Hey everyone, in less than a year I have another cousin getting married, this time in Florida. Yay. This time it was just going to be my parents, brother, mskate, and I. Our craziness started a little before the trip, because we neglected to buy a gift from the registry and had to bring one. Mskate bought a Nora Flemming bowl with a palm tree charm and I gathered birth year penny rolls. We were planning on only bringing carry on bags (because checking a bag is expensive and we could pack everything necessary in 2 carry ons for our 2 night trip), and while we still managed to get everything in 2 bags it was tight. I also had to make the tough decision to not wear my pokemon tie to the wedding and instead wear my grandpa tie (because he can't travel anymore). It's unfortunately that my grandpa can't travel anymore, and by extension my aunt who takes care of him, but that's life and I told them I would take lots of video so they could still see it (I did that for my last wedding as well). Since the wedding was going to be in Saint Augustine and there would be a lot of free time, we also packed ready for a fun adventure. OK, onto the adventure.
Day 1 Saturday. Our flight was kind of early so I fried up a pound of bacon the night before to eat on the way for breakfast (though only half seemed to make it to morning, funny how that happens). The drive to the airport was pretty uneventful, and we somehow managed to not spend a ton of time looking for a parking spot in the parking structure. TSA also wasn't that big a deal thankfully, and once we got through we met up with the family shortly afterwards. While the airport is kind of cool, there wasn't much left to really do aside from battle at the gyms in pokemon go, but it was still nice hanging out with the family. The pain ride was ok, and I got to watch A Christmas Story Christmas on the flight. Now any followers know that I'm kind of a big fan of A Christmas Story, watching it every year on TBS at Christmas (sometimes to the annoyance of my family), and I've had some...let's say run-ins with attempts to cash in on the original's success, and with HBO "doing some dumb things" and desperate to not completely lose the streaming war, I went in guarded. With that in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It actually was quite good and felt like a real continuation of the story. Unintended sequels like this have a really tough job; capture what made the original so good while not being a lesser copy of the original. A lot of the time they either do something so different that it's like "the only reason this is a 'sequel' is for brand recognition" or "you're just trying to make the same movie again but failing." This one though, it follows an adult Ralphie and his family as they visit his mom for Christmas, and he deals with adult challenges of Christmas while still being optimistic. It's about equally as edgy and equally hopeful as the original, does just the right amount of callbacks that are also work as stand-alone gags, and the way it ends is dare I say perfect. Since I still had time on the flight I watched about 40 minutes of The Last Samurai, knowing I wouldn't be able to finish it this time but assuming I would be able to finish it on the return flight. I also got some more flight video I'm uploading with creative commons rights.
We are now in the airport, ready for our vacation to start. Mskate ordered our uber and we found our way to the ride share pick-up location. I wanted to explore a little more, hoping to find a candy store that sold Spongebob surprise chocolate eggs, especially if they had prizes I don't have yet, but unfortunately there wasn't any that I could find at least. The uber ride was looooong, 60 minutes from the airport to Saint Augustine. On the drive we were stopped by police assistants to block off the road so the Hero Ride could go by. It was a motorcycle parade thing where I guess a bunch of veterans and first responders ride their motorcycles on a 5 mile stretch of highway and it's blocked off so they can go unimpeded. It was kind of cool since it was an unexpected event, and only lasted 4 minutes since it was an "actual 50 MPH ride" and not a "5 MPH parade" so no big deal there (though Uber did call us and the driver to make sure we were both OK since we were at a stand-still for a long period of time).
The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice (nothing super fancy, but still "downtown" within walking distance of everything and the usual amenities like a pool and mini-fridge). Since this was in a tourist area there was a stand with a bunch of coupons for attractions. I picked up a book and looked for places to eat since it was around lunch time. I found Auggie's Draft Room in the big downtown area where we had 3 buy one get one free coupons in the booklet, which was almost perfect for our little group of 5 (6 burgers total, 5 for now 1 for later). The restaurant was about half a mile from the hotel, and that gave us some time to take in some sights and points of interest. We knew we wanted to go to Our Lady of La Leche since it's a major church (relative to the original from the Spanish settlement I think), and it was right across the street from the hotel. We also had to find a drug store or dollar store, or something to wrap the gift with since we didn't want to risk damaging the wrapping while in transit, but unfortunately that didn't happen. We did see some cool stores like a Christmas Shoppe and an antique store, and the welcome center was pretty cool with a little museum in it. I can get to those later though, time for the restaurant. I also got my picture with this fun sign.
