Travel - St. Augustine, FL

As you know from my previous post, one of my closest friend's, Mary, got married just a few short weeks ago. I am happy to report that I helped her and her husband move into their adorable new apartment this past weekend! They are officially a real married couple.

During the move, we were reminiscing about their wedding week - and it was almost an entire week! - down in St. Augustine, Florida. If you haven't traveled down to St. Augustine before, I'd like to give you a quick history/tour. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles. It is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the United States and is home to the famed Fountain of Youth (or so they say). The oldest masonry fort, known as Castillo de San Marco, is also located in the heart of the city. It boasts a gorgeous college campus, Flagler College, as well as a cute but not overdone "downtown". Now I put downtown in quotes because we who hail from the Northeast think of downtown very differently than those from the South. When I say downtown, think pedestrian only cobblestone streets, not unlike the small Downtown Crossing area of Boston but much more quaint. No tall buildings or chain shops, just old photography stores and ice cream parlors. And maybe one rowdy bar to throw into the mix!

The key to forever in St. Augustine?

Castillo de San Marco

Who wouldn't want to attend this college?!

My kind of downtown.

It boasts an impressive old bridge known as the Bridge of Lions that connects St. Augustine to Anastasia Island, the outer banks of that area of Florida if you will. What I found so exciting about the history of the bridge is that the lions that guard the two ends are fashioned after the Medici Lions in Florence, Italy. Now what's the point of studying Renaissance art *IN* Italy if I'm not going to recognize knock-offs around the world? I mean really. And now I'm going to come clean and admit that I found that out on Wikipedia. Sorry, Professor Skillen.

The Florence of America.

Ponte Vecchio de San Augustino

The real draw to the city for me obviously was the reception hall. We wouldn't have been downtown if it wasn't for the wedding, right? So of course I'm going to recommend the OC White Room to you all if you ever go. It's even been nominated multiple times on The Knot! There is a restaurant on the first floor which I heard is phenomenal. The site of Mary's reception was on the third floor of the hall, just a half a floor below the ginormous balcony that had an overwhelming view of the bay, bridge and historic lighthouse. The weather was warm and the full moon was glowing. The balcony became our dance floor and the salt air our satisfaction. It was brilliant.

This is one of the photos from their website. It was too gorgeous not to grab.

OC White Room at dusk. The ocean is just to the left of this photo.

Our view as we danced the night away. Perfection.

 So if my words have not convinced you to take a vacation to St. Augustine, I'm sure the pictures have! It is one of the most brilliant places to visit because it has such a mix of American and European, history and discovery, satisfaction and adventure. It's brilliant.

On a side note, I had mentioned in my last post that I would look for photos of me and Mary from when we were little. Voila! Circa 1999: I was 13 and Mary was 14. Love.

Is this the girl scout trip where it rained the entire weekend? Most likely.