A Weekend of Discovery


Advertisement
United States' flag
North America » United States » Florida » St Augustine
November 5th 2016
Published: November 10th 2016
Edit Blog Post

Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos

As seen from outside. Nowhere as physically impressive as the ones we visited in San Juan and Cartagena, but this one won us over in terms of educational material.
Jeff and I went to St. Augustine, Florida in early November to celebrate the wedding of one of his former divers. I initially wasn't terribly excited about going to Florida as I thought anything outside Miami would be flat, humid, and full of boring planned communities. My interest was piqued, however, when I cursorily googled St. Augustine and I discovered that it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States and that there was a lot of history there dating back to the 16th century. Everything I read about St. Augustine made the trip more appealing and so I researched things to do and sights to see with more enthusiasm. This entry first records some of our non-touristy experiences over the weekend and then some more touristy things we did.

Experiences The Tourist Dollar Cannot Buy




Jeff's main job is teaching deaf and hard of hearing kids (coaching diving is his secondary job and his real passion). St. Augustine is Deaf Central Florida; the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB) is located there, as is Flagler College which has a deaf education program, so naturally we had friends there. We flew into Orlando Airport on
Florida School For the Deaf and BlindFlorida School For the Deaf and BlindFlorida School For the Deaf and Blind

Jeff and Dr. P. chatting.
Thursday November 3, got into our rental car, and drove for about 1 hour and 45 minutes to St. Augustine. Arriving in St. Augustine in the early afternoon, we headed to M. and J.'s home west of St. Augustine and spent the afternoon there. We last saw M. and J. when we traveled with them to Cali, Colombia in 2011. M. was Jeff's former co-worker from the Hawaii School for the Deaf, and she and J. relocated to St. Augustine for her to teach at Flagler College after she completed her PhD. We spent the afternoon catching up, getting acquainted with their cute 9-month old baby, and checking out the 2-acre plot of land they bought, and the area around.

The next morning, we walked a quarter mile from our motel to FSDB. Dr. P., Jeff's former principal, is now the head honcho at FSDB. Dr. P. welcomed us warmly to FSDB and immediately whisked us off to the gymnasium to watch a goalball tournament. This was the surprise highlight of our trip. I was initially unwilling to watch a high school game as St. Augustine was beckoning, but that changed quickly. Imagine our surprise when watching goalball turned out to be
Florida School For the Deaf and BlindFlorida School For the Deaf and BlindFlorida School For the Deaf and Blind

One of the buses at the bus station ready to ferry kids home for the weekend.
the coolest experience ever. Although Jeff's former school had a small handful of deaf-blind students, our knowledge of blind culture was pretty much nonexistent. FSDB, in contrast, has over 200 blind students and they have a thriving blind education program. Goalball was part of that program. Goalball was started by blinded World War II veterans and it is now played widely among the blind and is a Paralympic sport. FSDB is one of the powerhouses of goalball and it was hosting a national tournament that weekend. Watch this video:



As you can see from the video, the players orientate themselves spatially by feeling the lines on the court and the goalposts, and they sense the ball coming at them by listening for it. All of them wear masks to level the playing field.

After the game, Dr. P took us out to lunch and then she showed around us the beautiful campus. It is the most impressive deaf school I had been to. FSDB is Florida's only deaf school; students come there from all over the state. Those who live some distance away are put up in the dorms during the week and they are bussed back and forth from home on the weekends. The school even has a bus station to facilitate a smooth bussing operation. During our walk around the campus, we stood with Dr. P. at the bus station and watched her say goodbye to the learners as they boarded their buses. What struck us most was how positive the culture appeared to us. I know that a large part of that can be attributed to Dr. P.

Experiences The Tourist Dollar Can Buy



After the wedding festivities, we had one day to explore St. Augustine. We started our day of sightseeing at the Castillo de San Marcos, a fort built by the Spaniards. Although this fort is much smaller than other Spanish forts we visited in San Juan and Cartagena, we found that the exhibits were very informative and educational. We spent a good two hours exploring the interior and exterior of the fort. After Castillo de San Marcos, we walked around the old colonial quarter for a bit and we didn't really enjoy it much. It was too touristy and it didn't appear to be lived in. The whole area had an inauthentic vibe to it. We did find a few
Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos

Volunteers dress in Spanish period garb and demonstrate how to fire a cannon.
little hidden gems, though, including a Greek shrine. We then made our way to the nearby Flagler College and walked around the beautiful campus grounds (it had once been a hotel). We later learned that there were architecture tours of the campus. We also visited the nearby Memorial Presbyterian Church which Henry Flagler built in memory of his daughter. The church had very beautiful stained glass.

