Great Visit To The Oldest City In The US - St. Augustine

St. Augustine, FL (78 degrees, blue skies)

 

Flagler College
 

 

We spent ten fun filled days in St. Augustine.  It's a beautiful historic city with plenty of attractions to keep you busy.  There are lovely beaches, interesting museums, eclectic antique stores, delicious gourmet restaurants, and much more. 

 

 

 

 

We are continuing to travel with our friends JC and Bev and were able to stay at the Elks Lodge.  It has 50 amp service and water (sewer dump nearby at the State Park).  It's a very active lodge and offers great food (all you can eat spaghetti night, prime rib on Friday, and a fun St. Patrick's Day celebration with a bag pipe band for entertainment).  The price was right at only $20/night and it's very conveniently located to the historic downtown area and the beautiful Anastasia Beach.  There are about 10 sites and no reservations are accepted in advance.  It's by far one of the best lodges.  Sites are close together at the back of the lodge.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. 

 

 

Lightner Museum

 

 

 

 

We spent a lot of time downtown and a few of the highlights are briefly described.  It's a great place to explore and it's steeped in history.  The collage above highlights the Lightner Museum and it's collection.  This was one of Flagler's (founder of Standard Oil) hotels and was quite the place to stay in 1887.  It even had a pool spanning the entire basement floor and a roof which opened to the night sky.  Starting in 1946 it has housed a collection of Otto Lightner.  It takes several hours to just see a small sampling of the items he collected during the Depression.  There are beautiful glass displays, antiques, music boxes, shells, and even cigar band art. 

 

Flagler College

 



Another highlight for us was a tour of the Flagler College.  Students give tours twice a day and it has the largest display of Tiffany glass in the world.  This was Flagler's premier hotel and at the time if you were lucky enough to be invited to stay it cost you 1/4 million dollars for a three month vacation.  It was always full.  Amazing!  Since 1968 it has been a liberal art college.  What a great place to go to school.  The cafeteria was breathtaking.  Be sure to take the tour to see some of the rooms not open to the general public. 

 

 

 

We also took another Segway Tour. This one was a combination of riding a Segway and stopping at historic sites to hear some facts about the city.  Our guide, Cary, loves good food and gave us lots of tips on restaurants to check out and ones to avoid.    It was fun and much more challenging than in Cocoa Beach due to the brick streets and busy traffic and oh yes...lots of motorcycles touring with Daytona Bike Week being  in full swing. 

 

 

Castillo de San Marcos

 

 

The Castillo de San Marcos is the centerpiece of St. Augustine and is a National Monument.  This fort was controlled by Spain, England, and the U.S.  There is a self guided tour and on weekends reenactors fire the cannon. 

 

 

 

 

There is another fort crucial to the protection of St. Augustine called Fort Matanzas.  It's located 20 minutes south of the downtown area.  The National Park Service offers a free guided ferry boat tour of the small fort.  The rangers told us the forts name Matanzas is Spanish for slaughter and of the tragic history while it was held by Spain in 1545.  Approximately 250 captured French soldiers were killed.  It is not known if this was done in vengeance or due to fears of not having enough food. 

 

Tour Boat

Fort in distance blocked access to the city

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Check back for more about St. Augustine.  We enjoyed a fun "foodie" tour of some great restaurants, learned some new photo techniques during a workshop, and had a fun visit to see lots of birds and ALLIGATORS!





Newbie Birders and the Story of the Kingfisher

Merritt Island, Florida (62 degrees, blue skies)

“A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?”

 

 

Kingfisher

 

 

This beautiful, shy, illusive, feathery creature was the tipping point for us.  We have tried and tried  to get a picture of kingfisher and at last we were able to photograph one at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  We were so excited!  Actually we were ecstatic.  Could it be we've become birders? We have enjoyed bird watching in the past and John's nickname is Birdman for his ability to spot them and nearly crashing the car a few times looking for them.  Our excitement has been building over the past two years as we have discovered more and more of them as we travel down the road.  Now we are studying them and enjoying new discoveries.  Our binoculars and  bird book are  handy now and in the car at all times.   Hmmmnn...so what exactly is a birder?

 

Along boardwalk at Visitors Center

 

 

Definition of a birder:    a person who identifies and studies birds in their natural habitats.

 

 



 

This definition certainly fits.  Our kingfisher may have just set a new hobby in motion.  Our friends Randy and Fran recommended the seven mile Black Point Road in the refuge and described it as a birders paradise. This tranquil peace of heaven was set aside by the Kennedy Space Center and is managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

Be sure to pick up the self guide brochure as you enter. It's easy to find the best birds as a rule...look for parked cars and folks with big binoculars and fancy cameras.  The best viewing time are morning or early evening.

 



Air Plants and Spanish Moss



 

We stopped first at the Visitor Center and after talking to a ranger and obtaining some bird maps we took a short hike on the boardwalk with our friends JC, Bev,and Carol. It was very nice hike and we were all treated to some songbirds serenading us. Click on the link below to hear them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found these funny quotes on a website while searching for a definition of a birder.  Do some of them apply to you?

 

You might be a birder if - someone yells "Duck!", and you look up and shout "Where?"

 

 

 

Birders checking out the Spoonbills

You might be a birder if - you identify calls of birds in the soundtracks of television shows and movies.

