Eat, Read, Play: Spring Break in Florida [Travelogues]

This March we went down to Florida for my friend Erica's wedding. Erica and I have known each other since kindergarten – we were the epitome of BFF and probably spent at least an hour on the phone with each other every night from ages 5-7 (and this was before my parents had call waiting).

An Easter egg hunt, probably kindergarten ... you can estimate the year based on my Easter dress

We stayed in touch over the years despite my changing schools in third grade and her moving back to Sarasota, but she moved up here to finish college and now lives here in a house her dad built for her overlooking the hills of rural Smith County. (It's gorgeous and despite all my love for my adorable little 1950s house in East Nashville, I can't wait for my next house to be custom built by my dad.)

Anyway, our parents go way back too, so they came to the wedding as well. It was a beautiful location, on a beach on Anna Maria Island near Bradenton. However, it has been a crappy year for Florida weather, just like it has been for the rest of the country, and so it was overcast and windy all day. Thank goodness they had a (heated) pavilion so we weren't blown away. My mom and I went to see Erica right before the ceremony – she was gorgeous, of course! – and then right as the music started, the bottom dropped out of the sky. And, since this is all about me, really had me reconsidering my hope for a beach wedding. But after all, you really can't predict the weather. And everything else went off without a hitch.

Erica and Drew

We were, at least, able to kick off our shoes and walk around in the sand, so it felt like we were on the beach (technically, we were) even if we weren't outside. And I would much rather be in the pavilion than getting windblown.

The food, by the way, was delish. Mahi mahi, these amazing potatoes, fruit, cheese, etc. along with prime rib and chicken. Ty does live sound at events, mostly weddings, and so this was the sixth wedding he'd been to in 2010 alone. He's probably been to about 50 in the past year and a half. He could write you a book on prime rib and other wedding food.

The cake was gorgeous too:

Anyway, it was a very laidback wedding, which I liked. And the drive back to Tampa wasn't nearly as bad, since the rain had stopped. (On the way down I thought our tiny rental car – a Yaris – was going to be blown off the bridge. I may have an irrational fear of driving over bridges.) (Why Tampa? Ty's brother lives in Tampa, so not only did we stay with him for free, he also was generous enough to use his Southwest-employee status to get us down there for free. Thanks, Kurt!)

The next day, we drove down to my friend Katie's house in Cape Coral, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Tampa. I realized this was the first time I'd ever spent any spring break in Florida, and I was here for a wedding and to see Katie's new baby, Lilah (born on New Year's Day). I feel so... old.

On the way down we stopped in Nokomis to meet my parents at a seafood place Erica's uncle had recommended called Captain Eddie's. We got there in time to help my parents finish devouring this amazing seafood dip. This place is known for using local seafood, so I had bay scallops and shrimp... the scallops, though tiny, were phenomenal. The shrimp was OK, nothing spectacular, and I wasn't very impressed with the pasta salad.

Ty and my dad both ordered softshell crab, which they said was amazing (with legs on, it reminds me of giant spiders).

And we had to try their award-winning key lime pie. It was tasty, but we had to hear my parents talk about this key lime pie they had the day before that was even better. Alas. We'd been craving key lime pie since watching this subplot on Dexter where he's trying to find the perfect pie for this dying woman, and while this one wasn't green (a cardinal sin), it still wasn't the perfect key lime pie.

We trekked down to Cape Coral, making a note to never listen to my iPhone for directions, because instead of hopping on the interstate it told us to stay on U.S. route 41, which had every red traffic light imaginable. Not to mention it was gross and gloomy the whole way.

But we made it, and celebrated St. Patrick's Day (our favorite holiday in college) with Katie and her husband and Lilah. (Sidenote, all of my awesome pictures are courtesy of the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone.)

We stayed the night, and then headed out. We stopped at some place called the Shrimp Shack that turned out to have the most amazing onion rings ever. Unfortunately, I only managed to take a picture of the menu, not the actual onion rings. But you get the gist. The equivalent of shoestring fries.

And we also learned not to expect any grouper anytime soon. Seriously, I feel comfortable eating my weight in seafood now because I fully expect not to have this luxury in about 20 years. Sad, but true.

We headed back up to Tampa for one more evening with the Herrmanns. The sun was fiiiiiiiinally out for the first time ever, and it was gorgeous and made those long bridges not quite as scary. I still made Ty drive. He's a trooper.

The next day was also just as sunny and beautiful and happy-inducing, so we went to Bahama Breeze, which is located on the bay, to sit in the sun. I got a tad burned on my shoulders, but hey, I need some color. The highlight was seeing a dolphin swimming around... very cool.

Kayla and Uncle Ty