St. Augustine - September 2024
I traveled from Colorado to Florida to celebrate Amber- truly my soul sister best friend, for her bachelorette party. Arriving in Jacksonville felt like a drastic change since the humidity was so high. It actually felt nice considering I haven’t felt much moisture in the air since moving away from the Great Lakes.
Our first night, we walked to dinner in the pouring rain and had incredible pasta at an Italian place although our server was an Irish man..
The rain stopped the morning after. The first photo of the trip that I took was so foggy from the humidity! I learned to carry a wipe with me to clean my lens each time I brought my camera outside the house. The beach was a 5 minute walk across the street from the house we stayed at. The colorful beach houses continued to catch my eye throughout the trip.
The next day, we spent time on a guided kayaking tour through mangroves nearby where I saw a sea turtle and some spider crabs.
After kayaking, we went back to the beach near our house to swim before we went out for the night. This was my third time ever swimming in the ocean. The other ladies are from Florida and Georgia and couldn’t really understand how I’ve been so landlocked my entire life! (I honestly can’t believe it either) Even though it was a little stormy, the skies looked beautiful through the clouds.
The house we stayed in was like a jungle. The trees in the backyard were tall, dense and twisty. I think this is common for Florida property, but I had never seen anything like it. I wasn’t able to capture the abundance of little green frogs and lizards since they moved so fast and were out more at night than the day.
We spent a lot of time exploring the streets of St. Augustine on Sunday. We took a tour on a trolley train that led us past all the old hotels, a home that Martin Luther King Jr lived in, old churches from the 1560’s and cobble stone streets. The architecture being so old, weathered and overtaken by moss and vegetation was my favorite part. Seeing nature prove its resilience in taking back the space it occupies is beautiful.
And below are more photos from our Italian dinner night, the beach, a photo at a brunch spot and right before we left for our kayaking tour!
