Birthday Celebrations & Beautiful Weekend

We've been having a small taste of Fall weather in Florida lately but this weekend was our first sweater and boots kind of weather. It was cold in the night but beautiful during the day and a perfect weekend to explore St. Augustine once again.

On Saturday morning K and I made the two hour drive north to celebrate a good friend's birthday. We checked into our hotel and gasped at the beautiful ocean view from our balcony before heading out to meet up with the birthday girl and the gang.



We walked around the cute downtown area which was bustling since the Light Up! Night Ceremony was happening that night. We finally settled at St. Augustine's famous restaurant, Columbia, for some dinner which is one our favorite restaurants in town.


 

For the Light Up! ceremony that night, St. Augustine turned on over 3 million white lights decorating the historic downtown to kick off the holidays. It was beautiful and this came as a pleasant surprise to us since we were unaware of this annual event.

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After an amazing dinner and some hilarious table banter, we went to Scarlett O'Hara's for a drink to cap off the night.

On Sunday, K and I were up and about early so we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and explore. We walked around the riverfront and checked out several local shops downtown while waiting for another favorite restaurant to open so we could grab some lunch before heading home.

 

Joining the lovely Biana.

Wanderlust Wednesday: St. Augustine, Florida

I recapped our Easter weekend trip to St. Augustine a few weeks ago and talked about all the amazing restaurants we tried and some fun things we did but I didn't share too much details about the city itself and what makes this northern Florida city so enchanting.

St. Augustine has some fascinating history dating back to 1565 and claims to be the oldest city in the United States. Today it's a slow paced city with lots of gorgeous Spanish colonial architecture and historical sites to explore. The Castillo de San Marcos stone fortress from the 17th century being one of the more popular sites which overlooks the inlet. St. Augustine is also known for having some cute Bed & Breakfast Inns, quaint antique shopping, bakeries & coffee shops, and lots of history to be learned. I'll let the photos I snapped do the rest of the talking.

As you can tell it was an overcast day but that meant cooler temps to walk around outside and it made a nice setting to take photos of this beautiful historic town. Hope you enjoyed exploring St. Augustine through my camera lens!

Link-up Rules:

1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin

2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts

3. Grab our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Easter Weekend Getaway

So Monday may not be my best friend but recapping a fun-filled weekend definitely makes up for it. K and I had a lovely yet short getaway spent in St. Augustine, Florida. It's an enchanting little city with lots of history and sites to see. It kind of reminds me of Savannah, GA but with it's own different appeal which comes in the form of antique shopping, cute restaurants, and the Castillo de San Marcos fort which is the oldest American fort built in the 17th century.

K and I both had Good Friday off of work so we headed north to St Augustine after dropping Lola off at Kate's who kindly agreed to puppy sit. We arrived around lunchtime which was perfect to grab some Spanish/Cuban style cuisine at the famous Columbia Restaurant. Their Mojitos are on point and the 1905 Salad is a must!
 

 

I plan to recap all the wonderful things St. Augustine has to offer for our Wanderlust Wednesday travel link on April 13th. Don't forget to join Kate, Kerri and myself with your favorite travel adventures whether it may be new or old.
 

We spent all of Friday walking around and exploring the historic district. It was an overcast and rainy day but we didn't let that ruin our fun.

 

For dinner we settled at Harry's Seafood Bar & Grill for some amazing New Orleans style food. This place is a must if you're ever in St Augustine.
 

After dinner we capped the night off with a dirty martini from the Tini Martini bar and had a relaxing night after that.
 

Saturday morning came too soon but we started the day with some amazing Brunch from Casablanca Inn after checking out of our hotel. We walked off the food by exploring the bay front and some other historic sites.
 

On Saturday evening we picked up Lola from Kate's house and we all headed out for an early dinner at 4th Street Bar & Grill. I didn't manage to get many photos but it was fun catching up with Kate and her hubby.

I hosted Easter dinner yesterday for close friends and will post the details and yummy recipes tomorrow.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.