In 2016, I cancelled a flight in which I received a travel voucher for that was good for one year. Anyone who knows me and my love for travel knows that I wasn’t just going to let that voucher expire. I decided on Jacksonville, FL after talking with my sister and learning that she had never been to Savannah, GA, which I had only recently learned was only a 2-hour drive from Jacksonville.

Besides, I hadn’t seen her or her children in about a year and really missed them.

Day 1: Friday, November 3

After catching a red-eye flight, I Uber’d to my sister’s work and picked up her car to get around town until she got off from work.

Candy Apple Cafe
400 N. Hogan St. Jacksonville, FL

My first stop was the Candy Apple Cafe, and I almost didn’t make it. I didn’t realize it was downtown, and parking was difficult (especially in my sister’s minivan, which I wasn’t accustomed to driving, let alone parking). I was about to call it quits when I found a public parking garage about a block and a half away.

The outside is super cute with its columns, patio and colored lounging chairs. Stepping inside was a hallway with the Candy Apple diner to the left, Pete’s candy to the right, and a set of stairs leading upstairs to more candy.

I went left into a bar/lounge area and was seated further out on what would be a sunroom or parlor, the walls decked in black and white stripes and turquoise.

I didn’t feel like eating anything too heavy, so I ordered a couple appetizers for a meal; deviled eggs (regular, hummus and Cobb), and buffalo chicken coquettes.

 

I walked around the building for a little bit after eating to check out all the different candies and chocolates. I found this place on Pinterest, and saw there was supposed to be an actual chocolate-making factory in the building, but I couldn’t find it.

There was more candy on the second floor, and I continued to the third floor, looking for the chocolate factory. Instead, what I found were some workshops being put on for children’s field trips.

After purchasing a couple pieces of chocolate, I continued on to my next stop.

Liberty Bakery
6661 Bowden Rd. Jacksonville, FL
Instagram: @libertybakeryjax

I have been on a macaron kick since completing my body building competition, so of course I found a bakery that made them in Jacksonville, this time through Instagram.

I headed out to Liberty Bakery, which is a little drive-thru stand on a corner, which surprised me (it shouldn’t have-it days on their IG that they’re a “drive-thru deli/Bakery”). The bakery changes up their macaron flavors, so I ordered one of each. Since it was a drive-thru building with no place to really sit and eat, I decided to take my macarons over to my next stop, to enjoy with some coffee.

Bold Bean Coffee
1905 Hendricks Ave. Jacksonville, FL
https://www.boldbeancoffee.com/

Another place I found on Pinterest. With 4 locations throughout Jacksonville, I visited the San Marco location. Though Bold Bean has multiple locations, it still gives off a small coffee shop vibe. The espresso was yummy, and the WiFi free, so I set up shop to work on the blog and late newsletter while I waited for my sister to get off work.

Adela
1975 Wells Rd. Orange Park, FL
Instagram: @a.d.e.l.a.ville

After picking my sister up, I headed to my hair appointment while she waited at a friend’s house.

Last year, I bleached the hell out of my hair and went platinum blonde for almost a year. Needless to say, the ends of my hair were pretty dead. I like my hair long and the thought of chopping multiple inches scared me. But I was also sick of seeing my fried ends. I considered waiting through the holidays but I don’t really have a hair-girl. When I asked my sister if she had anyone she could recommend that I could maybe see while I was in JAX, she said her girl would wash, cut and style for $65. What?! So of course, I booked an appointment.

I was nervous to find out that Adela works out of a barber shop. I had to double-check with my sister that she was good, and that she was indeed a hair-dresser. Apparently, Adela was sick of the drama and competitiveness in salons and was able to secure a chair in a barber shop in Orange Park.

She didn’t disappoint. Adela was super friendly and personable and communicated with me throughout the whole process on what I wanted, what she was doing, and checking in with me throughout the process. What I got was maybe 6” chopped off and I was thrilled with the experience.

I don’t know the name of the barber shop, and I couldn’t find anything on the internet either.

After picking my sister up from her friend’s, we headed to her in-laws to get the kids. It was so great seeing the munchkins again; 7, 5 and 18-months.

Day 2: Saturday, November 4

The morning started with two little girls crawling onto the couch and cuddling with me. It’s a nice way to wake up if they weren’t talking right away haha…

It was a pretty low-key day. We all got dressed and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast before following my sister around while she did some shopping. We hung out at the house the rest of the day, as my sister got ready to attend a wedding.

After a couple hours of play, we built a fort in the living room and watched Pete’s Dragon, ate pizza for dinner, and had a slumber party in the living room.

Day 3: Sunday, November 5

Upon waking up, we all got dressed and ready for adventure! We loaded up the van, topped off on gas, and headed north towards Savannah, Georgia.

Wormsloe Historic Site was our first stop. After coffee, obviously.

Wormsloe Plantation was built back in the colonial days, but from what I heard, there isn’t much there. The house was in ruins, but the 1.5-mile oak-lined driveway was the main reason I wanted to visit there. It’s beautiful, it’s picturesque and because the driveway is so long, it’s easy to take awesome pictures without having random people in the background.

We headed into downtown Savannah and hopped on a horse-drawn buggy to take a tour around old Savannah. The kids were super excited at first, but Emily especially got bored half-way into the hour-long tour.

The tour reminded me of the Duck tour I took in Seattle when I got a feeling for the lay of the land and where I wanted to visit in more depth. We didn’t stay in Savannah long enough to visit any of these extra places (like the cemetery, the cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and Leopold’s Ice Cream, to name a few), but it definitely opened up some ideas for a fun girls trip.

After the buggy ride, we walked down to the river front and had lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack. Yes, we have those in Southern California but many of the places on the river seemed like bars and places not quite appropriate for our party with three children under 8.

We did some window-shopping after lunch, and stopped into the Savannah Candy Factory to sample some pecan bark.

All three kids were knocked out before we even got on the freeway to head home. Mission accomplished.

Day 4: Monday, November 6

Again, the girls came and cuddled with me in the morning before they got up to start getting ready for school. I said my goodbyes to them and their mom, which is always quite a bummer. I grabbed an Uber later in the afternoon to the airport and started my trip back home.

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The trip was definitely shorter than I liked, but it was great, nonetheless. Being able to spend some quality time with my nieces and nephew (whose personality has greatly improved since the last time I saw him as a 6-month old), I cherish.

The trip to Savannah was also a blast, though I wish we could also have spent more time there. But that was a nice preview for me, to plan a whole weekend there in one of my upcoming adventures!