St. Augustine, FL

St. Augustine from the top of the fort.

St. Augustine was our last stop in Florida and it was definitely an “ahhhh” kind of place. After two months of experiencing the extreme differences within this State, from sleepy fishing village to over-the-top tourist traps, from perfectly manicured neighborhoods to deserted beaches (though very few of those) St. Augustine was the perfect place to wander quietly, taking in the history and beautiful architecture and letting all the stress drain out. 

 

Courtyard in the Lightener Museum.

The city was founded in 1565 and is considered the “oldest city in the continental U.S.”. It has been controlled by the Spanish, the English, the Timucua Indians and the Americans (not necessarily in that order) over the years. This is the place Ponce de Leon supposedly finally found the Fountain of Youth. Well, let’s just say that is what he thought. After all, he was a mere 47 years old when he died. Rather than pay the $12/person for a sip of the reportedly awful tasting elixir we opted for a sandwich and cold beer at the A1A Ale Works. I think we got the better deal.

One of the beautiful buildings.

One of the many horse carriages.

Since we were anxious to get to Savannah, and could only get a 2 night stay in the RV Park, we decided the best course of action to see the highlights was a trolley ride. Trolley rides, we’ve come to find out, are not only a good way to learn something about the layout and history of the town but they are much easier on the feet! For one price you can ride around all day long or get off and on at your discretion. 

 

Drawbridge entrance to the fort.

Barracks...primitive.

Looking down at the seawall & harbor from the top of the fort.

A row of cannons.

Chris checking out the lookout tower.

One stop on the trolley line we were especially anxious to visit was the Castillo de San Marcos Fort. Construction on this fort was begun in 1672 by the Spanish and over the 300+ years it has stood guard over the city, numerous changes have been made by the different forces in control. In 1924 the fort was designated a National Monument. It is remarkably well preserved and we had as much as all the children wandering around through the different rooms and on top of the ramparts where cannon after cannon is at the ready.  

 

Flagler College

Fountain at Flagler College

One of the most beautiful buildings in St. Augustine is Flagler College. It is located in the heart of the city and the grounds are just stunning. If I were going to go to college in the south this would be high on my list.

 

Coast Guard Memorial

There has been a big Coast Guard presence here since 1987 with the main focus of this station being the fight against drug trafficking. In our wanderings, we happened upon a memorial for four Guardsmen who died when their helicopter went down during a mission. One of these men, Duane Stenbak, is the brother of our very good friend, Mike Stenbak who was, also, a Coastie.

Schooner Freedom sailing nicely.

All in all, I was completely enchanted by St. Augustine. The atmosphere, the beautiful and varied architecture and the friendly citizens. Would I return? Absolutely!

Sunrise on the Atlantic...in front of our RV park.

Highlights and Tidbits From Florida

Every state that we have visited has had a few quirks but Florida is rife with them. I thought it might be fun to write a silly (but somewhat educational) blog entry for a change of pace. Here’s hoping you enjoy it!

 

Building reflected in a building (St. Petersburg)

 1)      It was surprising to discover that people in the Florida panhandle area have a heavier southern accent than those we met in Louisiana and Alabama.

Horse drawn carriage ride (St. Augustine)

 2)      We have now crossed into a three hour time difference from home so calling friends and relatives is a real challenge. I am used to being able to call up my girlfriends whenever I want but it doesn’t work quite as well here.

Absolute south end of Highway 1 (Key West)

 3)      Produce! Honestly, people, you would not believe how difficult it is to get decent fresh fruit and vegetables here. Most of the vegetables are hermetically sealed in plastic in packages sized by the people wrapping. I couldn’t get ONE zucchini or pick out my own broccoli or carrots. I mean really…do they think I can’t pick out my own carrots? The quality was quite sad so maybe hiding it is the objective? That way you don’t realize until you get home that the broccoli is way beyond fresh and the carrots are already getting slimy. The sizes were rather odd as well. Carrots were in packages of either 5 or 25! And…oranges from California? Really??? I got so darn spoiled in Mexico.

Art deco at its best (South Beach, Miami)

 4)      Florida seems to be pretty hung up on fried food.  Even the chicken in a salad was deep fried. 

