We start our visit to Florida in historic St. Augustine

Still learning about myself. Crazy as it sounds, it’s the honest truth. This statement from a man who literally brought a bologna and cheese sandwich to work every day for 30 years. I’m pretty sure I know who I am and what I’m not. So, what’s the big revelation you ask? Well, I never imagined that I’d enjoy sitting outside the campsite, opening up the computer, and spending several hours creatively writing a blog. Who are you?!? Yet, here I sit, outside the camper, with a campfire flickering in the background. The aura is soothing, and I find the words and sentences just flowing together. Sometimes too much, but, thankfully, Judy’s a good editor, and can take my run-on sentences and add punctuation. She makes my nattering readable. 

 There’s another benefit of my evening dalliances: I get to listen to the sounds coming from the surrounding environment. And by the surrounding sounds, I mean from the immediate neighborhood around me, which can be inside the RV park or outside. I’ve sat outside so often, and at so many different RV parks, that I have started to recognize the sounds attributed to certain campgrounds. For example, our last campsite was in a 1,100-acre regional park, 1 ½ miles from the main entry road. As you may expect, it was a very quiet campsite. Because we were out on an island, separated on 3 sides by water or marsh, there was neither any outside “city noises”, nor any light pollution. At night, it was dark and quiet. In contrast, our stay in St. Augustine was out on the intercoastal, 1 block off the famous coastal Florida State Rte. A1A. This was a loud location. Ambulances, trucks, the sound of children, and music, all infiltrated our campsite. I have come to find that we encounter two basic types of camping experiences: we are in a rural park like setting, or we are in a very city like surrounding. Urban campsites usually mean we can walk to get groceries or go to a restaurant. Rural campsites have walking trails and fishing, but if you need anything from the drug store, you’re getting in a vehicle and driving at least 10 minutes. We love both types of campsites and use different strategies to make the best of our stay. And this changes from week to week. Let’s say you live in suburbia but have a friend (or cousin) who has a townhouse in NYC. Then you decided to switch houses for 30 days. Wouldn’t that be kind of exciting for a month? And when you get back to your original house after being away for 30 days, you’d get to re-engage in your previous life. And we do this every week. Just amazing! 

Our stop at a KOA in St. Augustine Beach was within a 4-mile drive from the old city of St. Augustine. We could not have been better situated for visiting this historic town. And to some extent, the weather even cooperated, allowing us to really get out and discover the area. Where should I begin..? How about starting at the “Fountain of Youth”. 

• Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. An interesting attraction, not exactly what I expected. But then again, I had no idea who Juan Ponce was of Leon, Italy, so I had a lot to learn. Surprisingly, there was an actual natural spring which pushes water from the Florida aquifer. It is believed that Juan Ponce discovered the town of St. Augustine, and that this spring would have been available as fresh water for Juan Ponce’s ships. The natural spring is the oldest roadside attraction in Florida, with visitor records going back to 1868. There were cups, and indeed there was water flowing. As an experiment, Judy had some water from the “Fountain of Youth”. I did not. We’ll see how this plays out. For many years, the area was an active archaeological excavation, with many discoveries about the native Timucua Indians. There was a live fire canon demonstration, as well as a Blacksmith studio. We would have stayed longer, but the sun disappeared in the early afternoon; so, with the temperature dropping, we ended the visit early and headed back to the camper. 

• Next up, a walking tour of historic St. Augustine. The oldest continually inhabited community of European settlers in the United States. Not the oldest, but the oldest continually inhabited. Apparently, that’s an important distinction. Angie, our walking tour guide, was amazing, knowledgeable, and an outstanding storyteller. Another history lesson, but this one was from the Spanish perspective. It was a nice, mostly sunny day, as we joined another couple for a 2-hour, semi-private stroll along the water, and up to the Castillo de San Marcos, a fort which is a national park. It was a very complete history tour starting with the Timucua Indians, and ending with industrialist Henry Flagler. Flagler, founder of Standard Oil, was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida, as well as the East Coast railway. He built some lovely hotels, and one of them eventually became Flagler College, which is where our tour ended. 

Castillo de San Marcos

• And it wouldn’t be a stop unless we toured a lighthouse. That would be the St. Augustine Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse that we have visited, at 165’. And we climbed 219 stairs to get there. The views were wonderful, and we got some really great pictures. We were also able to see, for the first time, a first order Fresnel lens, which is the original, and stands over 6’ tall. This is the most powerful lens ever produced, and will cast a beam visible 20 miles, depending on weather conditions. Somehow, I don’t think we’re done with lighthouses. 

View from top of St. Augustine Lighthouse

The week went by quickly, and we pulled out of the campsite to travel to our next destination - Fort Pierce, FL, on Christmas day. A good day to travel, especially in the morning, as the roads were quiet. We were headed south, and as we drove, I was wondering what kind of campsite we would find ourselves in this time. Urban or rural? Not that it makes much of a difference for us, as we have learned to appreciate them both. I’d like to profess that I skillfully managed to mix the camping experiences, but I’d be lying. So, you’ll have to wait to read our next post as we tell…the Rest of the Story.