Good morning!
I hope you all had a great weekend. Our Father’s Day was spent with my father-in-law! Early on Sunday morning, Ryan, his dad and I went out for an early Father’s Day breakfast at Darrell’s Dog Gone Good Diner, a laid back local hot spot, for hot coffee and fabulous diner food.
(Yes, we were still half asleep!)
Ryan and I have passed Darrell’s Diner numerous times and it’s always slammed, so we had a feeling the food must be pretty darn good. It lived up to the hype and I thought my eggs, potatoes and toast were prepared quite well.
When I read the Yelp reviews about the diner before we left the house, people seemed to really love their bread and I can see why! At first glance my toast looked like regular whole wheat toast, but when I bit into it I understood the praise. It was thicker than typical toast and was the kind of hearty bread that would be perfect for French toast. Next time!
Hike
After breakfast, the three of us drove home and picked up Sadie for a late morning three-mile hike.
It was already quite warm at 10 a.m., but the clouds provided some relief and let us enjoy the walk without sweating up a storm.
During our hike, I had the chance to test out a new pair of hiking shoes that Columbia sent to me to try!
I recently signed on to be part of Columbia’s Omniten team of 10 bloggers and, after reading all about Heather’s experience as an Omniten member last year, I am ridiculously excited. You guys know how much I love hiking and the outdoors, so I am really looking forward to working with them.
The Women’s Conspiracy OutDry Shoe that they sent my way is the first real hiking shoe I’ve ever owned. Hiking with Ryan and Sadie is one of my favorite weekend activities, so I was curious to see whether or not I’d notice a big difference between hiking in regular gym shoes or hiking in real trail shoes.
The biggest difference was the traction. It rained like crazy in Ocala on Saturday night, so the leaves on certain parts of the trail were still wet and slippery, but I didn’t slide one time. I’m a fan! Florida is very flat, so I’d love to test them out while hiking in the hills or mountains. The shoes are made with OutDry patented waterproof breathable construction, so they kept my feet nice and dry when I accidentally stepped in two puddles, which was great!
On our hike we saw a bunch of small wild hogs and a tortoise.
Whenever we see wildlife on the trails, it always makes the hike more interesting!
Lunch
After our hike, we came home and ate lunch. I tossed chicken, peppers and onions in Italian dressing before sautéing everything and serving it alongside a sweet potato topped with a little butter.
Once we were done eating lunch, Ryan’s dad had to get back on the road and head home to Bradenton, so we said our goodbyes. It was great to see him and spend Father’s Day together!
Later that afternoon, around 3:30 p.m., Ryan and I drove over to a friend’s house to spend the rest of our Sunday at a barbeque birthday party.
We had a great time grilling out and eating fabulous food, including cheeseburgers and lots of crab legs!
As always, dessert was a highlight for me, thanks to Samoa ice cream!
Samoas (Caramel Delites) are my favorite Girl Scout cookie, so when I saw Breyer’s Samoa ice cream on the table, I had to give it a try. It was pretty good. I feel like there was a lot of potential for this ice cream to be amazing, but it didn’t blow me away. The vanilla cupcake, on the other hand, was fabulous!
It was a great Sunday!
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
That diner sounds so cute! Love little places like that.
That picture of Sadie HAS to be my all time favorite, HAHA
And um, WHAT I’m shocked the ice cream wasn’t as good as it sounds- so disappointing, but I guess when you hear girl scout cookie ice cream you’re going to set expectations high!
exactly! i thought it would be out of control delicious!
Mmmm, ice cream! 🙂 I like those shoes. I’m normally more of a hiking boot person than hiking shoe, but I think that’s only because I’m more used to the idea of hiking in boots.
FUN! Looks like you guys had a great time!
I love that you tried out a new local restaurant. Isn’t that the best, when you discover a gem close to home? 🙂 That encourages me to go out and do the same. Thanks for the daily inspiration, Julie!
Love those shoes!! And how awesome to see a turtle on the trail! all that food looks delicious, glad you had a great fathers day!
That’s so sad about the ice cream. Especially when it looks and sounds amazing. Always a disappointment when desserts fail 😉
Looks like a great Father’s Day celebration with your Father-In-Law. And that Diner looks awesome.
Oh my gosh, Sadies face in that pic is priceless! Love it!
I would have expected that ice cream to be amazing too. Those are my favorite girl scout cookies. At least the cupcake was good. 🙂 It looks tasty.
Looks like a fun and delicious day!! Glad you guys had a great time!
That ice cream looks so good! Better than the vanilla I had last night 😉
I would agree, I have hiked in my Nike Free’s before and they lack traction for sure, so those Columbia shoes would be awesome.
I’ve never had hiking shoes either! I don’t hike enough to justify them, though ;). It looks like you had a wonderful Father’s Day! I’m sure he really appreciated the breakfast and hike. Your whole family seems to really enjoy an active lifestyle, which is so awesome!
If you have a Publix near you, you need to try their Publix Premium Coconut Road ice cream. It tastes just like Samoas…I promise!!! SO good! 🙂
Sadie’s face (moth in particular) cracks me up!! HAHA!
