We left on Friday afternoon, as soon as Mr. Cat was done with his classes. The girls were super duper excited, and some had already packed two days prior. We were all ready for a break, and couldn't wait to leave. The route we took was pretty interesting. It was a short stint on I-75, but as soon as we got to Ocala, we switched to back county roads. When people think of FL, they probably don't think farm country. It really is beautiful though, and we enjoyed the drive. I think we kept the radio off for the majority of it and just chatted and enjoyed some of the things we saw out of the windows. We saw all sorts of sights on our drive. This billboard had some of us cracking up.
Yes, we realize the buy 1 get one bit was for the tour, not the seniors, but it still made us giggle.
We arrived just in the time frame we thought, which is a rarity for us. The drive was only around 3 hours which isn't too bad at all. It was one of those amazing rare times when no one had to make a bathroom stop. We found the place we were staying pretty easily. After a tip from a friend, we ended up booking a family room at Pirate Haus Inn. It is actually a hostel, and while they do have dormitory style rooms that are more hostel style, they also have private family rooms, which contain a queen bed and varying numbers of sets of bunk beds, depending on the room. Now, the second I said "hostel," Mr. Cat was concerned. The word didn't draw to mind anything that was family friendly. And if you've had the misfortune of seeing the horror movie of the same name, you will understand. We looked all around the website, and watched the youtube video, and Mr. Cat said, go for it. I wanted to tell the girls right away, but booking it so close to the day we were to arrive, we had to wait for a response to see if it was available. Luckily we got the last family room.
The entire place is pirate themed. It was cheesy, but really fun, and the girls were super excited about it. I didn't get as many pictures there as I had hoped, but when you walk up the stairs (it is on the second floor of an historical building) the sides of the steps are painted with the "Yo ho yo ho, a Pirate's life for me" song. There are lots of pirate memorabilia and signs all around. The rooms are painted in whimsical colors. In the family rooms, there are pirate themed murals on the walls. The kids bunks each came with "pirate sleep sacks" to use which just added to the novelty for them. Now, it wasn't hotel out of a box quality, but as they say, if that is what you want, you are in the wrong place. It was very homey though, and I felt like I was staying at a friend's house. The staff members are friendly and fun to talk to. They are very helpful at telling about the various places around, and very friendly to the kids.
We decided to walk around a bit on our quest to find dinner. We saw a seafood place right off the bat, which looked good, but we decided to see what our other options were before making a decision. Hindsight being 20/20, we should have eaten then, as the later it got, the more difficult it became, but I digress.
One of the first things Old Soul noticed was the architecture. She commented on how the scene was something you'd see at Disney's Hollywood Studios, except this was real. I had to stop and think and yeah, it's really been a while since we've gone someplace with remarkably different architecture. We walked around just enjoying everything. It was a full sensory experience. There were the sounds of many different instruments and singing that was coming from all directions, street corners, alleys, lounges, etc. There are many places I would have enjoyed stopping in to see, except that they were not places that children were allowed (nor where I would want to bring my kids). I am seeing a trip in the future sometime for just us grown ups. There were so many smells from all the different foods being prepared. We smelled BBQ, char-broiled somethings, candy, fudge, fresh breads, fish, you name it. We live in a pretty small town, and we are used a small variety of choices, and most food places are chain type places. I think we were all just in awe and enjoying walking seeing so many different varieties to choose from.
We just kept walking, lots of walking, and as it got later, it also got cooler. It was a pretty chilly day to begin with (for us Floridians) and the high in St. Augustine was only in the upper 50's anyway. Of course it gets cooler at night. We had brought our jackets, but after being outside for so long, we were starting to get a little cold. We decided it was time to find some food. The area where we were walking (because we didn't want to have to deal with driving anywhere) has a ton of places, as I mentioned. We ran into a bit of a problem though. Many of them were not family friendly. Many of them were on the small side, which makes finding a table for 6 sometimes nearly impossible. Many of them served only meat items, which we don't eat on Fridays. After lots more walking, we finally decided to go back to the seafood place we started at. So we made our way back to Harry's Seafood which, I just now realized after looking up the website, is a chain restaurant. Oh well.
By the time we got back to it, it was crowded. We went to put our name on the list, and the wait was 45 minutes. Inside the entry, there was no seating available to wait, so we stood. Kids were cold and hungry, my feet were killing me, and it was loud and a little bit over-stimulating in there. I was looking at a patio full of empty tables, and with propane heaters all over the place. We asked how long it was to sit on the patio, and we were put on the first available for there. It was still a bit of a wait, but we waited outside where we could sit on benches and get a little warmth from the heaters and listen to the live entertainment, which was a guy, a guitar and a harmonica. He played music that all of us knew. Finally we were seated.
The younger two girls ordered fish and chips from the kids menu, and the older two girls and I ordered shrimp po'boys. I wish we had known in advance how huge they would be, because we would have shared. Mr. Cat ordered shrimp and fries. It was really a lovely setting.
I was warm enough to take off my jacket (and give it to a child). The kids had never eaten at a place with live entertainment, and they really enjoyed it. It reminded Nick and I of a pub, except outside. We told the girls that, and some of them said they couldn't wait until they were old enough to go to a pub. LOL. There were a group of people who had probably enjoyed their drinks a little too much, and they were singing loudly and bantering with the musician. Even though there were times where they behaved a little obnoxiously, it was all clean at least and it didn't stop us from having fun. I was even able to get the kids to cooperate and let me take a picture of them enjoying their time.
We rarely go out to eat, so going out of town, and then out to eat, and then outside with a musician, it was a special night. We really enjoyed the family time. We made our way back to the hotel with tired feet and sleepy children. Figuring out bathroom use with all 6 of us in one bathroom was a bit tricky, but we managed and soon everyone was ready for bed. Here is a little bit of our room. First, the mural on one of the walls:
And the mural above the queen bed:
We got all tucked in and after one episode of "I have to go to the bathroom again" from the littlest who was having trouble getting down from the bunk bed, and a case of the wiggles, which were compounded by a creaky bunk, we all got to sleep. Well, everyone mostly, except for me. I slept, but not soundly. I tend to be a light sleeper anyway, and being in a new environment amplified it. Once I got used to the creak of the bed (note to self, test out all beds in the future for the tosser and turner), I thought it would be better. It was too bright, since Gift is used to a night light and I had my phone being used as a night light and alarm clock. Then the drunks came out. We were warned that it can get loud, but really, I live in an apartment complex full of college kids, and I really didn't think it would be worse than that. I was wrong. People get loud when they get drunk. Really loud. And they laugh a lot. And woohoo. And sing. And cuss. And just when I got used to that, there was music. I had already heard car radio music, but this was different. It was like a piano, but only playing certain chords over and over. It was like.......it was like a steel drum. But surely it wasn't a steel drum. It was 1:30 by this time, and our hostel was not by a bar or even on a particularly crowded street. Below the hostel were shops, which were all closed up. Whatever it was, it finally stopped at around 2:30, and by 3 AM, the drunks were gone too, and I finally fell into a more restful sleep.
Part 2 to come later.
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