Our adventures in Baldwin Park, Orlando, FL

We spent a couple days in Baldwin Park, FL. A fantastic area for wining, dining and taking an evening stroll in the warm night air. Our favorite cuisine in the area was Seito Sushi, and for beverages Tactical Brewing Co, and we also quite enjoyed renting bicycles from Pedego to see the sights.

Places to dine at Baldwin Park, FL

Seito Sushi

The Osprey

The Osprey is a fine dining establishment mainly focusing on seafood. The main meals were priced accordingly ranging from 25 + for most entrees. We decided to split an appetizer, the Josper Grilled Shrimp. The shrimp came out whole (heads still on) which freaked Onalea out a little, but Michael was excited to try something new. We had to ask a waiter the best way to eat them. After getting a quick lesson on how to properly pull the head of the shrimp we dug in. They were amazing, leaving the head on definitely added to the flavor of the shrimp. You had the taste of the sea with plenty of Vadouvan curry butter making every bite a true delight.   

Michael has never met a flight of alcohol that he would not try and they offered a rum flight here. So, we of course had to try that! We both found a rum that we truly enjoyed. Michael preferred the “smokey one”, Onalea preferred “smooth one”.

La Bella Luna

Gator’s Dockside

I think the best way to describe Gators Dockside is a Floridian Buffalo wild “Wings”. It was awesome! TV’s everywhere, solid bar menu with Burgers, Fish  & chips, wings and gator. Being In Florida we ordered a Floridian draft beer and Gator tail.  The bear was a nice red ale with good flavor. The gator came and it looked like small pieces of breaded chicken and there was a dipping sauce. Michael had to have the first bite and after confirming it does taste like chicken and the dipping sauce was awesome Onalea hesitantly tried her first bite and agreed it was good. We would definitely eat gator again and would recommend trying it. 

Colibri

When the plate was delivered to the table the waiter informed us that one of the dishes in the sample did have bell peppers and asked what we would like to substitute it with.  We were very grateful to the kitchen and the waiter for catching this but wish we would have known before so we could have substituted something to come with the rest or picked a different dish.  So, we placed our order for the substitute. The food was good Mexican food.  Onalea fell in love with their guacamole proclaiming this was the best she has had while Michael enjoyed the food but did not find anything special. We were just starting our day so stayed away from the margaritas, with much sorrow in our hearts.

Five Guys (national chain)

We did not go here but it is nice to know that with all amazing new things to try there is a place where you know exactly what their burger and fries taste like. And if you don’t know then you should, Five Guys makes great burgers!

There are other restaurants in the area, but we just did not have the time to sample them all.

Places to Drink at Baldwin Park, FL

Tactical Brewing Co.

Admiral Cigar Club

This place reminds you of the old-time cigar bars you see on TV with humidors full of cigars and a staff that is both helpful and knowledgeable. Admiral Cigar Club has a large selection of cigars to choose from along with an amazing assortment of spirits. We had the tobacconist select a nice cigar to go with our drinks and sat and enjoyed the night. Michael drank a whiskey drink and Onalea had a rum cocktail. We shared the cigar. It was not too harsh with a nice vanilla aftertaste. We enjoyed people-watching and sharing our cigar. I would say the atmosphere was what I would call friendly sophistication. Casual, yet classy.

The Wildflower

Things to do at Baldwin Park, FL 

Pedego Electric Bikes

Escape Artists

We did not get a chance to visit this escape room but Escape rooms are an amazing time. This one has some great online reviews, and this is on the top of our to-do list if we get a chance to go back to this fun area. If you’re in town and you like puzzles, check them out!

We were lucky enough to get tickets to Meow Wolf 

We first saw the Meow Wolf building from the window of the Denver light rail and were very curious to see what was inside. We googled the business thinking it would be a dog toy factory or something and came across their website and decided we had to go.

Meow Wolf Tickets

The tickets were difficult to purchase, their system was not very user friendly and it felt like the only way to get tickets was to watch it and pounce on an opening with less than an hour to get there. We finally were able to get in but we had to get from where we were staying to the building in an hour. Plus, Michael was still scheduled to work, luckily enough Michael’s work was a little slow and allowed him to take a couple hours of time off so he could go. We paid $90 for the both of us.

