Candice Smith Photography: Candice Smith Photography Naples, Fl

After trying to convince my hard-working boyfriend, Corey, that he was in desperate need of a vacation before we get into our typical "tourist season"; I was finally able to convince him to take a week and plan a camping trip to 2 state parks that we either hadn't ever been to or hadn't been to in many, many years.

Because my hard-working boyfriend is also OCD when it comes to the details and planning, we began planning this trip weeks in advance. We had lists, upon lists, upon lists of things we needed to do before we went. We had to save money, rent a car (or fix an issue with his truck that would prevent us from using IT instead), make arrangements for someone to come by to take care of our cats (or house-sit the week we'd be gone), plan a meal menu, go grocery shopping, notify everyone of where we'd be going and how to reach us, check into the sorts of activities each park offered and decide which were most important for us to do since we wouldn't have enough time to enjoy them all. By the time we were finished, we nearly needed a vacation from our vacation hahaha

But, as crazy as I thought his planning was and as "go with the flow" as I'd have rather been about it, it definitely came in handy a few times that I let him do the planning that he wanted to do.

I shared a few photos via my facebook page: Candice Smith Photography on FB but thought I'd share some more images via the blog. Hope you enjoy them!

Myakka River State Park

Highlands Hammock State Park

We had a blast! I got home and immediately started planning out our next vacation :) It won't be until next year, but I'm totally up for pre-planning (with more notice this time) if it means less time I spend next year trying to convince him to take some time off again :)

You can also find images from my vacation on my instagram account: @CandiceSmithPhoto (link: CandiceSmithPhoto on Instagram)

Here are a few of my faves though: