CHARMING ST. AUGUSTINE, SO MUCH TO LOVE!

Monday, January 6, 2025
Fairfield Inn
St. Augustine, Florida
Sun, 74F
 

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to tackle St. Augustine, the oldest city in the nation. Of course, there was a brief stop at Buc-ees---the smell of barbecued beef and fresh baked sweet rolls as you walk in is overwhelming to the senses. We did abstain, except for coffee.

If you have never been to a Buc-ees, you might not understand the fascination of a gas station with 120 gas pumps and a store that has everything under the sun from Valentine doodads to 20 kinds of fudge, t-shirts, and a bakery with scones. In fact, Buc-ees is known for its BBQ brisket sandwiches, pastrami Reubens, cinnamon rolls, kolache, Beaver nuggets, walls of jerky (Bohemian Garlic, Cherry Maple, Teriyaki, Korean Barbecue, Bacon, Steakhouse, Jalapeno, Pepper, and Sweet & Spicy).  By the way, put your orders in for the jerky, we will be at Buc-ees along the way at least two more times—I’m serious!

Ever onward to Bass Pro and Costco, and one of our favorite outlet malls with Tommy Bahama, Chicos, and Travel Pro.  A TK swimsuit, 2 Janie pair of jeans, and another piece of luggage later, we headed to historic St. Augustine, we definitely needed some culture!

 

Brand new Bass Pro Shop 

St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine is a treasure and even if it hyper-appeals to tourists, its charm is unmistakable. I’m grateful for a city that preserves its heritage.  We parked the truck and started walking the streets full of people enjoying the warm weather and boutique shops along the way.

 

Part of Flagler College

Revolutionary War connection

We walked and strolled and walked some more, so much so that we could not find our truck when we were ready to leave.  Since my Fitbit today registers 7.5 miles, I think we walked 3 of those miles looking for that darned white GMC.  After my feet said they were walking for hours, we finally found it, right where we parked it—what on earth   would we do if we couldn’t find it?  I need to be more observant—TK is very good at directions, but I don’t think either of us were paying much attention when we parked—boutiques and shops were calling to us.

In the meantime, we reached out to my friend Judy from Nebraska who now lives in St. Augustine and made plans for dinner, we had not seen her in two years. Her choice of Poppy’s, an Italian restaurant, was excellent, but the best part was seeing her again—we share a friendship of 58 years from when we first met at college in Aix-en-Provence, France. The halcyon years.

 

Janie and Judy at Poppy's

St. Augustine

Our friends Donna and Lawrence left Wisconsin this morning and encountered much snow in Illinois. Thank goodness they reached Tennessee for their first night. They experienced a “huge rock to the windshield” after they got past the snow, but it did not go through, and they have already made an insurance claim!  We are keeping track of D & L and will meet up with them on Wednesday. 

Donna and Lawrence driving through Illinois

on a snowy highway

January 6, 2025

TK’s Takes: It was a perfect day—the weather was great.  The Bass Pro Shop is brand new and they are still working on the exterior.

Aside to Ann: I’m glad we can still keep up because I haven’t walked as much as I should have since Great Britain!! Keep at it, Australia beckons!

OUTLET MALLS, FORD’S GARAGE, WE ARRIVED IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FL!

 ST. AUGUSTINE, OUTLET MALLS, FORD’S GARAGE!
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Fairfield by Marriott
St. Augustine, FL
48F

 Another eight hour drive takes a long time. TK drives competently, with agility, down the highway as we put another gazillion miles on his GMC Sierra.  I have one job as a passenger in the truck, to pay attention in big city traffic, to record the receipts when we buy gas, and stay relatively quiet and not emote as he drives. Well, that is about three jobs.

How can I do all that when I have Internet, my iPad, Words With Friends to play, Mah Jongg, emails to write, Facebook, crossword puzzles, USA Today to read, and a book by Jeffrey Deaver?  I also was reading my friend Ann’s blog about her 2011 trip to Italy (https://annsilverthorn.com/index.php/634/were-off-to-italy/). I think that I do a fairly good job of paying attention to the traffic near big cities. That’s probably about it.  At least the traffic around Charlotte, NC, was not too bad this trip.

Fairfield Inn at Elkin, NC this morning,
Beautifully decorated for Valentine's Day

We started the day leaving the hotel at 8:15 a.m., 14F, dry roads, and a long way to go.  TK even saw some boars eating grass outside the fence along the highway. The miles accumulated, and before I knew it (4 p.m.), we were at Buc-ees in St. Augustine. I think Buc-ees (pronounced Bucky’s) is a destination gas station. It is the largest gas station I have ever seen and there are more of them in Florida. 

Welcome to Florida!

This Visitor Center serves orange or grapefruit

 juice to travelers!

240 Gas Pumps at Buc-ees

TK did get gas here

Inside Buc-ees

TK in Buc-ees

TK ready to party!

