10-15JAN14 - St Augustine, FL (via quincy, fl)

Friday morning, 10JAN, we hit the road for our first tourist stop in Florida - St Augustine.  First we had to fuel the RV up with diesel & then go to another "gas station" for propane.  Since we only use propane for cooking, & heating on extremely cold days; we can go almost an entire year on one tank of propane.

Our first stop in Florida was the Visitor Center outside of Pensacola on I-10.  We have noticed over the last five years that a lot of state visitor centers want your e-mail address to send you spam.  Florida has a unique twist on this - they have a digital photo machine that makes it appear you are with a gator; but to get your free photo you have to give them your e-mail.  Dan fell for it!

We decided to split the drive to St Augustine into two days & spent the night at a RV park in Quincy, FL.  We stayed at this park back on 03DEC09.  It was pretty poor then & still is; but it is cheap, quiet, convenient to the freeway, & about halfway on our drive.  When the clerk was asked about bathroom/showers, she replied by saying - you have full hookups (ie use your own in the RV!).

The clerk made a big deal that there was a new casino within walking distance.  We decided not to visit it, but Dan decided to walk over to see what was there - since we had seen no signs for it on the drive?  Dan quickly realized it wasn't within walking distance & quickly returned to the RV.  Turns out the supposed casino was a partnership between the Creek Nation & the town of Gretna in 2011.  All they have now is a poker room & off track betting; for some reason they are still waiting for licenses for slots, video poker & table games?  Anyway, we probably won't stay here again.

Saturday morning we started our drive to St Augustine in the rain; when we discovered our dash AC didn't work, even after major repairs in Houma.  We tried to get into the St John's RV park because of their discount to Passport America members.  Upon arrival we learned the office was closed 1030 to 1400!!!  Also there is only room for one RV to park while waiting!!!  A quick walk around showed the place looked like a dump, so we left.  We ended-up at KOA in St Augustine Beach south of St Augustine.

That night was dinner at Salt Water Cowboys (very good!!).  Dan had Minorcan clam chowder (a dish native to NE Florida) made with datil peppers, & the best dish was rock shrimp.  They also have open pit BBQ, which we will have to try next time?

After dinner it was back to the RV to "skype" with Rebecca, Raymond & the grandkids.  Skype is a program/internet service owned by MicroSoft that allows "free" video calls between people that have the skype free software on their computer; & the computers are equipped with a camera & microphone.  The key thing is to make the skype call on your computer using a free internet connection (ie WiFI); otherwise you pay for the connection & the service!  It worked okay, but we need to "fine tune" our use to reduce the amount of blurred video & broken sound.

Trivia - where does the term "cracker" come from (think - cowboy)?

http://www.saltwatercowboys.com/default.aspx

Sunday morning we headed to Fort Matanzas National Monument, & caught the ferry to the Fort upon arrival.  Dan noted the ferry was Coast Guard inspected & certificated as a small passenger vessel; he even found out the ranger was Coast Guard licensed.  After the short ferry ride you are led on a tour of the small fort, then you are allowed to explore on your own before the ferry heads back to the Visitor Center.  At the small visitor center we viewed the National Park film about the fort.   

 

We then drove to the Monument's beach access parking lot, where we walked from the Mananzas River side around the south tip of Anastasia Island to the Atlantic Ocean (.75 mile).  Note this National Monument "completes" the history/story we learned when visiting Fort Caroline at the Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve in January 2009; & then visiting the Castillo de San Marcos (aka Fort Marion) National Monument, also in January 2009.

 

http://www.nps.gov/foma/index.htm

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/01/01-03jan09-live-oak-jacksonville-fl.html

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/01/04-05jan09-st-augustine-daytona-fl.html

 

We then returned to the RV for lunch; & then we headed to the flea market next to St John's RV park we had given up on yesterday.  Turns out the RV park & the flea market are run by the same people. looks like they spend much more effort on running the flea market, than they do on the RV park.  We finished the day by doing a little shopping at Camping World.

 

http://staugustinefleamarket.com/

 

Monday morning we headed to the actual town of St Augustine (the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA).  Rather than drive the Toad into town & pay for parking, we decided to take the "Old Town Trolley" tour.  Turns out the Trolley tour has a shuttle bus that will pick you up & take you into town; & the KOA is the only RV facility on the shuttle route.  We visited St Augustine for half a day back on 04JAN09 (see above BLOG) & noted than that free parking was hard to find & many blocks away from the old town.  By paying for the tour we got three days use of the trolleys, free pickup & return at the KOA, & some free access to attractions.

 

While it was nice not to have to use the Toad, we felt the trolley tour was at best average.  Part of the problem as compared to other trolley tours is that St Augustine is very compact (ie small) & you travel some streets twice, or you see the same building from all four sides.  In addition most of the historical buildings are either museums charging entry; or worse - a "historical" attraction loosely based on the town's history also charging entry (ie oldest wooden school house, oldest drugstore, etc).  Lastly most of the trolley stops are right next to a tourist attraction trying to get you to spend money!

 

After the trolley tour we lunched at Gaufre's which is a cafe run by a Greek & Polish couple.  Corrie went with the pirogues & Dan went with the feta cheese pie; two thumbs up!  After lunch we separated, Corrie to explore the shopping district & Dan to walkabout taking pictures.

 

Trivia - what is a "tin can" tourist when referring to the original RV'ers (think non-perishable food items)? 

