Friday: pack up the bags.
What should I bring? idk, a
dress, no two, undies, bras, Capri pants, two pr of jeans one black one blue,
tops, hmmm can’t choose, I’ll just bring four of them. Ok that leaves shoes,
again, can’t choose, bringing four wearing one.
Let’s see, next is the computer, toothbrush, hair brush, evening bag
earrings rings necklace just in case. Oh
and jammies and swim suit and towel. Ok that should do it.
Saturday: 5am up and let out the dogs, then let them back in and get them situated, load the car up, check FB and Evony and out the door by 7. Gas up in town then I get to Cheryl’s around 7:45 and she’s ready. We load up her things and my little smart car is filled up in the back. Everything fits perfectly! Off we go at 8:00 on the road.
Cheryl brought egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, bread,
cookies, cake, whipped cream, onion dip and chips along with her other
things! Note to self: always bring
Cheryl on vacation!!! We decided to take
the Google route which is not exactly always the beaten track but it was fun
and Cheryl was a great navigator. We stopped
3 times if I remember right, got gasoline potty break and to have a snack. There were fruit stands and I got some
peaches and a huge delicious tomato at one of them. I drove the whole way down and we played our praise
music the entire time. Somehow being in
a car with someone who loves Jesus as much as I do and spending time singing
and listening to praise is so peaceful and pleasant. The scripture; Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity”! (Psalm 133:1) comes to
mind, and I thoroughly enjoyed traveling with my sister. Several times I was overwhelmed with joy as I
felt God’s love for me through the music and with the company driving along
together. This great peace joy and love
made for a great time being with my good friend and just having fun together. It was perfect. The traffic was not bad at all in spite of
the holiday, and we arrived at our hotel by around 4pm with no difficulties at
all.
At the hotel, the room we booked (2 queen beds, no smoking,
ground floor) was not available because according to his records we had booked
a single queen bed, but the clerk was accommodating and put us in the handicap
room which had two full beds. It was a
smoking room but had not been used for quite a while so it worked out just fine.
We got settled into the room and quickly showered and
dressed and took off for the beach. The weather
was wonderful, good breeze blowing in the 90something degree heat which made it
very pleasant. We went to the
Beachcomber restaurant that sits right on the beach and ate outside while we
watched the waves and the people driving by.
The restaurant was next to one of the outlets that allow cars onto the
beach so there was some amusing antics going on with those who tried to exit
there. It was not the most level ramp
and the sand is so powder fine that holes are easily dug in it if you spin a
bit.
Dinner was delicious and the coronas topped it off
nicely. What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday! We’d planned to go out after changing again,
but when we came back to the hotel and sat down there was no getting us out
again. Ha! I guess neither of us are the
party animals we used to be!!
Sunday: up around 8am and had our coffee in the room. The hotel had a breakfast for us but we just
had the coffee, and I had a boiled egg and some juice also. We were anxious to get to the water so we put
on our suits and took off for the beach.
St Augustine is a wonderful historic city, being the oldest city in the
USA and has some fascinating architecture so driving anywhere is a treat and
although our hotel was not near the water it was no problem to get in the car
and run down to the center of town or to the beach. Lions Bridge is one of many bridges that span
multiple waterways this amazing city is situated on. Cheryl tells me that you can see dolphins and
manatee in the ocean if you’re standing on the bridge. We didn’t get a chance to do that this time. I’m definitely coming back to this city again
because there’s a lot more to see and do than we had time for this trip.
We got to the beach and drove right out onto the sand and
found a spot that looked good. The tide
was out but on the way back in so there was a lot of beachfront before we got
to the water. Parked in the soft sand
and walked out to put our chairs down. The
sand is so fine it’s more like baby powder than the sand I’m used to from California. The beach is clean and the sand is white/grey
and no tar in sight! There are birds
fishing and the breeze is blowing and it’s warm but overcast with billowing clouds
going by at a pretty good pace. Perfect as
far as I was concerned because it was not too hot to sit and relax and listen
to the wonderful sound of waves crashing on the shore. Some surfers are here and a few joggers and several
people walking their dogs along the water line.
