Anytime we contemplate leaving the house, my first thought is “Can I bring Teddy With Me?” Whether it is running quick errands, shopping, heading out to lunch, and even work, I always want to bring Teddy along if possible. You could say it is the inner dogtrovert in me, but having Teddy along for any adventure makes it ten times more fun. Naturally when we were making our Thanksgiving plans this past November, we knew we had to take a road tip and make it dog friendly!
We were spending Thanksgiving in Delray Beach, Florida, which is about a 12 hour drive from Baton Rouge. Teddy has only flown once in his 6 years and he really didn’t enjoy it, plus with COVID still a concern, we decided to make it a fun road trip and select a destination to stop at before heading to Delray Beach for the week. After doing some research, we landed on St. Augustine, Florida for two reasons: it looked beautiful and full of history and it sounded extremely dog friendly. So we booked a hotel room for two nights and packed up Teddy and the car!
St. Augustine known as the Ancient City. It is America’s oldest city and is known for its Spanish architecture and beautiful beaches. To dog lovers, it is known to be a dog’s paradise and home to Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Pooch (more on that later). The city really does live up to its reputation!
We decided to book our stay at the Guy Harvey Resort. We mostly chose this based on the location and the price. When booking your stay in St. Augustine, you’ll want to consider if you want to stay in the historic district side, which is closer to the historic sites, shops, and Flagler College or if you want to stay near the beach. We decided to go for the beach side and just drive to the historic district when we wanted.
Since we were there during Thanksgiving, they have the historic district decorated with lots of lights for the holiday season. It is known as Nights of Lights. If you are planning your trip during the month of November or December, you may want to consider staying in the historic district, although the hotel prices tended to be more expensive on this side of town than the beach side during this time.
WHERE WE STAYED
The Guy Harvey Resort was in a great location. It is right on the beach and was about a 10 minute drive to the historic district. There were quite a few restaurants along the main street heading towards the hotel, including an ice cream shop! Overall, the hotel was nice. Our room came equipped with a mini fridge and microwave. The bed was comfortable but I highly recommend bringing your own pillows if you can. The room was clean and the hotel was fairly quiet. It felt very clean and safe in terms of COVID precautions as well.
I would give The Guy Harvey Resort 4 paws up for being dog friendly. There were several adorable pups staying there. Overall, I would rate the hotel as a B or C. I think the main selling point is the location. You can walk through the beautiful pool area right to the beach, which was nice! There are probably other hotels with nicer rooms or accommodations but this was a great option for a middle range budget.
WHAT WE DID
On our first day in St. Augustine, we headed to the beach to walk around a little after sunset. It was so nice to feel the breeze and sunshine on our faces and it was nice and chilly in the mornings! Teddy absolutely loved running on the sand and rolling on the seaweed. We saw a lot of dogs on the beach, most were on leashes and kept right near their owners. Teddy always stays leashed, which means we got our workout keeping up with his excited walks.
After the beach, we went to check out St. Augustine Lighthouse. Dogs are allowed on the grounds and in the gift shop, but not inside the museum. There is also a fee to enter. After checking out the lighthouse, we headed to the historic district to walk around. We parked by Flagler College near a beautiful church. We were able to find free parking but once church lets out, you can pay about $5 to park in the church’s parking lot, if you can’t find street parking.
We got to see the Flagler College campus and the beautiful historic homes surrounding it on our walk to the heart of the historic district. If you park in the same area we did, you should see a Starbucks on your walk, a perfect spot to stop and grab a puppacino. There are closer areas to park, but we just decided to park in a less crowded area and walk. Along the way, you will see parks, boutiques, and Spanish style architecture. It is probably less than a mile to the heart of the historic district from Flagler.
When you get close to the historic district, you should hear music, see more people, street performers, etc. There are cobblestone streets so plan to wear comfortable shoes. You may want to consider bringing a stroller for your dog if they have one, as Teddy got a little tired of walking when it came time to head back to the car. We were able to take a lot of breaks along the way. We walked around the main strip of shops. Along the way, you should see the Oldest School House in America and you will end up walking to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.
