Author: Allison

Scott and I wanted to enjoy the holidays in a bit cooler weather, so we headed up to St. Augustine, FL the weekend before Christmas. I had heard the the Nights of Lights were amazing, so we were excited to check it out. The drive was about 4.5 hours north including a couple of stops. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US, with a very rich history.

Hilton Historic Bayfront

We stayed at the Hilton Historic Bayfront hotel right across from the water and the location was perfect! The hotel was older, but they really decorated it well.

Our room was upgraded to the corner unit and we had two balconies. One overlooked the water and the other overlooked the alley way. In St. Augustine, the heart of the historic district is occupied by alleys that are lined with shops and restaurants.

Just below our balcony, a band (Running Threads) was playing folk – blue grass music and they were fantastic. We ended up buying them a couple rounds of beers to say thank you. The lead singer is actually from Bellingham, WA!

Out in the courtyard of the hotel, they have a monument sign noting that Martin Luther King was arrested at the Monson Motel (now where the Hilton now is) and the Hilton kept the steps he stood on in his honor.

Exploring St. Augustine

One thing I learned quickly is that most restaurants do not take reservations, so you have to wing it. Our first stop was the Trade Winds Tavern to grab a cocktail. The back bar was certainly interesting, but we loved it.

As you walk down the streets and alleys you will find many historical buildings and the city has done a fantastic job with placing informational placards on historical buildings.

Our first night, we headed into the art district to find a place for dinner. We ended up stumbling upon this horse, who came knocking at the store owner’s door looking for a treat.

Nights of Lights

Scott and I ended up having dinner at the A1A Alehouse. We sat downstairs in the bar and enjoyed a casual dinner. After that, we had scheduled a ghost tour and headed off to meet our guide. Along our way, we had to check out the Nights of Lights square. With the weather being jacket weather and the town playing holiday music, it finally felt like the holiday season we have been missing.

We met our tour guide in the center square, where he would take us on a 90 minute ghost tour of St. Augustine. You might remember that we did a similar tour in Key West that was fantastic.

Unfortunately, this tour and guide were awful. He walked us down five blocks and he used an IPad as his show and tell. On top of that, he forgot his “script” a few times, which flustered him. We didn’t expect to see any ghosts, but we had hoped to learn something about the city and the stories involving ghosts. The only thing somewhat spooky was the cemetery in the center of town.

After the failed ghost tour, Scott and I walked around enjoying the lights and found our way back to the Trade Winds Tavern for some live music.

Day Two in St. Augustine

The following morning, we had breakfast at the Nero Cafe’ right down from our hotel. The menu was a bit eclectic and honestly it wasn’t my favorite. That’s what happens when you eat at the tourist places and not where the locals eat.

We took a nice stroll along the waterfront towards the fort. I can imagine how cool it would be to be anchored in front of the city and enjoying the lights from your boat. Maybe next year!

St. Augustine Fort

Our first stop was the famous Castillo Fort which was built in the late 1600’s. I had visited the fort back in the 70’s when I was a child and this was Scott’s first visit. The entry fee is $15 per adult and you can also buy an annual National Parks pass for $80 per adult.

It’s amazing to think that this huge fort was built by hand using shells and rocks from the sea.

The self guided tour took us about 30 minutes. They do shoot off the cannons every hour starting at 10:30am.

What I found fascinating was that every cannon is elaborately decorated.

St. Augustine Pirate Museum

After our tour of the fort, we headed over to the Pirate Museum. The entry fee is $20 per adult and the self guided tour took about 20 minutes. There were some very interesting facts about pirates and what the navy did to them when they were caught.

There were artifacts that were recovered from treasure chests, including old log books dating back to the 1600’s.

In this gory depiction, a pirate is having is eye removed.

Though it was a short tour, it was very interesting and I am glad we visit it. Our next stop was the Medieval Torture Museum.

Walking the Historic District in St. Augustine

I don’t know what Scott and I thought we would see in this museum, but let’s just say it was horrific. In fact, we are not including any of the images or video we took for our episode, because it was just so gory and horrific. What people did to people back then is unimaginable.

Over half of the torture devices were designed for women – either because they gossiped, drank, suspected witches or were whores.

After experiencing the horrors of the museum, I needed to get outside and get some fresh air as I was feeling queasy. There are lots of outdoor venues where you can grab a drink or a bite to eat.

The historic district is really quaint and it reminded us a lot of Leavenworth and Annapolis.

Cocktails Anyone?

Right in the middle of St. Augustine’s historic district, is a distillery. The tasting was complimentary and we tasted eleven different spirits.

They were all incredibly delicious and we bought the salted caramel whiskey. Just across the way is the oldest school house in America. There is a nominal entry fee of $6 per adult.

