Labelle, Florida; Summer 2017

A few days after spring finals, I squeezed into the backseat of my best friend's parents' vehicle, among quite a bit of their treasured belongings, as my best friend drove for twenty hours to a small town of Labelle, Florida that her parents are now calling home. It was my third time coming to Florida this year. We came for winter break to support our Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl, and again during spring break to experience a "typical" college spring break on the beach. This time around, it was a completely different experience. We spent our days going to the local coffee shop, reading, and relaxing on the beach for two weeks instead of trying to pack in a whole break's worth of excitement in a few days.We wanted different things to come out of our time spent this time around. With that in mind, I decided I wanted to document more of the raw moments. Previously, we had been taking carefully planned out photos that didn’t really include any of the amazing memories we created. I wanted the photos I brought back to be just as different as our trip objectives were. It was really important to me that I accurately document our time spent in Florida. So here are a few of my favorite photos.

Project Eden

Having made the 20 hour drive one other time this year, we knew how dreadful a car full of people with different music preferences could actually be. In order to avoid any tension in a tight space, Storm suggested we start an audio book series. We were able to make it through two books on the drive down. It was actually a pretty good idea, and we’ll probably do the same on future road trips.

Beach Bathroom Reflection

I only packed a couple pairs of shorts and a handful of shirts for this trip because I wanted to see if I managed living off half a suitcase. This is a simple outfit, but I felt confident at the beach that day.

Jamaican Me Happy

Writing in paradise.

Black Eyed Beauty

The night before we left, we went to a rowdy punk show. I got kicked in the face while I was crowd surfing and got this black eye. The show was definitely worth it.

Reading

Most of our trip was spent reading in various locations around Florida.

Summer Days

Optimal

My very best friend, my ride or die, my other half.

Second Home

Storm sitting on the dock behind the house that has become so familiar to us, in the middle of opening up to me about some of her personal thoughts, could have described so many days we spent here.

Serenity

Rayne Is Coming

Searching

Sand Dollar City

We surprisingly found quite a bit of sand dollars on the beach this night.

Starfish

A random family came up to us to show us a live starfish they found and were about to put back in the water.

Starfish pt. 2

Classic

Velvet

She is, quite possibly, my favorite dog on the planet.

Vodka Water

I’ve never seen water that is naturally this blue until I went to Venice Beach. While swimming, I said to Storm, “This water is so misleading! I feel like it should taste like vodka and juice, but I keep getting mouthfuls of salt.”

Seashells by the Seashore

Daydreaming

The Road Home

We drove along this road every day, but our last day in Florida I asked Storm to pull over so I could capture this photo. The road is not something locals would ever look twice at, but it took my breath away every single day. I can’t decide if it is the scenery itself, or if it is everything this road symbolizes to me that leaves me breathless.

Little Lizard

Every single time we saw one of this little guys outside the house, we had to shout: “It’s a little lizard!”

The Aftermath

It was about this time when I started to wonder how we managed to fit this mess in one suitcase on the way down.

Leaving Paradise

Bittersweet.

Natural Habitat

I read and she sketches while we wait to return from our latest adventure. No other photo could describe our passions and personalities any more accurately.