September 18; Day Eighteen

The sunrise this morning was gorgeous. To add to the beauty, the waves were very high and the water was speckled with surfers. The energy was palpable. You could see the excitement on the faces of the surfers as they ran past; eager to surf the swells. There were dozens and dozens out in the water. I wondered briefly if businesses would be closed; classes empty due to the surf. Do they have “surf days” in Florida like we have “sick days”?

We watched for a couple of hours then came back for breakfast. Since it was not safe for swimming the ocean, we decided to go do some touristy things again. The plan was to visit St. Augustine’s Lighthouse and Museum, then visit The Fountain of Youth. When we arrived at the lighthouse, a behind the scene tour was about to begin so we joined that. We were the only three on the tour, so we asked lots of questions. We spent three hours at the lighthouse. They also do maritime archeology which we learned a lot about on the tour. Fascinating. The time we spent at the lighthouse did not allow time enough to go to the Fountain of Youth. We will do that another time.

 

We came back to the condo, fixed some sandwiches and headed over to the beach. We stayed there from 5ish until almost 8pm watching the surfers. We also walked out on the pier. The breeze became chilly, but we stayed until it was getting dark. This was our last evening out there for a while. We wanted to prolong it as much as possible.

Tomorrow, we will get up for one last sunrise. We will probably stay out there a few hours before coming back and packing up. This makes me very sad. I really, really like being close to the water.

Tomorrow is a long drive back to Georgia. I wonder what adventures we will have along the way?

 

September 17; Day Seventeen

Woke up for the sunrise, except there was too much cloud coverage this morning. So, I slept a while longer. Since the sun wasn’t shining onto the balcony, after I got up I took my cup of coffee and sat out there. It was a nice, cool start to the day

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The plan today was to visit the pirate museum and take a stroll down St. George Street in St. Augustine. We arrived at the museum around 1:30 and stayed about three hours. At the front desk we were given a sheet to find “hidden treasures” throughout the museum. There was also a crossword puzzle where the clues could be found by reading the information posted about each pirate. I’m sure the sheet was aimed at children, but we three each took a sheet and filled it out completely. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. And, we received a special stamp on our sheet and picked a “jewel” from the treasure chest at the end. 

We then walked for a bit up and down St. George Street, peeking into all the little shops. Being that it was after 5pm, we missed our trolley back to the parking lot. It wasn’t too far a walk and I wanted to see the Great Cross up close which was on the way back. This cross is 208 feet tall. It is part of the Mission Nobre De Dios. We walked on the grounds for a short time. 

The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is also here. We were too late to see inside anything. As we were heading out, there were lots of squirrels. We like squirrels. A lady came by and asked if we were feeding them anything and I told her no. She handed each of us some peanuts and said the squirrels would come take them from our hand. Well, of course, we had to do this and take pictures. I didn’t get a picture of a squirrel taking the peanut out of my hand, but I did get one of a squirrel thinking about it.

By the time we did all the walking, my legs were too uncomfortable to do much else. I wore sandals instead of shoes with arch support. Makes my calves way too stiff. We came back to the condo, made dinner and put on “Pirates of the Caribbean.” What else would we watch?

Tomorrow is a beach day with a side trip to the Lighthouse maybe. The hurricane Edouard is creating rip tides, and evidently larger swells because the surfers are out in numbers. Will be exciting to watch if it is still going on tomorrow. No rain or wind here. The storm is way out in the ocean.

Back to the movie now.