In January of 2009, two days after retiring from my job of 37 years, I took a road trip around my home state of Florida
(mostly the West/Gulf Coast). I learned so much about Florida's history and all the interesting things Florida
has to offer. It's not all Disney World and the Space Shuttle - although, the Space Shuttle IS pretty spectacular!!

6.2.12

St. Augustine, Florida

I enjoyed spending a couple days in St. Augustine, Florida.  St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the United States.  It is full of charm and beautiful historic buildings.  This is just a sample of a few.












This is the historic downtown area. There are plenty of unique shops, restaurants and museums.  I love the old brick streets.  It is a very pedestrian area --  nice to just walk around.

Bridge of Lions




Pigeons enjoying the view!


Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse



No clue!

A unique tree; a palm tree is growing out of the center of it


I liked the name of this cafe!

Seriously?  Alligator tail??  Even if I wasn't a
vegetarian, I wouldn't eat that!



 
Cute Coffeehouse






This is supposedly the oldest house in St. Augustine.  Doesn't look so old to me!  In fact, my house looks older!  I didn't spring for the $8 to go in.



Love these streets!


There are historic markers all over the city.
I like that!  This is a nice park in the center of town.



A sweet little sparrow.



The Floridian - a very nice lunch spot.

I had a delicious vegetarian (tempeh) Reuben sandwich

LOTS of ways to get around town.  You can take this . . .


. . . or this . . .


. . . or this!


Just don't take this!  The poor horse has to drag around this cart all day long.  This is very sad to me and, personally, I think these horse carts should be outlawed.  Give the horse a break!


This was a very well-maintained Veterans' Cemetery in town.  The grounds were so manicured; it was really beautiful.  The National Guard Station was across the street.









This was so interesting. These were 2 gravestones of  Indians.  Each stone had a little leather beaded pouch draped around it.   It was quite beautiful.















I assume this was a Father and Son.



And, of course, just walking around town and looking at all these beautiful, unique old homes was fun.  Each one was different from the next.  I just love all the different styles.





This stairwell below is the inside of the house above.



Housing for the National Guard.





Another very, very old cemetery in the middle of town.