Pirates, Popsicles, and Pizza on the Florida Coast

On the coast of Florida Brian and I made a stop to see my cousins Mariah and Allie! Quick stops in Jacksonville and St. Augustine just gave us a taste for this area. Our guides shared their world with us, getting us excited to visit again.

Mariah is a student and surfer in the lively college town of Jacksonville. We took a long walk on the beach, taking in the salty sea breeze and cool sand between our toes as we caught up. The beach was full of students hanging out, dogs being walked, and joggers. It sure seems nice to be so close to the beach that you can visit and play whenever you want.

We returned to Mariah’s cool, freshly painted beach bungalow where she lives with her roommate Jeremiah and his wonderful dog Bonny. Jeremiah played the guitar while we got dinner ready.

Brian fixed some gently spiced chicken for tacos while I sautéed some fresh vegetables to have with it.

Jeremiah came from a farming family, so at their beach home they have a small garden in front of the house where we got some green peppers to have with the tacos. We hung out on the porch while the sun set over the beach and ate dinner together.

After dinner we enjoyed a night on the town listening to live music, taking in the cool weather, and enjoying some very affordable beer!

The next day we went south to St. Augustine to have lunch with Mariah’s sister Allie.  Allie showed us around the nation’s oldest city. St. Augustine is a Spanish settlement founded back in the 1500’s and barely shows its wear, the beautiful  Spanish style architecture lined the streets, creating great photo ops.

The settlers of St. Augustine took over the Jacksonville area just a few years after the French settled is as Fort Caroline.  Later St. Augustine itself was overtaken by pirate Captain John Davis. Pirates are now used as a big theme in the downtown area. The town went through a lot more trials such as war and yellow fever before Florida became part of the United States of America.

Henry Flagler St. is what it is today. In the 1890’s Flagler advertised the city as a winter getaway and built a large hotel, making it a tourist hot spot for rich northerners.

Before lunch Allie took us to see Flagler Collage (named after Mr. Flagler, whose old hotel is now part of the school) where she is a student. Her old dorm is in one of the oldest buildings standing in town. The beautiful outside was filled with amazing rooms that have real gold painted on the ceiling! What a way to live, in a freshman doom none the less!

Allie took us to one of her favorite place to grab lunch. Flavors Eatery is  next to an old gas station, and it is painted a bright welcoming blue that seems to call attention to itself. The sunshine lit the dinning room as we placed our order and took a seat.

We all shared a house salad that was full of mixed greens, carrots, and sunflower seeds that gave a nice nuttiness and tossed with an acidic house-made Italian dressing.

Then a pizza with a whole wheat crust arrived steaming to our table. The fluffy crust was covered in gooey mozzarella cheese, chucks of chicken, dots of pesto sauce, and piles of slightly wilted spinach.

This was a very filling lunch so Allie took us to St. George Street to walk it off a bit. She explained that in this highly touristy area was the must-see shopping area. Shops windows were filled with displays of pirate attire, swords, and advertisements for baby turtles for sale!

As we walked the streets we came upon The Hyppo. Forget cupcakes have a popsicle! This boutique pop shop may one day take over the hip cupcake scene with flavors like pumpkin pie, coconut, pear,apple, strawberry datil (hot pepper), and a nicely sour key lime! A very enthusiastic staff helps to pick out the perfect pop.

These popsicles have very true, pure flavors and they use only fresh and natural (and many local) ingredients. My key lime pop was wonderful and had a rich, creamy and sour taste.

Brian’s strawberry datil popsicle was a balance of sweet and spice. The datil pepper is unique to the St. Agustin area. This hot pepper is sweeter and has a more fruity flavor then harbanero and similar heat.

At The Hyppo they used just the right amount of the datil pepper in some of their fruit pops. The gentle balance of heat and sweet fruit makes for an interestingly delicious frozen treat!

Seeing Mariah and Allie was a great. They each showed us around their interesting towns sharing a part of their everyday life with us so we could get an idea of college life on Florida’s coast. I would love to return and spend more time in both areas, and of course get another pop!