Sunshine State! Day 8

It was so wonderful to arrive in Florida and see my niece Kristy, her husband Cary and the boys!  I haven't seen them since August!  She has welcomed us with open arms!  She outdid herself by making us a yummy breakfast of sweet potato hash browns and breakfast meatloaf!  Thanks Kristy. 

      Today we plan to go to St Augustine and see a St Patricks Day parade. Sight see a little. The parade was fun. Scottish bagbipes, storm troopers wearing plaid and pirates with green hair!

 I really do love the color green!

 Two of my favorite people!

 

 

     Then we checked out the fort. castillo de San Marcos. 

I got a smile!!! doodah~doodah!



What a beautiful city!  So warm. It made it to 90 today. 

     We played putt putt. 

I think the boys liked putt putt better than the fort. 

 

Audrey pointed out this kid who looked like a young version of her cousin Devon!

 

 

 Shooting the cannon!

 Kristy, you are the most optimistic girl I know.  I love you!

Time for lunch on one of these quaint brick streets.

We chose Italian at Nonna Trattoria!

Ice cream for dessert!

 Hi my loves!

 

 Cool dudes!

 

 We hope its not poison ivy!

 

St Augustine is definitely a city I would like to visit again!

Day 7. Car ride

Looooong dAy in the car

Very windy and cold on the coast this morning so a good time to take a drive to Florida!  We plan to visit Kristy and Cary in Ponte Vedra Florida. I am excited to see where they live. It's nice to have a vision of a place when you can only talk on the phone most of the time. 

     Dunkin donuts first for coffee is a must!  It is supposed to take 6 hours. It ended up being about 9!  We were all a muttle irritsble but finally we arrived. Kristy welcomed us with lasagna, salad and brownies!😊

Day6 Real Estate Day

Pretty chilly day.   About 55 compared to yesterdays 82!  Breakfast buffet today. French toast with strawberries! 

     We have to meet Stacey from Blue Coast Realty in Hampstead at ten. We want to get a feel for some of the neighborhoods in case we relocate. We saw one house that I particularly liked. It was a double house; so perfect for an in-law apartment if I can get Mum and Dad to come for a bit.

                   We shall see. 

                   Is the 111 a sign?

     Then after looking at 6 different places we deserved an ice cream. 

Went downtown to a candy/ ice cream parlor.

 Homemade waffle cones. 

I had chocolate with chocolate covered cashews. Mmmmm! 

Too chilly to even lay out because it is so windy. Girls are chilling. I went to fitness room and did half hour on the elliptical then Paul and I took a walk on the beach and then back along Lumina Ave looking at all the mansions. 

     Paul and I went out to dinner alone tonite. He had a pork chop with some kind of peanut "Chow" topping. It was delicious. I had shrimp and grits!  I could not believe how delicious the grits were. Rich and cheesy and creamy and definitely not gritty!! Restaurant was 22 North. I highly recommend it. 

  Then we played a couple of games of pool. 

Tomorrow we head to Florida to visit Kristy, Cary and the boys. 

Day 5 Beach and Aquarium

My pretty girl!!

Hanging out at the  hotel this morning. I went to fitness room and rode the elliptical while watching Fraser. Love that show!  Then Paul and I walked on the beach for a bit. We saw a mailbox beside a dune. Curious, we opened it to find notebooks and pens where you could write your names, dates and any inspiring ( and some not so inspiring) messages.  Cute idea. 

     Then we lay on the beach for a while. Audrey is very happily tanning the entire time. 

     This afternoon we drove to Carolina beach which took about an hour. It is so much like Cape Cod here but the houses are all up on stilts. Probably because this area is referred to as Tornado Alley. 

The colors are bright;  turquoise, purple and  yellow. We planned to take a ferry over to a little town called Southport but of course we got to ferry and it wasnt operating for some reason. It is a bit foggy out. 

So we went to the aquarium instead. 

The first thing we saw was a Bald eagle. He is two so he wont get his white head until the age of 4 or 5.

This eagle is tame enough to walk over to a human~

This eagles name is Maverick and is comfortable with people.

 

Albino Alligator

Faith and I are in the Hurricane Tank

Wind up to 88 mph!

 

I love the jellyfish!

 Paul was fascinated watching the seahorses!

     We were so hungry and looked for a pizza place to eat at on the way back.  We pulled into three different spots to get one but they were all take out, no dining in.  Kind of strange, considering their are restaurants everywhere but the pizza places were all take out.  Finally we found a place called Marcos Pizza who let us dine in!

Day 4 "we're getting closer to the equator aren't we?"

I woke up early to this sunrise.  Did my morning  devotions by the window. 

Time to get breakfast so we headed downtown and found a Dunkin Donuts. 

We sat outside in the sun enjoying coffee. Then we drove straight down Market Street which led us to The River Walk. It is a beautiful town with lots of victorian houses, old brick buildings, mansions and magnolia trees 

We walked along the  river for a bit. Then we saw a horse and carriage and decided to take a tour. 

Our driver was Dan and our horse was Mike. Apparently this kind of horse is black when he is young and then he becomes dappled. Eventually he becomes white. Strong. 

I took a few pics of the houses. But I'll post later because I used my camera. 

A little souveneir shopping and back to the beach for some sun. 

     I ran a couple miles on the beach. I am sure my calves will feel it tomorrow.  I ran in barefeet. Felt good and strong. 

Cracker Barrel for dinna.

The store is full of treasures and old fashioned candy. 

Hard to choose!  They gave out free JellyBelly  samples. 

                Paul's new look. 😍

This plaque really struck a chord with me.

I am mindful of how blessed we are too be able to go on vacation and enjoy such freedoms!  

     Faith's funny quote today as she talked on the phone to her friend Gabby. 

"We are getting closer to the equator arent we?"  ❤️😜

Day 3. Looks like you got nails in your tires!

We woke up late today. Around 830. Checkout is at ten so we gotta get moving. It was so nice here. I definitely would come back. 

     On our way to highway, Paul saw a car wash. A winters worth of grime on our Chrysler!  We definitely need a wash. Paul pulled in and rolled the window down to pay. The young man stood with a hose ready to spray off the car tires before the drive through part. He looked down and said," looks like you got nails in your tire!"  Paul had not changed our snow studded tires yet because winter is still going strong in Vermont! We had a good laugh at that!  The kid had probably never seen them before here in balmy Virginia. We were feeling generous and gave the kid and his helper a $20 tip. I hope we made their  day!

     Time to get driving!  We still had at least 4 more hours to go!  We stopped at Dennys for breakfast at 1130. Can u say Hungry!

Finally we arrived at NC welcome station!

Nice and warm here - 67 degrees!

At 5pm we reached The Shell Island Resort in Wrightsville beach. Directly on the ocean. Here are pics of our little condo. 

                  Nice little patio!  Then a brisk walk on the beach! 

 A little chilly and windy. 

About 55 degrees!  But still nice!  

Paul found a shell with a tiny tree growing on it. Sweet!  A beautiful spot!