There is a small courtyard behind the school house and inside they have depicted what a typical classroom would look like.

We learned that a dunce hat was not meant to punish bad behavior, but instead it identified students that were slow. Can you imagine?! Then if you were behaving badly, you were sent to the “dungeon” underneath the stairs. Again, can you imagine?!

Our last stop of the day, was the hot sauce store and Scott found a favorite!

Our Last Evening

One bit of advise I have, is be patient when it comes to dinner. We walked all around the historic district trying to get in to any restaurant and because it was the holidays, everything was full and a long wait. So we ended up back at our hotel, where I had a pretty good beef tenderloin steak.

We finished the evening back at Trade Winds for more live music to finish a great trip to St. Augustine.

Hands down, we will go back to St. Augustine! We would love to see it off season when there are not so many people. There are so many more attractions to see and we can’t wait to go back.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and channel and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Happy New Year!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Scott and I had so much fun last year in Key West, that we headed back down to enjoy the holidays with our good friends Ben and Maria earlier this month. There is so much to do in Key West and this was our fourth visit. Key West is about a 3.5 to 4 hour drive from Fort Lauderdale, depending on traffic.

On our way down, we stopped at the Lorelei Restaurant for lunch in Islamorada. We hadn’t been there in years, so it was fun to go back and enjoy some cold drinks and a great lunch! Lorelei also is home to many charter and activity companies, so it’s a great starting point.

Opal Key West Hotel

On this trip, we stayed at the Opal Key West again and they did not disappoint. The hotel upgraded us to a suite and took fantastic care of us. Upon arrival we were welcomed with milk and muffins with a welcome note from the team.

We love visiting Key West during the holidays because they go out of their way to deck the city out for the holidays. Scott and I are still getting used to living in flip flops and palm trees, when all of the songs and commercials are about bundling up for the holidays. The Opal Resort does a wonderful job decorating for the holidays!

On our second night, we received a bottle of wine, plus a variety of waters and a nice gift box of snacks.

On top of that, our view was fantastic!

Day One

On our first night, Ben made reservations at Blue Heaven and it was fantastic! We highly recommend dining here. The restaurant is situated in an outdoor courtyard and the grouper was the best I have ever had.

We wrapped up our first night at The Bull bar, listening to some great live music. You can say that Maria and I got pickled that night too!

Day Two

We started the next day with a tour of Harry Truman’s house. There is so much history here, that this blog doesn’t do it justice. Be sure to watch our YouTube episode to get the full story.

Our tour guide was fantastic and one thing he pointed out, was there were ash trays in every room and on every table. This is an actual copy of a Camels ad!

The tour was a bit surreal, thinking that we were standing in the house that one of our US Presidents dined and vacationed. In fact, the last US President to visit was Clinton and his wife. They don’t allow video, but they do allow photos.

Conch Tour

The tour guide at the Truman house encouraged us to take the Conch Train tour, which was $57 per person. The tour did take us all around Key West, including the beach, but the guide’s bad jokes were killing us. We hopped off at Duval Street and grabbed some lunch.

The four of us had lunch at The Two Friends Patio and it was fantastic! Great service and the potato chips were homemade. During our trip, we also made sure to place our sticker where stickers were allowed. If you find one of our stickers, take a photo, share on social and tag us. If you do, we’ll send you a Boating Journey hat!

Rum Tour

From lunch, we headed to the first legal rum distillery in Key West, Key West Rum Distillery. They give complimentary tours and our guide was fantastic! The rum and the vodka were outstanding and you can only buy their liquor from them directly.

Evening in Key West

Our hotel faces west and it offered some of the best sunset views. The four of us watched the sunset before heading to dinner.

We had heard about the Half Shell Raw House restaurant down at the marina and it had good reviews, so we headed there for dinner. The marina is also decorated to the hilt for Christmas.

Along our way, we remembered we had placed a sticker along a wall at the marina and we found it! See if you can find it when you are down there.

Famous Bike Parade

That evening Key West had their famous holiday bike parade and over 4000 bikers decorate their bikes and head down the heart of town. We watched it this year from the balcony of a bar.

Day 3

The following morning, we headed over to climb the 88 steps of the famous Key West Lighthouse. The climb wasn’t physically hard, but it is very steep and being scared of heights, I didn’t look down. Beware that the hand rail is very rusty, so have handwipes ready!

The views were pretty amazing, so it was worth it. Going back down was harder than going up and our legs sure felt it the following morning!

After our tour, we headed to Duval Street and checked out the shops.

