St Augustine – Family Vacation Awesomeness!

Beginning of April we spent a fantastic week in St Augustine, FL , pretty much the best week ever.  There is nothing comparable to the ocean for rejuvenation and relaxation.  In fact, it is one of the few places where everyone regardless of age can have fun.  The options are endless!  We kayak, we boogie board, we surf, SUP & swim, we throw frisbees and footballs, we build sand castles and dig huge pools, we skim board, fish  and find seashells.  The beach is fun for Coby, who loves running from the waves and chasing SeaGulls, and for Grady, who loves to kayak and surf, and for Dan & I who love everything the beach has to offer and it’s great for everyone in between.

This beach trip we had to pull some strings to get a spot at a campground as all the State campgrounds were booked solid for Spring Break and with our large family and our small budget, private campgrounds are typically out.  However, we were so lucky to land a spot, a premium spot, at North Beach Camp directly across from the ocean!

To say this is the nicest private campground we’ve ever stayed at is an understatement!!  It’s like a gorgeous rain forest, with spanish moss trees and canopied camping spots!  It’s surprisingly private and very very well maintained!  The bathrooms are super clean and the showers are HOT HOT HOT!!  And they have a pool!!  Never thought we would use a pool at the beach because we LOVE the beach and it’s impossible to pull us away, but  it turned out that we used it every evening as we returned from the ocean!   We’d stay at the ocean until around 5, hit the pool, go straight to the showers and then go back to the RV, eat dinner and relax.  It was heaven, no lie!

And, just for those of you who appreciate staying dry on occasion, there is also an adorable playground nestled into a spanish moss tree forest with the best climbing trees around, a basketball court and a shuffleboard area.  The staff is super nice, even when Eddy (aka bad dog) gets out of the RV and runs around like he owns the place — never an angry or annoyed word was uttered.   Rounding out the awesomeness of the campground were 3 sets of washers and dryers, free wifi in the office building and a big, like huge, TV area where we saw some people jamming to exercise tapes!  🙂

Not surprisingly we don’t have much 411 to share about downtown St Augustine as when we go to the beach, we go to the beach and that is all.  However, we did happen to hit downtown for mass on Sunday and it was spectacular indeed!  We went to the Cathedral Basilica in downtown St. Augustine.  Should you decide to attend mass here, which I totally encourage you to, be sure to leave more than enough time to find parking.  Dan dropped us off 2 minutes before mass was to start (that’s the way we roll) and he ended up parking about 1 mile away!!

St. Augustine has a long and deep Catholic heritage.  The city of St. Augustine was founded and established in 1565 by Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. He began his adventure by sailing from the port of Cádiz, Spain. On August 28, 1565  his expedition first sighted land along the east coast of Florida (the area that is today Cape Canaveral). It was the feast day of Saint Augustine of Hippo. Menéndez decided to give that saint’s name to his first settlement.  Pope Paul VI raised to the status of minor Basilica on Dec 4, 1976.  It was only the 27th American Church to be honored as such by the Holy See.

We learned that the church was restored to look as it did in the late 1700’s.  The majority of the Baroque facade is original to that time.  Inside, beautiful oil paintings are replicas of those in the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel.