When it comes to best friends, I consider myself a lucky gal. I have not one but two and bonus... they also love each other! Usually they say three's a crowd but we've found the opposite is true for us. We all have this ridiculous sense of humor and spend most of our time together giggling like school girls. Katie and Carrie hadn't spent a ton of time together until I got engaged but ever since then we have all been incredibly close. And ever since Carrie and her husband bought (& renovated) this amazing condo in Ormond Beach, the countdown was on for a girls weekend!
Katie and I both live in the Atlanta area and planned our travel together. Originally we were to meet in the Sky Club for a drink before our flight but there was a ton of traffic and things didn't pan out. However, once we boarded... I was able to surprise Katie and buy her a champagne for the flight!
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| First stop - beach! |
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| Lead the way! |
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| Doesn't this make you think of Message in a Bottle? |
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| Feels great to be back! |
Since it was the day before Cinco de Mayo, we decided to celebrate a day early. Carrie found this cute place,
La Fiesta (fitting for this trip) - just be sure to put it in the GPS right or you'll end up in Daytona! We all enjoyed our experience, excellent food, atmosphere but especially great margaritas!
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| #mARTgaritas |
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| Get in my belly! |
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| The decor was great! |
None of us tend to sleep in too late, so by 8:30 the next morning we were up and ready for adventures. The original plan was to sit on the beach all day but the weather wasn't cooperating, so instead we decided to explore a bit for a couple hours. Carrie, being the amazing host that she is, suggested Rockefeller gardens and a walk around the
Casements. Despite being cloudy, it felt great to be walking next to the water. We kept going on toward the Casements and stumbled upon an adorable outdoor market put on by local artists.
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| Beautiful water sculpture |
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| This touched my heart! |
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| Underneath the bridge |
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| Even though it was cloudy, it was still gorgeous |
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| The Casements was the winter home of John D. Rockefeller! |
After we finished window shopping, we began towards the next stop:
the Sugar Mill ruins at the Bulow Creek State Park. Another great stop - there's a short trail leading to the ruins and it's got a ton of history to go along with it.
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| Amazing scenery on the drive to the Mill |
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| The drive in is insanely beautiful |
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| On our way! |
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| Love these two! |
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| I thought this sign was funny |
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| Picture in picture |
Finally, the clouds began to part as we were nearing Carrie's car. And with that, it was time for us to settle in our beach chairs and feel the ocean breeze. For the most part, we had beautiful weather although a few times we did get sprinkled on. There's just something about being on the beach with your two besties to make all of life's stress just melt away...
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| It's hard to see but there's a crab! |
All good things must come to an end and soon enough it was early evening. Since it was Derby day, we all wanted to rinse off and catch the race. Even though our beach day was cut a bit short, I am glad we were able to catch the Derby especially since Justified managed to capture the Triple Crown! Dinner, however was a quite the opposite, in fact not worthy of any crown. We went to
Alfie's... it wasn't the worst experience outright, but we weren't feeling the vibe and it seemed overpriced. If you're in the area, I'd skip this place and head on over to
Betty's A1A Cafe. We were so unsatisfied from dinner, that we actually ended up walking back down to Betty's to grab some adult beverages and pie. After that, we settled in for the evening with a great rom-com and of course more laughter.
Brunch is a must on girls weekend! So as soon as we woke up Sunday morning, we made our way to
Peach Valley Cafe for some mimosa's and food! It was great but the wait can get pretty long. I'd suggest arriving early to beat the rush. All in all, we had a wonderful weekend, my only regret was not taking Friday off so we could have an extra full day together. C'est la vie and with that.. ta ta for now!
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| One last shot of the beach |
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