Great sunset viewing (Intercostal Waterway, Daytona Beach)

 5)      Roads/drivers. Well…the roads were in good condition but the traffic patterns were hideous and the drivers were crazy, crazy, crazy. Driving right through red lights, changing lanes and making turns without signaling or looking for on-coming traffic. Texting & making phone calls while driving was a constant. And then there are the motorcyclists: no helmets, usually wearing only shorts and sneakers, weaving through traffic at very high speeds. Totally crazy. Even crazier: Florida USED to have a helmet law but it was repealed in 2000. Since then, the number of fatal crashes for every 10,000 registered motorcycles increased by 21%. Hmmm…go figure. Watching these folks in action it certainly appeared that they have a death wish.

Common Moorhen cruising on Lake Okeechobee

 6)      Reptiles: Holy guacamole! I really do not like reptiles at all so found myself watching everywhere I walked pretty closely. Not only are there the expected alligators and poisonous snakes, but they also have HUGE snakes running rampant. Many of the people who had “pet” Pythons apparently decided that when “Fido” got big enough that he needed a goat for lunch…a white rat wasn’t going to cut it anymore…it was time to give him his “freedom” out in the swamps. Those that were released into the (very tropical and reptile friendly) wild have been making friends, falling in love and procreating like crazy and are now a force to be reckoned with. The estimate is that there are now 100’s of thousands wreaking havoc on the indigenous wildlife.

Alligator siesta (Everglades)

 

 7)      Grocery stores in Florida have decided (I know not why) to hire the mentally challenged and infirm elderly to work as baggers. Now I have no quarrel with providing an income for these folks but, for heaven’s sake TRAIN them!! Over time it gets a bit tiresome to find your eggs or loaf of bread under 2 bottles of wine or a half gallon of milk! I finally decided it was best to just “help” them in order to keep the frustration level at a minimum.

(Political aside: While it is nice that these stores are “helping” the elderly and disabled, one must wonder WHY they choose to hire personnel who most likely already have an income rather than giving a job to someone who has a family to feed. Do you suppose it is so they can avoid providing medical coverage for them since they presumably already have it? Or so they can pay a lower wage? Sorry…that is just my ongoing frustration with cheezy employers who are against a living wage for their help.)

A beach to ourselves (Carrabelle)

So…now we are out of Florida. It is a state filled with contrasts and oxymorons. Every beach is different, every city is different, even the weather patterns are different. The real advantage is that it is warm! I can see why the New Yorkers and the Minnesotans and the Ontarians and the Wisconsinites go there for the winter. The same reason we go to Mexico…for the heat. They don’t realize, however, that we are getting the better deal!

Sunset in St. Petersburg

The Epcot Experience

Well…I am sorry to say that Chris & I were both extremely disappointed with Disney’s Epcot Center Park.

First of all, let me say that I lived in San Diego (a long time ago) for almost 10 years and my ex and I made many trips to Disneyland in Anaheim. It was always a great time. There were tons of rides and interesting exhibits. Disneyland/Anaheim was very well laid out and, while there were a couple rides with regular long lines, most had enough staff and vehicles that the wait times were reasonable.

Epcot is approximately double the size of Disneyland/Anaheim and that created the first problem. The park is spread out around a large man made lake and the only option to get from one end of the 300 acres to the other, besides walking, is a boat that transports hotel guests into the park which you can ride from one side of the lake to the other. Admittedly, I am not as young as I used to be, but I feel fortunate that I am still quite ambulatory. A large percentage of the Epcot guests were much older than I, many of them in wheelchairs or electric carts. Between the huge area and the Orlando heat (which was, thankfully, only 88° the day we were there) both Chris & I were pretty beat up by the time we got home. Disneyland/Anaheim has numerous modes of transportation (monorail, train, buses, trolleys, horse drawn wagons, overhead gondolas) to get around in the park. I was surprised that Epcot was not the same way.

Upon entering the park, we were in the “Future World” area. The first building we entered was called “Innovations”, but basically it was one big product showcase for Siemens. There were numerous interactive activities (life sized video games) designed to display different Siemens “innovations”. Also inside this building was a “House of the Future” which we toured. That was kind of cool. The tour guide pointed out all the different items in the house that are used to make it more environmentally and user friendly (complete with manufacturer promotion, of course). Since we are very green conscious we really enjoyed the “house”. The down side is that it is not likely that the average homeowner will have the means to purchase most of the highlighted items.

