Destination: St. Augustine, Florida

Since so much happened on Nick and I's one week together in Florida, I'm going to break it up into several posts. When I arrived, we spent the evening in Miami and then took off the next morning to St. Augustine, about 5 and a half hours north.

On the way up, I saw something that has very much still made me reflect on all that we have to be grateful for in life. On our way up, our lanes of traffic were completely brought to a standstill going northbound. After looking around on our phones, we discovered that a terrible accident had occurred not even on our side of highway, but on the southbound side. 5 minutes later, a helicopter landed on our side, life-flighting someone out to safety. About a half hour later, we drove past the scene of the accident. It was horrifying. What had once been a car was now only a mangled mess of metal. 2 people had already died, and the person that was life-flighted was in critical condition. The southbound side was totally stopped and probably was stopped for about an hour more. I couldn't help but feel very grateful in that moment that everyone that I loved was safe and that my life hadn't been turned upside down in such a horrific way.

We arrived in St. Augustine to a beautiful ocean view, warm air, and Nick's uncle and friends greeting us. Not 5 minutes after walking in the door, they invited us to go on a ghost tour with them around St. Augustine, the oldest and one of the most haunted cities in America. We, of course, said yes, and shortly after piled back into the car for our adventure.

The ghost tour was a blast! The guide that we had was very knowledgable and had a passion for all things supernatural. We walked around to a variety of places including cemeteries and old houses where she told stories of ancient residents who hadn't want to leave the city. Several people excitedly showed the group pictures they had shot with "orbs" and "ghosts" in them.

 

At the end of the tour, we stopped at a house officially designated as a haunted site. On the grounds of the house is St. Augustine's "love tree," which, for over 100 years, has had an oak and a palm tree growing together. Rumor has it that if you kiss on the lips under the tree, you will be together forever. Here's the catch: you may not love each other forever, but you'll be stuck together forever. Nick and I were happy to oblige :D

Afterwards, we enjoyed some delicious food at an Italian restaurant and headed back home to get some much needed ZZZZZZ's.

Our last day in St. Augustine, we went back to the city to peruse the shops and check out the waterfront. His mom is an expert at which stores are the best, and we had a fun time walking into the small shops and checking out their trinkets. Afterwards, we ate at this cute restaurant that was Gone with the Wind themed. We walked along the waterfront toward the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, the oldest city wall and fortification system in the U.S. We didn't tour the castle (this trip) but walked around and checked out the various sides of the castle.

I highly recommend St. Augustine for a fun Florida trip! Here's the link to the Trip Advisor Top 10 Things to Do--I'm planning on all of these the next time we head back :)