Getting there and Parking

Since we had to be there so quickly, and we did not know how long we would be there we made a costly mistake and chose to drive. We were not able to park in their paid lot because it was full, so we drove down a short hill and over the railroad tracks to what we thought was free parking. It was not and we got a $50 parking ticket.  

We did not have to wait in line long and were allowed in the building almost immediately. No food or drinks were allowed in the building. They did sell food and drinks at their café HelloFood, but required they be consumed in the cafeteria and while the food was adequate, we do wish we would of eaten a good meal before going.

Things we wish we knew before going 

Things we wish we would have known before going to Meow Wolf. 

-Get tickets early so you can plan your trip.

-Parking is expensive but the Denver public transport system is awesome. 

-Be prepared to walk, there are many things to explore and sometimes twice, so you are going to be on your feet a lot.

-The amount of time you should plan for this event is a hard question, there are many secrets to discover, you can get a good overall feel for the place in about 2 to 3 hours, but we spent over 6 hours and still felt like we missed some of the intricacies. 

Warning

Meow wolf is an amazing adventure!! Part of it is discovering secrets on your own. We will do our best to describe our experience, but it may include spoilers. We recommend buying the $3 QPASS, near the entrance to learn more about each world, take the elevator to the Convergence Station, and jump in.

Spoilers ahead continue at your own risk

Connecting all the pieces

We spent the next 6 hours exploring 3 stories of interactive wonder as Michael found hidden rooms behind the soap dispenser, pieced together codes from clues and other guests as he refused to leave until he had completed his goals. We even had to stay an extra 45 minutes because there was a technical difficulty preventing us from completing an objective and we waited around to wait for a tech to allow us to complete our final assignment. Determination was the name of the game and we feel like we won it. If you are ever down this way we highly recommend checking out this one in a million experience.

Tours, hikes and other things to do in Alaska 

Getting closer to the mountains ~ One day Onalea decided she was going to aimlessly drive until we were in the mountains, well after numerous dead ends, winding up in undesirable places, several Austin Powersesque U-turns, and plenty of road construction (it is said Alaska has two seasons, winter and road construction) Michael had enough. He pulled up All Trails to find a place where we could drive safely and be in the mountains. He led us to the Flattop Mountain area, Onalea had fun driving the switchbacks while Michael had a white knuckle grip on the “oh shit” handle, legend has it that this handle was once used for hanging suit jackets. Once we made it to the parking lot, uncovered the ancient secret of how to pay for parking, and used the facilities we were ready for adventure. We took a brief stroll down a trail that led to an overlook of Anchorage. It was jaw droppingly beautiful, we took so many pictures, but they really don’t do it justice. The panorama opening up before us allowed for an unhindered sight line out to the ocean, a birds eye view of the city of Anchorage, an endless expanse of mountains including the aptly named Flattop mountain itself. We talked about climbing Flattop before we left for Denver, but with the ever growing list of attractions and times with friends, we never made it back up the mountain. Michael did however make some time to climb a mountain, his account is below.

Winding through the countryside of Alaska was spectacular. Being chauffeured by wildlife photographers is something I can’t recommend enough, if ever in Alaska check out their City Moose Tour. They had their eyes peeled for wildlife knowing exactly where to look and it was so cool to hear stories of hikes and wildlife they had found during their years in Alaska. The landscape out here is lush and full of life and the herds of animals still travel in their many thousands. A call back to times that many of us can only dream about. In between breathtaking views out the window we got to catch up on old times we had spent in Tech school together, reminiscing about this or that story and musing about where our other classmates are now.

