A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

St. Augustine Part 2: Fun Things to Do!

The first thing you need to do when you go on vacation is to embrace your inner tourist. And I don’t mean socks with sandals and fanny packs. Smile

In St. Augustine they have several trolleys that go through the town all throughout the day. You pay for one day and you can ride free the next 2 days. This is invaluable. Just do it, you’ll thank me later. They make several stops at a lot of the hot spots that you’ll want to see. These are the stops we made; and they’re not in order by trolley number. I’m being a rebel.

1. The Winery (Don’t Judge Smile) Stop #13 on the tour.

This was actually a VERY informational tour. I learned a lot about wine that I didn’t know. When you go in you sit for a short video telling about where and how the local wine is made and then you go to a tasting room and get to sample several of their local varieties. If you have kids, they will give them a sample of their fresh grape juice; which my kids said was awesome.

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2. The Old Jail. Stop #1 on the trolley.

We didn’t actually go in the jail because we just didn’t want to pay the extra money but we went in the museum, which is free if you have a trolley pass, and then we walked around the grounds and had fun.

I was naughty so I had to go to jail for a bit. Winking smile

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3.  The Churches. Stop #9 on the tour.

If you love stained glass and architecture, then you need to make it a point to stop in the churches on the tour. We went in the Presbyterian and Catholic churches and they are just gorgeous inside. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into building those places.

4. St. George Street. Stop # 8 on the tour.

If you have an itch to shop then get off here. They have tons of shops to explore and places to get a bite to eat.

Unless you want to take a lot of pictures, you can enjoy a lot of the sights just by staying on the trolley, which is what we ended up doing. We rode the whole trolley through the first day and then plotted our trolley course and stops for the next.

5. Where we stayed was walking distance to Castillo de San Marcos or what I like to call, the fort. This is a must do on your vacation. There is such history here. It is so interesting to see and read all that went on back then.

6. Another must do is the St. Augustine Lighthouse. This we had to drive to, but it wasn’t that far. If you are able, you need to walk to the top. It’s quite a workout but you don’t have to rush and there are platforms to stop and catch your breath on the way and even let others pass if need be. But if you can, do.

On this particular day the wind was blowing about 30 mph. We all had to hold on to our hats when we hit the top. And I had the death grip on my phone when I took the picture over the edge. Ha!

There is a lot to do and see here that is all inclusive with your ticket to the lighthouse. Be sure to stroll around and check everything out.

7. The last thing we did while we were there was go putt putt golfing. We had so much fun doing this. It had been years since my hubby and I had gone and the kids had never been. Gasp! I know right?!

By the time we got to the end we were pretty hot but wouldn’t you know they had soft serve ice cream there. That’s good marketing. Ha! Ha! I totally went off my eating plan and shared one with hubby. It was soooo yummy. And in case you were wondering who won, I did. Oh yeah baby!! Momma still got it.

The beaches in St. Augustine are gorgeous. So different from where we live just south of there. But like I mentioned before, it literally blew 30 mph every day we were there. A sandy beach would not have been very fun. But we did stop long enough to prove our point. SmileGorgeous right?

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And last but not least we had a blast just chillin’ in the pool at the place we stayed. It was perfect after a tiring day of walking and exploring  to jump in and cool off. The boys loved it.

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Well I hope I gave you some fun things to think about when planning your next vacation. You won’t be disappointed if you choose to go to St. Augustine FL.

Let’s recap:

  • Embrace your inner tourist. It’s key. If you must wear a fanny pack then do it. Smile
  • Figure out your budget and how much you have to spend ahead of time and then plan accordingly. The good thing is a lot of the sites are FREE. Yay for free.
  • Go online and check out the trolley system and all it has to offer before your trip. You can check it out HERE.
  • Don’t be too rigid and plan your whole vacation out. Leave some space for relaxing and spontaneity.
  • But most of all, HAVE FUN!

If you’d like to read my first post about where we stayed and what we ate. Go check it out HERE.

Have a lovely day my friends.

HUGS!
Kim

 

 

 

1 comment:

  1. Oh, Kim, your boys are getting so big. But you and Brad look the same!!

    I'm not blogging much anymore (I miss the way blogging used to be, don't you?), but I was thinking about you, so I thought I'd pop by to see what you were up to. How fun to take a family vacation. I miss those days! Our last family vacation was a decade ago, in September, 2007. After that, we got a second dog, which made camping trips a bit too complicated.

    Gary was recently in St. Augustine for a wedding. I didn't make the trip---no one to stay with the dogs.

    I'm not on Facebook anymore---haven't been for nearly 2 years. But do shoot me an email if you have the time. I'd love to hear what you are up to and how you are enjoying grandparenthood.

    Love,
    Patti

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