On our last full day in Florida, we decided to devote our time to St. Augustine. We loved the drive down A1A. It takes a bit longer, but it's so nice and peaceful.
It was insanely toasty this day. We walked the entire time. We didn't really plan it that way, but just decided to keep trucking instead of finding our vehicle. These are the city gates. They don't seem to be in this picture, but in all actuality they are quite large.
Not far past the city gates is the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the nation. (Pictured above.) We had so much fun laughing at everything on this compound.
My husband is a perpetual child. If there is a bell, button or whistle that can make noise, he will capture the opportunity and enjoy it to the fullest extent. This was right up his ally. It even had a sign that said to ring it. Another gentleman from the back of the school started laughing and said he was glad that someone's wife let him play. Bless his heart.
...and they think that we are tough on kids today. I only wish these were still employed.
...and then there was a dungeon. Really it's just an alcove under the stairs, but they actually used it as a type of "time out" during the school day.
Phillip's mom bought us a new camera before our trip. We loved it. We played with the macro settings a lot!
We visited a lot of places in St. Augustine. It's a big place to try to conquer in a day, but we did our best. Here's one of the places. It's the oldest house in the nation.
This is the kitchen from the house. It had a really nice courtyard. We enjoyed looking around, but I declared at this location that I would have been a terrible woman. Wool...in those houses...in that heat (and humidity). Can we say HECK NO?
So we have taken a liking to lighthouses lately. I think their symbolism is powerful. If we are near one, we will climb it. There was a storm brewing when we pulled up here, but we went in and asked if they were still allowing guests up. They said that we should hurry. Sure, no prob, we'll run up a lighthouse. Ok I don't know about what everyone else did in high school, but our P.E. teachers believed in stadium runs. This is the only thing comparable (and much worse) than stadium runs. The lighthouse has windows on both sides. Going up was amusing. On the west side there was no air blowing in, on the east it felt like the old fans my parents had to keep their greenhouses cool. About halfway up you could feel the swaying and the wind was really whipping. We got to the top and they said, "Sorry folks! It's closed until the wind dies down. We're getting readings of 50 mph." We look at one another, take a deep breath, and with shaky knees, we headed down. We got down, looked around the keepers house, and then they announced we could go back up. HA! We were willing and we could have made it back up, but coming down the stairs would have never happened. So they kindly gave us a rain check and we headed back up A1A.
Phillip reading the memorial bell under pretty trees.
Phillip and I spent our last night walking on the beach. We like to search for crabs. Phillip found some!
These are two of the little ones. The first few were in a fight.
Meredith is petitioning for this picture to be used as our Christmas card. Befitting.
Did I mention that we loved the macro on this camera? Our rings on the beach and part of our hotel in the back.
Florida, we would like to thank you for our very hot, very enjoyable beach vacation!
