Bless Your Heart

My Mom, Morgan & I had been talking about taking a mini holiday for a while, but waffled about where to go. Then last week I got an email from CSP’s aunt & uncle inviting us to use their condo on the beach in St. Augustine. So we hopped in the car on Saturday and headed down. We hit major traffic in Jacksonville so we didn’t get in til late. We decided to stay in a hotel Sat night instead of making Aunt & Uncle stay up late to let us in the condo. NEVER stay at the Days Inn in St. Augustine. So nasty. And damp. We didn’t even shower there it was so gross. The guy that was checking me in asked if I brought my cat with me. Who takes a cat to the beach??
After breakfast the next morning we checked out of the damp dump and met up with Aunt & Uncle at the condo. We got settled in then hit the beach. You know, I always think I’m more of a mountain girl than a beach girl til I’m in the water. I could stay in the ocean floating around all day. We hung out in the pool a bit after we swam in the ocean. There was this group of loud talking, smoking rednecks at the pool. There was a chain smoking pregnant (at least 6 months along) girl with them. I wish that were a crime because I so would have called the police! Sunday night we had a fun dinner at a local joint with live music.
Monday we did some touristy things. First we toured the Alligator Farm. That was a lot more fun than we expected. Way more there than just gators. The gators were pretty impressive though- especially the white ones! After the Gator Farm we headed to downtown historic St. Augustine for shopping on St. Charles street. We wrapped up the night with a great seafooddinner (and fried custard for dessert) then headed back to the condo to crash.
Tuesday we chilled out at the condo/beach/pool then headed back into town for ourHaunted Pub Tour. That was fun. What a job our tour guide has! And what a racket! Hey, pay me $15 each and follow me around while I get drunk and tell stories! He was nice and a good story teller though. And as the evening went on (and after a few pub stops) he looked more and more like MacGyver. At the last pub the effects of the previous fun, fruity drinks kicked in and I fell up the stairs. I saved my mojito though! After a few more ghost stories our guide declared the end of the tour. Well by then Mom & I are more than a little tipsy and we’re on the other side of town from our car and it’s midnight! We stumbled back to the car, Morgan drove us back to the condo and we crashed.
Wednesday (our last day) we decided to go to this dive bar for breakfast. Uncle had recommended it as a cheap place to get a good breakfast. It was 10:30am and when we walked in there were already half a dozen guys bellied up to the bar drinking beer! We ordered our breakfast and then the excitement started. This woman started yelling for her “baby” to wake up. Her boyfriend/husband had cold passed out face down at the bar. She kept trying to wake him then yelled for someone to call 911. My Mom hopped up and pushed a table out of the way just in case he needed to be laid (lain?) down on the floor. Dude still wasn’t moving. A highway patrolman came in, then a firetruck came, an ambulance, and a sheriff’s car. All of the sudden Jimmy (I think that was his name) woke up- “What’s going on?”. Clear as day and totally oblivious to the fact that he’d just spent the previous 10 minutes or so with his face in his breakfast plate. The uniformed officers/EMTs fired a bunch of questions at him and he just sat there with this look on his face trying to convince everyone he felt just fine. They ended up taking him out on a stretcher. His girlfriend was hysterical, yet never took off her sunglasses or let go of her pack of smokes. I snapped a couple of pics of the ruckus.
After breakfast we walked back to the condo and spent the afternoon swimming in the ocean. A herd (flock, gaggle?) of pelicans were diving for fish all around us. Stupid fish were jumping all up in the air like “look at me! I’m lunch!”. We were enjoying the weather and the ocean so much we kind of forgot to leave and didn’t get back on the road for home til 7pm!
We had a big time on the ride home singing along with the iPod, especially Grease & Chicago soundtracks. I didn’t get home til 2am!
Have to mention this….my Mom packed a cooler and a crate full of snacks and drinks so we could save money on the trip. We also hit a local grocery to stock up on breakfast items. One of the items my Mom brought was a big bowl of egg salad. Woman was juggling a loaf of bread and bowl of egg salad making a sandwich when we made a gas stop. Then she brought the egg salad into the condo. She was still eating egg salad on Wednesday. 5 days after she’d made it and 5 days of travel at unstable temps. That was botulism in a bowl I tell ya. And she wondered why Morgan and I passed on egg salad sandwiches!
Overall we had a great time and I can’t wait to get back to St. Augustine. Hopefully next time it will be with Jon!

Pictures here.