So I’ve just about recovered from the jetlag from our recent amazing holiday to the USA. For some reason this time the jetlag was horrendous on the way back – a combination of three different time zones, a daylight saving clock change and one of the worst long haul flights I’ve ever been on on our way back (complete with handy 8 hour delay!) meant it took a long time to get myself back on an even keel.
On a brighter note though – the holiday was incredible! We started proceedings on Anna Maria Island in Florida – a beautiful island full of white sandy beaches, laidback living and incredible seafood which sits on the Gulf coast.
From there we went for one night on the east coast of Florida, staying in a retro style hotel in Fort Lauderdale for a whistlestop tour of Fort Lauderdale and Miami’s South Beach, which I had been to years before and loved.
From Florida we went on to Las Vegas and San Francisco – another two of my favourite places!
But for this post, I want to talk about Florida, and in particular the incredible colours seen in the sunshine state.
I’ve never been much of a sun worshipper – being as pale as I am isn’t compatible with soaking up too much sun – but it’s hard not to become at least a sun admirer when you’re in Florida. Check out the incredible sunsets we saw on Anna Maria Island!
I have about a million other sunset pictures which I’m dying to post, and it’s so hard to pick the best ones, but at the risk of boring you I’ll stop there!
We were so taken with the sunsets that my husband and I decided to do something on our last morning on the island that we’d never done before – wake up and catch the sunrise. The beauty of being on a narrow island like Anna Maria is that you can watch the sun rise AND set over the water.
Cuddling up on a bench on Anna Maria pier, bleary eyed and sleepy, watching the local bird life and the beautiful sunrise is one of my favourite memories of the whole holiday.
Talking of bird life – I can’t leave the subject of Anna Maria without these photos – I absolutely loved how happy the birds were to hang out with us!
When we left Anna Maria Island our trip to Fort Lauderdale took us through the Everglades at the ideal time to catch a different sort of sunset.
We stopped at a rest stop on the side of the road and caught this incredible sunset – our last one in Florida, and it was a beauty! By the way – a rest stop on a highway with a place to launch your boat into a gator-full bayou – it’s not quite like driving up the M1 is it?
It’s hard not to get caught up in the colours of these spectacular shows put on by the sun. I’m definitely taking colour inspiration from these memories for future projects – watch this space!
Our last day in Florida was spent visiting South Beach, which was pretty busy – we were there in spring break, which I hadn’t worked out before we arrived! Nevertheless, all the exciting things I loved about Miami when I first visited about 10 years ago were still present and correct. We ate phenomenal lettuce tacos, we paddled in the sea (the plan was to also do this in California later in the trip so we’d done both Atlantic and Pacific in one holiday… we failed!), and we admired the beautiful Art Deco architecture.
We live in a house which was built in 1919 and is very “of its era” – since we bought it, I’ve been hopelessly obsessed with Art Deco – I love the geometric shapes and the symmetry of Deco patterns. Seeing the incredible South Beach architecture again with this new found passion was a real treat.
I couldn’t leave Miami without a little souvenir – I dragged my husband into the Art Deco souvenir shop on Ocean Drive and we came away with a small poster for the Miami Art Deco Weekend 2011 – the year we got married. Secretly it was also my favourite of all the Art Deco Weekend posters on offer – I felt like it summed up daytime Floridian colours perfectly!
Well that’s quite enough for one post!
Thanks for visiting
Elsie Pop xx
susan bibby says
6th May 2015 at 11:55 amHi Lou, glad to hear you had a great holiday, it sounded hectic but fab! I am also a big fan of anything art deco we will have to compare notes when I next see you! I do have some wool at home that I will bring with me next time I am down which hopefully wont be too long. Your work looks brilliant you are so talented – must run in the family!!!!! Aunty Sue x
Elsie Pop says
7th May 2015 at 8:32 amThanks Sue! Lovely to hear from you!
The holiday was so amazing – one of the best we’ve ever had I think. But yes, we did a lot of stuff – I’m only just recovered!
Hope we can arrange a visit and crochet session soon! 🙂 xx