Auggie's was pretty neat. It was kind of a mix of "table service" and "counter service," where you order your food at the counter but they bring it to your table. The burgers were your standard fair (1 or 2 patties, pick your toppings from ketchup, mustard, mayo, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, etc.), but there was one topping that caught my attention, datil ketchup. I had never heard of datil ketchup before, and I wanted to see what this was, so I ordered it on my burger. This was a spicy ketchup, and as someone that likes to mix hot sauce with his ketchup, this was good. Then what was most interesting was the self service beer taps. My brother did this, apparently you get a card and swipe in front of the beer you want, and that keeps track of your tab as you self poor. Pretty neat. The prices were a little steep at $14 for a meal, but we were in a tourist area so a premium is to be expected and the buy one get one free coupons made it a reasonable $7 per meal. After lunch mskate and I went to The Original Likit for a frozen desert; soft serve vanilla for me and allergen free pineapple dole whip for her. This was kind of expensive, because of the tourist premium, but it was the heat of the day and I wanted something cold. We ate it on our way to our next stop.
With our hunger satisfied, we made our way to the other hotel people were staying at, the more fancy one where the rest of the family was staying. This is where we met up with Aunt and Uncle B (parents of my cousin who was getting married), and Aunt and Uncle C (parent's of my "big cousins" who weren't able to make it). It has been years since I last saw them, so it was really great getting to see them again, and since covid kind of made our wedding limited this was the first time they got to meet mskate. That was really fun, and when we told Uncle B about mskate's book he said "I want to see that, can you bring it to the meet and greet tonight?" I said we would and that made him happy (he's had 2 strokes, so we're always on the look out for things that will make him happy, and I always like to bring her book to family events since people are always impressed that she made a "real book" and figured he would enjoy it). Then before we all dispersed my cousin and her fiance came walking down the big staircase in the front of the lobby like something out of a princess movie (no ball gown, but still a "big reveal" like thing), and that was great being able to see them for the brief moment. I managed to get it on video for the home movie I was going to make and it really was like something out of a movie (just not perfectly framed and no background music). This is where I got my direction of "the ceremony is unplugged, leave that to the professionals, but everything else is fair game." OK I can work with that.
After our little reunion we went back to the tourist area where we went to city gate spirits, a distillery with 10 different liquors available to sample. They had peanut butter whisky, smoked maple whisky, salted caramel whisky, apple pie moonshine, cola moonshine, orange cream moonshine, sweat tea vodka, tropical rum, and 2 others I'm forgetting. When we went to the distillery in Tennessee we only had the option to sample 5, but we got to sample all 10. My favorites were the cola moonshine, peanut butter whisky, and sweet tea vodka, but they were all quite good. When mom and I had the apple pie moonshine, we had our picture taken with it and said "this one's for D" since he used to make his own (I think he just mixed in the flavors to white lightning and didn't actually distil, but that was one of the things he would make). I sent the picture to his wife and kids and said "thinking about him with apple pie moonshine," and they really appreciated it. If we weren't flying I would have bought the sweet tea and cola liquors, but unfortunately we were flying and couldn't bring them on the plane with us (and wouldn't you know, those are two of the flavors they don't sell online). Oh well, we still have the memories. After that I think we just went back to our hotel for a little rest. I watched some of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On in the hotel room and think I took a nap, but it was just a simple relax time.
Since the meet and greet wasn't a dinner (more of a cocktail hour after dinner), we had to figure out what we wanted to eat. Mskate and I went to Mojo's barbecue in the downtown area while the rest of the family went to the Denny's just down the road from the hotel. I think they were more tired than us and just wanted to eat something easy, but we had more adventure in our spirit and wanted something different. First I want to say that our waiter was great. With all of mskate's allergies he was very thorough in making sure her food was safe, and that was really appreciated (I normally tip 20%, but he got 25% for going above and beyond). Next, the food was quite good. Since I was still a little full from lunch I just ordered a bowl of chili, and mskate wasn't planning on being able to eat her entire meal so I would be able to finish what she started. The bowl was quite big and was definitely enough for me (I didn't even finish it), and mskate ordered baked beans as one of her sides for me but she ended up liking them so much she ate them instead (her main course was brisket and her other side was green beans, which she also really enjoyed and from the sample I had was quite good). Atmosphere was standard fair for a BBQ place (a lot of western theming), but everything else was great.
