Ocean

Made it to the Front Page!

We’ve kind of been MIA lately – swamped with work in our “real lives” where we own and operate a shaved ice business on the beach. We moved from Michigan to Florida last June to buy Beach Snoballs – an artisan shaved ice shop across the street from the Gulf of Mexico in Treasure Island, Florida. I know, rough life, right? Spring breakers and tourists have consumed us this month but today, we made it to the FRONT PAGE of the local beach newspaper! The Pinellas Beaches Patch interviewed us and took some great pictures of our storefront and of us shaving/making a customer’s snoball. Click here to read our article!

Photo credit: Rachel Jolley of the Pinellas Beaches Patch

And a little side note: The businesses around Treasure Island are having a contest for Best Customer Service on the Beach. Beach Snoballs has made it to the Elite 8 but we need VOTES to move on to the next round. If you would be willing to take a few seconds to click the link below and vote for BEACH SNOBALLS in the contest, we would greatly appreciate your support.

http://goo.gl/NYC9d

You don’t have to have visited our shop before to vote – anyone can vote! And you can submit votes from multiple devices (phones, laptops, desktops, iPads, etc.). So the more votes we can accumulate between now and Monday at noon, the better! THANK YOU to all!

Categories: Beach, Beach Snoballs, Family, Florida, Food, News, Ocean, Outdoors, Photography, Planning vacation, Random, Summer, Summer Desserts, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Travel, Travel Tips, Trip planning, United States, Vegan, Vegetarian, Water, World Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why We Love Florida

Moving to Florida (we bought a beachside business on the Gulf) has been absolutely fantastic. Besides having a great starting location for our travels with easy access to the Caribbean, Mexico, Cuba and Central America, it’s warm even in the winter, we get an abundance of Vitamin D, there are palm trees and grapefruit trees in our back yard and the wildlife is awesome. We’re both from the midwest (Michigan and Pennsylvania), so the tropical flora and fauna are very exotic to us. (How often can you just pull off at a roadside park and see live gators!?). If you have never been to Florida or are looking for great location for a getaway, we highly recommend the Sunshine State. Oh, and stop by our shop – Beach Snoballs - on Treasure Island – we’d love to meet you!

This is a picture I took while we were moving into our new house – I found this little guy crawling on our mailbox!

Categories: Adventure, Animals, Backpacking, Beach, Beach Snoballs, Explore, Family, Florida, Food, Landscape Photograph, Nature, Ocean, Outdoors, Photography, Planning vacation, Plants and Flowers, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Travel, Travel Photography, Travel Tips, United States, Water, Wild, World Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Life’s a Beach

Check out this treasury on Etsy called Life’s a Beach! It’s all beach-related art by artists from all over the world! Excited for summer yet??

Categories: Adventure, Art, Beach, Black and Blue, Bracelet, Etsy, Explore, Family, Gear, Jewelry, Landscape Photograph, Ocean, Outdoors, Photography, Pinterest, Plants and Flowers, SCUBA Diving, Top Knotch Gear, Travel, Travel Photography, Water, white and blue, World Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Islands for Everyone!

As cabin fever sets in and winter blues hover in the air (unless you live in Florida, no winter blues here), why not take yourself on a tropical getaway? Say, to an island that’s perfect for your personality?! CNN Go has put together a list of islands that are perfect for all kinds of people – nudists, families, loners, lovers…. you name it. Here are some of the findings:

World’s Best Islands For…

Naughty Nudists
Rab, Croatia – The birthplace of skinny dipping where clothing is optional. There are 3 different nude beaches where all of your parts can get some Vitamin D.

Nature Nuts
Sark, Channel Islands – It’s here, off the French coast of Normandy, that you can see the Milky Way nearly every night. There are no street lights or headlights because cars and bright lights are outlawed – perfect for stargazing space freaks (like me)!

Family Frenzies
Oahu, Hawaii – I’ll admit, the thought of visiting an island where are bunch of kids are running around is a turnoff to me. But Oahu is a great destination for families because of all the activities to keep young ones entertained – things like surfing school, giant mazes and water slides.

Lusty Lovebirds
Lizard Island, Australia – Between the 24 private beaches, the torch-lit dinners at the resorts and the Great Barrier Reef, this island is sure to make sparks fly. I know it’s going on our itinerary…

Laid Back Loners
Ogasawara Island, Japan – Traveling solo isn’t a bad thing, especially if you enjoy the quiet of being one with nature. South of Tokyo, this island has few inhabitants and a ferry is the only means of connecting the island to the “real world”… otherwise, you’re on your own! (Bring your survival bracelet!)

Party Peeps
Ibiza, Spain – Yes, the same Ibiza that J-Lo sings about. Known for its sweaty summer raves, there are tons of clubs with head-throbbing trance music if you’re looking for a party scene-getaway.

Movie Star Madness
St. Barts, French West Indies – Pretty, posh and full of paparazzi, this is THE island for celeb sightings. It’s also a gorgeous place with white sand beaches, just like in the Hollywood movies.

To read about the other island recommended, check out CNN Go’s article.

Happy island-hopping!

Categories: Adventure, Around the World, Backpacking, Celebrities, Explore, Family, Globetrotting, Landscape Photograph, Love, Naked Hiking, Naturalist, Nature, News, Nude Beach, Nude Hiking, Ocean, Outdoors, Photography, Planning vacation, Plants and Flowers, RTW, SCUBA Diving, Summer, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Transportation, Travel, Travel Photography, Travel Tips, Trip planning | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

10 Extreme Adventures!

Back in September, MSNBC Travel did an article on 10 extreme adventures – everything from shark bating to helicopter safaris! How many of these crazy vacations would YOU take?

10 Extreme Adventures:

  1. Go shark-bating (we don’t support this one*)
  2. Dive in an exosuit
  3. Go drag racing
  4. Take a helicopter safari
  5. Rescue training school
  6. Bulldoze something
  7. Go street-luging
  8. Drive a tank
  9. Try stunt training
  10. Fly a MiG over Russia

Go street-luging!

Take a helicopter safari!

*After researching some pictures to accompany MSNBC’s list, we were really turned off by shark-bating. We learned that there are some French Islander fishing techniques that use live dogs as bait – the pictures are very sad and we do not support these practices. What are your thoughts?

Categories: Adventure, Africa, Airplanes, Animals, Backpacking, Beach, Explore, Extreme Vacation/Adventures, Family, Florida, Helicopter Safari, Law Enforcement, Nature, Ocean, Outdoors, Planning vacation, Police, Russia, SCUBA Diving, Sharks, Summer, Top Knotch Gear, Transportation, Travel, Travel Tips, Trek, Trip planning, United States, Wild | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

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