My mother's best friend owns a condo in St. Augustine, at the St. Augustine Ocean and Raquet Club. One of the phenomenal things about this place is that not only do they have condos available for purchase, but they rent them out as well. These condos have their own kitchens and living spaces on top of bedrooms, so they are very homey. My mother's friend really keeps her condo up well, and it offers a beach view. They also have their own private walk-way to the beach with access by a password. Can I also say - free wifi!?
Since St. Augustine is on the Atlantic coast of Florida, we got the chance to view some truly beautiful sun rises. However, in order to do so we had to be on the beach by 7am - which was no problem for these teachers! Which made it better - my mom's friend had a working coffee machine in the condo along with to-go mugs for our use. We were able to take our coffee right on to the beach.
Let's talk about some truly breath-taking moments.
While here in St. Augustine, we wanted to do as much as possible in the few days we had, so we immediately ventured into downtown Historic St. Augustine. One of the first must-go places for us was the Lighthouse Museum. We climbed 219 stairs to the top of the lighthouse to step out onto the overlook, which had views of the entire city and then some. Now, the climb up was steep in sections and had my father winded. They did have some windows to stop and check your progress every now and then on your way up and down.
If you come to the lighthouse, make sure to check out the gift shop. I bought wine along with some awesome glasses for my roommate! The bottle even had the lighthouse on it, so for wine lovers, it made for an awesome gift.
Another place we traveled to was the Jail House in St. Augustine. It was a very interesting tour, but we did have a wait to get in. While there, we made our way next door to the Spice and Tea Exchange - and spent plenty of money in there. I was able to bring back loose leaf tea and some rubs to enhance cooking. My father also bought some different flavored salts. The women there were very knowledgable as well and really made sure that we knew exactly what we were buying. They even gave some suggestions - so I would suggest heading there to look around!
Once we got into our tour for the Jail House, we were extremely entertained! Our tour guide kept things interesting, and really put on a show for us as an actor. They also do this as a haunted tour in the evening, but we decided to skip the haunted tour and do this during the day. We found that the value during the day tour was a lot better, but also could understand why people would pay to attend the tour at night - even during the day it was spooky!
They had plenty to entertain with here, including stories of former inmates, weapons used during specific time periods as well as forms of punishment. They even showed us 'the bird cage' and the gallows while there (both pictured above).
Another place that is necessary for anyone into history would be the fort Castillo De San Marcos. This fort is one that is not only filled with history from many different people and places in history, but it also is something that captured many moments from those different periods. One interesting spot in the fort is a room where I actually saw someone scratched their name and that they were from Ohio into the wall! It was really cool to have that personal connection.
Not the etching from Ohio - but still a really interesting etching of a schooner.
The price to go into the fort is $10 - but if you go for more than one day, you can access the fort up to seven consecutive days. (Meaning that if you go one day, leave for two weeks and try to come back, your pass will no longer be valid). However, the $10 is well spent considering your fee goes back into the National Park Service for continued preservation, renovation, and upkeep of National Park designated areas, including National Monuments.
Something else that we found was really interesting was the St. Augustine Distillery. Let me just say that not only does this place have a waiting room to go into the tour that includes history of the distillery, how whiskey is made, and interactive displays relating to St. Augustine, they have some kick ass booze! It was so good that we had to buy some and pay to check a bag back to Ohio. I am typically careful about what kind of liquor I buy since I do not drink a lot of liquor, and have ones I know I like regularly. I bought a handle of vodka that was made purely from sugar cane, so it is gluten free and delicious. They even gave us a tour of the distillery, walking us past their vats and vaults. At this time, they had just started processing rum so we were unable to try it, but at the end of the tour they made us individual drinks featuring vodka and whiskey to try. Their version of a Moscow Mule was awesome as well, and my father purchased their mugs while I bought their liquor. This place is absolutely a must go for everyone over 21 that enjoys a good drink.
Their employees even dress in prohibition era garb while serving drinks!
I do have to say that while here, we didn't try any restaurants or places to eat that we unusual, but we did try to buy local. At this time, I was on a gluten free diet and really struggled to find food in this city that were OK for me to eat. I ordered a lot of salads with oil and vinegar dressing and burgers without buns. If this is a concern for you as a traveler, St. Augustine will be a place where you will struggle! However, the incredible ocean views and just a fantastic city will more than make up for the lack of gluten free foods.
Another place of interest in St. Augustine is The Fountain of Youth. On this visit, my family and I did not make it here, but I still feel that it is worth mentioning. It may be somewhere you'd like to check out on your visit!
Another tour that I would recommend is the Ghost and Gravestones tour. They took us around in a "haunted trolley". It was a lot of fun, but kind of corny at the same time with flashing strobe lights and a decorated in black trolley. However, it was still a lot of fun and very informative. They even gave time to take a walk around a park that is supposed to have a lot of haunted activity. It was dark and had some uprooted areas around some of the trees, so it would be best to be careful while walking around the area as well. We liked the idea of the trolley so we were able to get to see more places and hear stories that were all over the city instead of just in a specific location. Again, tour guides were very knowledgable. We did make a brief stop at the Old Jail House here as well, but didn't go on the specific haunted tour of it. Between this trolley tour and our tour from earlier in the day, we thought it was enough. This is not a tour I would take young children on, as the stories told were more adult in nature and could be scary for a younger crowd.
Let me just say that our final morning there, we had the most beautiful sunrise. The pictures below are completely unfiltered, and I'm still sure they do not do justification on how absolutely gorgeous it is on the beach there. It was the perfect place for a long weekend away!
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