How many gas stations have you visited with 240 gas pumps? The store was huge, with cooks preparing really yummy smelling fresh barbecue, a bakery, Mexican food, homemade fudge, a wall with packages of jerky, so many kinds I cannot even imagine, and MORE.

Dear Readers, if you haven’t figured this out before, we are still impressionable despite our age! Buc-ees was a big WOW. I don’t think I have ever said that about a gas station before.

After spending too much time gawking at everything Buc-ees had to offer, we headed to the Premium Outlet Mall, you know the one with Chicos, Tommy Bahama, and Travel Pro.  TK found a few things at TB and I made a big score at Travel Pro. As you may not know, we are filling our basement with luggage. Heaven knows we need more. I haven’t counted recently, but we probably have at least 20 pieces of luggage in all sizes. When is enough enough?

At 5:30 p.m. there was an important Erie County Veterans Memorial Park meeting that I could not attend, but the committee called me, and I was able to take part—it was an important meeting. 

After that, TK and I dashed off to Ford’s Garage for dinner. Again, it appears that a man with a last name of Ford had a Ford dealership and then decided to make a theme restaurant. I may be making this up, but I cannot find the story on the Internet.  https://fordsgarageusa.com/our-story/   The bottom line is that this restaurant that is now franchised, is in the middle of a HUGE Ford dealership in St. Augustine, a block from our hotel.  Great burgers here!!

Ford's Garage -- a restaurant!

A friendly hostess!

Automotive Decor

Closeup-looks like an engine to me

Model A Ford above the bar!

That was our day, and we are tired again. Reading and playing games tires me out. TK is tired from driving all day.

TK’s Takes: As soon as we crossed the border into Florida, TK said, “Here we are in Florida, cars zipping in and out of lanes with no turn signals.”   He also thought that Florida might spend a little money on modernizing their restrooms on the highway.

NEBRASKA TO ST. AUGUSTINE, FL

Tuesday and Wednesday, January 10-11, 2017                       70 F

Fairfield Inn (St. Augustine) and Hampton Inn (Cocoa Beach)

Our trip from Rock Hill to St. Augustine was uneventful, a little dusting of snow in South Carolina, but the temperature was quickly warming, to 68 F. We met up with my friend since 1967 when we went to school in France. Six weeks ago Judy, a retired school administrator, packed up her house in Nebraska, sold it, and moved to St. Augustine where two of her daughters live. Her new home is very comfortable and she is getting acquainted with the area. She drove us to Clark’s Fish Camp outside Jacksonville, “a seafood shack where stuffed wild animals preside over this popular eatery,” a very interesting restaurant with great atmosphere that overlooks a bayou.  www.clarksfishcamp.com   We were Judy’s first out of town visitors!

Clark;s Fish Camp near Jacksonville, Florida

After much conversation with Judy, TK and I headed back to the Fairfield (note to Donna and Lawrence: TK now owns two more TB shirts J) 

This morning Judy picked us up for her “tour” of Old St. Augustine, now celebrating its 450^th year.  TK and I have visited before, but we had never toured the Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marco, now part of the National Park Service.  I was most intrigued by the very thick walls made of coquina stone—there are over 400,000 blocks of stone, all cut and set by hand. Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed almost entirely of the shells of mollusks, trilobites, and other invertebrates. One can actually see the shells in the wall’s blocks. 

Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida

Block of Coquina stone

We strolled the streets of the old town, its small shops stocked with interesting jewelry, handbags, hats, shoes, and tourist items. Gelato and ice cream stores are numerous. 

Two educators at the first schoolhouse in America

New Tilley hat

We enjoyed lunch at Harry’s Seafood, Bar, and Grill. We sat outside in a terrace area. Judy introduced us to green fried tomatoes, which TK and I had never tried before. We are sold on that as appetizer!

TK at Harry's Seafood Bar and Grill

After lunch we left Judy with a promise to return, perhaps we will see her on a July cruise to Bermuda, but we will visit her again in St. Augustine!

We drove to Titusville, Florida for dinner at Dixie Crossroads, definitely a seafood favorite, then went on to Cocoa Beach to the Hampton Inn and our annual visit to RonJon’s.   www.dixiecrossroads.com

Dixie Crossroads!

In Titusville we stopped at a Staples Super Store for advice on technology. As I knew, the laptop needed to update Windows 10, but the Internet service at the hotels is very poor. The tech person told me if I had good Wi-Fi I would have no problem with the download. Tonight the Hampton Inn assured me their Wi-Fi was strong, and so it is. I think I also resolved the Yahoo problem—I am a guest author on the blog with my gmail account (for one month). I am sure that R and B are so relieved that the blog lives! What can I say?

TK's Takes:The shrimp in Florida tastes better than the shrimp in back home. The stone blocks of coquina are pretty cool. He was very pleased to go to the car wash and near the Outlet Mall and they hand washed his truck. He likes his truck to be very clean and polished.