Jensen Beach, Florida

Ah, Florida.

By now you've probably figured we are pretty big fans of visiting the Sunshine State. We've been all over Florida the past few years, we love Mickey Mouse and the gang, beaches, shopping and I've finally embraced the terrible humidity and it's effects on my hair. Hats are your friend!

When the pandemic hit in the Spring of 2020, I found myself furloughed from my preschool teaching job. I began the fun of staying home and helping the girls through their online studies. I can safely say I am a thousand times better at teaching other people's children versus my own. Home schooling was a disaster! I'm looking at you, math. We had a Spring Break trip trip to Disney World that we had to cancel. I almost cried when I realized my dreams of drinking a Jedi Mind Trick at the newly opened Oga's Cantina (we love Hollywood Studios). Our Spring Break spent hiking around Cincinnati trails quickly turned to Summer and Fall hikes as the pandemic dragged on. The lockdown had us trying to maintain sanity... it was a wild ride.

So when Jess' Dad called and said he would still like to do the annual Lipcius Family Christmas Trip, we were elated. It was finally time to leave Ohio! I did make a special trip to Kroger to stock up on Lysol before we left. You know, just in case we needed to kill Corona on the way down! Our destination was Jensen Beach, a small town on Florida's eastern shore not too far from Port St. Lucie. (Side note: on a Spring Break trip to the Bahamas while in college, my friends and I stopped and spent the night at the Treasure Cove Motel in Port St. Lucie. $19.99 a night. It was an actual portal to Hell. But I digress...).

Jensen Beach was once the "Pineapple Capital of the World" so we were ready for those pina coladas ASAP. When we rolled into town it was late evening. The mega mansion we encountered, on Ocean Boulevard adjacent to the beach, might as well have been sending Christmas signals to space. It was as if Clark W. Griswold himself decorated this 50,000 sq. ft. (I googled it) estate as it was aglow from top to bottom in electric wonder. The girls were elated. It had to be a sign that this would be a magical week. Hell, I even forgot about my Lysol for a while.

Just up the street from the mega mansion wonderland, we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Hutchinson Island. Our room was a great size for a family and had a nice sized balcony overlooking the water. It was so relaxing as we settled into our beach routine.

Our morning's started out much like they do at home, a quick breakfast and coffee. Then it was time to lay our towels out work on our tans. We tried our hands at fishing from the beach but we never really caught anything of note. However a fisherman next to us managed to reel in a bigger shark than I wanted to see so up close and personal. Some of the children on the beach took their pictures with the shark before he was returned to the sea, hopefully to swim far, far away. At night we discovered the amazing fun of chasing and never quite catching the sand crabs that would scuddle around the sand. This running was my cardio for the week. Those pina coladas don't burn themselves off! We managed to work in a few fire works on the beach for New Years Eve, making it the perfect way to say goodbye to our Year of Pandemic Craziness and hello to a more relaxed 2021.

Our first restaurant trip in literally 9 or 10 months occurred in Jensen Beach at the sweetly named Crawdaddies. Let me tell you, it was like we were some kind of marooned captives who made their first break to civilization. There was a live band, outdoor tiki bar that looked like a giant treehouse, super friendly waitstaff... they basically had to kick us out of there once the restaurant was closing! We ate the entirety of the menu it seemed, with mixed drinks flowing and enjoying the feeling of being back to "real life" in an actual restaurant. Crawdaddies was pure bliss!

We always include a good shopping expedition or two on our travels and we found a gem in Sunrise Surf Shop, right across from our hotel. Sweatshirts, sunglasses, flip flops and some cute photo ops with their surf boards. The girls loved it!

On our last day in Jensen Beach we headed over to explore some hiking trails at Savanna's Preserve State Park. We took the Lookout Trail, a 1 mile walk that ends at a platform overlooking a marshy area. We had read there were eagles in the area but unfortunately didn't see any this time. I was just glad there weren't any alligators in sight!

Until our next adventure!