Then shit got real, the end of the tail suddenly gets quite steep and you find yourself in a position to start bouldering. If you are experienced this would be of no concern but for me, it was a heart pounding experience. After the scramble up the rocks, you see the lake nestled into a rocky bowl, looking back at you with an invitation of refreshment and cleanliness. I found a boulder large enough to hide behind and changed into my swim shorts and sandals determined to take the plunge. It was cold, how cold was it?  So cold that my friend’s dog gave me a sideways glance after jumping in! Inka, you need to learn to live a little.  The climb down was also scary on the rocky part but after that it was a nice stroll downhill. As we were descending we came upon two golden balls of fluff Coby identified as marmots and he managed to snap a few photos. 

So many adventures in Alaska! ~ Our time in Alaska was so jam packed with adventures, beautiful scenery, and amazing locales that it would take a novel to cover them all. We’ve put together a detail of as many of them as we can though and if you have any questions, or would like us to elaborate about any of the places mentioned please leave us a comment and we’ll get in touch.

The Portage Glacier Tour ~ Onalea really wanted to see a glacier up close, she chose to have us take a day trip through Gray Line Alaska to go on the Portage Glacier tour boat and stop at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The tour met at the Captain Cook hotel, we arrived early to have lunch in the hotel at Fletchers. Dining at this place you can’t help but wonder at the audacity and determination of Cook to push his men so far north into the ice, with very little supplies and insufficient winter clothing. You can easily understand why Fletcher Christian led his mutiny and sent the whole crew back to Hawaii and Cook’s untimely demise. After lunch we boarded the bus for the hour-long ride to the glacier. We were again on the road with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other, sandwiched between sea and sky and with the luxury of both being in the passenger seat, we relaxed and took in the beauty through the windows. Once we arrived at the dock, we had a few minutes to take in the beauty and of course pose for a few photos. We noticed the color of the water was like nothing we’d ever seen before, we learned on the boat ride that the lake was made from the glacier melting giving it this distinct polar blue color. On this 1 hour round trip ride we had the pleasure of learning so much information through the stories of a local member of the U.S. Forest Service. The most impactful fact was that hundreds of years ago the glacier filled the entire valley, 14 miles long, and was connected to what are now five separate glaciers, the distance of the glacier now is only 6 miles and it is receding more each year. Once the boat ride was complete, we again boarded the bus for our next stop, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The bus driver drove through the conservation center to drop us off at the back, we were greeted by a large gathering of animals staring up at us through the windows from behind a large fence. In one area there were a lot of sitka black tailed deer standing by the gate. We soon realized it was feeding time, it was such a delight to watch them go through their routine, crowding up to the workers and trying to be the first in line for their dinner. We eventually made it back to the bus and wound our way back along the coast to where we began.

Anchorage Trolley Tour ~ If you find yourself in Anchorage with an hour to spare, we highly recommend hopping aboard the Anchorage Trolley tour, though they offer tours of many different lengths, an hour provides you with enough time to really drink in the sites. The woman that drove our trolley was a retired schoolteacher and had many anecdotes and a wealth of information about the town itself. The tour starts out on the same street the Iditarod does, and our driver painted a picture of men and women perched upon the backs of wooden sleds, with teams of dogs barking and yelping, ready to race off into the frozen expanse of the surrounding country. Then you wind your way through the city as your driver highlights the important locations and dives into the history and lore of this beautiful town at the end of the world. There was a stop at the railroad depot to show us the “Moose Goosier” the job of this train was to go ahead of the larger trains to goose the moose on the track to make them move. This little train made Onalea laugh at the thougt of  moose being goosed. 

The state fair ~ Our timing was fantastic as we just happened to be in town when the state fair was on, and being state fair aficionados we figured it was our duty to compare and contrast this one to the many others we’ve explored in the past. Onalea being from Iowa is used to butter cows and fried food on a stick, Michael showed animals at his local state fair. The Alaska State Fair had tons of food, exhibit halls, carnival rides and games, more food, a rodeo, a butterfly tent, more food, beer tents, animal showings, more food and all the other things you would expect, but enough differences from what you may be used to really get a feel for the community. Unfortunately, the animal showings were not happening on the day we visited, so no scratching goat and cow ears for us. The food was bountiful and delicious though, we ate as much as we could…and then some. Onalea had a great time taking pictures of all the food places, we laugh now looking at the pictures because Michael is either walking towards the place or returning with more food. We may have indulged just a little at this one. 

