We spend last weekend in St. Augustine, FL for the The Players Championship golf tournament. The tournament is at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. I went to the tournament last year and the course is beautiful! It is a much more relaxed setting than The Masters. The TPC is all about having fun. People are partying the whole time!
I really enjoyed going last year, but it was HOT, and Chicken Legs made we walk A LOT. My parents decided to go down for the tournament this year. That meant I could go shopping with my Mom, and the guys could go to the tournament, Happy dance!!
In years past we have gone to Jacksonville, but this year we stayed in St. Augustine the whole time.
I found out about the St. Augustine Distillery from my friend, Karen.
It has only been open about a month.
Their motto is “Farm to Bottle”.
The St. Augustine Distillery is working with local Florida farmers to grow their ingredients. They are using an heirloom sugar cane that is 200 years old for their vodka. Love that!
It has only been open about a month.
Their motto is “Farm to Bottle”.
The St. Augustine Distillery is working with local Florida farmers to grow their ingredients. They are using an heirloom sugar cane that is 200 years old for their vodka. Love that!
The St. Augustine Distillery is currently only selling Sugar Cane Vodka. They will soon be offering Rum, Gin and Bourbon. They have already barreled Florida’s only small batch Bourbon. It will be ready in 2018. They have a former Maker’s Mark Master Distiller, David Pickerell, working for them. I am curious to see how it compares to Maker’s. I will have to take Chicken Legs since he is an expert on Maker’s. Putting it on my calendar!
The St. Augustine Distillery is a locally founded and community owned distillery. They have 30 local investors. They renovated Florida’s oldest ice plant for their operations. The Florida Power and Ice building was part of St. Augustine’s first power and ice complex back in 1907. The distillery is on one side of the building and there is a restaurant/bar on the other side, The Ice Bar.
The Ice Bar serves St. Augustine Distillery Vodka in their cocktails. They offer lunch, dinner and bar snacks. We are planning on checking it out on our next visit.
The tour is free and lasts about 40 minutes total.
It includes a tasting of the vodka and a mixed drink with the vodka.
We were served a Florida Mule. Very tasty! You can get the recipe on their website.
*LOVE* the copper mugs. I had to get one for myself.
This is the video they show at the beginning of the tour. Watch it!
It is so great to see how the St. Augustine Distillery is working with local farmers.
They are putting a drawing of a farmer they work with on the bottle of each batch of vodka.
It is a really neat place!
The Scenic Cruise of St. Augustine is one of my favorite things to do in St. Augustine.
It is about an hour and fifteen minute ride around the river and bay area.
They take your from the Marina to the Lighthouse. (I hear it is haunted.)
They point out all the historic sites around town.
The best part is there are tons of dolphins!
We even saw some jumping!
This is a “don’t miss” attraction in my book.
Flagler College is located downtown.
It is in the old Hotel Ponce de Leon, a grand resort built in 1888 by Henry Flagler.
It is incredibly beautiful! It has real Tiffany glass windows throughout the building.
They offer tours. Check it out if you have some time.
The Lightner Museum is across the street from Flagler College.
It is another beautiful building.
It is the formerHotel Alcazar, and was built in 1887.
In the courtyard, they have a bridge with a huge koi pond.
There was a white heron hanging out while we were there.
Shopping Downtown St. Augustine
I love walking down the street and checking out all the shops.
There are lots of fun places to check out and tons of places to eat and drink.
I will sharing where we ate soon.
We stayed out at the World of Golf Village at the Renaissance hotel.
It is a good centrally located place for getting to the golf tournament and to historic downtown.
When we got back to the hotel on Friday, there was a Farmer’s Market going on.
We loved it!
The World of Golf Village offers you a shot to try your hand at the famous 17th green.
It is a replica of the hole at TPC Sawgrass.
You can try and make it on the green.
Chicken Legs was successful every time.
I’m letting Chicken Legs take over the blog and tell you all about what he saw at The Players.
Take it away, Chicken Legs!!
“From behind the 18th tee. Hmm, I wonder where I would hit it???”
“Chicken Legs selfie at TPC Sawgrass #15 Tee”
“Jason Duffner starts his 3rd round at The Players with a signature “tip of the cap” on the 1st tee.”
“Phil and Bones. They are a pretty good duo.”
“Silky smooth stroke from Phil at the 4th. Yes he made the putt for Birdie.”
“Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, and Butch Harmon on Saturday at the range before their 3rd rounds begin.
Got in trouble taking this one!”
“Rory getting his 3rd round started on a hot Friday in Ponte Vedra, FL.”
“My artistic attempt with photos. Brandt Snedeker “Sneds” with his tee shot to the island green at 17. Actually have no idea what I did to change the color, but it looked good. LOL!”
“Just watched Bubba hit a stinker! at #8”
“Action shot of Bubba Watson at #17”
“18th Tee at TPC Sawgrass. Playing in to the clubhouse.”
Thanks for showing us around the course, Chicken Legs!
We had a fabulous time in St. Augustine! We are already planning our trip for next year.
I’ve already bought Chicken Legs his 2015 tournament tickets.
Have you been to St. Augustine? What are your favorite things to do?
We are planning on touring the San Sebastian Winery and eating at Carmelo’s Pizza next time. Anything else that we shouldn’t miss?
I pass the distillery every day when I walk my daughter to school. 🙂 It is kind of fun to live less than a mile from a distillery and a winery. Glad you had a good time in my neck of the woods!
I live in Sawgrass, funnily enough! (Also, I write for a regional publication in the area, so I know all about where to eat/what to do). You've gotta eat at the Ice Plant. The food is phenomenal. Popsicles at The Hyppo (they have unique flavors, like strawberry basil and champagne mango) are a must. Casa Maya is a great place for Mexican. Spy Global has great sushi. I love Manatee Cafe (it's vegetarian but actually really good, high-quality ingredients and inexpensive. St. Augustine Beach is great, too—Nalu's Fish Tacos, Stir It Up, Mango Mango's… lots of great dining options out there. In Ponte Vedra, I recommend Andiammo (Italian) and Medure (upscale continental cuisine). Both are about five minutes from the Stadium Course.
We lived in Jacksonville for a short time. My favorite thing to do in St. Augustine is take the trolley tour. It's worth the cost to be able to see all the different places without having to find a place to park at each location. We love touring Castillo de San Marco. The Santa Maria restaurant is fun – you can feed the birds from your table. The food is ok – not great – not bad – but it's so entertaining to feed the birds with the stale bread the restaurant provides. We really enjoyed St. Augustine! Before we settled in Jax, while we were still looking for a place to live, we spent a weekend at the Marriott at Sawgrass. It was nice and had a decent restaurant/bar.
Many years ago we spent a week in St Augustine,,while we were there it was a hurricane approaching FL and the weather was rainy. So we looked for things to do. We found a chocolate factory that gave tours of their factory. All of their chocolates were made in seashells using 3 types of chocolate, dark , white and milk chocolate.
You guys sure know how to have fun – thanks for the tour of the area and the tourney – I watched a little of it on the tube.