St. Augustine Thanksgiving

After months of crossing our fingers hoping for COVID-19 to subside, we were able to slip through the peak "waves" of the virus long enough to meet as a family in St. Augustine, FL. The destination was chosen as compromise between a beach vacation, a venture to see new parts of America, with this, we got both! Accessible to everyone either by many hours of driving or the 45 minute away airport, our growing family of 14 all made it in one piece ready to hit the town as the tourists that we are. 

St. Augustine is in the northern part of the east coast of Florida, about an hour south of Jacksonville. It is touted as the "oldest city in the US", which is to say that it is the oldest, continuously inhabited European settlement in the lower 48. 

 

Each family arrived separately, so the Saturday before Thanksgiving was spent trying to figure out how to find each other while we waited for our condos to open. We drove directly to historic downtown from the airport to find my parents and brother. The center of downtown St. Augustine is an adorable pedestrian street surrounded by restaurants and shops and a full on, centuries old castle! Complete with cannons and lookouts, the Castillo de San Marcos was a delightful surprise of a place. The coquina walls are almost completely made of shells and remains of sea creatures. This protects it from the harshest of oceanfront elements and absorbs rather than repels cannonball fire. The Castillo was involved in a number of conflicts involving multiple world powers, but in 1933 it transferred ownership to the National Parks Department and serves as a tourist destination today. 

We had lots of fun stretching out our legs after a morning of travel, and took in some history along the way. They ask that you not climb on the cannons, we didn't see the sign until after Alex climbed on top for the photo. 

Enjoying the castle with family

We took a guided boat tour through St. Augustine Eco Tours where we had a 2-hour private tour that was suitable both for the youngest and most seasick prone of us all. We saw dolphins, birds, sailboats washed up from previous storms, and enjoyed seeing some of the city monuments without shoving through a crowd. 

These pelicans were everywhere! With the bonus of an oystercatcher on the right.

We were true tourists on this trip and went to the highly publicized St. Augustine Alligator Farm. There were so. very. many. ALLIGATORS! Different species, different sizes, enclosures with whole congregations of alligators! (That's the actual term for a group of alligators, who knew??). They had all kinds of birds and other animals too, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon! 

I don't remember this bird's name. But he was beautiful!

When we had seen all the dinosaur ancestors that we could handle, we met up for a beachfront lunch at The Beachcomber St. Augustine. This little spot was literally on the beach. We had to ask for a table on the patio so that we wouldn't end up with sand in our food. Graham did his best to bring the sand to us, and the sand kept him busy for a majority of our meal. Great food, great beer, fun spot that would have been a return trip if it had been just a little warmer the week we were there. 

We took the longest tour ever, 22 stops on a packed full trolley to all of the greatest (aka: oldest) sites in America. It was a "hop on, hop off" tour, but the cars were so full that we were too afraid to hop off for fear of not having space to hop back on before sundown. We were also fantastically underdressed for the weather. It was cold and windy and the sun kept us sane for the first half of the tour, but about halfway in the shadows took over and we were all shivering.  

We did take a tour through the oldest jail in the country with our outlaw guide, Bubbaloo. He was informative and ridiculous, perfect for tourists and children. The jail was the highlight of the tour, thanks to Uncle Chris who suggested that we go, and then paid our entrance fee. As you might expect in a tourist town, very little was free, so we didn't see the Fountain of Youth or tour the oldest schoolhouse, or experience the Colonial Experience. We were tapped out. And we were freezing. 

We did walk through the beautifully decorated town square, though we couldn't quite make it to sunset for the lights. 

The second gen adults snuck out for the most extravagant escape room out there. And we failed it by a thread.  

The best part of the trip was our stay at the Colony Reed Condos. Each family had their own 3-bedroom condo, but we could jump back and forth from room to room as if we were neighbors. They had a playground that was visible from all of our rooms and a boardwalk directly to the beach! These babies had so much fun!

The first day we made the incorrect assumption that the water was too cold for swimsuits. Oops.

We made the choice to forgo attempting to cook the biggest meal of the year in a rental kitchen and we ordered family style traditional turkey dinner from Ned's Southside Kitchen. As an added bonus, pickup was made via drive-through and couldn't have been easier. 

Our trip ended on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We stopped into town on our way to the airport and ate at Burger Buckets. It was good, though many of the menu items that caught our eyes were sold out. It was a very busy week for small businesses and some places just couldn't keep up. 

We had a great time, with great company. This year more than most, we are so thankful for the time we can spend with long distanced family. Happy Thanksgiving!