Labor Day 2026 on the Rainbow River - Fun Weekend with Millie Mae and the Gobles

 

For Labor Day 2026, we drove to the Rainbow River to enjoy a weekend with Connor and Paige, our pupper dog Millie Mae, and Amanda, Ryan, and Graydon too!

We've been thinking about visiting one of the many springs or rivers over the years, but never got around to it and it wasn't until Andrea did some research and found a cute house to rent that she booked us a place. The house we rented wasn't super huge or fancy, but it was right on a chill part of the river, had nice comfortable living quarters, and came with multiple kayaks and standup paddleboards. 

The weather's been pretty brutally hot for a while now and we've been suffering more than usual because it's the first summer we don't have a pool that we can use regularly. In the past we had a neighborhood pool, one in our backyard, or the PVIC pool. 

Millie Mae was very happy that she got to come along and she was a good girl in the car during the drive and was cute about cuddling with Andrea and me.

When we arrived, we took the SUPs and kayaks down to the water and jumped in. We found our way through the neighborhood, under a bridge, and out to the river. The spring fed river was chilly, but it actually felt wonderful on a hot and humid day.

There were lots of turtles and fish everywhere, and as soon as we got out to the river the water became crystal clear and we could see straight down to the bottom. We went upstream for a while and saw otters pass us by and eventually I spotted a gator lying on top of some leaves. We had been hoping there wouldn't be any gators around, but thankfully it wasn't enormous and the water was very clear. We still kept Millie close to us so she wouldn't become someone's dinner.

Our second day out on the water we traveled downstream for a while and swam around, enjoying the cool water. Andrea and the kids got some goggles and went exploring and we saw lots of more animals.

Graydon and Paige did some fishing off the dock in the evening and they caught a few little fish.

Sunday morning we went out to a late breakfast and then started our adventure on the pontoon boat we rented.

Ryan did a great job navigating the busy river, and while it was a little different than paddling around, we actually enjoyed it less than on our paddleboards. We swam a bit, traversed the same waterways, and in the afternoon we returned the boat and Connor left to head back to Tallahassee.

In the evening we went back to a Mexican restaurant, cleaned up, and went to bed fairly early. The Gobles had a flight out in the morning on Monday, so we gave them hugs and kisses and thanked them for coming along and making our holiday weekend extra special.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend, and we enjoyed it so much. Millie Mae coming along made it extra special. She was such a good girl, stayed close when we were on the river, and swam until she was completely exhausted. 

We're thankful that we got to be together with family and that the weather cooperated for us. It was something that we will definitely do again and it was the perfect activity for a hot Florida summer.