The Castillo de San Marcos National Monument grounds is dog friendly but I don’t think it is dog friendly inside. You can get some great photos of you and your pet on the fort’s grounds and check out the beautiful boats. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is the spot of the oldest masonry in the continental US.
There is one shop all dog lovers must check out and that is the Faux Paws Dog Shoppe! This shop has everything you need for your pooch, including an instagrammable dog house right out front. They have dog bandanas, bow ties, toys, clothes, beds, accessories, treats, and more! They even have stuff for humans. It was such a cute shop! There are a few other dog boutiques inside some of the shopping halls along George Street, but this was our favorite.
Later that night, we returned to the historic district to check out the Christmas lights It was beautiful! We had to look from the car because it was raining but I highly recommend! It was perfect way to kick off the holiday season.
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH & POOCH
The next day we had to drive to Delray Beach, but before we left St. Augustine, we had to check out The Fountain of Youth. We had a great time! The entire grounds are dog friendly and dogs are even allowed in the planetarium to watch a 15 minute video about Ponce de Leon’s trip to find the Fountain of Youth. It was so cool to bring Teddy into a movie. He had a great time! It does get dark for just a few minutes and there are sounds of thunder, so those are some things to consider when deciding whether or not to bring your pup into the planetarium.
Our first stop was obviously the Fountain of Youth! You get to take a cup and fill it with water. The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring that is said to restore youth in anyone who drinks from it. Hopefully this bought me a little time before having to get botox! Don’t worry, our pups are not left out, they get to drink from the Fountain of Pooch! Teddy lapped his water right up so I know he gained some years back!
The Fountain of Youth grounds has different exhibits where you can see how they lived back then, cooked, jobs they had and more. The grounds are right on the water and there’s a pier you can walk out on to see exactly where the ship would have come in. They do set off a cannon every half hour or hour, so beware there will be occasional loud sounds that might scare your pup. I think there’s a schedule that tells you when they do this so you can always avoid that area.
We spent about three hours at the Fountain of Youth. It was not very crowded, probably due to it being the off season and operating at a lower capacity due to COVID, but I can easily see this being a packed tourist destination on a summer day. Keep this in mind if your dog is not good in crowds. You’ll also want to book your tickets for an earlier in the day time if you’re traveling during those hot summer months. There’s also a food stand that serves burgers, hot dogs, brisket sandwiches, chicken tenders, and more. The gift shop has some interesting gift options, including bottles of the Fountain of Youth water, which come packaged like corked wine bottles. These were a hit with our families who we bought them as gifts for.
Be sure to explore the beautiful oak lined streets surrounding the Fountain of Youth Grounds! Such a pretty street and you can park along the streets. If there’s not any traffic, snap a quick Instagram shot.
WHERE WE ATE
Due to COVID, we got most of our meals to go and ate them at our hotel. Our first night, we were tired from 9 hours of driving, so we grabbed Mellow Mushroom pizza. The one in Baton Rouge closed, so we try to eat there whenever we find one!
While in the historic district, we decided to grab lunch from Mimi’s Famous Crepes. My husband got a brisket crepe. I opted to get pretzel bites from Ben’s Soft Pretzels. The two restaurants share a hallway and a courtyard, which was a quiet spot from all the happenings on George Street.
For dinner after we went to check out the Nights of Lights, we drove over the bridge to 180 Vilano Grill. We ordered chicken parmesan and a burger with fries. We thought the fries were delicious!
Lastly, we ate at Smokin D’s BBQ on our way to Delray Beach. We got a little lost looking for a Culver’s to grab lunch at and ended up eating this local BBQ place. My husband loved it! As a picky eater, I’m not the biggest BBQ eater and their sides were limited, but they were awarded best BBQ in the area! This is definitely a drive as it is more in the city of St. Augustine and not in the beach or historic area.
We hope this gave you another dog friendly destination to add to your bucket list! St. Augustine is the pawfect spot for beach lovers and historians alike, and of course, for our furry friends.
Have you been to St. Augustine? Where should we go next?
