wildlife park & st. augustine...

In the morning we began our journey back north. We traveled up along the coast and made it to Homosassa Springs.
We wanted to stop in at a beach, but couldn’t seem to find one.... i looked up on the internet what’s doing around the area
and found a wildlife park.  Jay indulged my pleading and so we walked around the park.  It was small, and relatively nice,
although the wildlife park we went to  in San Diego was much better.



What was nice, was the pier they had jetting out over the water. There was several manatees hanging out & then one
came right over to the pier!  It kinda checked us out & hung around for 5 minutes! So beautiful.

After we left the wildlife park, we journeyed over to St. Augustine. I had been a looonnngggg time ago, when my parents
brought me when i was 8, and I remember loving it. I really wanted Jay to see it too.  I found a room just outside the old city.
We crashed for the night & enjoyed the city the next day, Sunday.

We decided it would be best to see the city from a tourist train. A narrated 2 hour trip telling you all about the history of the city.  St. Augustine is the oldest city in America. It was found by Ponce de Leon back in 1513. The Spanish tried for years to colonize the city, but in the end, it was taken by the French. The entire city used to be walled in, there was a moat surrounding it.  The walls and most of the buildings in the city were made using a mixture of crushed shelles called coquina rock, the fort is invincible to cannon fire.

There was also a very rare tree that our tour guide took us to... it is a living oak, with a live palm tree growing out of it! It is said that if you kiss your sweetheart under that tree, your love will last forever.
So, we kissed!

Then, there is another tree over by the Fountain of Youth, called the Old Senator.... this is a live oak that they have core-dated & have found it to be over 600 years old.
It was a very amazing city!!! If you're nerdy, like us.... you'd love it!

 

We ate lunch at a place called Hooked on Harry's... we sat outside in their walled in patio. I had grilled Mahi fish tacos with red beans and rice, and Jay had grilled chicken with goat cheese and sweet corn grits! How Southern! it was delicious...   Once we finished lunch we continued our journey up north.... next stop, Myrtle beach!