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Published: July 11th 2014
Bridge near Brunswick
We stopped here for a short break.Today we drove to our next stop, St Augustine, just under 300kms south of Savannah, although we ended up travelling a fair bit more than that. We set off with Brunswick punched into the GPS (what a marriage saver that is) which was just over half way.
The town was deserted, we drove through it without seeing a shop open, a police car the only other vehicle around. Just outside of town we came across an interesting bridge so we stopped to stretch our legs and take some photos. Here we met some locals fishing, and talked to a couple of them. Even though they didn't seem to be catching much, one of them summed it up by saying he just enjoyed being out fishing. It wasn't the act of catching a fish! All the people we have spoken to are very polite and friendly although looking at them with all their tattoos and their dress you are sometimes a little hesitant in approaching them. Doesn't seem to faze Judy though, she talks to just about everyone!
We tried to get off the freeway after this because all you see are the
It's not about catching fish
A friendly, colourful local. trees and dense green scrub alongside the road, no real scenery. This ended with us making a detour into Fernandina Beach, hoping to then follow the A1A highway down the coast to our destination. We drove along the highway with quite a few traffic lights and lots of shops and businesses for a while before ending up at a port. Putting the GPS back on, and we ended up back on the freeway. Somehow we managed to miss the highway going out of town and the GPS didn't want to take us along this minor freeway.
America's Best Value Inn was some distance past the historical part of St Augustine and we arrived before Victor & Helen who were to meet us there. We had just settled in when they arrived, warm greetings and hugs followed. None of us had changed in looks over the last 2.5 years we lied to each other. Great to see them again.
A long walk along the local beach followed, this being hard packed sand with vehicles able to drive along it. A charge of $6/person/day is made to be on the beach, this easy to collect as there are only a
Another bridge
Lots of bridges, each different to the last limited number of spots where you can enter. Private housing with absolute water frontages block access.
On leaving the beach, via a raised walkway over an attractive marshland full of trees, bushes and with waterweed covering the water, we came across 3 armadillos foraging in the leaf litter. They didn't seem to be scared of us but moved very quickly into some scrub, making photography quite difficult. This was truly a highlight of the day, we have previously only seen these animals in a zoo.
Still on foot, we followed the directions of a couple of locals to a nearby Mexican restaurant where we took the advice of Victor and Helen by only ordering 2 meals to share with the 4 of us. They were right, we certainly didn't need any more than that, in fact it was more than enough. Good food, good company.
Back at the motel we sat around and talked over a few drinks before tiredness saw us off to bed by about 2200 hrs.
Monday 7th July 2014 Another restless night, this time because of the noise from the swimming pool adjacent to our room and
St Augustine beach
The first walk of many with Helen & Victor from the noise of our airconditioner cutting in and out. It was Rags' birthday today and because of the time difference between W. Australia and here, he received a lot of wishes on Facebook last night, an sms at 2am, and a lot of emails and messages this morning. In some ways he was able to celebrate his day for 36 hours.
After a continental breakfast in the foyer of the motel we got ourselves together and by 1000hrs we were on our way to see the historical part of town. We went in Victor's car, this giving Rags a rest from driving.
A tour through some of this town, first founded in 1565, showed us the old architecture still surviving here, much of it restored to its former glory. The Spanish influence is very visible here in many of the old buildings.
After parking a few blocks from the riverfront we walked into town past magnificent old churches and buildings until we reached the Castillo de san Marcos, a fort overlooking the entrance to the harbour. This is the oldest masonry fort and best preserved example of a Spanish colonial fortification in the USA.
We
Armadillo
This was one of three armadillos we saw in the grass under the beach walkway. We were told not to touch them at any stage as they may carry the leprosy virus. spent some time walking around the walls and later the interior sections. This fort was built by the Spanish commencing in 1672. It had a varied history over the next 200 years, being bombarded by the French, the British, never defeated until it was finally ceded to the the United States in 1821. It was then used to house Indian prisoners, and finally as a military prison.
The National Park Service was founded there, they restoring the fort and surrounding grounds, expanding to the many parks it now controls in the whole of USA.
Lunch was at Mojo Old City BBQ and here we had a delicious lunch of spare ribs, pulled pork, mashed sweet potato, corn and a big salad. This was one of the more healthy meals we have had for a while. We walked around the town for a while, popping into shops when it got too hot. We spent some time in an art gallery, the owner not having a lot to do so he went out of his way to explain and display some pieces knowing we were unlikely to buy. It was most interesting but didn't tempt us to outlay the big
Happy birthday Rags
Birthday lunch in St Augustine. dollars to purchase.
By now we were foot-weary, so on our return to the car, Victor drove us around other parts of the town where we could admire the stately buildings and to look at a couple where Martin Luther King Jnr had stayed, or were connected in some way with the emancipation of the Afro-Americans.
Rest time at the hotel followed, Judy working, Rags doing the blog, in preparation for a few quiet ales later. As we had had a large lunch we pulled together some nibbles and finished the day with dip, cheese, nuts and biccies washed down by a wine. Rags enjoyed the day and felt he had a good birthday.
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Alex & Stephanie Mandyczewsky
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Happy Birthday
Wishing you a very happy birthday - you're looking as young as ever. Love from Alex and Stephanie