Stephanie arrived on Tuesday, a little late due to delays in Detroit, but safe and sound none the less. She was tired, so we did not do too much other than to let her get settled in for the evening.
Wednesday dawned with thick sea fog again, but it lifted by the time we were on the road heading for St. Augustine. We decided to stop at the outlet shopping malls in Orlando on our way to the East Coast. Originally we had planned on stopping on the way home on Friday, but we had the time now and were not sure what Friday would have in store for us, so we headed toward the malls.
Rick decided to get gas while were were off the road. We pulled into a gas station and he was about to put his card into the gas pump when he noted the price. He stopped and got back into the car. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Look at the price," he replied. Yikes! This gas station wanted $5.89 for regular gasoline. Who were they kidding? We pulled out in a hurry. Perhaps the people in the Orlando hotels or in the swanky condominiums across the street are dumb enough to pay those prices, but we knew we could find less expensive gasoline elsewhere. We were not desperate for it, so on we went to the malls. Tumi was our main target, and after a couple of sale purchases, we were on the road again.
Our Holiday Inn hotel offered us great accommodations (other than a rather noisy refrigerator), and its location suited us well. That evening we drove into St. Augustine and introduced Stephanie to Crispers which is becoming Rick's favorite restaurant. The rain that was predicted all day did not come until the middle of the night when we were all snugly tucked into bed.
 |
| Approaching the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. |
 |
| Access to the Castillo is only on drawbridges that span the moats that encircle it. |
Friday was our day of sight seeing. We started at Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish fortress built from 1672-1695. It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, made of coquina, a soft rock made of compressed shells, sand, and stone that was mined in the area. The fortress was built as a defense against the British, local Indian tribes, and pirates depending on the time period. It changed hands to the British in1763 and was returned to the Spanish in 1784. When the United States acquired Florida in 1821, the fortress became part of the US military defense system.
 |
| The inner courtyard of the Castillo. |
 |
| Cannon stand ready to defend the Castillo from the gun deck at the top of 28 foot walls. |
What remains of the 60 - 77 cannons that once rested on its upper gun deck and the various rooms that reflected the various cultures that occupied the fort make an interesting walk through history.
Other sights was the row of original Spanish houses that line St. George Street. Rick was totally turned off to them because each of these houses now holds a "tourist trap" restaurant or shop. Ways too commercialized for our tastes.
 |
| A fountain in the courtyard of Flagler College includes fish and turtles that spew water into the lower level. |
We then ventured to Flagler College. Henry Flagler made his fortune being a partner in Standard Oil and in the railroad business of the 1800's. Sent to St. Augustine by physicians who felt the Southern climate would be good for his wife, Flagler soon discovered that the area could be a winter haven for the rich and famous of New England. He started to develop the area with grand hotels and rail systems to transport people southward. He is credited for developing much of the eastern seaboard from St. Augustine to Miami, sending his rail road as far south as Key West. Although hurricanes eventually wiped out the rail access to the Keys, some of Flagler's monumental hotels still stand.
 |
| Hand-carved columns grace the hallway as one enters the College. |
Built in 1887, the former Ponce de Leon Hotel is the present-day Flagler College. Students there study and are housed in some of the former hotel rooms and parlors, and they dine in the formal dining room surrounded by 79 Tiffany glass windows. Tiffany chandeliers light the Flagler Room which was formerly the grand parlor. We ventured only into the outer courtyard (filled with scaffolding since the exterior walls were being refurbished and painted) and the inner foyer. Seeing the marble fireplaces and hand-carved oak pillars, I decided I had to visit the Ladies Room. Wow! That is the first time I have walked into a Ladies Room that included a marble fireplace, cherubs above the doorways, and more detailed woodwork found only in a palace. The room obviously did not start life as a Ladies Room, but the present day use makes a very nice rest stop.
 |
| Even the Ladies Room contained a marble fireplace and beautifully tiled floors. |
I wanted to see Flagler's other hotel, the Alcatraz Hotel built in 1888, across the street. It is the present-day Lightner Museum, but Rick was not interested in paying the price to see it, and it was getting late, so we ventured onward.
 |
| The oldest wooden schoolhouse, made of cypress and cedar, in the United States. |
Friday saw us driving south to the Kennedy Space Center. We had visited the Center last year with Stephanie, but at that time we ran out of time so we never saw the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Our pass got us into everything free, so we started with a general bus tour of the Space Center. The day was cold, miserable, and rainy. Our bus tour was far less detailed than the tour we took a year ago, but that is because many of the landing pads and buildings have been leased or sold to private businesses who are getting into the space business. The tour was up-to-date, though, discussing current projects to Mars and current schedules for launches.
Most of Cape Canaveral's acreage is actually set aside as a wildlife preserve, and we heard again about the eagles that nest there and the 4,000 - 6,000 alligators that call the area home. The Hall of Fame was both interesting and educational. We still did not have enough time to see it all, but for anyone who has a child over the age of 10, the trip to the area is worth it.
Yesterday we spent time with our nephew Jon who came up to Dunedin. It was raining, so his obligations of the morning got rained out. He joined us for lunch at Dunedin Brewery, and we all had both good food and good conversation.
Sunshine finally came out today, so we have spent most of the day at the beach! Tonight Steve and Chris will join us for dinner, so I had better stop writing and get started with my preparations for dinner. We have thoroughly enjoyed having Stephanie visit us these past few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment