Explore Your State: St. Petersburg, FL

I’m not sure why it took me so long to come up with this, but I’ll be doing a new category of posts called Explore Your State. Although I’ve lived in Florida for over half my life now, I haven’t explored it as much as I want to. I told you all in my last post that I went to St. Petersburg for the day with one of my friends and it was my first time going. I loved it and will definitely be back sometime in the near future, and I hope after reading this post, most of you will love it too!

Food: Bodega on Central
The first thing you notice when you walk up to Bodega is not how small it is, but how inviting it is. You can smell all of the fresh ingredients as soon as you approach the outside booth, and the scent gets stronger as you walk inside. Maria remarked that it reminded of her mom’s kitchen. As soon as you catch a whiff, you know that the food is going to be amazing. I got the Pollo Asado plate and it was on point! I had it with a cafe con leche, which was as great as I expected it to be. Everyone who worked there was helpful and the price was right, especially for how much food came in my box. There was also a great variety of fresh juices made on the spot, which I definitely need to try next time. If you ever visit St. Pete, do not miss this!

Sightseeing: 600 Block Murals
Without having to leave Central Ave, you can take all of the Instagrammable pictures your heart desires. There are murals pretty much everywhere, but my favorite ones are on the 600 block. My #OOTD post pictures were taken there, as well as these:

Relaxation: Treasure Island Beaches
One of the main reasons for my St. Petersburg trip was to go to the beach, and Treasure Island was only a short drive down Central Ave. It took a few tries to find parking since we got there in the late afternoon, but once we did, it was so worth it.

We only stayed at the beach for about an hour, but that’s because we were highly motivated to stop by the Mini Doughnut Factory in Tampa on our way home.