love buying a new dress on vacation. The two that we liked the most in Gainsville were Flashbacks Recycled Fashions which was a thrift store set up and had great stuff from so many eras. They also buy clothing to sell so you can earn a few bucks. The other that we went to, The Auk Market was a boutique style shop with vintage items and new things from local artists and crafters as well. I bought a dress at both places.

We also rented a pontoon boat from Georgia Boys Fish Camp to fish from on the St. John’s River and Dunn’s Creek. The St. John’s River is a huge river, also, of course with alligators, so there are only specific places to swim. One was a sandbar that we went to and floated around in the water to cool off along with several other boats. The boat we had was in pretty rough shape, but it had a new motor and a sunshade. We didn’t catch anything, the water was too warm for that, but it was a great day out on the water. I also kept grabbing Curtis’ feet to make him think it was a gator. He wasn’t amused.

Gainsville has a prairie that started out as a sinkhole thousands of years ago and depending on the rainfall, it is deeper or shallower. Payne’s Prairie has built walkways out into the prairie where you can see many different types of wildlife, including birds, small mammals, and alligators. We saw dozens of alligators out here, moving silently through the water. There were signs posted in several locations warning of bison in the area, which I thought was odd, considering how hot it was. But sadly, we didn’t see the bison.

Gainsville happens to be the birthplace of Tom Petty from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It is also the college town of the University of Florida. Being a college town, they have great restaurants. We ate at several great places while we were there. We like to find local spots when we are traveling, and had great food at a Latin place, Mi Apa. I love plantains, churros, and Cuban coffee and they had all of that! Another fun place we ate at was Nine Spices Fondue, a hot pot restaurant where each person gets their own pot of broth, and a conveyor goes around with different selections of noodles, fish, meats and vegetables to cook in the pot of broth to make your own dishes. You can also do Korean BBQ right at the table as well. They also have a robot that delivers food to your table from the kitchen!

On our last full day in Florida, we drove about an hour east to St. Augustine. I drove through there once about thirty years ago and have always wanted to go for a longer visit. We took a short-day trip there, which was the hottest day of our stay in Florida, with the heat index at nearly 120 degrees. We were hoping that being on the Atlantic, it would be a little cooler, but it was suffocatingly hot. We walked to the fort Castillo de San Marcos because we both love history and wandered around there for a bit. We discovered that the only air conditioning there were the bathrooms. I spent a lot of time in that bathroom. We have decided that we want to go back to St. Augustine for a weekend trip, the architecture, museum, and local cuisine need further explorations- but I think we will go in March. Or maybe November when it’s cooler out!

Florida has so much to offer, and while it’s less expensive to visit in the summer, it’s just so hot. In retrospect, even though our rental was one of my favorite places that we have ever stayed- I would recommend staying at a place with a pool. We did spend quite a bit of time at the Duck House, which was great because it was so well appointed and comfortable- it would be better to be able to cool off in some water that doesn’t have gators in it!

Next week I will be taking you on a day trip to Saugatuck, my favorite beach town on the southwestern Michigan coast. Please share this post and subscribe if you’d like to have them delivered right to your email.