One of the “rides” I wanted to get on was called Soarin’ and was billed as a hang-gliding experience through California. When we first arrived there was a 60 minute wait so we, instead, took a boat ride called “Living With the Land” which turned out to be a “thrill” ride through greenhouses. No, I’m not kidding. On display were plants from different parts of the world, new ways to grow plants (ie: eggplant trees) and a look at small tanks of Tilapia, shrimp, eels & alligators being farmed for food. After departing the boat we checked in again at Soarin’ and the wait was up to 65 minutes. Well, maybe we should get some lunch and try again. Thirty minutes later, will full bellies, we discovered the wait time was now 100 minutes so we gave up.

Note: Epcot has a “Fastpass” system whereby you can swipe your admission card (which has your id and fingerprint electronically imbedded so you can’t share it) at some of the rides. The attendant then gives you a specific time to return and you can go ahead of the line. Only a limited number of Fastpasses are allowed per ride and it is first come first served. Unfortunately, we were not given this information when we purchased our tickets and did not discover it until we returned home.

The other ride we were interested in was the Chevrolet (product promotion again) Test Track. The premise behind this was that you would design your own virtual custom vehicle and then ride it on a test track (which looked a lot like a roller coaster). It looked like fun but, again, the wait time was well over an hour and the day was getting long.

I wanted to see the “American Heritage” show which was in the middle of the International Communities on the exact other end of the park. By the time we began the journey around the lake we’d already been on our feet for at least a couple hours. The lake is quite pretty as it is surrounded by beautifully manicured grass and flower gardens and baskets of flowers are “floating” all over the water but it is a long, long walk to the other side.

The “World Showcase” is designed as replicas of villages in different countries. Canada is at one end of the semicircle and Mexico is at the other. In between are Great Britain, France, Japan, Italy, China, Norway and Morocco. Morocco is the only pavilion that is actually sponsored by the country it represents…the rest have corporate sponsors. The American “host” pavilion is right in the middle. By the time we reached Canada we were beginning to drag. I was hoping for some sort of display about each country with some information about its history, culture, people, etc. but it turns out they are just cute villages of restaurants and trinket shops (featuring Disney characters in country costumes of course).

We were beginning to think a cold beer would be in order but since it would likely slow us down we decided to wait until we got to the end. We know from experience that Mexico has some very good beer. Hah! Turned out that the only beer available in the Mexican Cantina was Corona Light! Corona is owned by Anheuser-Busch. So we skipped the $4.00 bottle and went home to the RV where we could relax with a cold Dos Equis. 

When we got to the American Experience we entered the pretty Colonial style building and found ourselves inside a large rotunda with benches around the perimeter. It is reminiscent of most capitol buildings and was a cool (think air conditioning) respite from the Orlando heat. Sitting on a bench, we rested our weary joints and began reading the quotes on the wall panels around the rotunda. At first I thought they were quotes from important figures in American history but I soon realized this was not the case. I was sitting directly across from a quote by Ayn Rand, a very radical Russian author who promoted “Objectivism” over Democracy. Not exactly an American historical personage. The main feature of “The American Adventure” is a film about the history of the United States which is narrated by animatronic figures of Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin. At several points during the movie different animatronic scenes rise from the stage to illustrate particular events. I enjoyed the presentation but, after greatly detailing events in the 1700’s and 1800’s I was sad to see more recent history (ie: the Civil Rights movement) get short shrift. By the end of the film the producer had resorted to quick flash pictures of Americans such as John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

Do I sound like an old curmudgeon? Well, admittedly I have been getting pickier in my old age. We paid $14 for parking and $89 per person for admission so I really felt that the experience should have been a bit more “fun”. The gardens were beautiful. We saw three musical groups who were very entertaining. The food was decent and not exorbitantly priced. But…that is not what you go to a Disney park for. You go to be excited and amazed. You go to have fun. To be reminded what it is like to be a kid. Unfortunately, Epcot fell far short of my expectations.