St. Augustine, Florida

I really do love this place.

 There is an amazing amount of history in this city.

First off, historically, this was the first city established in the entire country.  First city establishment, according to them is meaning plotting roads. Granted, it was by the Spaniards, not the English, and they didn't stay here too long, but since 1513 this place has been full of activity.  In 1513, Ponce De Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth.

From 1565-1763 it was a slow paced Spanish Military Outpost fighting off invasions and pirates. 

September 8, 1565 the Spaniards made peace with the local Native American tribes and shared a feast together.  This was our actual first thanksgiving.  Some people in St. Augustine are trying to get this date recognized as the real thanksgiving.  I'm not sure how far they will get with that, but I wouldn't mind having 2 thanksgiving's in a year.  It's always delicious food at my mom's house! 

St. Augustine's beautiful, wild, interesting, and educational.  All of the pictures of the sun rising over the Atlantic in this blog, I took in St. Augustine on my last day there.  It was pretty sad, after 8 days, I felt spoiled and did not want to go back to real life.

Ok, so on to the stuff to do.

First off, their are 43 miles of beaches in this area.  St. Augustine is at the very top Eastern North corner of Florida, very close to Jacksonville.  This area is jutting out from Florida kinda' like the thumb off your hand, so there's even more beach to explore than if there was no bay.  The city is full of bridges to get around and there's water everywhere, so sometimes getting around by car can be tricky.

We stayed at a hotel right off the beach.  All I had to do was walk through the lobby and 2 minutes later I was sitting on the beach.  It was a wonderful location and I could not have asked for better views.  Along the coast are jellyfish, seagulls, pelicans, ducks, sandpipers and crabs.  If you like watching animals, I highly recommend going to the beach at sunrise or sunset when most of the critters are out.



We visited the Alligator Farm.  That was a bit scary at times.  Lots and lots of alligators just hanging out in the swamp-like terrain waiting for someone to accidentally fall off the bridge into the water.  I was eager to leave this zoo.  I enjoyed the turtles, birds, and other non life-endangering animals, but not those damn alligators.

 

The Fountain of Youth was a lot more fun that I thought it could be.  I was there with a history buff so I went there for him mainly, but I ended up really enjoying it.  We drank the water from the well and it smelled and tasted like hard boiled eggs.  Supposed to be really good for you and full of minerals so I couldn't complain.  Hey if it helps me stay young, it's worth a shot right?



The "fountain" where you get your drinking water from.




A mock up of when Ponce De Leon found the spring




They also have about 25 wild peacock that do what they want there



The Mission of Nombre De Dios.  This place has an impressive amount of solitude and quiet if you need a moment out of the busy sightseeing tours.  We stopped here for the history buff again.  I didn't find too much interesting except for the large amount of squirrels and the 150 foot tall cross that was on the property.  We left a donation at the donation box, but otherwise this attraction is free.  At the very top of the cross, a couple of nesting Bald Eagles were living there.  It was amazing to see them there.

Took a boat ride around the bay to see the wildlife including lots of birds and some dolphins. 

It took us about an hour and a half to tour everything by water, but it was relaxing.  Nice to see things without having to worry about navigation or parking and such.

Ripley's Believe it or not Museum and trolley ride around the city was a lot of fun. 

The trolley ride is nice.  It takes you looping through the city and allows on/off access for up to 3 days.  So if you decide to get off at one of their stops another train will be by in about 20 minutes to pick you up.  It was a fun way to see the city and not have to worry about parking or walking miles to get from one attraction to another.  Since it's a Ripley's Museum run thing, they happen to have a stop right in front of the museum.  The museum itself is really interesting.  There's so much to look at, it'll probably take you about 2 or 3 hours to get through everything.  They have some really bizarre stuff in there including the world's smallest domino set, the first vampire killing kit, and the biggest erector set Ferris wheel. 

Ripley's somehow inherited a rooster that lives outside.  They say he just flew in about 4 years ago and they've been feeding him ever since.  He usually hangs out in the parking lot and stops cars, if you see him, say hi for me!

One of the coolest attractions was the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy enjoying myself here but you can do things like fire a cannon, read log books from actual pirate ships, see the weapons they used, and see outfits they wore.  I say this is a must see if you are in the city.

Ahoy matey!

We also visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  Very stunning view of the surrounding area if you can make it up the 150 stairs to the top of course.  I got lightheaded near the top and had to sit to catch my breath, but it was well worth it.

There were so many things to do and just not enough time.  I enjoyed all of it and the restaurants in the area are good as well.  If you get the chance to visit this place, I say go for it.  You will not regret it.