Blue-Winged Teal

 

 

 

You might be a birder if - you spend fifteen minutes preparing dinner for your family, and thirty minutes mixing and placing seed for your birds.

 

 

Seeing a Roseate Spoonbill is really a treat.  We saw them a couple of years ago  at Ding Darling Refuge but they were in the distance.  This time we saw them very close by at several locations and in flight too.
 

Roseate Spoonbill

 

 

 

 

You might be a birder if - you wake up your spouse at 5:30am and exclaim, "Is that a phoebe I'm hearing outside the window?"

 

 

American coots

 

 

You might be a birder if - your spouse says, "It's either me or the birds," and you have to think about it.

 

 

Lesser Scaup

 

 

Tri-Colored Heron

 

 

You might be a birder if - you participate in hours-long discussions about the pros and cons of using a certain field guide.

 

 

 

 

 

Glossy Ibis

 

 

You might be a birder if - your neck hurts except when you're looking up.

 

Great Egret

 

You might be a birder if - better hearing makes your "Top Five Wish List."

 

 

We went back three times. Heck, we'd have set up camp there if it was possible.  One evening we came around the corner and saw hundreds of American White Pelicans  stopping for a quick bite to eat.  Within minutes soundlessly they took off again.  It was just one of those moments you'll always remember.  If we'd been fifteen minutes later we'd have missed it. 

 

 

American White Pelican

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might be a birder if - you're all the time wanting to stop the car, and your riders are saying "What are you stopping for?"

 

 

Blue Skimmer & Royal Tern

 

 

Our favorite bird was the elegant Reddish Egret.  It's rather rare according to what some birders told us.  He was all by himself dancing in the shallow water and made all of us laugh with his antics and joyful carefree attitude. 

 

 

 

Reddish Egret



 

 

Randy and Fran have spent several hours with us since this trip and answered numerous questions  about birding.  For example they suggested purchasing a better bird book (Sibley's), subscribing to ebird, exploring websites and forums  (aba.org) and apps (Audobon).  Maybe we are birders.  Sounds like fun to us.  

 

And my personal favorite - You might be a birder if - your spouse is a birder.

 

Segways and Space Exploration

 

Merritt Island, Florida (61 degrees, blue skies, chilly)

Being able to visit the Kennedy Space Center, nice beaches, and ride a  Segway sure sounded like a great way to spend a week.  We traveled to Merritt  Island with our friends JC and Bev and had a special visitor Carol come stay for a few days with us too.  We decided to stay on Merritt Island at the KARS Park. 

 

 

This recreational facility was once used by NASA employees and is now available to retired veterans and their guests. The campground is a little run down but we liked our site very much. It's always fun to have a water view and the price was great ($20/night). 

 

 

 

 

Beverly arranged a fun Segway tour with a Groupon discount.  They have tried Segway's before but it was our first time.  It was surprisingly easy to learn how to use (learn forward to go -lean back to stop - try to avoid hitting anything).   We spent  about 90 minutes zipping along Cocoa Beach and at the end I wanted to buy one. They are out of our price range in reality but if you get a chance to try one don't be intimidated. 

 

JC, Bev, me, & John

 

Our first stop was near the spectacular Jetty Beach.  There is a popular campground nearby by the same name which has the added bonus of being able to watch cruise ships and boats going up and down the waterway. 

 

Jetty Beach

 

Our other stop was by the cruise pier.  The weather was a little chilly but check out the pretty blue skies. 

 

 

 

Our friend Carol arrived in the afternoon and the next day we all took off for Kennedy Space Center.  We enjoyed the center tremendously and spent most of the day there.  A nice lady at the visitor center named Noah gave us some great hints on how to make the most of our visit.  She suggested our first stop to be the auditorium where an astronaut was giving a presentation about his space travel.  His name was Tom Jones and after our visit we all agreed his dynamic presentation was the highlight. 

 

 

 

Astronaut Tom Jones

 

There is an five story IMAX theatre which shows two films.  Both were very exciting and fun to watch.  As you can tell my friend Carol is a very serious person. 

 

A guided bus tour took us out to the Vehicle Assembly Building where the rockets were put together and then moved out to the launch pad.  Check out the very tall garage doors on the side. 

 

 

 



 

The bus dropped us off at the Apollo/Saturn Center.  You suddenly become very much aware of the length of the Saturn rocket which launched the astronauts to the moon.   It took our breath away as we first walked into the building. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunar landing module

 

 

 

 

 

space capsule

 

Looking at this space capsule and seeing how small it was inside gave me a real sense of awe.  What brave men and women have participated in the space program.   

 

 

 

We all remembered when the astronauts first landed on the moon.  The world held its breath as Neil Armstrong first stepped down.   This center brought so much of this alive in the hands on displays, movies, memorabilia, and even a moon rock you could touch. 

 

 

Moon rock

Newspaper headlines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girls gone wild for astronauts



The next day we stopped at the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.  The visit is included in your Space Center Admission.  It is somewhat dated but an interesting stop. 

 

United State Astronaut Hall of Fame

 

 

Carol trying to land a lunar module

 

My favorite astronaut



When you come to Florida for visit be sure to add the Kennedy Space Center to your "must see" list.  It's out of this world!  :)