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!

CARIBBEAN PRINCESS 2023!

Caribbean Princess
At Sea/Atlantic Ocean, leaving Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades
January 27, 2023
65F--seems cooler

We took our time this morning because the ship would not accept passengers till 2 p.m.  I will say that the hotel personnel did bring us another chair last night so TK and I did not have to fight over one chair in the room.

Anyway, the front desk clerk told us there was a brand new mall nearby. That is where we headed, Dania Pointe Mall.  New construction is everywhere, including two new hotels by the mall, a Hilton and a Marriott, as well as three high rise apartment buildings that are not yet finished.  The contemporary shops and restaurants are new, and it is nicely landscaped with fountains. Since the stores were not open yet this morning, we decided to have breakfast at First Watch---it was very busy and quite upscale.  We were offered seating outdoors but it was too cool  for us. The freshly made waffle was very good and TK liked the blueberry muffin.  Many shops will be moving in, but I  did some damage at Tommy Bahamas.

Parking the truck was easy once we found the parking site and soon we were headed to the Caribbean Princess. TK reminded me that we have sailed this ship before—2014.  I know I should not say the ships all look alike to me, so I won’t.  Everything went smoothly as we boarded—passengers and carryon luggage must go through security, passports are shown, and today we walked right onto the ship after security  with no waiting at 2 p.m. We were also able to go to our stateroom and drop off our luggage. We had a small snack and met a lovely English couple at the buffet.

C209--10th Deck--the TV is reflected in the mirror over the desk

This balcony is larger than usual

Doesn't everyone want to see the bathroom?? They are quite compact

Today is a tiring day because  of “fuss” of boarding, organizing the room, unpacking, and so on. We had dinner at 6 p.m., and settled in for the night.  Tonight’s dinner was Yankee pot roast, one of the best dinners I have ever had on a ship. Everything tasted just right, no odd spices or anything. Maybe the powers in charge actually read my comments on the survey after the last cruise!

What would the blog be without some food photos?

This is marscapone and berry something or other, it was good

TK’s Takes: He got lost at the airport trying to find our Park and Go place—but Janie comments that the GPS was not clear, and it was easy to take the wrong off ramp.  He also said he forgot some of his favorite things, his magnetic hooks that affix to the stateroom wall and so on.  I know he is tired—we have the next two days to get our shipboard bearings. I’m tired too.

Hey Jim! We really appreciate your comments!

FLORIDA WELCOMES US BACK 2023!

 Fairfield Inn & Suites
St. Augustine, Florida
January 24, 2023
55F
 

This was another eight-hour driving day for TK and he is tired.  Thankfully, there were no challenges, like snow, rain, wind. With just a few stops, one for gasoline ($3.49/gal) in SC), we really breezed along.

 

TK enjoys a glass of real Florida orange juice at the Florida Welcome Center on I-95.

An astronaut greets us at the Florida Welcome Center.

After checking into the hotel, we went to the St. Augustine Premium Outlets briefly, saw no bargains at Tommy Bahama and Chicos, and went to eat at Ford’s Garage. This delightful restaurant “chain” has other sites all over Florida, but this is the only one attached to a Ford/Lincoln dealership.  It is like a Quaker State and Lube on steroids.  https://www.fordsgarageusa.com/locations/st-augustine/ 

This was our only stop to eat today and that was a mistake—we were so tired and famished that I forgot to take a picture of the place. 

This is the very delicious burger.

https://www.fordsgarageusa.com/locations/st-augustine/

Thinking of B1 as she meets today's challenge.