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May9

St. Augustine, Florida – the perfect girls’ weekend

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A recap of our St. Augustine trip – it was a perfect spot for a girls’ weekend/runcation!

Hey y’all! It’s hard to believe I was heading to St. Augustine a week ago!! It already feels like so long ago, but it was seriously such a perfect trip. I shared what we did each day, including where we ate – get ready for lots of pictures! I would definitely add St. Augustine to your list for a weekend getaway, whether for a solocation, with girlfriends or with your significant other. There is something for everyone and it’s not overwhelmingly crowded or big. I absolutely loved it and want to go back with Tommy!

St. Augustine Weekend Getaway

We started each morning with a run and a late-ish breakfast. We took our time in the morning, not rushing out the door, and really enjoyed the balcony with a great marsh view.

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The sunrises were gorgeous!

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Wednesday night

Kate picked me up from the Jacksonville airport and it was so fun to see her! I’ve really missed running with her – she was steady and encouraging running buddy when I trained for the Wrightsville Beach Marathon and a gem of a friend when I was wedding planning. She always pushed me to be a better runner. (Read this post about how we became friends & how I used to be her rival.)

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It about an hour drive to our AirBnb, which was lovely. We stayed just north of the Old City, about a 10 minute drive from the main tourist area, which was perfect for relaxing since it was SO quiet where we stayed. We had a great view overlooking a marsh with gorgeous sunrises and enjoyed leisurely mornings on the balcony drinking coffee and eating breakfast. We also loved that there wasn’t a TV – it really helped us disconnect and we spent a lot of time reading in the afternoon. (We came back to our place around 4:00 each day to relax before cleaning up for dinner.)

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On Wednesday night, we ate at Mango Mango. Kate and I both thought this was mediocre, despite getting this recommendation from a number of people. Maybe it was an off night??

mango-mango-st-augustine

Thursday

We woke up around 6:15 to fuel for our run. Kate is training for Grandma’s Marathon so she had a couple key workouts to do during our trip and I was happy to go along for the ride! And by go along for the ride I mean, hang on as long as I could and then wish her luck as she sped up. I’m still loosely following my recovery training plan after Boston and I didn’t want to push it too hard. And, let’s be honest, I’m not sure I could have kept up anyway.

We ran from our Airbnb, through some neighborhoods and happened to end up near the Fountain of Youth. I ran with her for her warm-up and then wished her luck as she started her tempo pace.

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I kept running and stopped along the way to take some pictures before we met back at the Fountain of Youth for her 200m repeats before running home. I got in 6 miles and she did 7.

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Lunch + Sightseeing

We hit up The Floridian for lunch and both agreed that it was good but not amazing.  Our salads were fine, but nothing to write home (or blog) about. We also got a brownie to go and were both meh on it. But when we went back for dinner, we both LOVED it. More on that below.

We walked around the Old City, Flagler College and the fort, Castillo de San Marcos. We also wandered down St. George Street, and I’m still kicking myself for not getting a popsicle at Hyppo since we never made it back.

st-augustine-weekend-getaway st-augustine-weekend-getaway st-augustine-weekend-getaway st-augustine-weekend-getaway J.Crew chino shorts | similar tank | Birkenstocks | Marc Jacobs crossbody bag + sunglasses

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I loved all the historical homes and I especially loved the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. (They do permit photos inside!)

Cathedral-Basilica-St-Augustine

Cathedral-Basilica-St-Augustine

Thursday Dinner at Llama

Llama Restaurant was our favorite restaurant of the trip. We started with the ceviche, both got the FISH for our entrée and got alfajores for dessert. It has a cozy, quiet ambiance and we had excellent service.

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llama-restaurant-st-augustinesimilar dress

Tip: Make reservations at least a few days in advance. And order a bottle of wine rather than by the glass. Their bottles were so cheap compared to the glasses and we took half a bottle home to enjoy on Saturday night. And ask them to tell you the story of their broken dessert plate.llama-restaurant-st-augustine

Friday

We started our day with a 4 mile recovery run at Vilano Beach. Unfortunately, the road we ran on had a LOT of traffic with big trucks so it wasn’t very relaxing and we couldn’t run side by side for a lot of the run. But, hey, at least it was flat!

