Central Florida adventure – days 4-5
Sunday was a day to play tourist in Gainesville. We started out at the Devil’s Millhopper State Park. We used to live just a couple miles away from this park when I was a resident, and I loved coming out to this park to run the steps. In the heat of the summer, the bowl was always about 10-20 degrees cooler with the soothing sounds of breeze rustling the ferns and water trickling into the basin. It always felt like another world, and I thought this would be the perfect prehistoric-looking backdrop for dinosaur pictures. Much to my chagrin, the sinkhole portion was closed for renovation of the steps – due to be complete the week after we are back home. Bummer! We still had a nice walk around the bowl and got some good pictures before heading to the next one.
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We went to Target on the way and ended up getting much more than we planned on (typical!), before stopping by our old townhouse. Things look about the same and it’s strange to think how long it’s been since we lived here – feels like last year!
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We arrived to Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park for a short stop at the visitor center and observation tower.
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Afterwards, we got on our way to the Florida Museum of Natural History. I have been looking forward to this part for weeks so that I could get some butterfly portraits – it did not disappoint 🙂
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We had a light lunch at Pita Pit and then took the tour at Swamphead Brewery. This place has grown so much since I was a resident! I used to go there on the limited days they were open in the old warehouse. After it was suggested that I bring my resident-mate out there for drinks and emotional support, I remembered back to when Draper did the same for me. Moving into the senior position definitely opened my eyes to the mechanics of my first year and dynamics with my senior resident-mate then. Our mentors had a process for developing encouragement, support, competition, independence, and guiding resident dynamics that you didn’t realize was there unless you were paying attention. Kind of like raising a family of five kids, Mom and Dad!
Speaking of residency, we finished the evening with a lovely dinner with Roger at Las Margaritas. I loved his enthusiasm from the day I interviewed at UF, and I couldn’t be happier that life brought me to Gainesville for my residency. Roger has become a good friend who has improved our lives beyond measure. He gave me the training I needed to be a confident and capable neurologist who is not afraid to take risks, and he brought us to the job that we hope will be our forever-home. I am thankful for this every day – without Roger, this blog would not exist and Jeff and I might be somewhere with less happiness than we have now. Thank you!!
After dinner, Jeff and I went to the House of Beer downtown. Hard to explain why, but I like this dimly lit little place.
On Monday we said goodbye to Gainesville and drove home. We had a brief stop at Side Door Brewing before settling in for a movie and getting ready for work tomorrow.