Georgia on my mind - Part I (St. Augustine & Fernandina Beach, FL)

My blogs are overwhelmingly about traveling abroad (except for previous blogs on Alaska and San Francisco). I absolutely love exploring foreign cities and cultures and cuisine. But sometimes (more often than I care to admit) there are adventures to be had in your own back yard (or at least your same time zone). After our MASSIVE 2.5 week trip to Germany, Austria, and Denmark, my husband and I decided that our next vacation would be on a smaller scale (both time and cost). 

So, I began my research as I always do, try to find something that strikes me as a must see, and plan the rest of the itinerary from there. We considered briefly the diamond mine in Arkansas, but there isn't too much else around there to make and entire trip out of it. Then, I found it. The Greyfield Inn. I absolutely adore history, and the Greyfield Inn is an "all inclusive resort" on Cumberland Island in Georgia. I put the words all inclusive resort in quotation marks for a reason. It's all inclusive alright, but it's also a major MAJOR step back in time. But more on that when we get there. Having decided that the Greyfield Inn would be our central destination for this trip, we started planning other activites around it. The closest airport to Greyfield is Jacksonville, Florida, and that is where this blog series begins. 

Greyfield Inn - Cumberland Island

Unlike most trips I take, where it's go go go without any stopping or relaxing, this trip was absolutely the opposite. I'm definitely not a beach bum, so no vacation of mine will ever include an entire day at the beach, but this trip was way more relaxing than most trips I plan. 

We boarded an 8:30AM flight to Jacksonville, Florida and landed about an hour and a half later. The brilliant thing about traveling stateside is that you can rely on American things. Unlike previous European nightmarish experiences with rental cars, in Florida, we could go with the cheapest rental car we could find (without worrying about automatic transmission and GPS, etc). We then hit up a local Walmart. The saying goes, "whatever you can't pack, you can buy there." Well, I have definitely found that NOT to be true. (Singapore, for example doesn't have the same types of over the counter medications you would expect to find. And we had a heck of a time finding ear drops in Ecuador.) In Florda, however, that wasn't an issue.

At Walmart, we got some fun vacation snacks, a giant bottle of deet bug spray (you'll understand why later), and some cheapo beach towels that we could use, abuse, and discard before going home. From there, we drove about an hour to the town of St. Augustine, the oldest US settlement. I know what you're thinking. What about Jamestown?? Isn't Jamestown the oldest settlement? Well, yes. And no. Haha. Jamestown is the oldest English settlement. St. Augustine was founded by Spain in 1565, but Florida wasn't one of the original 13 colonies, so it's settlements are often forgotten. Jamestown wasn't established until 1607. 

St. Augustine is a super cute town, and we had a great day there. We saw the old Spanish fort, the Lightener Museum, Flagler College, and just walked lazily down the streets browsing the cute boutique shops. The Lightener Museum was really neat. It was originally an early 1900s hotel and spa complete with all sorts of indoor spa amenities that we don't typically associate with the 1900s. I found it utterly fascinating and fun to think about that type of luxury during the Guilded Age. 

Flagler Museum - St. Augustine, Florida

For dinner, we ate at a local place called Barnacle Bills. I wanted to indulge in all of the southern comfort cuisine, and Barnacle Bills hit the spot. Nothing to write home about, but it was fun and satisfying. 

Shrimp 'n Grits with rice, beans, peaches, and hush puppies

Fish tacos with oranges, apple sauce, and hush puppies

We stayed at a hotel (more of a motel, actually) called the Jaybird Inn. I chose it (back in 2014) because it was within walking distance of oldtown St. Augustine (so we could park for free), and because it seemed like it was recently renovated, got good reviews, and was cheap. We stayed for one very pleasant night, enjoyed a light (complementary) breakfast the next morning, and headed slightly farther north to Fernandina Beach.

If there is anywhere that constitutes as a cute American beach town, it's Fernandina Beach, Florida. Our final destination that day was Cumberland Island, Georgia, but to get there, we had to take a boat at our appointed time. First, we found the Greyfield Inn parking lot with ease thanks to the detailed instructions sent to us by Greyfield. We left our luggage in the car for the time being, and walked around town for a little while until we had to meet the Lucy R. Ferguson.

Fernandina Beach, Florida

Fernandina Beach, Florida

Fernandina Beach, Florida

We stopped for lunch at a cute coffee shop and split a bagel and cinnamon roll. Then we walked around this picturesque, seaside town until meeting our boat at 12:15PM.

Lucy R. Ferguson - Boat that took us to Cumberland Island

Starting that evening, and for the next 2 days, we were completely taken back to the land that time forgot. If you ever want to go somewhere that really lets you unwind, unplug, and step back into history, Cumberland Island is the place for you. Stay tuned to my next blog post for all of the details.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler