Just a quick post on my lunch break. It’s Cyber Monday, and I want some time to explore all the deals online!
It’s been a very eventful weekend. Following our crazy Black Friday all-nighter, I had to work until 11pm, yet somehow I managed to stay awake. After sleeping in on Saturday, we didn’t have any plans, so my boyfriend suggested we head up to St. Augustine for the day. I’ve never been there, and I love history, so I’ve been wanting to go for awhile, but we keep postponing it. After several hours of car trouble-related delays (James’s car stalled out, we had to double back to his house from Sanford, but he fixed the problem), we didn’t start out until around 3:30pm. I thought we’d probably just hit the outlets or something–I didn’t realize all the historic stuff downtown was open late! On the way there, my boyfriend drove us through the woods around Ormond, where he used to fish as a kid. It’s so beautiful out there! This is the Florida I want to see. Then I looked at Googlemaps and realized the ocean was right on the other side of the forest! So we drove up the A1A, just outside Flagler Beach. Having only been to beaches like Daytona and Cocoa, I was pleasantly surprised at the quiet, beautiful, and non-touristy beaches on the northeastern coast.
We got to St. Augustine and stopped at the lighthouse first. It was totally weirding me out–it looks just like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse I’ve seen all my life (except for the red top), but like it’s in the wrong location! I also recognized a lot of it from that famous episode of Ghost Hunters. Our timing was perfect; we got there right at sunset. We did the climb to the top, and the view was inspiring. Pristine beaches, a sleepy little harbor, a huge historic stone fort….all part of the oldest city in America, from one of the most supposedly active haunted locations in America (no ghosties on this trip though). You can even make out the lights of Jacksonville, waaaaay out there on the horizon. We explored the museum, and I even got some Christmas gifts from the shop.
I was surprised that it was still early when we left the Lighthouse, so we drove across the bridge to the historic downtown area. It was completely beautiful! Every building was decorated for Christmas, and the town square had lights on every tree. The fact that it was cold out that night only added to the Christmasy atmosphere. We spent the next couple hours exploring the shops, and I found some more gifts. All the buildings date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and we saw the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the country. My boyfriend showed me a centuries-old cemetery, and we walked down to the old Spanish fort that once guarded the harbor. I always complain that Florida has no interesting history, and on this evening I was pleasantly surprised and happy to be shown otherwise.
So I’m definitely going to have to go for a return visit sometime soon. I have more to add….but my break/shopping time is slipping away!! Also, we’re hosting a late Thanksgiving/early Christmas party at the house tonight. Lots going on, so that means lots to blog about later!
