Five on Friday: Florida Getaway

Happy Friday, friends.  We are expecting Hurricane Florence to hit us today, so much of this week has been about prepping and waiting.  I've seen a meme a bunch of times on social media that says, "waiting for a hurricane is like being stalked by a turtle."  So true with this one moving at 10 mph - haha!  It was supposed to be here yesterday morning, but it's kept slowing as it approaches the coast.  

For my Friday post, I thought I would throw it back it last weekend, when we were visiting my aunt in Florida.  Her back porch looks out onto St Pete Beach, and it is seriously my happy place!  Here's what we were up to during our long weekend.

1 ||| On the way down, we stopped in Orlando at Disney Springs to see all of the Halloween decorations.  They now sell Dole Whip in Disney Springs, so that was a must as well as the "millennial pink" champagne at Amorette's Patisserie.  It absolutely lived up to the hype! 

2 ||| While in St. Pete, we visited a couple of breweries: Green Bench Brewing and Cycle Brewing.  Cycle was definitely known for its stouts, which I appreciated but aren't quite my style, while Green Bench was more about IPAs.  They do a rotating FLIPA (Florida IPA) series, and when we were there, they had the Key Lime Pie version: tart, citrus, and a little cinnamon. So good! 

3 ||| On our way back from the brewery, I spotted the cutest mural!  Sunshine is so perfectly Florida, so of course we had to stop for a photo!  I decided to Google and see if there were others in the area, and it turns out that St. Petersburg has an awesome outdoor art scene.  We stopped at a couple more on the way back, and we will definitely make a whole tour of it next time we're in the area.

4 ||| Of course, we also made a stop at my favorite Italian market ever: Mazzaro's.  It's a cheese shop, wine shop, coffee bar, bakery, prepared food and deli counter; and they make their own pasta, pastries, and mozzarella.  I brought home some of my favorite cookies (rainbow cookies - in the bottom corner in that case below), a few dinners for the weekend, and my aunt bought an entire pastry bag filled with cannoli cream to pipe our own cannolis all weekend.    

5 ||| Last but not least, we visited another new ballpark!  This was city #11 for us, and we were excited that the Tampa Bay Rays were finally in town on one of our visits.  Tropicana Field is a dome and just turned 20 this year.  Nothing really stands out in terms of food or atmosphere, but the Mister Softee was really good, they have a sting ray touch tank, and I got a photo with their mascot, Ray!  Plus, there was no one there, so we were sitting in the fourth row by the fifth inning.  I was so excited that my parents could finally join us for one of our stadium adventures, too.

A Weekend in Dallas

Howdy y'all! Happy Humpday! It's officially baseball season, and if you've been following this blog for a while, you might know that Mike and I love taking trips to new stadiums. Our life bucket list is to visit every MLB stadium, and last year, we got to 6 (here is my recap of the first 5), including a surprise for my birthday to a playoff game. I loved his surprise idea so much, that I stole it. In his birthday card last month, I told him to save the weekend (April 6-9) but didn't tell him where we were headed. Well, it was Dallas! After having a blast at Daytona last year (here's that recap), I looked for race weekends with a hometown baseball team and found Texas Motor Speedway less than an hour from Arlington where the Rangers play!

We stayed in Dallas at the Adolphus Hotel. It was seriously gorgeous! We made sure to visit Dealey Plaza and see the 6th Floor Museum, on top of all of our "usual" things. In every city, we do 5 local things, and this weekend was no exception: coffee shops, donut shops, murals, breweries, and sports.

Coffee: Magnolias and Weekend - both beautiful, modern shops just begging to be photographed!  Both photos below are from Magnolias.

Donuts: Glazed Donut Works (more modern and funky donuts - left photo - like the donut grilled cheese with bacon we devoured!) and Mustang Donuts (everything delicious and traditional you want in a donut shop - right photo, including free donut holes!)

Murals: Deep Ellum was ah-mazing! So many colors and beautiful art - here's where I found the addresses of some of my favorites.

Breweries: Turning Point Beer, Collective Brewing Project, Deep Ellum Brewing, and BrainDead Brewing - my favorite was Collective (some of the best sours I've had), and Mike loved Turning Point for their New England-style IPAs.

(Turning Point and Collective above; Collective below (just look at those sour varieties!) and Deep Ellum below that!)

Sports: Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays and O'Reilly Auto Parts 500!

Globe Life had some of the best food we've ever had at a stadium: Doritos walking tacos, barbecue, and donuts on a stick FTW!

 NASCAR is the best and lets you bring in your own beer.  We went to Spec's (new favorite package store ever - check it out if you're in the area) and stocked up on a bunch of local beers (in addition to Bud Light tall boys!).

On top of that, I also made sure to scour Eater before our trip for some delicious food ideas. Going to Dallas, we had to get some barbecue and Tex-Mex! Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum was so good (pro tip: sit at the bar so you don't have to wait in the hour+ line!) and Manny's Uptown was our favorite Tex-Mex (with Herrera's in close second). Oh, and of course we had to get In-n-Out!

Have you ever been to Dallas?  What did we miss this time that we need to go back for?!  You KNOW we will be back!

Exploring Avondale

For those who have been to Charleston before, you might know that our area is broken up into a bunch of different sections by the rivers that cut through the Lowcountry.  Each one of these areas has its own little neighborhoods that make it unique.  North Charleston has Park Circle, (my favorite place to get a burrito), downtown has Harleston Village, Mount Pleasant has the Old Village, and West Ashley has Avondale.  Living in West Ashley, I am partial to Avondale; it has our favorite brewery, a bunch of parking (optimal for Charleston!), a few great restaurants, and the best street art anywhere in the city.

The chART Initiative was started as an outdoor art gallery to support contemporary artists.  It gives so much life and color to the streets of Charleston, in an otherwise very historic and strictly regulated area.  Even as you're driving into Avondale on Savannah Highway, you can start to see bits and pieces of art on each building.

Charles Towne Fermentory in Avondale is our go-to spot.  I shared about it earlier this month in my third installment of local breweries, but it definitely deserves to be mentioned again.  They have a rotating cycle of delicious beers, and they're known for their New England-style IPAs and Gose.  Right now, I am obsessed with their Skipjack Oyster Gose.  They also have a small rotating kitchen inside with some awesome chefs coming in throughout the week.  Anything from ramen to a lobster roll and huevos rancheros to cheeseburgers is available in their kitchen on any given night.

And after you've had a drink or two, make sure you stroll to the alley behind the Fermentory for some of the best art in Avondale.  You can even catch a glimpse of the brewery behind the Fermentory taproom through the windows.

Across the street from the Fermentory is the best place for cheese steaks in the city: DB's.  I especially love the mural outside their shop - it's a full map of Avondale with the big horse nose where DB's is.  Funny story: that horse wasn't originally part of the design, and there was a DB's logo over the shop on the map.  City of Charleston ordinances only allow one piece of signage per restaurant, so they had to put the horse over it to cover the additional advertising!

Walk across Avondale and Maple streets from DB's to get to some of our other favorite restaurants in the area.  Verde salads are my go-to for lunch, Mellow Mushroom has delicious pizza, and I still have a Groupon to Al Di La that I need to use!

After dinner, don't forget to walk behind Mellow's strip to see even more fantastic art!  No matter where you go in Avondale, you're bound to see or try something really cool and unique.  If you're in Charleston, I definitely suggest a visit to my favorite neighborhood.

Do you have a favorite neighborhood in your city?