But first let me take you back to Friday, my actual birthday (of course I've been whooping it up all over Georgia and parts of Florida for almost a week now).
Alright so Friday...I got up and treated myself to a six mile run...which I knew would be necessary for the impending caloric disaster (birthday weekend merriment). Then, I went in to work for a half day. My super co-workers arranged a lunch for me at Fox's Pizza in downtown Brunswick. Josh and Mary B. met us there too. I got cards and a gift certificate to Starbucks from them. Plus Mary and Erika gave me this awesome bath salts and a skin mask from this great store called Beauty and Skin. I can't wait to use them!
Anywhoo - here's a few pics of me and my peeps. Love them...
Josh and I decided to have a beer (or two) since I wasn't going back to work and let's be honest. It's SO much fun to drink infront of those who can't...
After lunch, we got ourselves together (and let the beer buzz wear off). Then made the 1.25 hour trek to St. Augustine. We stayed in an AMAZING historic hotel there called the Casa Monica.
Here's the facade ... super nice and right smack in the middle of downtown St. Augustine.
The hotel had a middle eastern decor - kinda surprising...but still cool.
So we were meeting the fam - J's parents and my parents at the hotel Friday afternoon. J's folks got there earlier and, true to form, mine were a little later :) But we all made it. It was great seeing everyone. The last time we saw them was May 1. It's been a while - always hard to get away you know.
Then it was time to explore the old city. St. Augustine is a fascinating place and being a history nerd I really love to explore it whenever I have a chance.
Want some fun factoids? Here ya go:
- It was established by the Spanish in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles.
- It is the oldest, continously occupied European establishment in the United States.
- Lots of killing went on...from the Spanish v. the Natives; the Spanish v. the French; the French v. the British. Oh and the freakin pirates! Then, of course, there was the United States when it declared independence. Just a lot of drama.
- Like most places, there was a lot of killing in God's name, which is always lovely. In fact, the bay surrounding St. Augustine was once called the Bay of Dancing Dolphins by the Native Americans. Then the Euro-asses moved in and proceeded with a mass murder of those who refused to convert. The bay was renamed the Matanzas Bay or the Bay of Slaughter. Or something similar.
Anywhoo...we also visited the fort the Castillo de San Marcos - very cool.
We walked down St. George Street taking in all the shops and stopping at random watering holes.
Below is the gates of the old city...they're big, aren't they? I mean we're all pretty small peeps but dang.
Below is the gates of the old city...they're big, aren't they? I mean we're all pretty small peeps but dang.Hehe...we liked the watering holes.
We stopped at several. This one had a nice big fan and a VERY skinny chick playing the guitar. She even did Hank Williams Sr. - I was impressed.
So after the stops and dinner, we checked out some more stores. One had a lot of cool hats, and other random stuff that you shouldn't waste your money on but people do because they're "on vacation."
But it still makes for hilarious pictures....
This one...J's mom in that little conical hat and my dad in the dreads - SO FUNNY.
This one was toward the end of the evening. I was SO tired but I tried to keep going. I was running out of steam though. We did end the night in Ann O'Maloy's (a place J and I love) and the guy who was playing sang happy birthday to me. Fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment