Sort of last minute we decided to swing though Florida on our trip. We are using St Brennans Isle as our mail forwarding service and we’ve heard good things about becoming Florida residents. On our way down we stopped in our first Walmart parking lot, because we just couldn’t drive anymore. It felt pretty safe, when we woke up we realized that we had parked right in front of a sign that read “no overnight RV parking”! But we were out of there by 6am, so nobody noticed.
We were a little farther away then we expected, so we had to pull over into a church parking lot so that Mark could call into his morning meeting. We arrived at a family friends house that morning. The house and view were beautiful, we could see Green Cove Springs across the river and the Spanish moss in all the trees was beautiful.
We had spent the last day in Georgia getting our banks and credit cards to expidite any piece of mail that they could to the new address so that we could set up residency in Florida. Two things we learned while doing this.
- Nothing works quicker than 5 business days at a bank or credit card.
- Suntrust customer service is the worst. I could go into detail about the two infuriating calls that we made to their local Mumbai office, but I don’t even want to talk about it. It’s made me reconsider even doing business with them.
Since we ‘had to’ drive to St Augustine anyway we decided to make a day of it and see some sights.
Castillo De San Marcos National Monument – We parked near here and walked up. The admission price was $7 each, we thought for a second about spending money on what looked like a big sand castle. Then we said what has become our motto on this trip…
Why not? Who knows when are we ever going to be here again!
It was totally worth the money! They have done a really good job with the exhibits. They are informative without distracting too much from the fact that you’re inside what is probably the oldest building in America. You can walk almost anywhere, we found ourselves in a little underground gunpowder room at one point! The view from the top is worth the $7 alone.
Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille – We wanted some seafood so we went here on a recommendation from our hosts. The outdoor patio was really nice, but having just walked around the fort for an hour, I was really craving some AC. So we sat at the bar had a local beer and some fried calamari. The wait staff was pleasant and the food was good.
The Floridian – We saw this place on foursquare and were sold that it offered local food and beer. It was a little bit of a walk from Harrys’, but it was worth it. It’s just on the outside of the historic downtown area. The food was great! We shared fried Green tomato appetizer and shrimp and grits. I found a really good beer from Orlando (Orange Blossom Pilsner x2) that I’ll be looking for in the future. This is a great place to eat when you’re here if you want some local fair.
The Ice Plant (St. Augustine Distillery) – We didn’t plan on going here. We got lost on the way to a store to buy beer when we looked up and said “Hey Look, there’s an interesting looking distillery”. So we turned in, the distillery was closed for the day. But their restaurant was open. It reminded me of some of the “Speakeasies” that are popping up. The wait staff all have to dress like it’s the 1940’s (suspenders, mustaches, etc). Their happy hour was a pretty good deal, laurel and I had an old fashioned and a (insert gin drink here) and since it was slow the bartenders had a lot of time to talk with us. They demonstrated how they make ‘Whiskey Balls’ with this metal form. Then we proceeded to play with it like we were little kids. A good time was had by all.
The DMV was a bit of a hassle, but overall the trip to Florida was a success. We have Florida drivers licences and are in the process of registering both vehicles there. The weather was fantastic, when you have the ability to get into the AC every once in a while. Out hosts (The Warners) were very accommodating to us even though Mr. Warner was recovering at the hospital from knee surgery. They really made us feel at home.
We still have some things to take care in Florida, but more on that next time…
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