June 27: Go Gators??

Thursday:  Today we bidded adieu to Savannah, and headed for Florida.  Not Orlando, however.  We drove to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.  When we got to a parking lot, a man walked up and said that he still had an hour and a half on his ticket if we wanted it.  Great!  We walked around the old fort.  It was built by the Spaniards in the 1600s, then taken over by the English during the Revolutionary War.  Then the United States got it!  It was very interesting with a lot of interpretive signs explaining the fort, it's history, and the people that lived there. 

future GQ model Joshua in a fort turret

  cannons

Looking over the city

View from the top of the fort

detail from a cannon

View from the fort

Close-up of the limestone they used to build everything in the fort and the town  (It was taken from a local island).  It was then covered with plaster (also made from the more than plentiful shells). 

Anneliese in a turret

Fort turret

Joshua in the powder room (which was later found to be too damp to store the powder).  You have to crouch down and waddle through a tunnel to get in there.

the bridge over the moat

The interior courtyard

Then we walked around the old city, very cute.  A blogger friend of Randy's suggested a small little diner, the Spanish Bakery, for lunch.  We found it, also very cute.  A lunch of an empanada or sausage roll, with soda, bread, and a cookie for $5.50--can't beat it!  It is open until 3:00 or until the food runs out!  Not air conditioned, but the soda was cold! 

A shop (with porches, of course)

small courtyard

a tile embedded in the wall

a pirate(?) ship in the harbor

The old town

The old town gates

the main street

Then we got back to the car (past our ticket time, but no over-time ticket), and drove to Vilano Beach to swim in the ocean.  The children were overjoyed!!  Randy and I waded in our clothes while the children put their suits on and rolled in the waves.

Beach dunes

Running in the waves!

Waiting to be knocked over by the waves

The beach

The Beach

Then back on the road to Gainesville, where Randy's blog friend, Cary, lives.  We found their house and met his wife, Emily, and baby, Cates.  They both work for the University of Florida; she's in student life working with the foreign students and he teaches 5th grade in the university lab school.  We talked for awhile, then they graciously fed us--hamburgers, tater tots, collard greens, and key lime pie.  Very yummy, except for the collard greens.  None of us really liked them, but all of us but Joshua tried them.  Maybe it's an acquired taste!  Or something you grow up with.  Then, back on the road to just outside Tallahassee.   Tomorrow we view Florida State University School of the Arts.   (The Gators are the mascot of the University of Florida).