We went straight to the water after putting our things down and
anchoring them to our chairs. The water
was warm and inviting in spite of the windy evidence of an off shore storm, waves
rolling in at a pretty good pace with foamy crests and a swift current underneath. The ocean here does not have a swift drop off
like the pacific that I’m used to so one can walk out pretty far into the water
and still only be waist deep when a wave is not cresting. But there were big enough waves for the
surfers to get some pretty good rides. I
was surprised too that the area was so clean and so few people were out. It's nice to see and enjoy this beautiful setting
and marvel at the majesty of God’s creation.
We played in the water a bit and then came out to sit and dry off and
just watch and listen to the music of the rolling thunderous waves crashing in
a rhythm only they are able to count. Clouds
blew by and sun shown intermittently between them, an occasional raindrop was
felt as well, but the breeze was picking up and pretty soon it was more windy
than breezy and sand began to blow in it.
We’d had our egg salad sandwiches chips and dip brunch and were ready to start thinking about going when
the tide made the decision for us in a rather sudden move. Good thing the only part of our things that
got wet was the towels! We quickly got
our things together and made our way back to the car and packed up.
The drive to the next outlet to get off the beach was quite a ways but a fun drive. My little car is a trooper and we
did just fine in the powdery sand with the wind blowing in spite of a bit of
angst on Cheryl’s part. Once back on the regular road surface I pulled over to let her drive again since she's been here before and knows it well. I wanted to enjoy all the scenery that I could
while I was there. We went back to the
hotel and jumped into the pool for another swim, got rained on again a couple
of times, and then went in to get dressed for our lunch.
Off to the Colombian restaurant (their ad says that it is Florida’s
oldest restaurant) in historic downtown St. Augustine. They said 45 min wait but it was about 3
minutes and we were seated. Cheryl was
not even back from parking the car but she had no problem finding me
inside. I could not decide what to eat
so we ordered the La Completa Cubana: To sample the flavors of Cuba, we offer
this Cuban feast of Roast Pork, Boliche, Empanada de Picadillo, platanos, yuca,
black beans and yellow rice. It was
marvelous! We also ordered a Café con
Leche Martini: A twist on a Cuban classic made with Van Gogh Double Espresso
Double Caffeine Vodka and Tres Leches Triple Crème Liqueur.
Ok I’m not a big drinker but I’ve tasted a lot of mixed
drinks but this one is hands down the best drink I’ve ever had. It was smooth and creamy and downright
orgasmic!! (don’t ask) we sipped on our drink and ate our warm cuban
bread with fresh butter and smiled great big smiles the whole time! hahaha by the time we had finished our drinks our
food was ready and it’s a good thing because as Cheryl said, that fountain was
looking mighty inviting! When the waitress
asked if we wanted another and I was about to say yes Cheryl (wisely) said
ABSOLUTELY NOT! I think if I’d have had
a second we’d have had me doing table dances! hahaha boy was it potent as well
as delicious. Anyway our meal arrived
just in the nick of time and it was everything one could ask of Cuban cuisine. The plate was a sampler of three of their
special creations, Roast pork “A la Cubana”: Generous slices of roast pork
with a delicious marinade, Empanadas de
Picadillo is described as follows: Our
mother and grandmother, Adela, always had our favorite Empanada ready when we
visited her. Our Empanada starts with
her recipe for Picadillo, spiced ground beef, garlic, tomato, onions, raisins
and olives, wrapped in pastry turnovers and served with roasted corn and black
bean salsa, Boliche “Criollo” is: Roasted eye round of beef stuffed with
chorizo and roasted in flavorful gravy. Served with black beans, white rice and
platanos. A family favorite! And the platanos
(bananas) were cooked and had a nice sear on the outside that kind of candied
them. I was brave and had a taste and I actually
liked it! The black beans and rice with yucca
was spiced nicely and garnished with a bit of fresh onion. All in all the meal was delicious.
