"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn't do, than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.


Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

Thursday, April 22, 2010

St Augustine, FL The Nation's oldest city



The trip down the ICW from Cocoa  to  St. Augustine was picturesque, we saw some very large yachts, beautiful homes, an occasional dolphin, lots of fisherman, and the coastguard.  The coastguard was pulling boats over and boarding them.  We had heard them on the radio, and knew they had boarded the 3 boats behind us, so when we saw them approaching us, we assumed we were next.  Not the case, they passed us up and checked out a fishing boat ahead of us.  No excitement today.
















St. Augustine has existed for 444 years, founded in the 16th century, in 1565.  This city has seen endless calamities, including fires, floods, destructive storms, and wars.  St Augustine has survived and now flourishes in the 21st century. We took the trolley ride thru the city and got a history lesson as well. The marina is in the heart of the city, right on the ICW, also called the Matanzas River in this stretch. There are numerous restaurants on every street, it's a tough choice where to eat. 

A city this old has to have a historic fort, here are some pictures of the Castillo de San Marcos.














Thursday  was a chore day, at least for half the day.  We had dinner at Harry's, a seafood restaurant, excellent food.  A competitive game of putt putt golf rounded out the evening.  Tomorrow will be a travel day, the weather should be sunny with temps in the mid 70's, and winds around 5 knots. Tomorrow is also our oldest son's birthday. Happy 31st Birthday Dan!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pics. Wish it was 70 here. Unfortunately, it hardly made 55. Still early spring I guess. Glad to hear you are having such a great time. Would love checking out all those wonderful restaurants. Luv Ya, Sheron

Anonymous said...

Hey Jim and Mary! St Augustine looks great! Feels like we were on the boat ride looking at the scenery as we scrolled down the pix! This weekend, rain, oh joy! Ed is re-doing the basement shower and is considering under-taking the re-tiling of the foyer...yeah, gone would be the 70's tile! The kids continue to count down to the end of school, which is end of May. So far they are doing well with their grades. They said they miss you and hope you are having fun! Take care and be safe! Love, Sue and crew...

Tom&Suzy said...

Hi you two,
We are enjoying your blog. Pictues are great. What an adventure.
Boat has been in since 5/1 but no boating weather here. The lake has 9' waves today and we had tornado sightings last night but no damage that we have heard of.
We're getting ready for our trip to the Grand Canyon. Tom figures the time we spend at the dude ranch before we start the rafting trip ought to do us in. Sounds lke fun to me.
Give us a call when you're coming into Vermilion and we'll get some pictures of your return.
Glad you're our of the Gulf.
Tom and Suzy