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail ~ A phenomenal trail for walking and cycling, read about our adventure on the trail here. 

Sadly, one of the things we remember most about Anchorage is the enormous homeless population, most of them are indigenous to Alaska, when they no longer have a home within their community, they are sent to Anchorage with no way to return. If someone in a small community is sentenced to jail/prison they are taken to Anchorage where the jail/prison is and when they are let out there is no way for them to get home and they end up stranded on the streets of the city. There is a shelter, in an arena, for them to stay in if they so choose, but as often is the case these emergency stop gap measures don’t offer the things a human really needs to thrive and many would rather tough it out, out of doors. To the untrained eye it is easy to see many of them suffer from the dual challenges of mental illness and alcohol addiction. The laws surrounding alcohol are very different than we are used to, so we are inclined to believe what is said about the addictions. Some of the laws include the inability to discount alcohol, so no happy hour, after you have so many infractions with alcoholism your ID is printed with “do not sell alcohol” and if you are pulled over and have been drinking your car will be impounded for 30 days. Though they attempt to curb these problems with abstinence, it appears to not be working. Dr. Gabor Mate says the opposite of addiction isn’t abstinence, the opposite of addiction is community. Something we are both so grateful to have in our lives, both online and in person.

Alaska is a breathtaking place, ancient and pristine, yet full of all of the comforts and luxuries we are accustomed to further south. It is certainly geared towards a very outdoorsy crowd, which admittedly isn’t us but we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to explore its vast and beautiful landscape. If we were to go back to Alaska, we would make sure we went when we could see the Northern Lights, even if it was just for a few days. To stand beneath the dancing canopy of the luminescent rainbow is a dream of ours, one we are willing to throw parkas on to see.

We joined other Electronic music fans in a 3 day event at one of the biggest events in Orlando this year with over 80,000 people attending the first night of the event. EDC Orlando 2021 was an amazing event and we felt safe even with covid still going around. Electric Daisy Carnival was held at Tinker field and had 4 stages with artists starting on Friday night and playing till midnight for the next 3 evenings. It was surreal to see large groups of people congregating again, letting your mind imagine that we are already living in the post covid world. 

It was a Friday and our friends had received the tickets in the mail for EDC and we paced excitedly all day, unable to contain our excitement. Once Michael punched the clock for the day, we were more than ready to go! The plan was for us to stay at their place for the weekend because they lived closer to the event and would give us a basecamp for an after party each evening. Tim and Jessica picked us up as planned and as we headed back to their place to drop off our stuff and get ready for the night ahead, we all chatted excitedly in the car like kids heading for a slumber party. We also discussed how we were a little concerned with the tickets as we had ordered them online and got an extraordinarily good deal, but we were protected by the FB market policy, so we were feeling safe. Once we arrived at their place, we unloaded our stuff, made some drinks, put our wristbands on, and put on these flashing earing’s. Feeling groovy and looking like a million bucks, we were ready to go.

Our first night at the carnival, we hopped into an Uber and were whisked away without any difficulty, arriving around 8pm. Michael charged through security, like a kid in a candy store he got all the way inside before turning around to make sure he did not totally lose the party. The festival had attracted thousands of people to the grounds but with the venue being as large as it was, you never felt cramped or unable to move. We decided to stay together, but had our emergency meet up location since phone service was spotty at best with the network being overloaded with all the people there. Is this what a microwave dinner feels like? We were able to get texts out to each other throughout the night, but when you are in the cellular sea it oftens feels like you’re casting out a message in a bottle, never knowing if it will reach shore. Luckily, we never got separated so we didn’t have to use the meeting point, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when journeying into another dimension.

We were off and it was fairly easy to navigate around, we found there was always someone carrying a large pole around the party, if you fell in behind this individual you could ride the wake and cut through the sea of people without trouble. First stop, and clearly the most important one, was the bar. There was no line to be seen, the bar was extremely well provisioned, and the prices and drinks were clearly marked. But those prices were crazy high at 18 bucks for a small mixed drink, Michael hit the h20 hard that night. There were of course people sneaking in their own drinks but that’s not our style, so we stayed hydrated and indulged here and there. Closer to the end of the night some of the bars did run out of drinks, showing how impressive the attendance for this event was. 