I was eyeing a slice of Key lime pie but my stomach was so
full I couldn’t even finish my plate so that will have to wait for the next
trip as well. Sigh! (But a little bird told me that Cheryl, who
is a pretty wonderful chief herself, can make the best key lime pie I would
ever taste, so perhaps I’ll get a slice sometime in the near future!)
After our supper we were no longer feeling the effects of
our martinis so we took a walk through the shops that offer a wide variety of
goods for tourists. Lots of interesting beach
type things, some upscale clothing boutiques and other shops with souvenirs and
other delightful goodies. But by that
time my feet were screaming at me so we made our way back to the car and set
off for some relaxation at the hotel again.
The weather was still windy and blowing and we had an
occasional few drops of rain but it made for a nicely cooled down feeling to
the 90 degree heat the sun was beating down.
We took a slight detour and drove around some of the neighborhoods and I
was thrilled to see such quaint cottages, cute little beach homes, and homes of
Spanish style architecture here. Lots of
them for sale it seems but I know the prices are way over any budget I could
come up with. A pipedream…. Sigh! Cheryl loves the Spanish architecture and we
saw some beauties that she adored, one day Jesus will have one for her I believe. Most of the area is either next to or very
close to one of the many waterways, marshes, or other water. It’s fascinating to me that a city can be on
land and surrounded by ocean and water and yet so close together in such a
compact area. This is a beautiful place
for sure.
Back in the hotel we both collapsed onto our beds and
reviewed our delicious meal and wonderful adventure at the beach that
morning.
I can’t exactly recall if we’d gone over to the outlets
before or after we came back to the hotel but we did spend an hour or so
looking for a gift for Levi and some sandals for me to wear (as if I did not
have enough shoes with me! hahaha)
At any rate back at the hotel we were deciding what we’d do
next, and had decided to head out to an Irish pub for some more drinks to
finish off the day when Delores called to ask how we were doing in the
hurricane. Both of us looked out our
window and wondered what she was talking about!
It was a little windy and there was a bit of rain but the sky was not
that ominous looking outside at all. So we
turned on the TV to get the weather and found that there was indeed a
tropical storm blowing in that was at Jacksonville but heading our way. I really wanted to have our drinks at the Irish
pub but we decided that was not wise to do in a storm so we settled on going
over to the Wal-Mart and to just get a bottle of wine or something and have our
drinks in our room. We watched the storm
on TV and tried to time our excursion with the lull in the radar tracking of
the clouds… It was raining pretty hard
when we ventured out that last time but we got there and back without incident
and settled in for the evening with our feet up and had our last meal of the
day there in the room because we still had plenty of salads left in the cooler
from what Cheryl brought.
My feet were pretty swollen and I was hurting pretty bad at
this point so it was a welcome rest for me.
It makes me mad that I can’t just go and go like I used to anymore! Oh well, I should
buy stock in ibuprofen I think.
Monday: it was still raining when we got up but not too
bad. We went and had waffles at the
breakfast bar in the hotel and our coffee and had a leisurely time getting our
things together and packed up to leave.
My head was hurting and I was dizzy – I guess from the barometric
pressure of the storm – so I was taking pain meds and Meclazine to ward off a
migraine, and my feet were still swollen and also in pain so I asked Cheryl to drive
us home.
We decided to take the freeway route that she usually takes
just because of the storm and the potential for bad traffic on the way. But it was not bad at all and except for some
construction and a bit of nasty rain while we went through ? town (I was
sleeping for quite a way) it was an uneventful trip. Cheryl is a good driver and she did not mind
it she said.
My little car did good.
We put about 1150 miles on it and spent about $140.00 all together on gas
including the last fill up on my way home.
I have to mention that I had called Tracy several times
during the weekend to taunt her. J next trip she is
absolutely going to come with us!
Thank you Jesus for good times, good friends, good food, and
your presence that graces us so abundantly in this broken yet still
astonishingly beautiful world.
