It’s hard to believe it’s been two weeks since our Florida trip. I was on the phone with a friend on Sunday and we agree that it’s such a blessing to have “time fly by when you’re having fun.” My loneliest year in Chicago felt like five, depressing, agonizing years—and my time here in Atlanta has felt like six months tops! There’s something about knowing who you are, being with the right people and feeling “at home with yourself” that has made my post-Midwestern years feel like they’re moving a million miles a minute.

I miss Linley stretching his head out the window to hear the ocean waves, feel the sea breeze and simply take it all in. We’re lucky that he’s such a good boy in the car, and he always found the sunshine no matter what…

In Atlanta, we live near Ponce City Market, and near a street named Ponce de Leon Ave, so of course we had to find Ponce while we were in Florida, too! We wanted to check out some natural springs and they were gorgeous. Luckily we didn’t discover any alligators during our stroll, although we did discover some beautiful views.

We snacked on some breakfast treats at a picnic table while we watched people swim and play in the park. It was awesome to find something like this in Florida, because I don’t realize how many natural springs existed there. We’ll be back!

After Ponce, we ventured to 30A (not our cup of tea whatsoever, but we wanted to check it out before leaving Florida). We found a non-bougie afternoon hangout where we grabbed a drink and enjoyed the fog. One other thing that threw us off about the PCB area was all the fog; that was my first time in the panhandle and it was insanely foggy, but abruptly! From Ponce to 30A, I felt like I was in a completely different climate and place altogether.

We found an amazing lunch spot with delicious food. The price showed because we were in an expensive part of town haha, but it was worth it. Linley was getting so much attention from all the women on spring break, and from other pups walking by, too. He’s well-loved wherever we go! 🙂

We quickly stopped at our Airbnb but ventured back to downtown Panama City because again, it suddenly felt warm and sunny. There was an art fair going on and although Lin was overstimulated, we found a great spot by the water to walk around and grab a drink before hitting the beach one last time. Seeing Linley smile and play the way he does when he’s in a new place is something that always melts Alex’s and my hearts. And seeing my two favorite fellas bond is something I’ll never get over!

The theme of the day was fog, because we sadly had one last evening of it during sunset. We met a stranger named Lee, who was nice but talked our ear off, so maybe it was a blessing it was foggy (I would’ve felt like I was missing out otherwise haha!) Despite the fog, Linley enjoyed frolicking on St. Joe Beach again on the last evening of our trip. When we visit again, we’ll stay near this beach because it was absolutely beautiful, barely anyone was around, and it was one of the nicer beaches we’d ever been to with Linley. I miss it just writing this now!

We headed back into town for our last dinner of the trip, and let’s just say I ate my body weight in crab legs! Aside from the fried fish we made the night before, it was my best meal of the trip, and it was great to be on the patio with Alex and Linley. The whole weekend felt like my happy place!

We were exhausted because of how much fun we had! We can’t wait to return, and we can’t wait for our next Tracey Trio roadtrip. 🥹

Media taken Saturday, March 7 & Sunday, March 8, 2026.