After visiting the colonial quarter, we headed north to visit the shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, but we were disappointed to find that it was closed after Hurricane Matthew. However, the adjacent Mission Nombre di Dios was open. There, a very knowledgeable docent told us about the history of the mission and about the shrine of Our Lady of La Leche. Apparently, women go there to pray for fertility (hence la leche, which is Spanish for milk) and miracles have been known to happen. There is also a 208-foot cross on the premises.

Close to Our Lady of La Leche was Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth, an archeological park which had a replica of a native village, a watchtower, a planetarium which explained how the early navigators found their
Tauros!Tauros!Tauros!

Caught this one at Flagler College.
way by looking at the stars, and a fabled Fountain of Youth. This was another surprise of our trip - the billboards looked silly and touristy but we actually had a very educational experience learning about how early settlers lived and how they interacted with the native tribes. We also drank from the Fountain of Youth. The water was alkaline and tasted of sulphur, and, alas, you can only reap its benefits if you stayed there.

After a long day of exploring and learning, we drove back to Orlando where we stayed the night at an airport hotel before our very early morning flight back to Honolulu the next day.



Random Thoughts I: The Quest For Tauros

After my disappointment at not finding Farfetch'd during my layover in Tokyo, I wanted to catch Tauros - another regional-specific Pokemon - during this trip. Tauros turned out to be a tease. For a full 24 hours, he showed up several times on my radar, but I could not find him. We even drove in circles around a rest stop along the I-95 trying to locate him. I finally found one during the wedding reception, and once I caught one, I
The mind boggles...The mind boggles...The mind boggles...

This billboard was spotted near Orlando Airport
came across more.

Random Thoughts II: The Election

I rarely write about anything political on social media, so this is a departure from my usual discourse. I wrote this entry not 24 hours after he-whose-name-must-not-be-spoken was declared the winner of the election. I'm still stunned and trying very hard to process how this happened and what this means for us. I'm fearful for our future and our rights. I hope our system of checks and balances will do what it is supposed to. I know I have always lived in liberal bubbles (Honolulu, Los Angeles, Washington DC), and I cannot fathom this divide that exists. What I do know is, every year when I volunteer to prepare taxes at Legal Aid, I am reminded in the most sobering way possible that the America that works for me doesn't quite work so well for many people among us. The next four years won't likely be pretty, but I hope we emerge stronger for it. Jeff and I left St. Augustine feeling hopeful and optimistic because we saw few overt signs on Trumpism in a conservative part of Florida (Dr. P. jokingly calls the area South Georgia) other than a handful of Trump signs, NRA tv ads, small peaceful tea party protest and the billboard on the right, so yesterday's result was a rude shock to us both. Whatever happens, we'll keep doing what we do, try to anticipate the obstacles in our way, and mitigate them as best as we can.



Travel Tips:

It became clear to us during our one day of sightseeing that one needs to take at least three days to properly explore St. Augustine. Apart from Our Lady of La Leche, we would have visited Fort Matanzas, a lighthouse, an old jail, and taken an architectural tour of Flagler College if we had more time.

The nearest airport to St. Augustine is Jacksonville. We opted to fly into Orlando because airfares were a lot cheaper into that airport.

We stayed at the Jaybird's Inn. On the outside, it looked like an ordinary motel. The rooms, however, were large and the decor was nice and modern. Continental breakfast was provided. With rooms costing $80+ per night, this hotel was good value for money.


Additional photos below
Photos: 49, Displayed: 28


Advertisement

Florida School For the Deaf and BlindFlorida School For the Deaf and Blind
Florida School For the Deaf and Blind

This is a model village on the grounds of the campus. They use the village to teach students about community living.
WeddingWedding
Wedding

Jeff the lush.
Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos

Volunteers dressed as Spaniards conduct a cannon drill.
Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos

After the Spaniards, it was time for the English to fire their cannon.
Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos

Looking up the tower.
Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos

Living quarters for enlisted men.


Tot: 0.279s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 53; dbt: 0.1011s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb