Run Elif Run - Funs and Trips

We began our daily trip to Key West after we took one cup of regular coffee and one cup of hazelnut coffee from Panera Bread on the morning. We went John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Sombrero Beach, and Bahia Honda State Park respectively. We would enjoy more if the weather was better. It was drizzly and we had to hide from the rain while we were on the beaches.  The sun went down, when we arrived to Key West. Therefore, we made just a quick city tour and visit Southernmost Point of the Continental US. Cuba is roughly 90 miles south of this point in Key West. I think it was super cool to experience.  1. Activities John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Sombrero Beach Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda State Park Key West City Tour Duval Street Southernmost Point of the Continental US 2. Accommodation Holiday Inn Express & Suites Kendall (Our score is 8.5/10 because of poor internet connection) 13475 SW 131st Street Miami, FL 33186 3. Daily Expenditures   $ 10.0...

Today we made an airboat safari tour in Everglade State Park. We first went into the vast open saw grass where we saw why the Everglades were called the “River of Grass”! We traveled by Airboat through a Hardwood Hammock (a small island of solid ground in the “river of grass”), into the Everglades National Park stopping at alligator holes and seeing the abundance of ‘glades wildlife. If you are lucky, you can see the Purple Gallanule voted the most colorful bird in Florida and the endangered Everglade Snail Kite as well as herons, grackles, turtles, raccoons and other Everglades residents. The Everglades were truly unique and vibrant environment. After the safari we went to the Amelia Earhart Park to make a picnic and watched water sports. And finally, we visit Little Havana at the evening to see the Cuban life. 1. Activities Everglades National Park Airboat Safari for Alegators Amelia Earhart Park Little Havana 2. Accommodation Holiday Inn Express & Suites Kendall (Our score is 8...

Miami city center includes so many great touristic places and events. Because it was a bit windy on the morning we decided to spent our time in the city. We began our tour with Coral Gables. We wanted to see the Venetian Pool however it was closed. Biltmore Hotel, beautiful houses and Banyan Trees were magnificent. Especially, we loved Banyan trees and the houses on Greenway Dr. Our next stop was Coconut Grove. Luckily, Elif found some coconuts around the coconut trees and we cut them and drank their water :) After that, we visit Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park. Because the beach was too windy we swam in Whiskey Creek. After we made a picnic near the Whiskey Creek we turned back to city center and went to Miami Beach and Star Island to see the celebrities' houses. 1. Activities Venetian Pool (Unfortunately closed) Biltmore Hotel Miami Coral Gables Coral Gables S Greenway Dr N Greenway Dr Coconut Grove Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park Whiskey Creek Hideout Holocau...

Today, we left Tampa and arrived to Miami. We visited Sawgrass Mills Outlet in North part of Miami which was on our way. We have never seen such a huge shopping center before. Sawgrass Mills Shopping Center contains hundreds of brands such as Versace, Prada, Boss, and Calvin Klein. We also visited Rainforest Cafe in the shopping center that was one of the famous theme cafes. We did not want to stay too long because the shopping mall was too crowded and it was too risky during the pandemic. Our last stop was Wynwood Walls and Downtown Miami at night. Wynwood Walls were full of people. We liked the energy of the street and spent almost two hours on 2nd Avenue. Meanwhile, we realized that a great number of people seem that did not care about the pandemic in Miami. 1. Activities Sunshine Skyvawe Bridge Riverwalk Sawgrass Mills Outlet Wynwood Walls Downtown Miami 2. Accommodation Holiday Inn Express & Suites Kendall  13475 SW 131st Street Miami, FL 33186 3. Daily Expenditures ...

Gas, food, schedules, and hotels may always be a problem during a road trip. I would like to share some tips and tricks that I find them very helpful and beneficial. I believe that they provide more time efficiency and productivity during the trip. Therefore, you can have more time and more money to enjoy your trip. Google Maps is a mandatory tool for navigation, Google Travel  for making plans and schedules (It is also useful for saving places to see on Google Maps), Costco gasoline for cheap gas, Gasbuddy mobile application to find a cheap gas, BestParking mobile application to find a cheap car parking area, MiamiBeach Parking mobile application to find a cheap car parking area in Miami, Hotels.com for booking a hotel. If you book 10 nights, you can get 1 extra night as a reward, iExit  mobile application for rest areas and important locations on Interstate roads in the US, Panera Bread for free coffee every day (It is a special deal for the new subscribers o...