Sounds like a great Father’s Day! I love that ice cream..whoever thought to put girl scout cookies in ice cream was a genius!We too grilled out this weekend, and I was the head griller for the first time 🙂 It was a lot of fun, and of course, I delivered some trademark wacky dishes.
You’re giving me the hiking itch. We haven’t been in a while and really need to go!
Ocala seems like it has lots of pretty places to go explore! That hike looks like so much fun! Those Columbia shoes are pretty cute too! Way to go Columbia on cute trail shoes! What a fun gig for you that will be!! Sadie is adorable…as usual 🙂
That’s crazy that his dad lives in Bradenton…we have family there (even though we live in Canada) that we always stay with!!!
I’ve never tried hiking shoes before, but those definitely look legit 😉
I haven’t heard of the Omniten Team with Columbia – how did you get hooked up with that? Very cool!
They actually emailed me. If you are interested for next year’s team, I will definitely pass along your information! Just let me know!
I’d love for your to pass along my information – thank you! My fiance and I are big hikers, so it’d be right up my alley.
Looks like a great hiking spot! It’s so cool that you saw wild hogs and a tortoise!
I’ve never tried shoes specifically made for hiking. I’ve always just hiked in regular sneakers, but those look great! The bottom is pretty rugged, so I can see why the traction would be much better.
That looks like a great spread of food at the BBQ!
Glad you had a great weekend! Happy Monday!
Ryan had to be pretty happy to spend some time with his dad. It seems you all spend way more time with your family versus Ryans family. Any reason for this or does Ryan get jealous?
Looks like you had a great weekend. You always inspire us readers to get out and get movin!
Small world…my mother-in-law’s second home for frequent getaways from the crummy Illinois weather is in Bradenton.
Looks like you had a great weekend with your father in law. I love to go hiking (there’s a ton of beautiful hiking in NorCal) but I don’t own any “official” hiking shoes. I have looked for some before but they always look a little too uh…manly? Those are super cute though, I’ll have to check them out!
Curious: did you take ryan’s last name when you wed?
Looks like a blast! We celebrated with golfing and my dad was thrilled!
Ah! I remember when Samoas were called Caramel DeLites! For the longest time I couldn’t remember that name, but I knew Samoas were not the original. 🙂 Looks like a delicious BBQ!
Looks like a great weekend…I wish that the Samoa ice cream had proven more amazing on one hand because WOW that sounds good, but I guess on the other hand I don’t have something else to fight my craving against 🙂
It sounds like a wonderful weekend! I haven’t done any trail running but I heard they are a lot of fun. I wonder if I could recreate Samoa ice cream myself? HMMM
I LOVE the Tagalong ice cream. Now that is delicious stuff 🙂
Your pets are so adorable! I’m glad you had a good Fathers Day. Thanks to this post I’m now seriously craving some Samoa ice cream. . . 🙂
Mmmm, I love a good BBQ. Looks like you had a fun Father’s Day weekend!
Looks like a fun Father’s Day! we did the same in the morning! Went to brunch 🙂 Yum!
I was just on pinterest and saw one of your wedding pictures on my friend’s pin board. how cool !! 🙂 Its the one where you and Ryan are on opposite sides of the door before the ceremony. Ah! I love that pic
I feel like you always have the best desserts! Ice cream sounds amazing right now.
Love the hiking shoes! I have boots but they’re far too warm for this weather!
I can never pass up Girl Scout flavored ice creams in the store. The mint ones are my favorite.
It really doesn’t matter how the good ice cream is…I seem to be able to eat my weight in it regardless. My kids recently chose “birthday cake” ice cream when it was on sale at the grocery store. It had swirls of super-sweet blue goo in it that was supposed to be “icing” I think. It really wasn’t great, but I still somehow managed to eat my fair share. I generally go for ice cream in individual servings for that reason. 🙂
Dessert is my favorite part too! 😉
What a productive – and fun – Sunday! You look so pretty in all these pictures.. tell us your secrets of how you look so gorgeous so early in the morning!
Yum! What a spread 🙂 i notice thereare strawberry and banana skewers- any tips on how to keep the bananas fresh?
Toss them in orange juice after slicing! The acidity will help prevent browning and add flavor ;).
The ice cream could be amazing but they need way more Somoa pieces in it for my taste!! When I buy ice cream like that I want it to be loaded with lots of yumminess!!
I love going out for a nice big breakfast! Sadly, my hubby and I don’t do it that often, I guess we just forget? That looks delish though and I think I’ll have to make a breakfast date with my man soon!
Looks like a lovely spread at that BBQ!
I love Sadie’s face in that first hike photo where he mouth is open, she looks so excited 🙂
You’ve made me want to buy some hiking shoes now.
Some of the items in your potluck posts make me think you have the fanciest of friends and family!
Did Sadie try to attack the gopher?
Julie, be careful! Wild boars can be very dangerous and aggressive.
I absolutely love all of your Sadie pictures! It’s great to know someone loves their dog as much as I do!!