Bob and Gail's Next Adventure

Tuesday morning dawned clear and calm.

We all wanted a down day after 2 whirlwind days in St. Augustine, so a beach day it is!

The surprise was the “sand”. It is mostly coarsely ground or tiny whole shells.

We were told there were lots of shark teeth, so we searched and searched and didn’t find a one!

We found a shady area under the stairs for Bob to read while we walked the beach and it was a wonderful spot to eat lunch.

Of course I found beautiful homes even on the beach Smile

. They were bringing more sand down to the beach to protect the houses. Hurricane Irma removed much of the sand endangering the houses. How much sand will it take to shore up the beach?

We checked out a couple more beaches – but none with shells like we found at the first one. This one had actual sand!

Refreshed and ready for more adventures, off we go to tour Amelia Island and Fort Clinch.

Fort Clinch

Built in 1847. The only battle it ever saw was 1862 when the Union forces took it back from the Confederate forces. One of the volunteers at the fort has lived there for many years, donating hours upon hours researching its history and restoring the fort.

He has posted “notices” as they would have appeared during the civil war.

The jail’s floor was built using some wall bricks which wear faster than floor bricks resulting in a floor that is extremely uneven. The prisoners were incarcerated according to the type of crime – the worst one was solitary with bread and water put in through the bottom of the door.

The pots in the kitchen were huge!

The laundry was well equipped.

After the tour of the fort we took a tour of the town on a trolley. So many beautiful homes on the tour.

From little…

…to big…

…to bigger…

…to unique (notice the carousel horses on the porch)…

…to Pippi Longstocking’s house (used in making the movie)!

I had to take this picture because Green Turtles seem a big part of our journey – Green Turtle Marina, Green Turtle Cay, and now Green Turtle Cafe!

“The Oldest” is quite a theme in this area, here is Joni with her new boyfriend at the Oldest Bar! (She didn’t go in!)

We spent the rest of the day on the beach trying to find shark teeth – we were destined for failure!

Bob went swimming but it was still too cold for Joni and I

Instead we walked the beach – Joni captured this awesome picture of the Laughing Gulls flying away from her.

More beaches on Thursday!

That night Joni treated us to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse: delicious steaks all around!

That evening the rescue boat across from us went out on a training mission.

One at a time a diver would go into the water and a helicopter rescuer came down and “saved” him.

Great video!!

Friday was supposed to be at Cumberland Island on an all day tour. What we didn’t know was we needed to make the reservations long in advance. A quick redirection of our plans included a visit to the base historic airplane exhibit, a day in Jacksonville visiting an art museum and garden (but the garden had been destroyed by Hurricane Irma – just our luck!), a driving tour of some beautiful homes, and, (wait for it) – more beaches!

Lots of planes to see

Even though the garden was still recovering from the hurricane, the museum was beautiful with a history of art.

This was a beautiful piece from the original house where the museum is now located.

Here is one of the gardens struggling to recover

At least Joni got to see SOME flowers!

We saw several historic homes, but were disappointed that we couldn’t find a walking tour describing them.

Joni and I were both amazed at the number of magnolias and most in full bloom.

Joni ended her time with us on a funny note – but I don’t think she’ll ever step foot in another Beall’s! We were trying on clothes and she got locked into her dressing room! It took three clerks to get her out. We were close to breaking down the door .

This was taken just as the door popped open – relief!!

Saturday was Joni’s morning of departure. The sailboat next to us gave her a view not seen by many as he was doing work on his mast.

This is something I wish I could do!

Farewell Joni – until next time! Your berth awaits :)

When we got back from the airport there was a truck stuck in the bog along side of the road at the marina. He was on his way to pull his boat out of the water – not a good way to end the day .

Sunday we went to church, caught up on laundry, and had a wonderful lunch/dinner out at Mission BBQ. There are not a lot of these restaurants around, but if you get the chance, we highly recommend it. All the food that we ate was wonderful and the ambience was very patriotic. Their motto is “Serving those who serve”.

We depart in the morning towards North Carolina and closing our Loop!

Docked at Mulberry Cove Marina, Jacksonville NAS – April 27th – May 7th, 2018 – Joni’s visit

For Joni’s visit we had developed an itinerary of touring the surrounding cities and beaches. Checking the weather (don’t all good boaters do that at least twice a day?) we decided to go to St. Augustine first, as the cooler weather would be better for touring a city, saving the hotter days for the beaches. We had a early start as it was an hour long drive and we wanted to get one of the first tour trolleys. It is a “hop on, hop off” trolley that allows us to see what we want to see in detail and get a running commentary/history of the town between stops. I think we could all recite most of the commentary by heart after two days!

Off we go!

St. Augustine is the oldest, continually occupied European settlement in the continental US, 42 years before Jamestown, and 55 years before Plymouth Rock. It was nicknamed “the ever-faithful city” by the Spaniards because of its endurance through so many difficult times. The town was burned down at least 4 times and changed hands frequently in its early history.

The first mission in St. Augustine was Nombre de Dios *Name of God”. The cross was sculpted to commemorate the 400th anniversary of St. Augustine.

The Chapel has been rebuilt 3 times – destroyed by fire, pirates, and a storm.

The cemetery is called the “Sacred Acre” and is where all of the founding nuns are buried as well as 6 Federal soldiers buried during and after the civil war. The rest of the graves are the early towns people. It is a beautiful acre!

Lots of magnolia trees – nearly every tree has a memorial plaque at its base.