Sunset Champagne Cruise

Since we didn’t go snorkeling this trip, we still wanted to get out on the water, so we booked a sunset cruise. We chose an intimate tour of just 14 people on a small catamaran named “Echo” and the crew was fantastic! The choices of wine and champagne were great and they had a nice spread of cheeses and crackers. I highly recommend this tour over a party booze cruise with tons of people.

The cruise ran from 4:30pm to 6:30p and the views were amazing!

Ben and Maria headed to a 5-star Michelin dinner and we chose to stay casual as I had been under the weather. Scott and I ate at the Boat House Restaurant for lighter fare and after that we headed to Irish Kevin’s for some live music. Who knew that Scott would end up on stage in a contest to get the crowd loud! LOL. Be sure to watch the video on YouTube!

Despite being under the weather, it was another great trip to Key West. There is so much to do and we look forward to our trip next year! Another big thank you to the Opal Resort for taking such good care of us (and no this is not paid sponsorship).

As always, thank you for following our blog and please be sure to subscribe to our channel on YouTube and on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

When Scott and I moved to South Florida, we made a commitment to explore the area just as tourists would and earlier this month we visited the renown Vizcaya Museum. Miami, Florida is renowned for its beautiful beaches, vibrant nightlife, and diverse cultural scene. Amidst this modernity lies a gem from a bygone era—the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Nestled in the lush Coconut Grove neighborhood, this historic mansion transports visitors to the lavish lifestyle of the Gilded Age. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain the day we visited, so we didn’t get to enjoy the gardens like we had hoped to.

You will find the parking lot walking distance from the mansion. They have a paved trail that takes you to the main driveway.

Once you enter the grounds, it is apparent how opulent the mansion and grounds are.

A Glimpse into History

Commissioned by industrialist James Deering in the early 20th century, Vizcaya Mansion was built as a winter residence inspired by Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture. James never married and used the mansion to entertain guests throughout the winter. Construction began in 1914 and was completed in 1922. The mansion was designed to resemble an Italian villa, with an exquisite attention to detail that remains unparalleled to this day. Unfortunately, James was not able to enjoy it very long, as he passed away in 1025.

Architectural Marvel

The mansion boasts a fusion of European opulence and American innovation. The exterior reflects the grandeur of Italian villas, featuring intricate stone carvings, majestic arches, and a red-tiled roof. Inside, visitors encounter a meticulously designed interior, adorned with awe-inspiring frescoes, ornate furnishings, and an impressive collection of European art and antiques.

Miami-Dade Museum

James Deering died in 1925 and gave the Vizcaya mansion to his nieces. However, they struggled to pay for the maintenance and donated the mansion to Miami-Dade County. It became a historic museum in 1953.

Visitors are guided through a journey through time as they explore the various rooms of the mansion. The opulent rooms, such as the grand hall, the dining room, and the music room, are masterpieces in their own right. Each room is a testament to the luxury and sophistication of the Gilded Age.

Below is a photo of just the pantry – not the kitchen!

The amount of detail that went into each room is stunning. Architect Paul Chalfin designed every room in the mansion.

The Music Room, with its gilded ceiling and grand piano, stands as a striking example of the mansion’s elegant design. The intricately designed ceilings, imported directly from Europe, are adorned with delicate craftsmanship and stunning murals, transporting visitors to a time of lavish gatherings and musical soirées.

The Design

Vizcaya Mansion originally was built as a square building with an open courtyard in the center and the guest rooms surrounding on the second floor. In 1985 the county enclosed the courtyard to preserve the structure and protect it from weather elements and hurricanes.

Every where you turn, you will find ornate items even in the hallways.

Nine Bedrooms

Vizcaya Museum has nine bathrooms and each have whimsical names. They are also decorated with ornate furnishings making each one unique from the others.

It’s interesting to see how the bathrooms were so different from each other.

The Staff

The staff stayed on the 2nd floor of the Vizcaya Museum and we didn’t have access to their quarters. There were a few sets of stairs to the 2nd floor, but the mansion also had an elevator. The kitchen was designed to be a full service catering kitchen to entertain many guests.

Enchanting Gardens

Beyond the mansion, the Vizcaya Gardens present an enchanting world of lush landscapes, elaborate fountains, and serene waterways. The gardens, designed by Paul Chalfin and Diego Suarez, incorporate Italian and French elements, creating a romantic and picturesque setting.

Visitors can stroll through the beautiful formal gardens, replete with sculpted hedges, marble statues, and reflecting pools. The charming Secret Garden, tucked away from the main area, offers a sense of tranquility and privacy, inviting contemplation amidst nature’s beauty.

In front of the mansion, is a breakwater called the “Vizcaya Barge” . It was intended to look like a boat, but over the years it has deteriorated due to high tides and hurricanes.