Now for the meet and greet. We left right from the restaurant to the meet and greet which meant we had to bring the book with us to dinner. Mskate being a little shy about things didn't want me to bring the book, but Uncle B said he wanted to see it and I didn't want to let him down. I'm quite glad I did because the first thing he said to us was "did you bring the book?" I pulled it out of the bag we brought it in and he was really happy to see it, as was the rest of the family who hadn't seen it yet. Here's where things get kind of funny for me; at a big family reunion thing like this my parents would always tell me "let the distant family have time with the family you see all the time, you need to share," and I was prepared to do that again, but then it hit me "this time I am the distant family, this is my time to say 'spend time talking with me.'" I didn't get a ton of time to chat with my cousin (it's been close to 10 years since we last saw each other, kind of hard to condense that into the 5 minutes she had for me as one of her 50 or so guests), but it was still fun to share some of the things we've been up to. Then the really cool thing was Aunt C called her son in Japan (my "big cousin" who's 11 years older than me) and he got to talk to everyone. Once again my "you're not the spotlight, let the distant family have their limited opportunity" conditioning kicked in, but he kept wanting to talk to my brother and I so again it hit me "oh yeah, I AM the distant family with the limited opportunity this time." There weren't any big speeches or a lot of mingling with other guests for me (I mostly wanted to catch up with the family), but that's OK, the important thing was I got a message from the soon to be bride and groom for our grandpa and aunt.
When we got back to the room it smelled bad, kind of like a skunk. Since the AC was going we figured there was something with that, so we turned it off and turned on the bathroom vent. Thankfully the smell dissipated rather quickly, but it was still annoying, and we didn't turn the AC back on so we were a little hot that night but since it was a hotel with a connected hall it wasn't too bad.
Day 2 Sunday. The wedding was kind of late in the day (6PM I think), so we had a lot of time to ourselves. Mskate initially wanted to go to a restaurant that would have had things for her, but it was too expensive, so we went to the Farmhand KCHN down the street from the hotel somewhat close to the Denny's the rest of the family went to the night before. She got a vegan allergy friendly sandwich and I got the farmer's breakfast plate. Both of them were REALLY good, especially the potatoes, and while the atmosphere was pretty hipster it was ok (plus, they used a tool cabinet to hold all the condiments and utensils, which was pretty funny). After breakfast we walked down to the Christmas Shoppe to do some shopping and hopefully get something to put the gift in (like a bag). We found this really cool hand made nativity ornament where Mary and Joseph are oyster shells, the manger is a clam shell, and Jesus is a tiny pearl. They also had a big checkout bag that we decided was as good as we'd get, so we got that as well. We were going to buy it for like a quarter but the owner just let us have it. After the Christmas Shoppe we walked down to the fort and water just to see it (we didn't go in the fort since that costs money, but we looked from the outside and it was pretty cool). We walked along the river and while it was kind of cool, I've walked down enough rivers that it's not a super big deal to me. After walking the river we went to the main street to go to the tourist district we were at the previous day, this time to walk the entire street. While there were some cool places like a taffy store where we each got to sample 1 flavor (I don't remember which I got, but they were good). We went into a shopping arcade and checked out some of the stores. There was a candy store and I looked for the spongebob egg, but nothing. We did find a penny press and got one that said "I love you...Saint Augustine," but the press and die wheel were too far apart so all we got was "I love you." Also funny was the last person's penny didn't fall so we ended up getting 2, yay. The only other thing of note we did was go to a hot sauce store, where I sampled at least 8 different sauces. The sampling method was kind of funny, just take a spoon, put a dab on it, and lick it. My favorite was the Scandinavian Gold, and while I couldn't buy it to take on the plane, there is a store in my state that also sells it so I'm definitely picking it up next time I go that way.
OK lunch time. We went to the Farmhand KCHN again, this time for lunch and with my parents. We weren't super hungry so we split a phily cheese steak sandwich without the cheese. Once again, it was really good. I don't remember what my parents got, but it wasn't what they would have wanted since they ran out of chicken (which is like 70% of their menu) and pork, but whatever it was they enjoyed it. After lunch we got dressed for church and went over to Our Lady of La Leche. There was still about an hour before mass, but there was also a museum and gift shop so we explored that beforehand. As we were walking in I smelled the smell from last night, and figured there must be something with the lake around the area. The museum was pretty cool, talking about how this dates back to the 1500s or something. The worship space was OK, kind of your basic small Catholic church. I half expected a grand cathedral or something else more since this was like "a big landmark," but I guess everything else in the area was more of the "landmark." After mass we went to "the landmarks," namely the giant cross. Mskate wanted to get her picture with it for a new profile picture, but the wind wasn't cooperating so we just got a picture together. There was also one of the many old cemeteries on the property (because there are so many cemeteries in Saint Augustine there's a tram tour), stations of the cross, a crucifix in the garden, and a statue of Mary breast feeding. I've never seen that before, but I guess it was something Mary had to do, and given that "leche" is "milk" in Spanish it only makes sense to have a statue recognizing the life giving milk a mother makes for her child, especially the holy mother to our lord and savior. I think we mostly relaxed after that and just hung out at the hotel until it was time to get ready for the wedding (or maybe it was time to get ready and prepping took up until wedding time).