We could not swim in the ocean because it was too cold today. However, we had a chance to visit beautiful beaches in St. Petersburg and Clearwater. We also pet the seagulls at the Clearwater Beach. The greedy segulls stole our foods while we were eating.  1. Activities St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market St. Petersburg City Tour Fort De Soto Park (Beach) Clearwater Beach 2. Accommodation Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, St. Petersburg - Clearwater, FL (Our score is 2/10) (Wifi problem, poor breakfast) 8050 US Hwy 19N Pinellas Park, FL 33781 3. Daily Expenditures     $ 5.00 - Enterance fee of Fort De Soto Park (Beach)     $ 1.75 - Road fees     $ 5.50 - Parking fees (All day at several different points)    $ 27.68 - Gasoline   $ 43.48 - Food and beverages   $ 96.52 - Hotel (Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, St. Petersburg - Clearwater) ______ $ 179.93 4. The Route

I have never seen millions of sea shells, star fishes, limpets, and sponges together before. Honeymoon Island is a semi-tropical island that includes millions of those. Elif and Aysegul loved them and we collected tens of them. Meanwhile, we waited at the beach to see the sunset in Mexican Gulf. 1. Activities Clearwater City Tour Honeymoon Island 2. Accommodation Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, St. Petersburg - Clearwater, FL (Our score is 2/10) (Wifi problem, poor breakfast) 8050 US Hwy 19N Pinellas Park, FL 33781 3. Daily Expenditures     $ 8.00 - Enterance fee of Honeymoon Island   $ 22.44 - Food and beverages   $ 96.53 - Hotel (Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, St. Petersburg - Clearwater) ______ $ 126.97 4. The Route

NASA has fantastic facility that all space missions are conducted in Orlando. We spent entire day in Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Because of the pandemic some exhibitions and simulations were closed. Therefore, there were only limited activities in the complex. 1. Activities Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex International Drive Universal's Islands of Adventure Orlando Starflyer 2. Accommodation SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orlando Airport (Our score is 9/10)  5828 Hazeltine National Dr, Orlando, FL 32822 3. Daily Expenditures $ 178.26 - Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex   $ 10.00 - Car parking fee at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex   $ 64.08 - Hotel (SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orlando Airport)   $ 10.00 - Car parking fee of the hotel ______ $ 262.34 4. The Route

We continued with Jacksonville at the fourth day. Mickler's Landing Beach and the houses in this area were wonderful. We also loved city of St. Augustine that was full of historical and great buildings such as Flagler College. 1. Activities The Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary ($29, 1-3 PM) Mickler's Landing Beach St. Augustine city tour Flagler College  Daytona Beach 2. Accommodation SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orlando Airport (Our score is 7/10)  5828 Hazeltine National Dr, Orlando, FL 32822 3. Daily Expenditures   $ 29.00 - The Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary     $ 2.50 - Car parking fee at St. Augustine   $ 18.14 - Gasoline   $ 15.80 - Food & Beverages   $ 64.08 - Hotel (SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orlando Airport)   $ 10.00 - Car parking fee of the hotel ______ $ 139.52 4. The Route

We continued with Savannah and Jacksonville at the third day. Savannah historic District enchanted us. Additionally, we found Jekyll Island so amazing because of the trees on the beach. 1. Activities Bonaventure Cemetery The Cathedral Basilica of St. John Savannah Historic District East River Street Old Town Trolley of Savannah Jekyll Island Jacksonville Downtown John T. Alsop Jr. Bridge 2. Accommodation Fairfield Inn & Suites Jacksonville Airport (Our score is 4/10) (Wifi problem) 1300 Airport Rd, Jacksonville, FL, 32218 3. Daily Expenditures     $ 8.00 - Enterance of Jeckyll Island    $ 29.24 - Gasoline   $ 19.77 - Food & Beverages   $ 72.21 - Hotel (Fairfield Inn & Suites Jacksonville Airport) ______ $ 129.22 4. The Route

