After a week of dreaded cold, and even some rare snowfall in Florida about two weeks ago (although I did not witness this in my area), the weather here has been in the high 70s to 80’s in the past week! It’s glorious. Since the temperature have gone way up, we decided to take a day trip to St Augustine, a nearby city.

The city is about an hour’s drive away from where we live in Jacksonville (about 40 miles), and known as the earliest settlement in the USA. It was founded in 1565 by Spanish colonists, was known as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years.

Walking down the city’s famous St George Street, you can feel the city’s rich history. Nowadays, it’s become a tourist attraction… leading to Castillo de San Marcos (the castle or fort), St. Augustine Light (the lighthouse), or Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.

If you don’t want to walk around the city, you can also get on the trolley tour, which runs regularly throughout the day. A great way to spend the afternoon sightseeing.

Of course, there’s always live music at various pubs and bars throughout St George Street. We must have heard three areas that had booked musicians. Most of them are free, but please check the venues to see if there are cover charges. Or better yet, you can aways plan your trip in advance with the latest music schedule at visitstaugustine.com.

While we were in the city, we noticed there is an upcoming event called The Lullaby of the Rivers Festival. It will take place at the Amp, in St Augustine, on Sunday, February 23rd from 10am to 8pm. They mentioned that there’ll be three music stages featuring folk, Americana, blues and gospel. It looks pretty cool, and hey, it’s free!

The full music schedule is listed on their website (lullabyoftherivers.com), and it shows over twenty musicians. I have not heard of any of them, and I’m assuming they are from the area.