Wednesday 8 May 2013

St Augustine, Florida- The Experience

At the end of March, I headed to St Augustine, Florida for a little vacation. I had a great time! I love Florida and I love getting away for a few days. The drive is about 16.5 hours, so we had two days of driving (one there, one back) and four full days in Florida.

View from the pool at night...lying down and looking up
The weather was sunny, warm and beautiful. I really couldn't have asked for a better trip. Every day, was essentially the same- which I was more than ok with.

View from front of the condo...landscape is pretty and you can see the pool
I woke up about 8:20am and headed for breakfast. After breakfast, we went to a store (Winn Dixie, Alvins' Surf Shop, etc...one store a day) to pick up a few things. Then back to the condo to get ready for the pool- which is where we spent most of the day. We went down to the pool between 10:30 and 11, where I did a lot of reading, relaxing, a bit of swimming and not much else. 

Poolside
Around 5-5:30, it was back to the condo for Happy Hour on the balcony. After which, we headed out for dinner. We'd stop at CoCo Mango for frozen yogurt on our way back to the condo. Once back at the condo, I would head back to the pool for some reading or a night swim, then back to the condo to sit on the balcony to unwind a bit before going to bed and starting all over again.

View from the balcony
The first day, we went to The Wildflower Cafe for breakfast. The food was ok, the service was ok...we didn't go back. What we didn't like, is that they were seating everyone on one side of the restaurant, while the other side was empty. The tables were close together and it just felt really crowded.

The first night for dinner, we went to La Strada, this great Italian place down the street from the condo. The food was delicious and the service is good, but slow. Only go if you are not in a hurry to be anywhere else. We had actually been before and will likely go back.

Pool at night- view from second floor
Pool side at night
Friday, Saturday and Sunday for breakfast and then Friday and Saturday for dinner, we went to The Oasis. The fact that we went for five consecutive meals, should let you know it`s pretty good! This is hands down our favourite restaurant and would've gladly gone for all of our meals. Breakfast, was no problem to get a table but we had a bit of a wait (WELL worth it) for dinner. Everything about this place is amazing- the food, the service, the atmosphere. We always had breakfast in the bar, which is on the second floor, taking a table by the windows. Dinner we ate in the dinning room downstairs one night and on the patio the next night. I honestly love this place and we happily waited 30-45 minutes for a table.

The Oasis
On Sunday, which was our last night there, we went to Dune's Cracker House. This is a restaurant we had been to before and I specifically requested that we go during this trip. We went on Easter Sunday, so they weren't too busy. The food and service are both good. The atmosphere is unique...it's such an old building. This is the only place we drove to- we were walking distance to everything else- but it was about a 5 minute drive, so still close.

Outside of the Dune
Inside The Dune
I already wrote about my love for CoCo Mango, which you can read here.

CoCo Mango
All in all, it was an amazing and relaxing trip. I love Florida and I can't wait to go back again next year!



3 comments:

  1. I remember going to St Augustine when I was little(lived in florida) It was one of my favorite school trips. I got my first pack of pokemon cards there *chuckles* The historic sites were great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks fun! I'll be in FL next month :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooo sounds like you had a great time! I love that you guys went to the same restaurant 5 times in a row...thats totally something I would do!

    Hope you are having a great week!

    ReplyDelete