OK it is now time for the main event. Everyone is all dressed up, I'm wearing my grandpa tie and the socks my grandma gave me years ago, the bus to the venue is here, let's go. The control screen was broken so the music volume was set mid-high, but that was OK since the driver had a party mix going and the music was fun. As we were almost to the venue mskate realized we forgot the gift, so we were trying to figure out to get back to the hotel and then get back to the venue some time before the end of the night. I'll spare you the suspense, we weren't able to get back and get it that night and delivered it to their hotel the following day, so whatever. They ended up getting married at the Lighthouse Museum in what used to be the swimming pool. They had a picture of what it was like with the pool filled, and I did a comparison video showing it off.
When we got there the first thing we saw was the "celebrating in heaven" table, where we saw grandma with the other family members who've passed on. Very nice. The first relative we saw was uncle B, and I told him how I was wearing things given to me by his parents (my grandparents) who weren't able to be there and he really liked hearing that. We met up with Aunt and Uncle C, and at some point I said hello to my soon to be cousin and shook his hand wishing him luck (once again asserting the "I'm the far away family, it's my time to have a turn" thing). I took some video of the area and then we found our seats. The ceremony was pretty short (some nuptials and vows), and then it was time for pictures. Aunt and Uncle C didn't think they would be requested for the family photos and so they left the photo area, and then when they were called we were like "where are they, take our photos and then go find them." Bro and I ran up the stairs to where the cocktail hour was being had and found them, bringing them back down to get their photo taken. That was the only hiccup, all went well. After that we had drinks and visited, I took some video of everyone for the home movie and got both Aunt and Uncle C and Aunt and Uncle B to make messages to my grandpa and aunt who couldn't be there. Aunt B thought we were going to call them but when I explained it was just a video message to watch later she was able to think of something. I also got my opportunity to shake my new cousin's hand again, and said "did it before and did it after." This was also the time when I told everyone about how I was wearing gifts from both grandparents to have a little piece of them there and they all thought it was great. I also got a little interview with the grandpa that was able to make it, and he had just the best old man response to my short questions.
Pokematic: Hey there grandpa, how are you doing?
Grandpa: pretty good, but I'm tired.
Pokematic: Good ceremony right?
Grandpa: oh yeah, but I am pretty tired.
After the cocktail hour it was time to go to our tables for dinner. My family sat with Aunt and Uncle C, and we filled the whole table. The grand entrance was grand and the bride and groom had their first dance together. After the first dance Uncle B gave his father of the bride speech and prayer for meal, citing how the thing that kept him motivated through physical therapy after his second stroke was "I need to walk my daughter down the aisle in 6 months." It was pretty motivational. For dinner it was a Caesar salad, roasted potatoes, sautéed asparagus, some kind of chicken, and beef. I loaded up on basically everything but the chicken, and later on went back for seconds with what was left (I finished off the 3 remaining pieces of beef, and had some more of the vegetables). A fun thing they had was a photo booth thing, and since our table was so close to it mskate and I were able to be the 2nd people to use it and help them get set-up. We didn't get the print outs until later in the night (because the printer wasn't working initially), but we did get them texted to us. Our second picture in the set was going to be a kissing one, but we started too early and mskate pulled away right as the camera took the picture, so it looks like I'm leaning in for a kiss and she's trying to get away from me. It's quite funny. So then our 3rd picture was a kissing one that we didn't start too early. Later on in the night we did another round, this time with us using the props and being goofy.
After dinner (or kind of during it) the bride and groom cut the cake. There wasn't a lot of attention given to it, the professional photographers and videographers and myself were on it, but there wasn't an announcement of "OK everyone, please direct your attention to the desert table as the bride and groom will now cut the cake." I think they kind of wanted it that way though. After that it was time for the best man and matron of honor speeches, followed by the father-daughter dance and mother-son dance, and it was visibly emotional for my cousin, with her wiping many tears halfway through the dance. After those special dances it was time for the dance floor to open. There wasn't a lot of dancing since it was like already 9PM and the reception ended at 10:30PM, meaning I don't think we got a complete song, but that was OK it was still a lot of fun. Uncle B really got into it on some songs and that was some great video for the family back home, and on one song Dad was getting into it but lost track of where he was going and where his feet were and fell over. Thankfully he didn't hurt himself too badly (just a small cut on his nose where his glasses pads are), but it still was unnerving. I was taking video at the time and I actually got him falling over, and right when he hit the ground my gears switched from "fun time camera man" to "first responder eagle scout," and I stopped the camera and got down to his level making sure people kept their distance. Again, all was good and he joined the dance floor later in the evening.
