Amber's Bachelorette in Saint Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine - September 2024

I traveled from Colorado to Florida to celebrate Amber- truly my soul sister best friend, for her bachelorette party. Arriving in Jacksonville felt like a drastic change since the humidity was so high. It actually felt nice considering I haven’t felt much moisture in the air since moving away from the Great Lakes.

Our first night, we walked to dinner in the pouring rain and had incredible pasta at an Italian place although our server was an Irish man..

The rain stopped the morning after. The first photo of the trip that I took was so foggy from the humidity! I learned to carry a wipe with me to clean my lens each time I brought my camera outside the house. The beach was a 5 minute walk across the street from the house we stayed at. The colorful beach houses continued to catch my eye throughout the trip.

The next day, we spent time on a guided kayaking tour through mangroves nearby where I saw a sea turtle and some spider crabs.

After kayaking, we went back to the beach near our house to swim before we went out for the night. This was my third time ever swimming in the ocean. The other ladies are from Florida and Georgia and couldn’t really understand how I’ve been so landlocked my entire life! (I honestly can’t believe it either) Even though it was a little stormy, the skies looked beautiful through the clouds.

The house we stayed in was like a jungle. The trees in the backyard were tall, dense and twisty. I think this is common for Florida property, but I had never seen anything like it. I wasn’t able to capture the abundance of little green frogs and lizards since they moved so fast and were out more at night than the day.

We spent a lot of time exploring the streets of St. Augustine on Sunday. We took a tour on a trolley train that led us past all the old hotels, a home that Martin Luther King Jr lived in, old churches from the 1560’s and cobble stone streets. The architecture being so old, weathered and overtaken by moss and vegetation was my favorite part. Seeing nature prove its resilience in taking back the space it occupies is beautiful.

And below are more photos from our Italian dinner night, the beach, a photo at a brunch spot and right before we left for our kayaking tour!

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Roadtrip to Durango

Day 1 - Camping at Black Canyon of the Gunnison

I arrived at the campground around 2pm, so there was time for a bike ride around the campground with my Dad. He chopped some firewood, we saw a deer at our site and we took some photos in front of my parents’ new obsession, their Vistabule trailer!

The Black Canyon at Sunset

It was a Wednesday, and we must have only seen 10 other people in total while we wandered around all the viewpoints here. The clouds cast even more intense shadows into the canyon and made it that much more interesting. We sat and enjoyed the sunset for awhile. We met a sweet dog that reminded us of Gretta and had a nice evening relaxing.

Day 2 - The Drive to Durango

My Dad insisted that the trailer needed to be washed before we set out on our 4 hour drive for the day haha so our first stop was at the $2 car wash. We passed through Telluride, got ice cream in a town outside of Durango, then arrived at our campsite. It had been pouring rain most of the evening, but we got a pocket of sunshine poking through before the rain picked up again for the night.

Day 3 - The Historic Train Route: Durango to Silverton

This train ride was incredible and rich with history and fun facts about everything we could imagine. The man in the first photo is Gary. Our guide for the day, Toby, told us that Gary waits for the train every single day rain or shine. We saw him on the way there and back with an umbrella as the ran poured down. We saw the creek from above, then we descended to be level with it again. We saw cabins and tents still used by hunters in the fall, some broken bridges and abandoned rail cars. There is a cliff/rock formation shaped like Africa, a broken bridge that the workers call Government Bridge, a zip line area only accessible via train or bus that costs about $600 per person. We were lucky enough to see someone zip lining as we passed by and they did some tricks for us all.

Inside the town of Silverton, we ate at The Pitts, Again and got the best pulled pork “sundae”. Pulled pork, beans and cole slaw in a sundae cup! The ride back was rainy, but still beautiful.

Baker’s Bridge

After the train ride, it was still raining, so we wanted to spend time not at our campsite. I had wanted to see this bridge for a few years after hearing about it from friends and online. It’s a famous spot for locals to jump into the water from the bridge or the rocks. As we pulled up, a huge group of people walked up in their swimsuits! I hoped they were planning to jump in despite the rain. It was very fun to watch. Back at our site, we caught a sunset rainbow against the red rocks and the glow of my tent.

Our Last Day + the Drive Home

We had breakfast at a cute place about a mile away from our campsite. The rain finally stopped and it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the sun again. We heard the train going by as we ate! On my way home, I drove over Wolf Creek Pass, saw some waterfalls, the creek and a cool, but quite empty cemetery in South Fork, CO.

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