Last weekend we traveled to Venice, FL (not Italy unfortunately) to visit longtime friends. In fact, these two friends were very instrumental in our lives when we were first married. They helped us in many different ways, as we started out our lives together. We don’t know about you, but many married couples will attest to the fact that the first five years of marriage can be tough. Yikes!
Back in the day, our friends Jud and Barb opened their home for times for people to cultivate friendships and learn how to navigate life. They taught us lessons from the Bible, as well as their own personal experiences. One of the most important lessons we learned was that God loves us in a huge way and wants to be a part of our lives and that we are each worthy of that love. In turn, we should treat each other with love and respect. We are thankful for friends like them and hope to emulate what they taught us so many years ago! So, we began our journey…
Back to our bike trip! While in Venice, we were going to ride the Legacy Bike Trail. The Legacy Trail in Venice, FL is one of the best paved bike trails in Florida! As of March 2022, the trail now extends 18.1 miles to Sarasota, FL. The scenery is beautiful with forests, wetland prairies, and pastures. You almost feel like you are in another country when riding along the trail. However, instead of riding the trail, our friends took us on a tour of Venice where we saw beautiful Gulf of Mexico views, fishing piers, quaint French bakeries, Consignment shops, shark teeth hunters along the beaches, and much more. It was so much fun to reconnect with friends, see new things and meet new people, and be outside!
Being outside really IS healthy for you! Not only do you take a step away from everyday life, but you feel happier. Studies show that spending just 15 minutes in nature helps people feel psychologically restored! Other studies reveal improvement in cognition and memory, ability to concentrate, stress reduction, as well as reduces aches and pains, stimulates healing, improves longevity, strengthens your immunity, increases Vitamin D absorption, speeds up metabolism, and just makes you feel happier! Now don’t you want to just get outside with all of those benefits?!
As you travel along your journey, we encourage you to make time to surround yourself with friends who make you better people (vs bring you down), as well as situations that make you better (like being outside!)
Hope to see you on the road! Enjoy the journey!