We continued our road trip with Savannah on the second day. Here is a short summary. 1. Activities Beaufort Hunting Island (Beach, Lighthouse, and picnic) Savannah Historic District Forsyth Park Savannah City Market Savannah's Candy Kitchen Savannah City Tour  2. Accommodation Best Western Central Inn (Our score is 7/10) 45 Eisenhower Drive Savannah, GA 31406 3. Daily Expenditures   $ 16.00 - Entrance for Beaufort Hunting Island     $ 6.00 - Lighthouse Enterance of Beaufort Hunting Island   $ 12.27 - Gasoline   $ 69.07 - Hotel (Best Western Central Inn) ______ $ 103.34 4. The Route

A wonderful beginning for our Southeast USA road trip. From Chapel Hill, NC to Charleston, SC. Here is a short summary. 1. Activities Fayetville, NC City Tour South of the Border Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Historic Charleston City Market Joe Riley Waterfront Park Rainbow Row Charleston City Tour 2. Accommodation Towne Place Suites by Marriott Charleston-North Charleston (Our score is 9.5/10) 7535 Northside Drive North Charleston, SC 29420 3. Daily Expenditures   $ 29.95 - Patriots Point Naval & Maritime     $ 5.00 - Car Parking Fee of Patriots Point Naval & Maritime    $ 20.36 - Gasoline   $ 71.23 - Hotel (Towne Place Suites by Marriott Charleston-North Charleston) ______ $ 126.54 4. The Route  

We as a family are planning to go to Miami from Chapel Hill this winter break in December. Our trip will be a 16-day-trip and covers Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Key West, Panama City, Atlanta, and Ashville. I used Google Travel to make our plan and search important destinations from google. You can find the activities that we plan on the table. For your information, we just wanna see the theme parks in Orlando. Because they are too expensive and the weather is a bit cold we will not join theme parks at this time.    Wake up Sleep Day 1 20 Dec Chapel Hill Charleston Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation South of the Border Magnolia Plantation and Gardensv Historic Charleston City Market Joe Riley Waterfront Park Fort Sumter Na...

I have completed 11 surveillance testings since August 20th. In other words, I am invited Covid-19 testing 11 times in 4 months or I am tested almost every 10 days :) I believe that Duke is doing a good job in surveillance testing. Thanks to this excellent effort, we as students completed the first semester safe and healthy. What is Duke's surveillance testing? Duke is conducting regular surveillance testing of students and other campus community members who do not have any symptoms to assist in the early detection and response for potential COVID-19 cases on campus. So, if you are affiliated with Duke, then you may have a notification email or text message on one morning that warns you about upcoming surveillance testing. After you receive the notification, you can visit one of the test center in the campus and complete the surveillance testing. And then, Duke Human Vaccine Institute conduct the pooled test with your samples. What is the pooled test? It is a kind of testing strate...

Zoos are the most exciting places for children. Therefore, we went to the North Carolina Zoo on December 15. Although, it was a bit cold, Elif and all of us spent amazing time there Logistic It took almost 1 hour and 15 minutes from Chapel Hill to the Zoo by car. It was a all day event. Thereby, we went there on the morning and left nearly 4 pm. To visit entire places, we needed to walk 10,000 feet. Remember, it is the  World's largest natural habitat zoo. Thus, you need to walk a lot and need all day. About the Zoo According to the Zoo, there were  1,800 animals and 52,000 plants throughout our 500-acre conservation park. There were two main places in the Zoo. One of them is Africa and the other one is North America. You can walk from Africa’s grasslands to North America’s Arctic coast. Some places were closed because of the pandemic and season U nfortunately, we could not visit some places because of the pandemic. For example, i ndoor habitats (Seabirds, Polar Bear Ice Cave ...

We applied for Lowe’s workshop holiday train and today we picked it up. They gave us two train kits. So, Elif and I made our trains together. We enjoyed to make it. Therefore we thank to Lowe’s for this amazing gift.  I also would like to share some fun facts about trains.  1. The earliest trains were just many connected carts. These ran along a track and were usually pulled by horses, mules, and sometimes even people.  2. In 1964, Japan introduced the Bullet Train. These amazing trains can now travel 177 miles-per-hour.  3. America’s first stean locomotive lost a race to a horse.  4. The Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia is known for being the longest railroad. It runs between St. Petersburg Russia and Vladivostok Russia, which is about 5,592 miles.