Florida Beach Days with Kylo Ren and Gryphon

I’m behind in getting this post up, but last month, my husband and I ventured down to St. Augustine, Florida for a little getaway. We wanted to enjoy some beach time and were able to find a little rental just a few miles from the beach. No vacation is complete without a couple furry adventuring companions, so we of course brought Kylo Ren and Gryphon.

This was Gryphon’s first big road trip. He’s traveled with me to my parent’s house and also to Athens, GA back in March, but both of those are within an hour and a half or so. St. Augustine is about a 5 hour drive from us, so a good bit longer distance than anywhere Gryphon has been before. He was a trooper though! He didn’t make a peep the entire car ride.

Kylo Ren is always one to immediately make himself at home whenever we arrive at our travel destinations. Gryphon took a little bit to settle, but once he did, the little studio apartment Air BnB rental became the cats’ playground. They both ran around and had a blast together.

We arrived in St. Augustine just before dinner time. We made a trip to the grocery store to stock up on food so we wouldn’t have to go out to eat at all, and then we took Gryphon and Kylo to the beach for an evening stroll. (All the beaches in St. Augustine are pet-friendly at all times of the day). Kylo has been to the beach once before (he hated it), but this was Gryphon’s first beach outing. I had high hopes that he would enjoy it. He loves water and sand, so it seemed like a perfect fit. I was hoping Kylo would enjoy it more this time too.

They both loved it. We plopped our chairs down and just sat and enjoyed the breeze, the sights, and the smells. Neither Kylo nor Gryphon seemed afraid. They didn’t want to walk down the beach at all, but they certainly enjoyed just sitting and taking in their surroundings.

The next day was our first big beach day. We packed up the cats, our canopy tent, chairs, food and water, a little tent enclosure for the kitties, and a tarp. Thankfully, if you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you can drive out onto the beach at Verona Beach. We were able to park the car right beside our chosen set up spot, which made loading and unloading the car super easy. We got there at about 9:30am, so it wasn’t crowded or even very hot yet.

We set up camp and had a beautiful beach day. Kylo and Gryphon spent lots of time sitting at our feet in the sand, taking everything in. They would retreat to their tent off and on for a break, but they both spent a lot of time out. Thankfully the beach never got very crowded, and even though the beach is pet-friendly, we only saw maybe one or two dogs walk by. It was quiet and perfect.

That evening we went back out to the beach with Gryphon to see if he would enjoy playing in the water. He LOVES playing in the kitchen sink spray hose, so I thought he might like the ocean. Unfortunately he didn’t like the ocean too much and didn’t want to get close to it. It’s a big leap from kitchen spray hose to ocean, after all! He did enjoy walking down the beach though. We even came across some tide pools, which were shallow and wave-free. He was pretty interested in those.

We had another big beach day the next day, which the kitties enjoyed again. I’m so glad both Gryphon and Kylo enjoyed themselves! Can’t wait to go back again!