St Augustine

We got to St Augustine, Florida on Saturday the 19th and checked into a campground Northwest of town. We decided to go into town after we got the RV’s hooked up. We hadn’t eaten lunch and it was after 3pm. We had spotted a Cracker Barrel at the exit to the campground just off of I-95, so we immediately headed for there. Gary had his usual, breakfast, and Mattie, Twila and I had their Chicken and Rice. Ummmm goooood. We left there and went into St Augustine and then over to the Island. We ended up having supper at Applebee’s and then went to Wal-Mart.

Today we left a little after 9am and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Do you see a trend here? After filling our bellies, well Gary and I filled our bellies and Mattie and Twila filled their dandy little Stomachs. After breakfast we started some heavy duty site seeing. We bought tickets for the Ripley’s Sightseeing Train. Yes, Ripley’s as in Ripley’s Believe it or Not. St Augustine is the home of the original Ripley’s Believe it or Not and they have several motorized “train” vehicles that they use for tours around the city.

For those that might not know, St Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. It was founded in 1565 and the location itself was discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 and Yes, St Augustine is the location of the “Fountain of Youth”. I now know why people keep asking me if Twila is my daughter. I now know her secret.

You know I’m only 6 years older than she is !!!!!!!!!!! Things might be looking up for me since I took a drink of water from that fountain myself today.

We saw a college that was originally a hotel built by Mr. Henry Morrison Flagler. Mr.. Flagler co-founded Standard Oil Company with John D Rockefeller. The hotel called the Ponce de Leon was opened in 1888 at a cost of $250,000. I have no idea what that would be in today’s dollars but I am sure it would be several million.

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He then built a second hotel which was a little less luxurious and was called the Alcazar. It is now the home for the Lightner Museum.

We also visited the fort that guarded the port into St Augustine. The Spanish called it Castillo de San Marcos.

St Augustine is a very interesting city and I would recommend to to anyone, especially anyone who loves history.