Last time when I did a wedding party video for my cousin I tried taking video on the dance floor as I danced, and I did the same thing this time. The artistic intent was to give the audience the feeling of actually being there dancing by having the camera gently bob and swing with the music. The professionals do their thing with the steady cam, and while that's good and proper for "showcasing the scene," it doesn't feel immersive because when you're on the dance floor your view isn't steady like that, you're head is moving along to the music. My video production teacher would probably have some things to say about it, but the amount of camera movement I give is not jarring and really makes you feel like you are there with everyone. I ended up getting some good video of this, with the best man REALLY getting into Don't Stop Believing by Journey, the bride and bridesmaids squealing with excitement when dancing queen came on, and multiple other fun things. To any amateur filmmakers out there, if you're going to film a dance or party scene I highly recommend the bobbing but not jarring POV; it might be a little disorienting but it will make the audience feel like they are in the party especially if the subject is a little tired and disoriented.
At the end of the night the bride and groom had a private dance together as we all went outside to do a sparkler exit. Like with tanman's wedding, we were all getting kind of antsy waiting for them. A lot of people were struggling to light their sparklers off their neighbor's and I was able to really help since I played with sparklers a lot as a kid and experimented with lighting a sparkler off of another sparkler. Once it was time they came out under the sparklers and went to the drive away car, a convertible corvette. After that mskate, my parents, and I went back to the hotel.
Day 3 Monday, travel home day. We once again went to the Farmhand Kchn for breakfast. I tried the steak and egg bagel and mskate once again had the beyond breakfast sandwich. Mine wasn't that great (ok but not as good as the other breakfast), and mskate's sandwich wasn't as good as it was the day before. I picked up some more ketchup and hot sauce for the fries from the Auggie's left overs and that helped them go down later. After breakfast mskate and I took our present down to the hotel where our cousin was staying. We left the gift for them at the front desk, and lucky for us they were staying 2 more days so we knew they would get it. After that we just kind of hung around, too tired to really explore any more. We packed up, checked out, and ordered our uber. Nothing big on the ride back, just a long drive.
Once we got to the airport it wasn't super crazy. TSA was different, the bins were pre-conveyored and everything had to go in a bin. It took longer than normal to go through since my bins got stuck behind someone who had a problem with their bag. That was kind of annoying, but whatever. I thought the conveyor was kind of cool because it took the bin to a sensor and when the bin was empty it went to a return conveyor. Once in the terminal I did a little bit of exploring and got sabarro's pizza for lunch. I looked around for a candy store and spongebob egg, but unfortunately none. I played pokemon go in the terminal and did a bunch of gyms. The flight was OK. I was going to finish the Last Samurai but they didn't have it. Oh well, they had Clerks 3, a movie I somehow missed the fathom event for. I watched about half of it before we got to our layover, but figured I'd finish it on the next flight.
OK, now we're in the Georgia terminal. I had only an hour but that was enough for exploring. I ended up having Wendy's for dinner, and looked for something for mskate but unfortunately nothing worked for her. I also looked for chocolate eggs but once again no luck. Oh well. I played some more pokemon gyms and got ready for the plane. I was ready to finish watching Clerks 3, but like with the last flight it wasn't available and so I wasn't able to finish it. Damn. I ended up watching about half of Fantastic Beasts the Secrets of Dumbledore, because I sat that one out after Crimes of Grindlewald let me down bad. This one seemed a little better, there was more action, but from what I saw it didn't exactly wow me. Once we got home we just drove home and went to bed basically.
Day 4, Tuesday a day of recovery. This is the day that I just spent resting and recovering. Did I REALLY need this? Probably not, but I took it as my opportunity to get caught up on my shows and edit the wedding video I took for all my family. I spent probably 10 hours putting it all together, and it ended up being a really good video. It took a while to render and then upload (something I had to do on Wednesday), but it still went great and no problems.
This was a great trip. I'm quite happy for my cousin and happy I was able to see all my family in the oldest city in the United States. I also got a lot of great feedback from all my family after they watched the video. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
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