Just What We're Looking For! Savannah, Jacksonville, Flagler Beach

One of the main reasons we wanted to start this blog was to jog other peoples memories of great hidden, off the track places that retain the flavor of seaside living without the glitz. We're getting really interesting responses back by email and encourage everyone to post these on the blog, if you've got a memory of a good place or location on any coast, share it. These responses are just what we're looking for. Here are a few - My friend E.L. from Queens, who apparently has relatives in every city in America, sent a request to his cousin a long time resident of Savannah. He identified several restaurants, hangouts and B&B's in Savannah. Since we're most assuredly going to stop in Savannah we'll write about that when we get there.

And then my friend R.R. asked one of his friends, who formerly lived in Jacksonville FL for local, off the tourist trail, restaurants, hotels along the coast.
She sent the following:
Have fun
good "local" restaurants:

1. St. Augustine [Vilano Beach, off A1A] - Aunt Kate's
good food; you can sit on the deck outside on the intracoastal waterway.

Aunt Kate's
612 Euclid Avenue • Vilano Beach
(904) 829-1105
Members of the Usina family rebuilt this new 5,000 square foot waterfront restaurant on the former site of Oscar's, a popular fish camp which was destroyed by fire in 2001. The Usina family has owned the property for more than a century and the new restaurant is named for matriarch, Katherine Usina, who bought the property in 1904 and ran the restaurant for many years. With 2,000 square feet of deck outside overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway and 150 feet of floating dock, Aunt Kate's is sure to become a favorite St. Augustine dining destination by car or by boat! General Manager Matthew Williams and his staff look forward to welcoming you for wonderful, Southern-style dining in the most relaxing setting in St. Augustine. For more information, call (904) 829-1105 or e-mail aunt-kates@att.net.

2. St. Augustine [HWY US1] -Schooner's
good food but not much atmosphere
http://www.schooners-seafood.com/

3. Blue at The Topaz Motel [Flagler Beach, A1A...this is between St. Aug and Daytona]
Our favorite! Great food, you can eat outside on the porch overlooking the ocean

http://www.flagleronline.com/blue

http://www.vacationplanning.net/blogs/blog_pack/09-09-21/Blue_at_Topaz_is_Flagler%E2%80%99s_%E2%80%98Hidden_Gem%E2%80%99_Restaurant.aspx#

We passed through Flagler a few years back on our way to Key West and were particularly pleased with the old low-rise beach town, right on the ocean, feel of the place - so we're really looking forward to stopping there. The Blue at the Topaz Motel sounds very interesting and we're going online to check out the "Motel", there's just something about a beach motel that shrieks sand on the floor, towels draped on the railing, steps to the beach and a few beers on the porch....