Vilano Beach!

We rented a house in St. Augustine for 5 nights during our trip. It was 1 block from Vilano beach, and it was awesome! We used air bnb again and it worked out great as usual! It was nice to be in a house together, which a kitchen and living room (and a hot tub!), instead of being in a hotel. It was cheaper than being in a hotel too!

There was about a 2 block walk to the beach. Not too bad! It was also just a few blocks from a Publix. We went there several times a day every day, to buy floats, and fruit, and drinks, and popsicles.

I got contacts just for the beach! I didn't want to worry about losing my glasses, and I didn't want to swim blind. I'm very near sighted and overly concerned with shark attacks. 

I'm so mad at myself. I bought a beautiful Put a Lid On It hat JUST for this trip! And then left it at home! I left it until last so it wouldn't get smushed and then it stayed home. Bah. I had this fold up one Travis bought me at Goodwill last summer. I had it "just in case" but ended up falling in love with it. I need more colors! I spent most of my beach time under the umbrella. I love listening to the waves but I don't love the sunburn! Also, Crystal brought me that Frida bag back from her honeymoon in Mexico (almost 7 years ago!). It was perfect for the beach!

The beach was covered in tiny shells. Which was a little hard on the feet, but pretty! It also SUCKED the first two days when the waves were really rough and if you fell you got dragged over the sharp shells. I got a few battle wounds. But on the third day it calmed down and got perfect. Travis and Marc just rode waves the entire time.

 Travis bought the big gator, and the little guy was at our beach house. Isn't his face funny? 

 We're all about sun protection in this family.

It was so gorgeous! And the beach front was mostly single family homes, not condos or hotels, so it felt like a private beach! I'll put up with some pokey shells to not have to be crammed in with hundreds of families any day. Look at that sky!

One morning we came down and there was a horse in the sea! Beautiful!

 His owner just walked him through the waves for a while, then walked up to the ramp and left. 

 I liked taking the little gator out and just floating on the waves before they broke. I could do that for hours. I especially love when huge ones come and you can jump. It feels like you are going so high! Crystal and I started pretending to slam dunk when that happened. Dorky and hilarious.

 You have to take a photo like this if you are on the beach.

 We bought beach coozies at publix. Aren't they cute? I'd been looking for this variety of Arizona tea all over in Tennessee but could never find it. Mucho Mango, it's good!

 We went on many beach walks. You could have your dog on this beach so we saw tons of cute ones!

 So many walks.

 The first two days we were there it rained pretty hard around midday. So we had to walk back in the rain. It was kind of fun though, and when we got back we sat in the hot tub to warm up!

 The only picture taken of our house for some reason. We had the bottom floor. 

 Beautiful beach motel a few blocks from house. That sign!

It was pretty much perfect. I highly recommend Vilano beach if you are looking for somewhere not crowded, where you can ride the waves all day.