Drinks in hand we began to roam through the event, taking in the displays and checking out all of the beautifully dressed people. Our flashing earrings were a hit, so many people complimented us on them and wanted to know where to get a pair, it was fun to be noticed in the sea of people. While each DJ has their own sound and style it was difficult to tell one artist from the other for the uneducated ear. We spent our time walking from stage to stage enjoying every minute of it, stopping to check out a specific sound or take pictures or a video. For an event of this size the lines were reasonable at every bar and most importantly at every porta-pottie. If waiting in line for the toilet isn’t your thing though, you could pay $100 to have VIP bathroom access, aka a trailer port-a-potty, we opted not to pay that, so not sure if they were any better. We recommend bringing hand sanitizer and your own tissues, though we always felt safe and sterile at this event, it is a good idea to be self sufficient and responsible.

Our crew mobbed around together for the entire evening, taking in djs across the festival who all started pettering out around midnight, we took that as our queue to depart and made our way home. This is where a glaringly obvious problem in the event showed up, the public transportation system in Orlando is nonexistent and suddenly the outpouring of people from the event are outside with insufficient cabs and ubers to get them home. We planned to walk to downtown Orlando from the event to minimize the surge charge on rideshares. 

Day 2

We realized that we were not going to walk downtown again; the distance was just too far. We also did not want to be stuck there all-night waiting for a ride after it closed, forced to pay the super surge charges. Pro Tip we scheduled our uber to pick us up 30 minutes before the event closed down avoiding surge pricing and a long wait for a ride. We took another uber to the event, the second uber Onalea reserved and not being from around the area had the incorrect address.  This was close to the event and while we do not expect an uber driver to know every event and location, the driver should have known we were headed to the wrong location seeing how he had dropped people off at that event and it was the main thing going on in town that weekend. When your brain is on autopilot, you end up in some unfamiliar destinations. We did get to the event about 15 minutes later than planned so not a big deal.  Tonight we decided to spend some time together and also to spread out on our own to explore the event and get some me time in. We set a rendezvous point for later and headed off into the night beneath the lights.  

When we all came back together, we asked a security guard where the rideshare pickup area was, they stated we had to go to the other side of the park. We decided it would be quicker for us to leave the event and walk around outside than to try and weave our way through the crowd once more. Once there we asked another person working the park and she said we had to go back to a different place that we had already passed by. There seemed to be very little foresight put into transportation for this event, both by the event planners and the city of Orlando. Having a few shuttle busses heading to and from the downtown area to the event would have gone a long way. Instead they left everyone to be beholden to the ride sharing apps, jockeying for lifts hither thither and yon. Didn’t wreck the event for us but certainly showcases one major area for improvement. 

Day 3

We did not go back. We did really want to spend another night dancing and to check out the rest of the stages but the difficulty of travelling back and forth each day, paired with the prohibitive cost it comes with, really curbed our enthusiasm. So we decided to skip the final night, which was probably for the best as each of us began to feel very ill in the subsequent days. Michael was hit the hardest and ended up completely wiped out, so we decided to order a rapid covid test off Amazon just in case. Back in the real world and Covid is once again on our minds, so Michael sucked it up and went through the uncomfortable process of swabbing himself. We anxiously waited for the testing time to be up and fortunately received a negative result.

About where we stayed 

When we set our sights on Anchorage Alaska we decided to look into some accommodations downtown so we could really explore the city and get the local feel. Michael met a realtor through one of the short-term stay websites that we frequent and rented the condo directly from her at Herrington & Company. Though the process is simple and straightforward which makes it quite appealing, there are a couple of downsides. First off you have to pay a $500 deposit, which they could not refund electronically and turned into a little bit of a pain in the butt to get back. They also needed a general credit/background check, which as you may know, can wreak havoc on your credit rating. Michael worked with them to make sure they didn’t have to run a full credit report, to avoid getting his credit score dinged. They also requested that we make the place available for showings to prospective buyers during our tenancy there. We agreed to this request though it is less than ideal. Luckily this only happened once, and we were already planning on being gone that day, so no harm no foul. Overall, we were happy with the space, we had a balcony, a comfortable bed, and rooftop access where we could grill our dinner and look out at the city. 