This beautiful prayer is near the Chapel – a prayer to live by.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an Instrument of Your Peace.

Where there is Hatred, let me Sow Love.

Where there is Injury, Pardon.

Where there is Doubt, Faith.

Where there is Despair, Hope.

Where there is Darkness, Light.

And where there is Sadness, Joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be Consoled, as to Console.

To be Understood, as to Understand.

To be Loved, as to Love.

For it is in Giving that we Receive.

It is in Pardoning that we are Pardoned.

And it is in Dying that we are Born to Eternal Life.

This grave is in honor of all the babies lost to abortion -

Castillo de San Marcos burned so many times that they finally built it of stone. It never fell to enemy after that. The stone is a soft limestone made up mostly of shells. It would seem an inferior material but was discovered to absorb the cannonballs rather than having them shatter a harder stone.

It even has a draw bridge!

We got to watch both a musket demonstration (a child watching thought he was Santa Claus!)…

…

…and a cannon firing. Notice them covering their ears – it was LOUD!

Many walls were build out of shells – with no antibiotics, any intruders would get many scratches trying to climb the wall. Shellfish carried many germs and the likelyhood of the scratches getting infected were very high. Ouch!

The city was burned completely in 1702 after a siege of the fort by the English. After 52 days they finally gave up but not without destroying every building in the town. The fort never fell. There have been other fires, but none so devastating. The visitors’ center was a small museum and we learned so much of the town’s history there. They also had a gift shop (of course) so Joni and I tried on hats Smile This one happened to match BOTH of our outfits!

Many stops on our tour, usually require payment to get in to see the attraction, so we had to pick and choose carefully. We did not choose to see inside this jail but there was lots of information and attractions outside for our enjoyment and edification.

Many “prisoners” around waiting to have their pictures taken.

Henry Flagler (one of the founders of Standard Oil) was most instrumental in building many of the town’s historic sites. He and his wife liked to vacation here but thought it charming but boring, so he built a resort hotel. Now housing Flagler College (re-developed by his nephew to create a low-expense, quality school, which it still is), the resort was only open during the “season” – approximately January-April, and cost each guest around $4,000. You must pay for the entire season even if you only stay for part of it! That is around $100,000 today. It was so successful that another entrepreneur built another hotel next door. That hotel failed within a year and Henry bought it for $325,000, lock, stock, and barrel! He also built a less expensive resort for the not so wealthy (what is that definition?) next to Ponce de Leon Hotel. He realized early on that his guests would need transportation to get to his resorts so he bought, developed, and improved Florida’s railways. The town jail was too close to his fancy resort so he purchased it from the town and built them a new one further away. The new jail was in an upscale residential area, so he built accordingly. Many people actually thought it was a hotel and stopped and asked for a room Smile .

We did pay to go through the Old General Store. This building was a drug store originally, but they have turned it into a museum of a facsimile of a general store of the era.

Canned goods

Cream separator – this brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the one on my grandparents back porch.

In the back of the store was their warehouse with bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other paraphernalia. One of the early washing machines had attachments to run a meat/bone grinder, butter churn, or ice cream maker. Kinda reminds you of – “and wait!…there’s more!” Did you know that you didn’t need a drivers license for an automobile. but you did for a bicycle? Also, it was illegal for children to ride bicycles! Then again – how would a child even get on one of these?

Vacuum cleaner – it only weighs 40 pounds!

Hotel Ponce de Leon was full of cutting edge technology. It was on of the first buildings in the country to have electricity (installed by Edison no less!) and filtered water! The water in Florida smells like sulfur and Flagler realized that his guests would not like it. He built a beautiful fountain in the courtyard with an elaborate system to filter the water. The fountain also served as a sun dial.

The hotel was built in only 18 months. Take a look at some of the detail that went into this building (designed by architects in their 20’s!)

The dome in the reception hall.

Tiffany windows in the dining hall. These were some of his very first designs and the only ones still in use for their intended purpose! The windows are protected by bullet proof glass. I wonder why?

The mosaic tile floor in the reception hall mirrors the ceiling pattern in the Ladies Lounge. Students, tired of studying often look for irregularities in the designs – supposedly some are intended, some not.

The ceiling is “Tiffany Blue” before Tiffany perfected the color.

The fireplace in the Ladies Lounge (where the ladies went while their husbands checked in and paid the bill). Edison also installed an electric clock above the fireplace here. It only tells the correct time twice a day now as it cannot be repaired without cutting through the marble. Edison “signed” the clock with his trick of substituting “IIII” for the Roman Numeral IV.

I could go on and on about this beautiful building, but I will leave you with this:

If your kids ever complain about strict rules for dating – a lady “courting” sat in this chair with their young man and a chaperone!

Henry Flagler’s family was not immune to sorrow. He and his first wife had three children – one who died early and then his wife died of Tuberculosis. His remaining daughter lost a baby shortly after birth and then she herself died soon after. Flagler built a church in her memory. He is buried there with his first wife, daughter and grandbaby.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church

Inside is just as beautiful.

Other sites around St. Augustine:

Beautiful flowers:

Although there are many more magnolias in this area than I’ve ever seen in one place before, Magnolia Street is no longer lined with them, but instead Live Oaks draped in Spanish Moss. The leaves look nothing like an oak to me, but they do reproduce with acorns. It is a “live” oak because it stays green year round – losing its leaves only when the spring growth is ready to replace them.