My family has been coming to the area for over 20 years. For us it has been our annual family beach holiday combined with sun and fun – ‘Florida vibe’ at its best. Daytona Beach is probably best known for its entertainment reputation for party-goers, large motorcycle biking events such as Daytona Bike Week, Biketoberfest, and of course Nascar Daytona 500 racing. Our visit has always been more on the spectator side and family activities. No different this time around as we came across with an annual Daytona Turkey Run -event taking place at the race track the weekend after Thanksgiving holiday. Organized twice a year, this is the largest combined car show and swap meet in the United States. We decided to take a quick look on the last day of the event and strolled around the collector cars on display, spare parts offering and other automotive related items and memorabilia. Wow – the offering was impressive! And yes, we also got to enjoy a ride in a golf cart around the track!

Sunday Yoga with Mimosas

While scrolling down the weekly events posted on the Visit Daytona Beach Tourism Office I came across with a Yoga & Mimosa Sunday Funday yoga session offered at the Streamline Hotel on South Atlantic Avenue. Recurring weekly on Sundays I decided to make my way over to the hotel located at the heart of Daytona Beach’s Entertainment District. Guided by yoga instructor Andie, I joined the donation-based yoga class with a small group of yoga enthusiasts for an hour of asanas in the rooftop sun. After the class was over we enjoyed free Mimosas on-the-house chatting with Andie and sharing past yoga experiences. The yoga was great – thank you Andie and so were the Mimosas! Thank you to Stramline Hotel as well, a Daytona Beach iconic Art Deco architecture hotel, birthplace of Stock Car Racing and Headquarters of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corp during WWII.

Taking on Gym

So, this time I decided to do some gym work besides walks or run at the beach to keep better track of my fitness agenda. I found a local family-owned Greater Fitness and its beach-side gym location next to Winn-Dixie, a local grocery store. I signed up for a month membership with free PT consultation. The gym was kept very clean with a diverse clientele of different ages – it was also easy to spot ‘regulars’ to say hi. I used my personalized key card to enter the 24-h gym with regular staffed hours. I’m not sure if my fitness agenda got fully booked but I sure enjoyed the sporadic workout!     

Breakfast, lunch or brunch please

Breakfast, lunch or brunch choices in Daytona are numerous and these are usually served until 3 pm. We have usually eaten out a few times a week enjoying the local variety of offering by the beach side. Breakfast items offered at the more traditional type of diners have usually been our choice.  I could mention many different options here but I will go with two: Casual Bird and Hightide Kitchen. Both places were new acquaintances for us and a fresh addition to our mix of breakfast places. Not only do they both serve eggs and omelets but the bakery offering was also great! Skipping lunch…    

To be continued…