Seeing Friends

When you connect with friends and acquaintances like this it creates such an abundance of opportunity, that simply being a tourist in town doesn’t afford. No one knows the lay of the land like the locals and it ends up being mutually beneficial, as we often forget the best aspects of our communities and no longer frequent them. There is no better way to fall in love with your home again than being a tourist in your own city. Their thoughtful advice had us dining at the city’s best restaurants and getting around in a car that they loaned us for most of our time in the city. Coby and Jennie were the most amazing hosts we could ask for and our gratitude for all of their kindness and support is everlasting.

One of our fondest memories with them is getting locked in a room together for an hour. While held captive in this place we were forced to attempt to solve puzzles to regain our freedom. No it wasn’t an episode of star trek, we were checking out the Ravens Eye Escape room. At that time they only had a single room in operation and even though we weren’t able to escape before the timer went off we had a great time playing with our friends and scratching our noodles together.

Michael’s Birthday Celebration

Let’s get this party started!  Our Journey to becoming Digital Nomads. 

The Idea of becoming Nomads

The thought first came to mind after Michael had been working from home for close to a year and Onalea’s heart finally had stabilized enough that the thought of having a normal life was becoming a reality. Michael loved reading online articles about how people were bouncing all around the world with work from home jobs, using the luxury of remote work to be able to explore the world in their off hours. Some places are even incentivizing remote workers to live/work in their town for an extended period of time. These incentives ranged from specialized infrastructure, Wi-Fi, discounts on extended stays, tax breaks and even up to 10K to move into their town and to help stimulate the local economy. We had daydreamed about living a nomadic lifestyle, moving to wherever the weather was warm and spending more time living our dreams in the same way we would idly chat about the things we’d buy if we ever won the lottery. We would text each other crazy blog posts about how other people spent 3 months in Thailand, working from hammocks with Mai Tais in hand and a sunset over the ocean just a stone’s throw away. We both “knew ” that we could not afford such crazy plans, those ideas were for big shots, adventurers, not folks like us.  We would probably still be sitting around and dreaming of our current life, if we hadn’t had a jump start to set us off down the road.

We were fully Digital we just needed a push, 

This was a monumental act of kindness as it involved folding at least two loads of laundry, but we firmly believe that family comes first. The timing of our trip to Davids was perfect for us as we didn’t have anything on the burner at the moment, so we decided to make a trip out of it, staying with the family and working from the basement for a couple of weeks.

This was in February of 2021, we stayed for a short time and then returned home, unaware of how formative a trip this would turn out to be. The experience was really lovely, it felt so good to be able to share so much time with family in such a comfortable and non disruptive way. We began to muse about doing trips like this more often, of reconnecting with distant friends and relatives and taking advantage of our working arrangements. Yet the idea still resided in the someday parts of our minds and didn’t really settle into the reality we were building.

The Shove

We called Michael’s parents and asked if we could come back to Illinois and pick things up where we left off. We didn’t really have any idea of when we would be returning home and something about that felt really good, so we packed up our things and headed back to rejoin our family. 

The Plan to actually become a digital nomad

And that is when the plan really started coming together. We were going to dip into our savings and launch a blog, no longer just watching other people living out our dreams, but actively seeking them out and sharing them with others. This journey has been one full of new experiences and continual adaptation, so we plan on helping others by sharing what we’ve learned along the way. We hope you find our tips useful no matter if you’re taking a short 1-month vacation or doing a longer 3 month stay. Where we work no longer determines where we live. Though everyone’s story is different, we hope that joining us will help to inspire you to start thinking about what your dreams are, where are the places you want to see, who are the people you’ve been dreaming of spending time with? There is an entire world of adventure and excitement out there, so come and join us as we head on down the highway.