May 19-22, 2021 St Augustine, FL

Wednesday, May 19, Bev and I drove to St Augustine, FL.  Another Ski for Light friend, Gretchen Newman, has a vacation home there that she had offered to us years ago.  So we took her up on her offer and stayed there 3 nights.  It was perfect.  That evening, we went to the historic downtown and had dinner at Harry’s after walking down St George Street.

 

living room taken from the kitchen

from the front door/living room looking into the house.  there were 2 bedrooms and 1 & 1/2 bathrooms

On Thursday, we took a trolley tour of the historic part of St Augustine.  We stopped at the San Sebastian winery for a tasting tour.  I learned a few new things about St Augustine.  Such a history here.  We also stopped at the history museum that was included with the tour.

We had dinner reservations at the Columbia Restaurant on St George Street.  It has a Cuban/Spanish menu.  Great dinner and mojitos.  After dinner, we drove across the Vilano bridge to see the sunset at a pier facing back to the west.  

 On Friday we visited Nombre de Dios.  On these grounds on September 8, 1565, 55 years before the pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the town of St Augustine and Nombre de Dios mission.  On that day, Fr. Francisco López held high the cross and celebrated the first parish Mass.  St Augustine has the oldest Catholic Parish in the United States.  

 

the chapel on the grounds

several memorials were throughout the grounds

 Next we toured Castillo de San Marcos.  I have blogged about this before, so will be brief.  It is a National Monument  of the oldest masonry fortification in the continental US.  Construction began in 1672.

 

looking out the St Augustine inlet

looking towards the Bridge of Lions

After being on our feet for several hours, I convince Bev to stop at an Irish Pub.  I had a beer and she had key lime pie.  To each their own.  We walked to our next destination, the Basilica.  IT WAS CLOSED FOR A WEDDING!!  We walked through the touristy shopping area and I had to have another beer :) and dinner.

5-22We left the house on Saturday morning after cleaning up after ourselves.  It was great staying at our friend’s vacation home.  We drove along the coast as we headed north and took the ferry across the St John’s River at Mayport, FL.  It was a very short ride, maybe 30 minutes.  I don’t think I would go out of my way to do that again.  The drive up the coast to Fernandina had parks or residential areas and not much of an ocean view.  

We made it back to the marina in Brunswick in time for a potluck dinner on the dock.  Nice to be back safe and sound.