Day Trip | Gainesville, FL

Just last week we visited Gainesville, Florida for the first time. There were some things that we both wanted to see there, so we day tripped our way north and did plenty of fun sightseeing. The drive is less than 3 hours, so we left early, occupied ourselves all day, and we made the drive back home later that evening. Not too shabby for a quick little day trip.

standing on the boardwalk overlook at Paynes Prairie Preserve

Our day in Gainesville included a very quick stop by Paynes Prairie Preserve state park, which was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. I'd love to learn more about it and hopefully visit again with binoculars and hiking shoes next time. There are most likely plenty of birds to be seen within this state park. We will be back.

my husband inside the stadium

We also made sure to see The Swamp and view some Heisman trophies inside the James W. "Bill" Heavener Football Complex. I'm obviously partial to Michigan football and The Big House, but it was fun seeing Florida's stadium. We also had fun hunting down whatever Tim Tebow memorabilia we could find, because he did play for our Denver Broncos for a little while. My husband and I both love football, so we had a good time wandering around UF's stadium.

inside the Baughman Center

We also did plenty of walking around not only the football stadium but the University of Florida campus too. There was even enough time for a gummy bear purchase in one of their bookstores. During our long walk around campus, we stopped by the Baughman Center, which is a cute little chapel located next to Lake Alice.

taking video inside the butterfly rainforest

Our visit ended with almost two hours spent at the Butterfly Rainforest. More on that later this week. That was my favorite thing about our whole visit to Gainesville, so I've got plenty to talk write about.

We squeezed tons of fun activities and sightseeing into our fairly short day trip to Gainesville. Not only did we explore a new Florida location, but I guess this is one more thing I can cross off of our Florida bucket list. Mission accomplished.