This and That and Here and There

On Monday we ran out of available camping days at Anastasia so we packed up and moved west toward Gainesville.  We set up camp at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park which is a huge state park about seven miles southeast of town.  We have taken no pictures here yet so we are sharing a few miscellaneous items from Florida below.

 

Many of the campgrounds in which we have stayed have had trash cans like this to discourage and outsmart the bears.

 

At one picnic area we saw this Black Vulture very close to a fellow cooking on a grill.  The vulture seemed to find the cooking smells irresistible and was hoping to get his burger rare.

 

At many of the fishing lakes and rivers we have seen plastic pipe containers like this.

It is smart, as old fishing line can be dangerous to wildlife.

 

In downtown St. Augustine we saw a few two-person vehicles like this that were for rent.  The cars looked like a fun way to tour the old parts of the city.

 

 

A Cold Windy Day on Anastasia Island

Sunday was cold, low 50s, and windy so we dressed warm,  and took a bike ride and another walk on the pretty white beach.

Except for the birds, we almost had a couple miles of beachfront to ourselves.  Notice that the birds are all facing into the cold north wind.

 

The beaches have all been very clean, but we have seen plenty of washed up jellyfish like this.  They are firm and rubbery and Bill found they were fun to kick like a soccer ball.

 

Karen got lucky and found this prized starfish that had just washed up.

 

Later, we took a bicycle ride past the Alligator Farm and saw this big gator they had just brought in.  As you can see, he was not happy about being captured.

 

Like Carol King Sang, "Alligators All Around".

We could only get reservations for two days at Anastasia State Park, but due to the cool weather somebody cancelled and we were able to grab two more camping days here.  On Saturday the weather was sunny so we decided to see a few more sights and tourist attractions on St. Valentine's Day.

 

Right out the front of the state park on Anastasia Island is this attraction that Bill had to visit.  Karen was a good sport and went in as well.  The St. Augustine Alligator Farm is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Florida dating back to the 1890s.

 

Wow, do they have alligators and crocodiles.  The zoological park has all of the 23 crocodilian species...and plenty of them.  There are other interesting birds and animals as well.

 

This would probably not be a good place to fall into the water.

 

This albino alligator does not even look real--but he was.  Do you like his turtle hat?

 

After viewing the reptiles we rode the trolley over the bridge to St. George Street in St. Augustine that was very busy with tourists and lovers on Valentine's Day.  It was much like Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

 

Here is Karen by the oldest wood schoolhouse in the U.S.A.  We caught the last trolley back to Anastasia Island where we were parked by the Alligator Farm.  It was another fun day at St. Augustine.

 



A Day in St. Augustine

Friday the weather was clear but very cold so we bundled up and became tourists in what is considered "The Nation's Oldest City".  We did the Old Town Trolley Tour and visited two museums among other tourist activities.  We took lots of photos but will only bore you with a few in this blog.

A must-see attraction is the Castillo De San Marcos National Monument.  It is the oldest masonry fort in North America and is run by the National Park Service.

 

The fort's construction was completed in 1695 by Spain, but has changed hands numerous times in its history.  Once you enter they let you wander pretty much everywhere.

Like the fort on Mackinaw Island back in Michigan....there are soldiers who put on demonstrations of how the weapons of the day worked.

 

We toured the Lightner Museum in downtown St. Augustine that was once the Alcazar Hotel.  Like many of the fancy buildings here it was built by Henry Flagler, who was a business partner of J.D. Rockefeller.  The hotel had a huge indoor swimming pool that is now a restaurant.

 

The Lightner was an interesting museum that was easy to walk through.  Here is a bust of Hiawatha whose photo we could not resist. *  No doubt about it....St. Augustine is a great city to visit!

 

 

*Footnote:  We live on Hiawatha Drive.

A Beautiful New Park and A Great Walk on the Beach

After a one-night stay at a small local RV park, we checked into another State Park.

 

Anastasia is one of the jewels of the Florida State Park system.  It has smooth paved roads, flat camping sites with lots of privacy, and miles of gorgeous Atlantic shoreline. It is also only about a mile from downtown St. Augustine.



 On Thursday there was not a cloud in the sky so we decided to check out the ocean.  This is the boardwalk over a low area to get to the park beach.

 

No that is not a barber pole....it is the Anastasia Lighthouse at the north end of the park.

 

The beach was all white sand and sea shells with a strong west wind and good size waves coming in.

 

We walked to the public pier and watched about a dozen surfers riding the waves in their wetsuits.

It was a very pleasant afternoon on the Atlantic Ocean beach.

 

Another State Park Stop on Our Way to St. Augustine

 

On Wednesday we ran out of available days to stay at Tomoka so we headed north along the Ocean to our next planned stops at St. Augustine.  We decided to visit Washington Oaks Gardens State Park for a look at what was once another winter garden estate of rich people from up north.

 

There is no camping here, just beautiful gardens and citrus groves that are being preserved by the state of Florida.

 

The previous owners were Owen Young who was one of the first presidents of General Electric and his rich wife who had started a lingerie business.

 

Here is Karen inspecting a landscape being painted by this artist from New York.



Tomoka State Park

This state park is located just north of Daytona Beach on a peninsula that splits the Tomoka and Halifax Rivers.  The campground has 97 sites.  The interior roads are mostly dirt and rough to drive on.  The campsites are great for tents and small RVs,  but tough for bigger rigs.

 

The park has an interesting history.  It was once the site of an old Indian Village as the sign above explains.

 

At the north end of the park is this large and very unusual monument to Chief Tokomie of the Indian Tribe that lived here.  It is in disrepair and is starting to crumble with its 60 year old age.  (We know the feeling)

 

The park has this camp store and a marina.  The store rents boats and also sells beer and wine.  It has live entertainment on the weekends.

 

 Just south of the state park property are some very nice houses that sit on the Halifax River (which is part of the Florida Intercostal Waterway).   This one was for sale.  We looked up the realtor website and saw that it was listed at $1,750,000.