A day spent walking on the beach and relaxing in the sunshine! I went to Straight Shot Billiards after dinner and found a couple of players willing to share table time. We shot for a couple of hours playing both Eight Ball and Nine Ball. I was shooting at a 70 percent level, and won most of the games.
Wednesday the 26th
Today we decided to take a drive to St Augustine. After getting the dogs settled, making sure the A/C was set and putting water out we headed north on A1A. We actually planned three stops for today. The Oceanarium at Marineland http://www.marineland.net/, Fort Matanzas http://www.nps.gov/foma/ and the City of St Augustine http://www.staugustinelinks.com/st-augustine-history.asp.
Fourteen miles north we entered the small town of Marineland, home of the Florida University Aquatic Biology Labs and the Dolphin Research and Protection Preserve. We found a parking spot right at the front door and went into the center to purchase our tickets. The Oceanarium is right on the shore of the Atlantic and is primarily a learning and research facility working to to foster the preservation and protection of marine life with a focus on Bottlenose Dolphins. They work to inspire visitors to value and respect marine mammals and their environment. The dolphins reside in a 1.3 million gallon habitat designed specifically for the well-being of our animals as well as the safety and enjoyment of our guests. We arrived at a good time. There were several researh students workingwith the dolphins. It was very apparent how these creatures value the opportunity to play while being challenged with new learning experiences. We were there about an hour before stopping at the gift shop to pick up some post cards.
Our next stop, at Fort Matanzas turned out to be a little different than we expected. We parked across from the visitor center and walked up and through the administration building past the visitor center. Continuing down the path to the bay we found out that the Fort was actually across the bay on the opposite shore. To get there we had to board a shuttle launch for a ten minute crossing. Once on the other side we would be taken on a guided tour of the fort explaining its historical importance and how much work has been done on the restoration. The tour and boat ride would take about an hour there and back so we decided to try and do this on a different day. We really don't like to leave the kids alone for more than four or five hours since they are used to lots of attention and frequent walks. So far they have been really good when we've been gone for extended periods of time.
We got back on A1A and continued north another twelve miles to the City of St Augustine with a quick stop at SeaGrove Town Center to drop off postcards at the Post Office. Once we got into St Augustine Beach, development was pretty continuous and looked a lot like Lynnwood. Leaving Anastasia Island we crossed the Bridge of Lions into the old town. St Augustine, established in 1535 is the oldest city in the country. This is a very history filled community full of beautiful old buildings, public artwork and tree filled squares. We were fortunate to find a place to park next to our lunch stop. I wanted to go where the house specialty was crab cakes so we went to O.C. Whites Restaurant.
O.C. White's has a History dating back to 1790, originally constructed by Don Miguel Ysnardy a prominent St. Augustinian. The House served as one of the first hotels in St. Augustine and was eventually purchased by the Worth family. In 1904 the Worth Mansion was bought by a local cigar maker, then bought again in 1948 by George L. Potter, the one time owner of Potter's Wax Museum before being moved in 1961 to its present location. We had a nice lunch in a tree shaded courtyard then walked through the restaurant itself, very interesting. 
We left the restaurant and headed down one of the many one-lane one-way streets. Eventually we found our way to the Lightner Museum, which is filled with cultural and historical St Augustine artifacts. Next we walked through the atrium and out to the gardens in front of the Government building facing Flagler College. The college is named for Henry M Flagler, an early American industrialist, railroad pioneer and partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil. In 1888, Flagler built the Hotel Ponce de Leon, his first in a series of luxury resorts along Florida’s east coast. A masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance architecture and the first major poured-in-place concrete building in the United States is now known as Ponce de Leon Hall. This National Historic Landmark serves as the centerpiece for the Flagler College. We walked around the heart of downtown St Augustine for a couple of hours before it was time to go home. This is a town meant for another stop. We're going to stop here again on our way north to take a tram tour of the city, it's really impressive and there are so many things we didn't get to see.
For all of todays photos, click on the following link:
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