We spent the afternoon at Anastasia State Park beach

While we didn’t get in the water since the current was pretty rough, we sat under an umbrella and read for about 2.5 hours. It was so relaxing and so pretty.

anastasia-state-parksimilar swimsuit here and here + sunglasses

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Friday lunch

We skipped lunch since we had a late breakfast, but thankfully Kate had packed some Clif Bars so we snacked on those at the beach. We made some peanut butter+ banana+honey toast when we got back to the loft to hold us over until dinner.

Before dinner, we walked around the Old City area again since there was a Friday night gallery stroll. I, of course, used it as an excuse to wear Lilly again. 😉similar dress + J.Crew earrings

We popped into seven or eight galleries and really enjoyed it. I now have these two paintings my house wish list.

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st-augustine-first-friday-art-walk

Google said the Lightner Museum and Memorial Presbyterian Church were part of the gallery stroll but they were both closed, so we missed out on those. We still walked around the outside though!

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memorial-presbyterian-church-st-augustine

Dinner at The Floridian

Yep, we went back to the Floridian again since so many people said it was incredible. Plus, we were running long the next morning (8.5 for me and 15 for Kate), we didn’t want anything too spicy or adventurous. We were glad we gave it another shot – it was excellent for dinner. I got the seared tuna and Kate got the black bean & sweet potato burger.

Tip: We really liked the ambiance upstairs at night, probably even more than the patio where we sat the day before. Oh, and ORDER THE CHIPS AND DIP. So good.

the-floridian-st-augustine

After dinner, we popped into Le Macaron which was a great decision. Kate isn’t typically a macaron fan and even she loved it. I’m very picky about macarons and I thought they were AMAZING.

Saturday

We started our day with a run at an. We parked at the Old City Farmers’ Market and ran from there into the park and looped around to get the mileage we needed. Anastasia State Park was perfect for running – lots of shade, no traffic and it was beautiful! We didn’t even plan to match. 😉

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I ran 8.5 milesand Kate kept going to do a total of 15 miles, so I chatted with Tommy, stretched and meandered the market until she was done.

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Finishing our run at the market was perfect since we were able to get local kombucha to settle our stomachs immediately after the run. We got acai bowls at the market for breakfast, strategized what we wanted to buy for dinner while we ate and then browsed the market with a cup of coffee in hand. Oh, and I crushed a dill pickle from Olive My Pickle. 🙂

old-city-farmers-market old-city-farmers-market

We had a late lunch at City Bistro, which was a GREAT spot for sandwiches, breakfast and killer coffee. (We’d purchased a bag of beans on our second day.)

Sunday

On our last day in St. Augustine, we ate breakfast at our AirBnb and then headed into Jacksonville so we’d be close to the airport. Kate drove around a bit and we found a cute little area, Avondale, that had shops, restaurants and gorgeous homes and views along the river.

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We shopped, walked through the neighborhood and got lunch before heading to the airport. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip! And Biscottis had amazing food and carrot cake!

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biscottis-jacksonville

Instagram typo – should have said “biggest piece of cake, perfect to share when you don’t want to share” – ha! We both agreed on getting carrot cake! Or it’s entirely possible Kate took one for the team since I had told her the night before how much I love carrot cake.

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I’m so grateful for such a wonderful friend and a wonderful weekend getaway! I’m hoping we can make this an annual tradition!

jacksonville-day-trip

To recap, these are all the restaurants we hit & would recommend:

Big thanks to everyone who gave so many recommendation on Instagram! Check out the comments on this post for more ideas if you’re planning a trip!

What I would add to my list for next time:

Activities

 

Dining

If you’ve been to st. Augustine, what would you recommend? And, if you haven’t been to St. Augustine, where you would pick for a perfect girls’ weekend? I’m starting a list. 😉

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    8 responses to “St. Augustine, Florida – the perfect girls’ weekend”

    1. We were in St Augustine in 2016 when my brother was married there. We LOVED it!! I’d love to go back. We ate at a small vegan cafe called Present Moment Cafe. It was so quaint and the food was delicious. Even my meat-loving husband loved it. Highly recommend! Anyway, thanks for this post. It was fun for me to remember back to the beautiful scenery and sights 🙂

    2. We moved to Florida about one week after the annual fourth grade field trip to St Augustine- which is the only field trip that year! We promised our daughter we’d go for a family weekend but it’s been 2.5 years and haven’t quite made it yet… oops.

      Thanks for the reminder!

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