Can you imagine the parties they would have in the gardens? We were disappointed that it was raining so hard, as we really didn’t get a chance to enjoy them for very long.

The gardens had so many beautiful plants that I have never seen before. It’s fantastic that such a beautiful place is so well taken care of to preserve its history.

Preservation

In 1952, the estate was opened to the public as a museum, preserving its historical and architectural significance. Today, the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens continue to serve as a cultural hub, hosting events, exhibitions, and educational programs that celebrate art, history, and horticulture.

The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens stand as a testament to the magnificence of a bygone era. Its beauty, artistry, and historical significance make it a must-visit attraction for anyone seeking to immerse themselves in the opulence of the Gilded Age. Beyond its architectural marvel, the Vizcaya Mansion and Gardens offer a glimpse into a world of art, culture, and the timeless beauty of nature.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and our vlog – see link below. The video gives you a much closer look at the mansion and Scott tells the full story of its history. Follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers,

Scott and Ally

Scott and I have lived in South Florida about a year and a half now and we finally visited the infamous Flamingo Gardens in Davie, FL. Flamingo Gardens, is a captivating botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary that beckons visitors into a lush, tropical oasis. Nestled amidst 60 acres of natural beauty, it offers a mesmerizing blend of serene landscapes, vibrant gardens, and diverse wildlife. Of course the main attraction are the flamingos, but visitors can also encounter a variety of native and exotic animals, from alligators to birds of prey. The garden’s dedication to conservation and education shines through interactive exhibits, informative tours, and an enriching educational center, making it a delightful destination for nature enthusiasts and families alike.

Botanical Gardens

The botanical garden is a verdant paradise that beckons nature enthusiasts and admirers of lush landscapes alike. Towering trees, vibrant flowers, and exotic foliage create a captivating tableau, offering a feast for the senses and a tranquil retreat from the bustling outside world. From the fragrant blossoms of tropical flora to the diverse array of native plants, the garden showcases the beauty of nature’s tapestry and educates visitors about the importance of plant conservation and sustainability. It’s a place where one can stroll amidst the greenery, appreciate the diversity of plant life, and gain a deeper appreciation for the intricate relationship between plants and our environment.

Flamingo Gardens History

Flamingo Gardens, was founded by Floyd and Jane Wray in 1927. Floyd Wray was an aviator, horticulturalist, and photographer, and he purchased the land that would become Flamingo Gardens to cultivate citrus trees. Over the years, the gardens expanded and evolved into the botanical garden, wildlife sanctuary, and educational attraction that it is today, showcasing a diverse array of plant life and animal species.

The original house of the Wray’s sits in the center of the gardens and has been preserved to showcase what it looked like when they lived in it.

Aviary

Birds take center stage at Flamingo Gardens in Davie, FL, enriching the sanctuary with their vibrant presence and contributing to the garden’s multifaceted mission. These avian inhabitants, including the iconic flamingos, symbolize the essence of biodiversity, providing visitors a unique opportunity to connect with the natural world. Their captivating behaviors, colors, and interactions serve as powerful educational tools, fostering an understanding of avian ecology and inspiring a sense of environmental stewardship. Additionally, Flamingo Gardens offers a safe haven for injured, rehabilitated, or rescued birds, providing a nurturing habitat for their well-being and enhancing the conservation efforts essential to safeguarding these majestic creatures for future generations to appreciate and cherish.

Endangered and Injured Animals

Flamingo Gardens is a sanctuary that not only showcases the beauty of wildlife but also takes an active role in the conservation of endangered animals. The sanctuary provides a safe haven for various endangered species, offering a chance for these remarkable creatures to thrive and potentially contribute to their species’ recovery. We were able to see a black bear, Florida panther, bobcat, two alligators, sea otters and a variety of turtles and tortoises.

Flamingo Gardens has a large sea otter habitat and it was fun watching the sea otters jump in their pool, wave to us and then take the slide back into the water.

Where are the Flamingos?

The grounds are covered with all kinds of birds ranging from peacocks, peahens, snowy egrets to name a few.

Finally, we found the flamingo pond and there were far more other birds than there were flamingos.

Lego Land

Throughout the gardens, you will find sculptures made completely out of Legos. This award-winning exhibit from Artist Sean Kenney featuring 44 sculptures made from more than 800,000 LEGO® bricks was only on display thru September 4th, so we got lucky.

All in all, we’re glad we took the time to visit this historical spot. It is just another reminder of why we moved to Florida – so we could enjoy outdoor activities all year round. Be sure to check out our YouTube episode (link below) for a full tour of the grounds.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our channel and blog. You can also follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally