Marianna Mini-Adventure

Matt and I are so extremely lucky that our work schedules allow us to take mini-adventures often. I work 4, 10 hour days (in the office) and usually am off Friday-Sunday. Matt operates our small business, Off the Map Expeditions, doing kayaking and boat eco-tours, so he is his own boss and gets to make his own schedule!

Since I was blessed with this schedule about 9 months ago, we've tried to take at least one day a week for a family mini-adventure. I don’t feel as guilty since I still have one day to clean and get the house in order and another to spend visiting family or running errands! Plus, mini-adventures are the ticket these days since our almost 18 month old son Jax is adventurous in spurts lol.

This past Friday was the beginning of the long holiday weekend. Our area in the Florida panhandle was forecast to get some dreary, subtropical storm weather over the weekend, so we decided we better get all 3 of us out of the house on Friday while we had the chance. We live about 30 minutes to the beach and have done that a few times and figured there would be a crowd in town, so we decided to try something a little different.

We headed inland about an hour to Marianna to the Florida Caverns State Park. (Just so happened to work out that the drive was perfect timing for Jax’s morning nap). 

We arrived at about 10:30 AM so it wasn’t too warm yet to get out and explore. We decided to let Jax stretch his legs and walked around some of the trails for a little over a mile or so. There are lots more trails if you’d like to try something a little more challenging. I told Matt that I kind of like having Jax as the excuse to just take a slow ‘casual’ stroll! These days it’s all on Jax’s schedule and it was actually really nice to take the slow pace. The trails were shaded with beautiful trees and there was lots to look at. Jax stopped to investigate a curious little lizard and follow him to the edge of the woods. He also spotted a beetle crawling along that we had to check out. 

We know we’re “those” parents when we say this, but even the simple things really are so much more exciting to watch through Jax’s eyes and experiences. Of course his little legs couldn’t walk the whole time, so he got to ride on Dad’s shoulders for a while. We hiked through some gorgeous hills (which we don’t have in the flat, coastal county we live in). We actually walked right by the entrance to the cavern tour. If you haven’t done this before, it is a must do in our area! It's also always really cool in the caves, so it's a nice way to escape the Florida summer heat. I’ll share some photos of our pre-child visits later. We opted to wait to take Jax on a tour until he’s a little older and (more patient!).

After our nature hike, we drove around to a natural spring the in park called Blue Hole Springs. We were going to take a quick dip to cool off. Once we got there, we realized that the entrance is a dock and you can’t wade in so we decided to leave that for a later trip too. It would totally be a great swimming hole for older kids and adults though! We dipped our toes in and the water was super cold, just like you’d want a spring to be for a hot summer day swim! We are going to plan a trip in a few years to camp at the park and enjoy the spring and a family cave tour.

We decided to head on into town and grab some lunch in Marianna. Matt use to drive a route for Coca-Cola in his past career life and always use to stop in at this great place called the Gazebo Coffee Shop and Deli for his Wednesday lunch special. It’s a small little mom and pop place that feels like it's been in business forever. Jax fell asleep on the way so I hopped out and went in to order. You guys, this place was packed! There was a wall of to-go orders and the servers were hoppin’! I grabbed a menu and realized why. Everything sounded super delicious, but the prices were crazy low! I ordered myself a ‘Krool World’ sandwich, which is basically like a club, and Matt wanted a Cuban. Each sandwich and a side (we both got potato salad) were $4.95!! Later, Matt told me that they haven’t raised their prices since he would visit weekly back in the 90's. That is amazing. They could charge way more because the food was awesome.  I got it to go and we drove right next door to this awesome city splash pad they recently built at Madison Street Park. We set up our picnic under the shade of the pavilion and enjoyed every bite. Jax is a great little eater to say the least and he, of course devoured most of mommy’s! By the way, Matt still remembers his Wednesday lunch special: Cuban and black beans.

After we got our tummies full, we walked over to the splash pad area. It was so cool! There is a sensor you put your foot on and it turns on the water for 2 minutes and lets the little ones play. You step on it again if you want to restart it (great way to conserve water!). It was the perfect place to cool off in some fresh water and sunshine.  I love this idea for a small, rural area and would love to have one in our home county. Jax was a little hesitant at first, but once mommy ran through a few times, he was all about it!

We dried off and packed up to head home, but thought that a sweet treat was in order. We pulled in to Milk and Honey Frozen Yogurt to treat ourselves. We picked out Matt’s favorite dessert flavor of cheesecake and added some strawberry yogurt too. Jax loves berries, so we topped it off with strawberries and blackberries (hey, it’s healthy then right?!). We sat outside and shared our frozen treat to finish off our mini-adventure and headed home. 

We’re already ready for the next one! The area of Florida we live in has so many diverse, beautiful places to explore and we try to take advantage of them as much as we can!

P.S. Here are the cavern photos I promised. (Me and my sister-in-law, Tanna, pictured).  It's a little dark inside, so these don't do it justice. Check this place out if you get the chance!