Leaving the Orlando area we made a stop but a few hours up the road. Since Jacksonville is about half way to Hilton Head we thought we'd stop for a few days and see the sights. Probably not on everyones itinerary but since we hadn't been this way before ...
Our camp was pretty nice. On the north side of town near the airport, it was easy to find. The sites were a little tight but it was quiet, near the water, and had a restaurant on site.
It was nice having a breakfast place with a view. I made it down here for breakfast both days. What a great way to start the morning.
We don't always stop at exotic places in quaint out-of-the-way locations, and our first unexpected stop was not in the greatest part of Jacksonville. Always in search of old VW's for my friend Ron, I was whizzing past this VW repair shop and thought I'd turn around for a closer look. Luckily Sharon had something to read in the car as I wandered around the place for about a half-an-hour looking over the treasures. Probably Ron would have appreciated it far more than I did but it was still a neat experience. Since making the perverbial 'silk purse out of a sow's ear' is Ron's passion, this place was just about the whole pig. I took a bunch of pictures for him and maybe something will come of it.
At some point, a few minutes down the road, we thought that we'd drive over to St. Augustine. Retirement affords us those frivilous, last minute changes in plans. St. Augustine claims to be the oldest town in the US but Flint MI still looks older. The weather was great and the trip there followed the coastline southeast of Jacksonville. Mile after mile of multi-million dollar homes along the way. Grand mansions with sweeping drives and staircases surrounded by lush landscaping ... plus the million dollar view of the ocean. This is apparently is the other half of the other half of the other half crowd.
Anyway about an hour had past when we pulled into St. Augustine. We first saw the tour trains. Overflowing with wide-eyed tourist and restless little ones. All this triggered a big loudspeaker in our heads that screamed 'tourist trap'. Carefully easing into town we wandered around the narrow alleys (locals call them streets) looking over the sites. The first things that caught my eye was the beautiful churches in the town. All denominations and all huge structures.
Somewhere near the center of this sea-side city we stumbled across a national cemetery.
I've always had some facination with these places so, with camera in hand I ventured off for a closer look.
It's always gives me a very somber feeling when entering the resting places for our fallen soldiers. I've had the honor of visiting several in the states and Europe and this place was just as special.
One of the unique memorials at the cemetery was a set of three small pyrimids about 10 foot square and about 6 foot tall. These are the resting places for the remains of about 1500 unknown soldiers that died in the Florida Indian wars about 1835.
Remember how they get the tourist around this old town? There is about three of these train companies and at least two tour bus services. All in a town about 2 miles square.
Actually there are two really big icons of American history in the town and I'd be remiss if we had not stopped to see what they were all about. So....
After squeezing the car around through several old and narrow streets we came across the oldest continually inhabited house in the country. Built about 1702, the Gonzalez-Alvarez house is obviously old but unfortunately has some sort of gift-shop/museum attached that takes a little of the luster off this national treasure.
The other national icon (really debatable) is our nationial spot to wash away the ravages of time. Better know as the 'Foutain of Youth' that Ponce de Leon spa where wrinkles might disappear and sagging stuff doesn't anymore. So we drove through the huge stone arch leading to the mecca for the aged.
Straight through the gate led you right to the admissions booth, souvenir stand including corn dogs and drippy snow cones. Getting in to see the waters of never ending youth ... $9.00 each.
Whoa! $9.00 to overturn all this hard work sculpting these works of human art for the past 60-some years. No way! But wait ... just across the parking lot was another fountain. This wanabe fountain was good enough for me so save the $18 bucks and just tell a little white lie and tell everyone you really did visit the real 'fountain'. At least the canons were real.
So here's what really happened. We bought a sample of the magic elixar from the souvenir shop but only Sharon would try it. As it turned out it worked on her ... I should go back and buy a gallon. Here are the results.
And so it goes.
We did spend a little time around Jacksonville. And I mean around. Either my GPS didn't have the latest map data or some of the street have changed but we circled through the downtown area several times trying to get to this one shopping center without ever finding it. We did find a huge mall on the outskirts of town that actually worked out better. Maybe better luck next time.
Still livin' the dream.
Phil
1 comment:
We have visited St. Augustine three times and have yet to visit the Fountain of Youth. We are with you, why fool with the efforts of all these years of experience.
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