Wow, I made a wrong turn and ended up in Spain!

Saint Augustine Beach, FL

Well, St Augustine, what a pleasant surprise. Everyone told me I couldn’t miss St. Augustine while in this part of Florida so I dutifully listened, and am I glad I did.

I left in good time from my KOA in Hollywood this morning since with just one night stop over, I hadn’t a chance to get much pulled out to put away again. And the traffic was not bad at all. When I originally thought about coming up this coast I thought I might spend more time doing it, and only go a couple of hundred miles a day and follow Hwy A1A or at least Highway 1 up the coast as I did going south down the west coast. But there is so much left I want to see further up north and not much time so I opted for the Florida Turnpike, and on to Interstate 95 today. I have to leave something to come back to see next time!

The KOA is near the State park and the ocean, just off A!A in St. Augustine Beach. The city of St Augustine is just 10 or so minutes away. I have a cute little spot (although I’m facing my neighbours, which is odd and the only time this has happened all trip-they usually put the utilities all on one side in a row of sites and you all then have the space in front of your rig as your own). Anyway, I won’t spend a lot of time at “home” since I’ll be out exploring. And in fact after I set up, I did just that.

The forecast is not looking too good for the coming days so I thought I best get out and get some pictures quick while I had blue sky and some sunshine. And coming in to town over the bridge over the intercostal waterway, I spied St. Augustine Lighthouse so naturally that’s where I headed first. (I’m so predictable) This 140 foot lighthouse was finished in 1874 and took over one million bricks to build. It replaced a Spanish built watchtower constructed in the 16th century. I climbed the 219 stairs to the top observation deck and was rewarded with not only great views, but a bit of a breeze, and on a day that topped out at 33 degrees with piles of humidity it was much appreciated.

From the top of the Lighthouse I saw the historic downtown of St. Augustine and began to understand what a treat I had ahead of me. I hopped in the car and headed back over another bridge to take advantage of what light I had left. I didn’t have much time to really focus so I just wandered taking random shots. I will put some of the pics together with an explanation of them in the next couple of days.

I was exploring the area around the old Hotel Alcazar (another sign I had landed in Spain), which is now City Hall and a museum, and there seemed to be an event about to take place, although I was confused by what it was about. Turns out it’s an annual event called the “Royal Family Transfer of Office”. This event celebrates the city’s Spanish roots and local citizens who can trace their Spanish heritage are chosen to represent the Spanish royal family as it was in 1672 when the fort in St Augustine was built. The three principle players Queen Marianna, King Juan Carlos, and Princess Margarita Maria hand over the symbols of their position to the citizens that will take on those roles in the coming year. They are committing a lot of time to the volunteer position, as they are good will ambassadors for the city of St. Augustine for the year.

After watching for a while, and using the occasion to practice with my new lens, I headed over to the main pedestrian street with shops and restaurants to grab some dinner and the most wonderful frozen key lime popsicle from Hyppo (which fronts on Charlotte Street if you’re looking for it). They have all sorts of unique flavours, including some savoury ones and some that apparently have a bite to them.

Walked out and tired, I headed for “home”.