Washington DC in October

This post is way delayed, yes I know, but at least it is happening (unlike my flight home from DC, but we'll get to that). The weekend before Halloween my immediate family (minus Taylor, because he's a dedicated law student) met in Washington DC to play. It was a great weekend! I'll bullet point it, along with pictures, to keep it as easy to read as possible:

• McKenzie and I spent Friday together in old-town Alexandria walking through town and thrift shopping, before meeting up with Philip and Elizabeth for lunch at the food trucks down town. I really needed that time to just chill with my siblings, especially my sister.
• For dinner, once my parents were in town, we went and got falafels. Love them. Plus, the little shop felt a lot like La Victorias, so I felt at home. 

• We saw some of the sights, including looking at some of the monuments at night, and the masonic temple in Alexandria. We didn't go inside the temple, since we didn't have time, but it's still awesome to look at.

• Saturday we explored Annapolis, which included a white Monster Energy drink, cheddar, jalapeño Cheetos, Kilwins' toasted coconut ice cream (Literally, the best EVER.), and a four pound shake. (If you haven't tried those Cheetos, or Kilwins ice cream do yourself a favor and go get some immediately. Otherwise, your life won't be complete.)

• Since we were together right before McKenzie's birthday we all ate drunken ribeye from Mike's American Grill. In case you haven't noticed, we ate really well on the trip. If you're near Springfield, VA, you MUST try Mike's. Below is my steak, taken in memory of my steak-loving husband, who wasn't there.

• We then watched the Giants win the World Series (booyah!!) while waiting on hold for hours to change our flights.
• Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, all flights were cancelled so Mom, Dad and I switched our flights to leave out of North Carolina, we rented a car and drove all night to catch a morning flight home. Thankfully that was the most trouble it caused any of us. Count your blessings.

Talk about a whirlwind summary! 

St. Augustine, Florida

Last weekend Taylor and I decided to go see St. Augustine. St. Augustine is an old city about 40 miles south of us that is known for being rich with culture, history and a fun place to wander. We've been hearing about it since we got to Florida, but put it off until the weather cooled down a little, which was genius of us.

We took the scenic route, along the coast past the dozens of bikers out enjoying their Saturday morning. We stopped at a Gate gas station at the half-wayish mark where I found pink Rockstars! If you don't know this about me, I love pink Rockstars. The marketing / branding is so perfect I can't handle it. And yes, they taste amazing. Anyway, I guess Rockstars are only king out west, because we've only seen three flavors max here (Regular, Diet, Lemonade) but there, in the little gas station, was my flavor. I bought them out.

Needless to say, my day was already awesome. But it continues:

We started by hitting up a farmer's market near the amphitheater. It was small, but full of interesting people selling whatever it was they loved; everything from ribbon angels and ceramics to sea food and pickles on a stick. Yeah, that was my favorite too. Pickles and olives.

We then just went and walked around the old part of the city and the fort. We didn't have any plans, we just wanted to get a feeling for St. Augustine because we definitely want to go back. The city has a quaint feeling, leaving you nostalgic for a European world you've never seen before.

 

Our first stop was in a chocolate shop for some ice cream. (Obviously.)

The town was settled by the French, then taken over by the Spanish before finally becoming part of the United States. The Spanish influences wins throughout the city, as you can see by these buildings. This was near Flagler College, across the street from which was a posh hotel. The whole thing was very 1920's glamorous.

Below is the view looking out from the old fort, where we watched a reenactment of a ceremonial cannon shot.

For lunch we decided to backtrack to a pizza shop we found earlier in the day. On our way back we came across this secret garden. I want one.

Also, do you notice Taylor's new haircut? He did it himself. :)

Pizza: It was just like walking into a New York pizza shop. The owner grew up working at those places in New York, so when he moved to Florida he opened up his own shop. It was amazing.

So the real question is, when are you coming to visit?

Korean Ice Cream

I am obsessed with ice cream. It's in my blood to love it, an inheritance from my dad's side of the family. Naturally this has led Taylor and me to search around Jacksonville for Florida's finest ice cream shops.

The most interesting one we've found is called Three F(x) Ice Cream. It's a mix of Cold Stone and Sub Zero. You pick the flavor ice cream you want (I got raspberry and they had to blend the berries up in the cream. That was a huge bonus for me!) and they pour the base liquid on a cooled metal slab where they mix it around with spatulas until you get creamy, delicious ice cream. I got raspberry ice cream with almonds and chocolate chips.

The intriguing thing about Three F(x) is they promote themselves as an ice cream and waffle shop so Taylor ordered a waffle with Bavarian cream filling. It's hard to say "We didn't know what we were expecting the waffle to look like" because we all know what a waffle looks like. Square, gridded with squares and delicious. So imagine how excited I felt to have the waffle lady drop this off at our table:

 

Yes. That is a fish waffle. And it was delicious. We've been back to the shop just for waffles because they're that much fun. I may just become a waffle connoisseur.

Apparently fish waffles are popular in Japan (their official name is Taiyaki) but this shop is owned by Koreans, so along with my waffle and ice cream we watched Korean boy band music videos.

Did I mention that Jacksonville is fun?

Across the country to Atlanta

Continuing the epic, cross-country story:
After a six-hour nap, and a stop at the famous ice cream shop, Ted Drewes, we made the final leap into Atlanta where Taylor’s family lives.

Ted Drewes is awesome, and somehow famous. I'm not sure how a little ice cream shop gets to be nationally recognized, but it is. My parents lived in Saint Louis 30 years ago and they ate there then. Watch how an exhausted Hilary eats her ice cream.

p.s. I love ice cream.

We did finally make it to Atlanta where we spent a week with my in-laws. I like those crazy people a lot. My mother-in-law has a juicer so we drank beet/carrot/celery/apple juice everyday, which does amazing things for your body. My nails started growing super fast and you start to crave the stuff. Now I'm sans-juicer and I'm not happy about it.

We spent most of our time watching the Olympics and driving around looking at Taylor's old stomping grounds. This was at the old drag race track. Doesn't it look like we stepped into Jumanji?

The other item of note is my sister-in-law's furniture business, Furniture by Maria. All summer she's been buying old wooden furniture, painting and antiquing it. She's really good. So good, in fact, she's spent most of her time completing custom orders and she has them lined up for Christmas and next summer. So, while she and my mother-in-law were at their finest, I pulled out my camera.

Are your visits to the in-laws this fun?

Scenes from the weekend

Chocolate-dipped ice cream from Maceys.

Ducklings all over the place.

Taylor flying our kite.