East Florida

December 10-17, 2018

TL;DR: Florida is huge and fun to visit, especially when it’s sunny. There are also plenty of hospitable Cracker Barrels. It makes total sense but neither of us really realized how historical everything is here. It has a totally different feel than anywhere in the country. And great doughwiches.

The sights

Little Talbot Island State Park

Went for a neat dune walk here on a mostly sand-covered trail. The last half was right on the ocean, complete with shells and jellyfish.

Also saw this cool tree with its roots all up out of the ground. It was our first fully blue-sky sunny day we’ve had in a while and it was lovely!

Jacksonville

Had some trouble parking here, so went straight for a doughnut shop (see Roadfood) and strolled along Jacksonville’s south Riverfront walk, which was pretty and quiet.

Then we drove to Jacksonville Beach for a walk and saw a helicopter parachute situation that looked only mildly terrifying. Had some of the best shrimps, maybe ever? (See Roadfood.)

St. Augustine

The oldest city in America, St. Augustine is small, charming, and touristy. We walked along the water and sea wall, and checked out the old Spanish colonial houses.

Fun, if gruesome, fact: Athalia Lindsey had been in an ongoing feud with Alan Griffin Stanford Jr., her neighbor at 126 Marine Street. She was murdered on her front steps with a machete.

Cruised by St. Augustine National cemetery, home to The Dade Monuments, which marked the end of the second of the Seminole Wars, and the remains of 1,468 soldiers.

Walked by the Lightner Museum, housed in the historic Hotel Alcazar, an 1887 Spanish Renaissance Revival-style building. The hotel had a steam room, massage parlor, sulfur baths, gymnasium, a three-story ballroom, and the world’s largest indoor swimming pool, but closed in 1932.

Strolled down George Street, which is very small and full of tourist shops, and Aviles Street, the oldest in America and home to a Cuban restaurant (see Roadfood) and, randomly, film crews.

Overall, a very cute town but not quite as picturesque as we thought it might be. Lots of abandoned areas and a noticeable homeless population.

St. Augustine Distillery

We took the free tour here, which was pretty cool. The building used to import ice from New England: Circa 1907, it was the first of its kind to make commercial block ice in Florida. It shut down in the 60s and was in disrepair and ruin for 50 years until some motivated folks raised enough money from 20 local families to create the distillery. Today, they produce whiskey, rum, vodka, and gin from local ingredients in the carefully restored building.

They offered a ton of (free!) tastings, including a tiki drink, grapefruit/herbal one that everyone but Jess hated, an old fashioned, and more. Then they released us into the gift shop, where there was also a bar with endless free tastings. Had a port-aged bourbon that Bri took a liking to.

Daytona Beach

Super dead when we were there but would be fun to come back and see a race.

Cape Canaveral

The Cape Canaveral National Seashore is the longest stretch of undeveloped beach in the state. Very pretty and a bit rainy. Got in a little before they closed and saw an amazing armadillo who both looks like he’s carrying a suitcase and is a suitcase.

Seagrape Beach Access Trail

Gorgeous stretch of pristine beach. Walked by an adorable man on the way out, and on the way back he smiled and noted, “I’m slow, but deliberate.”

Wnywood, Miami

Super funky Miami neighborhood with tons of revitalized warehouses, craft breweries, restaurants, and bars. In 2009, Tony Goldman decided that graffiti and street art were both under-appreciated, and the Wynwood walls would be the perfect canvas for a revitalization. Since its inception, the Wynwood Walls program has hosted over 50 artists representing 16 countries and have covered over 80,000 square feet of walls.

Little Havana, Miami

Home to a domino park and tons of cigar stores. Not a bad combo.

Biscayne Bay National Park

We want to come back here and take a boat out to one of the islands for paddleboarding or kayaking or snorkling. Walked to the end of the boardwalk and saw really cool birds and tons of fish. There was also a bit of a crazy lady chanting/screaming into her phone.

Details, details, details

We’re trying to learn chess and the first time we played, Jess was losing so badly we had to start over. The second game was slightly better, but Bri still easily won.

Stopped in West Palm beach to walk along the boardwalk and check out some sand sculptures and huge yachts.

Palm Beach certainly has ridiculous mansions.

If you’re looking for a good place to run, there’s a nice boardwalk in Delray Beach.

Florida drivers are… awful. Very quick to honk and constantly in a hurry. One of our Lyft drivers in Miami confirmed that most Florida drivers are crazy.

Saw a palm tree farm in Homestead.

And then this happened…

Bri had called the Jacksonville welcome center and they were totally confident we could park off Kings Street, but when we got there, we couldn’t find a spot. It was all 2-hour or employee parking, or the spots were diagonal. That quickly deflated our Jacksonville bubble. Doughnuts helped (see Roadfood).

One night at Cracker Barrel, we pulled up next to a Newman 2019 Mountain-Aire that was worth at least $500,000 and 45 feet long with a tow vehicle. Could fit Layla inside the living room.

St. Augustine is very flat, with low curbs… so when it started pouring Friday and we thought we could just walk to the distillery, we got absolutely drenched.

If we park at a certain angle during a windy rain, water will come in the bottom corners of the slides. Big design flaw… gonna have to plan more carefully in the future.

Tried to go to a Roadfood spot and this was the alley leading up to it… we did not get murdered. But it was closed.

Now we know

Though small, St. Augustine had a really nice little parking lot for tour buses and RVs.

When it rains in St. Augustine, the school plays an acoustic version of Singing in the Rain.

Anastasia State Park only has a dump station and no water. We made this mistake only to realize it after we had paid to dump, and had to go to the KOA a few minutes away to also pay for water. Humph.

Road food

Fried chicken doughwiches and torched crème brûlée doughnut at Good Dough. About as ridiculous as it looks.

At Safe Harbor, the fish is as freshly-caught as you’d expect in a fish market next to the water. Home to the tastiest shrimp ever (bottom right).

Southern food meets sustainable ingredients at The Floridian, home of pickled pepper shrimp, biscuits with pork belly, & fried chicken with hot-sauce honey.

From a smoker alongside South Dixie Freeway, Uncle Chicken’s serves cream of chicken soup with pinot gris & pulled pork with buttery “everything bread.”