Belated Birthday Getaway in Amelia Island – Part 2

Happy rainy Tuesday! It poured here all weekend long which made me long for the previous weekend in Amelia Island when the sun never stopped shining! Take me back! The second part of my trip recap will be even more exciting than the first since it covers our full day on Saturday, so may as well get right to it!

I woke up Saturday very well rested and decided to check out the gym while Robert got a little more sleep. On my way in I passed a personal trainer working with a few guests by the pool which hadn’t opened for the day yet. The gym itself was small but clean and had good equipment so I knocked out a quick arm workout. Thankfully Robert was awake and starving when I returned to the room so we made our way down to breakfast. A southern breakfast buffet was included with our room rate and we had high hopes for what it would entail. I’m happy to report that we were NOT disappointed. It was hands down the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen at a hotel. There was everything from a cereal, yogurt and oatmeal bar, to fresh fruit, lots of different pastries, bicuits and gravy, pecan cinnamon buns, to traditional pancakes, bacon, sausage and veggie fritata. YUM. They also had a selection of meats, cheeses, house smoked lox that was to die for, AND an “omelette of the day” station that served the best omelette I’ve ever eaten…Sunday was Caprese Omelette day – marinated tomatoes, mozzarella and a delicious basil pesto. I will absolutely attempt to recreate this and share it with you! After breakfast we went for a nice long walk on the beach.

Hotel

Once we finished our walk we showered and made our way back into town to explore.

Fernandina

Downtown Fernandina was absolutely precious. Cute little boutiques, art galleries and a coffee shop were we stopped in for an “Ultimate” iced mocha.

AI Coffee Lemon Creme Cookies

I also drooled over these lemon creme cookies but refrained since I watched her put two scoops of vanilla ice cream into my “ultimate mocha”. Most of the shops had a funky, beachy vibe and we also came across this cute art installation.

Fernandina Art 3 Fernandina Art 2

After we had had our fill of walking through the town, we headed back to our hotel to catch some late afternoon sun by the pool.

Pool Speckled Turtle

The attendant found us two shaded seats and I enjoyed reading my nook and listening to the live music. It was very relaxing and the perfect way to unwind before our much anticipated fancy dinner! On our way back to the room we discovered a mini gelato bar in the lobby… how did they know ice cream was my favorite appetizer?

Mini gelato bar

We got ready for dinner and got to the restaurant a little ahead of our 8:00 reservations. Salt, the restaurant is not only rated number one on Amelia Island’s trip advisor/yelp but it also happened to be right in our hotel. Win!

Salt

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Back with a Birthday Update!

Hello and happy hump day! It’s been a little longer than I would have liked since my last post about our wonderful engagement in Las Vegas. Not only did I go back to work last week (yay), but my computer decided that my first day back was an appropriate time to bite the dust (boo) and it is still undergoing repair attempts (double boo). I am currently using Robert’s Macbook which is taking me an embarrassingly long time to master (creatures of habit such as myself do not learn new technology very quickly).

On top of starting school, my social calendar has kept me quite busy over the last week and a half. I had a girls night, celebrated my birthday with Robert’s family and celebrated one of my sweet friends turning 30 with a day on the water! Busy in the best way 🙂

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Early Birthday Surprises from Justice and Lindsay after girls night!

Robert’s family always makes a big deal out of birthdays which is so much fun, even as an adult. Robert obviously picked up on this trend and always manages to make my birthdays extra special (except for that one year he took me to lunch at McDonalds and forgot to buy me a card, but we don’t talk about that). This year he REALLY went above and beyond.

hbd

I woke up Wednesday to messages on the bathroom mirror… ignore my 5 a.m. workout attire and awkward pose..it’s hard to take a picture of a mirror!

bday getaway

The mirror informed me that we would be going to dinner that night at Frankie Bones, a delicious restaurant on the island and it gave me my first hint about the birthday weekend getaway Robert had planned: Somewhere in Florida. Hmm. Once I came downstairs, I found a birthday note from Renly, only this time it was written on tinfoil from last nights dinner and sitting on top of the stove! That sweet dog of mine is so resourceful 🙂

Renly's card

After work, I came home to find flowers, several sweet cards from friends and family ( I LOVE mail!) and a box which Robert insisted I open before dinner.

Robert and Ren  cards

robert gift

Inside were three pictures which he told me were the remaining hints about our getaway.

pic 1 pic 2

pic 3

A beach, a pool and a hotel…I still didn’t have a clue! We laughed about how ambiguous the pictures were and I opened what was left in the bottom of the box.

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