 

In our opinion St Augustine is a very beautiful city with buildings from three distinct styles - Spanish, English, & Cracker; & the city has managed to keep out the national chains (especially fast food).  But unfortunately, almost every business is centered on getting tourists to come in & spend money.  Almost every restaurant has staff outside to talk you in; you can't go three buildings without running into another ice cream, gelato, fudge, popcorn or candy place; & because the historic district is so small, there is no room for competing businesses to spread out.  Luckily we were on the first bus into town & avoided the crowds of tourists after lunch.

Question - why is Mile 0 of the Old Spanish Trail located in St Augustine, when the Old Spanish Trail ran from New Mexico to southern California?

Tuesday morning we took the Toad back into town to first get our mail & then toured the Lightner Museum.  The museum is in the back half of the old Alcazar Hotel, in the section they called the "casino" even though there never was any gambling there.  The Alcazar was built by Henry Flagler (more on him later) soon after he built his grand Ponce de Leon Hotel (more on that hotel later).  The Alcazar was smaller & less "grand" then the Ponce, but half the hotel was devoted to the "casino".  The casino was intended to provide entertainment for the Alcazar's guest; but more importantly the very wealthy guests of the Ponce for a fee.  The casino area had the world's largest indoor pool (50ft by 120ft), grand ballroom w/almost nightly entertainment, sauna, steam room, spa, exercise room, etc.  Today the front part of the Alcazar is city government offices & the back is the Lightner Museum.

According to findagrave.com - "Newspaper editor and publisher, Collector of the Victorian Era.  Otto began his career as a typesetter at newspapers and soon discovered that he had a talent for rescuing newspapers that were in financial distress, turning them into profitable operations and in the process made himself wealthy as well.  During the Great Depression he remained financially well off as the owner and publisher of "Hobbies", one of the first antiques and collectibles magazines.  He is remembered for saying, "Even with no money, everyone could collect something" and is known for saying "Everyone should have a hobby.  Everyone should collect something".  He became fascinated with collecting and started collecting other peoples' collections.  He started buying large homes and estates in the Chicago area to house the collections in.  In the 1940s, he moved to Saint Augustine, Florida, to recover from an illness and stayed in the Ponce De Leon Hotel, across from the then defunct Alcazar Hotel, which had closed during the Great Depression.  He purchased the Alcazar Hotel in 1947 and filled the hotel with his treasures, opening it as a museum to the public. It became known as the "Smithsonian of the South".  Upon his death, he requested to be buried in the courtyard of his hotel.  He is remembered as "America's King of Hobbies"."

The museum is a little odd in that it is not devoted to one "theme" like a painting, sculpture, glass blowing, type of industry, history, etc.  One minute you are looking at button collections, then match box covers, then neo classical furniture, then brilliant cut glass from the USA, & the list goes on!  At 11AM one of the docents demonstrated several of the mechanical music machines they had from the 1890s up to 1920s.  Also, paying to enter the museum is the only way to see any part of the casinos upper floors.  You can enter the pool for free (we mean enter the pool, because you are walking on the pool bottom) to visit several antique stores or have lunch at the Alcazar Cafe (like we did).

 

 

http://www.lightnermuseum.org/

 

After lunch we headed back to the RV before our afternoon tour at St Augustine Lighthouse.  Note to enter the lighthouse w/o a docent you must pay $9.75; but if you pay $14.75 you get a "Behind the Scenes" tour led by a docent.  The docent led tour gets to enter many parts of the grounds & work spaces of the Lighthouse Archeological Maritime Program not open w/general admission.  In our opinion the docent tour is worth the extra money!

 

Trivia - what is the difference between a Light Station & a Light House?

http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/

 

Wednesday morning we used our Trolley passes again to go back to town & catch the 1000 Flagler College tour.  We weren't really interested in the college; we wanted to see its main building - once world famous as the Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler in 1887.  The only part of Ponce open to the general public is the lobby; & this tour (presented twice a day) is the only way to view other rooms.

As the college website says - "Legacy Tours of Flagler College highlight the architectural heritage of the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, listed as a National Historic Landmark.  Built by millionaire developer Henry M. Flagler in 1887, the Ponce is considered one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture and was one of the most exclusive resorts of its day."

"Vistors will begin in the Rotunda where they will stare up into an 80-foot domed ceiling supported in part by eight ornately carved oak caryatids, robed women copied from the temple of Diana in Greece."

"Other stops include the Dining Hall, where 79 of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained glass windows are displayed.  Then onto the Flagler Room, original the hotel's Grand Parlor, where visitors gaze upon Tiffany Austrian crystal chandeliers, a massive onyx Thomas Edison clock - one of the first ever to be used in a public building - and a historical photo gallery of the Flagler family."

What the website doesn't mention is that an excellent video of Flagler's life - rising from poverty to a partner w/John D. Rockefeller & the birth of Standard Oil - is shown one half an hour before the tour.  We won't bore you with the details of how Flagler almost single handedly create Florida as a destination for wealthy tourist, which eventually led to discovery of Florida's east coast as a tourist & "snowbird" destination, & then a retirement location for all classes of Americans!  It is a fascinating story & one we found very interesting.  Also the college's guides/docents are actual students.  Ours was a newbie & very uncomfortable; luckily she was rescued (or we were rescued) by another guide who was a senior & had been doing this for a few years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing not covered by the guides was that the Ponce was taken over by the Coast Guard in WWII & used as barracks/training center for the CG Reserves (82% of the CG in WWII was Reservists).  Note there is even a small plaque on display proclaiming the Ponce as the birthplace of the CG Reserves.  Dan even discovered evidence in the toilet area that the building had been under military "management" at one time - the first three toilet stalls were still labeled with gold gilt as "Officer's Toilet"! 

 

http://legacy.flagler.edu/Tours-sp8.html

After the tour it was back to the RV on the trolley shuttle to prepare for tomorrow's departure.