Road Trip: Vilano Beach, FL

We left Virginia Thursday morning and, after two days on the road, we're finally in  St. Augustine, Florida!

St. Augustine is a beautiful old city with cobblestone streets, Spanish architecture, tall palms and huge live oaks covered with hanging moss. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. To read more about the history of St. Augustine, click here.

Our campground is on Rt. 1A at Vilano/North Beach in St. Augustine. To get there, you cross a causeway from the city of St. Augustine to the beaches. I took this photo from the car as we crossed the causeway yesterday afternoon.

When you leave the causeway, you're in Vilano Beach. This is a view of Vilano Beach looking back toward the causeway and the city of St. Augustine.

Vilano is a little ArtDeco-inspired village that still shows remnants of its history as a tourist destination in the 1940's and 50's.

I love this hand-painted fence at the base of the causeway in Vilano.

Just North of Vilano on Rt. 1A is North Beach. This is our fifth year staying at North Beach Campground to visit our friends Fred and Anita.  Fred and Anita retired in 2014, sold their home in Maine, and began to live their dream of being full-time RVers.  

Sadly, our dear Fiber College/camping friend Anita passed away in 2016.  We've continued to come here each year to spend time with Fred. 

Anita and Fred at Searsport Shores, ME 2014

The beach is right across the street, a short walk from our campground.

I took this picture of the beach yesterday afternoon while Hank was checking into the campground.

We're on site #52 . . . 

Where the Casita is nestled into the palms.

In the site next to ours is one of the neatest vintage campers I've ever seen.

. . . A 1940 Zimmer!

These used to be nicknamed "breadloaf trailers" and were manufactured throughout the 1940's.  I've never seen one on the road, until now. And it's turquoise; I love it!

By suppertime, we were all set up, just in time for a sunset pot luck on the river side of  the campground at the Matanzas Inlet. The sun rises on the beach side here and sets on the river side so we get to enjoy both.

We had a great time catching up with Fred and his friend, Anne, who is from Rockland, Maine.

What's better than drinking wine with friends . . . 

                     While the sun goes down over the water.

I'm writing this on Saturday morning. DH, aka Hank, was up early combing the beach for shells (no luck yet) while I slept in. Hank, who usually shies away from cameras, was so excited to finally be having breakfast outside that he asked me to take his picture!

The sun just came out and it's getting warm. 

Today we're planning on a day of rest after all the driving.

Sunshine and a good book sounds perfect!

This post is linked to:

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party 262 at Bluesky at Home