The block was dead, yo, so I continued to A1A Beachfront Avenue!!

St. Augustine. Home to the Fountain of Youth. And Robert van Winkle aka Vanilla Ice.  All right, all right, so he was singing about Miami when he continued on to A1A Beachfront Avenue.  But we drove to the hotel in Vilano Beach on A1A and you can bet your sweet bippy I was shouting that line every single time!  Christian Laettner also lives nearby, but talking about him is almost as divisive as the current political climate, so we won't discuss that.  

But let back up and start at the beginning.  The world is crazy.  I didn't get my yearly sojourn to the civilized nether regions of Europe. Too much detaining, too much Ice, Ice, baby.  Too few air traffic controllers.  Never been to Florida. Looks good. Lets go!  So here we are.  Not searching for a lost youth, just my peace of mind.  I found part of it in St. Augustine. Or at least across the bridge in Vilano Beach.  After the almost 8 hour drive down, and a brief stop in Columbia to see the exhibition of Keith Haring at the South Carolina Museum of Art, we arrived to dramatic skies and not a terrible view from our hotel balcony.  And since our hotel was only a three minute walk to the beach, we dropped the bags and went to stretch our legs. 

           

               

              

                                                  

                

The next morning we were up early so we could head into historic St. Augustine.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.  It was small. It was quaint.  It was ADORABLE. Parking was easy, and reasonably cheap. It's very walkable.  We left care and headed down to Castillo de San Marcos. Along the way we passed the Huguenot Cemetery.  And I learned that it, and the rest of Florida, is positively INFESTED with brown anoles. Horrible. Wretched. (I'm only sharing a few of the disgusting photos of lizards that I took. It will be apparent that Florida has a lizard problem.)  And then the day got worse when we realized that Castillo de San Marcos was closed.  Government shutdown! DOH!! First world problem, so we got over it and walked around it and took photos, and enjoyed the view.  Then we moved on to other sights, like exploring the narrow streets of touristy old town, having a sangria and snack, and tasting whiskey at City Gate distillery ($5 for 6 pours.  Florida, why your liquor so cheap??)

The Old Spanish Trail markers. The trail was a roadway that spanned the United States with almost 2,750 miles of road from ocean to ocean.  This is the beginning marker in St. Augustine and it ends in San Diego, California.

Fuente de Los Canos de San Francisco.  Built in 2005, this fountain was a gift from St. Augustine's sister city, Aviles, Spain.  The molds for the masks a from the 16th century Spanish fountain.

The Huguenot Cemetery. St. Augustine was primarily Spanish Catholic and of course, Protestants couldn't be buried in those cemeteries.  In 1819, after it became an American possession, they created this cemetery for Protestant dead.  It was used between 1821-1884.

There were hundreds running around the cemetery walls.  Ick factor HIGH. Haunted cemetery? Haunted by LIZARDS 

Castillo de San Marcos. 450 years old, built by the Spanish to protect the Atlantic trade routes.  It was occupied by various forces during it's existence. It's currently a National Monument and was closed due to the government shutdown.  But I feel the highlight is old masonry and the cool grounds around the fort anyway.  

While there we saw a little sea turtle! Dutchboy was amazed and stared at the water for a long time, willing the turtle to come back. 

After the fort visit, we crossed the street and stopped at a hotel that was decorating for Christmas. Dutchboy needed a rest after all that turtle searching. Dutchboy is famous for lounging on famous stairs.  Apparently MLK Jr was arrested on this staircase so it was preserved when the original hotel was demolished.

Baby Godzilla.  Cute? I don't think so.

Heavily watered sangria at a tourist trap restaurant.  I just wanted a drink and made a bad decision.

Yes, decorated for Christmas and it wasn't even Halloween

ON A FREAKING DOOR BY THE HANDLE. SRSLY. WTH

After all those lizards, we decided to escape the city and head to St. Augustine's lighthouse.  I had tried to get the Dark of the Moon Lighthouse tour, but it was sold out.  It's very haunted, you know.  Voices that sound like they are above you, suddenly switch to beneath you when you reach the top.  Apparitions appear to look down over the staircase landing (Ghost Hunters had awesome video footage).  Dark of the Moon lets you climb the lighthouse in the dark with EMF detectors. Fun, right? We had to settle for a late afternoon climb.  219 steps to the top, and the only ghostly moan was me gasping for breath. But the views were stunning! Another interesting fact, St. Augustine Lighthouse, Currituck, Bodie and Morris Island lighthouses are all built with the same building plans. 

Looking up

Looking down

Fresnal Lens. The lighthouse was automated in 1955

Keeper's Quarters. Now a museum. 

After almost 13,000 steps for the day, we headed back to the hotel, had dinner.  Even though we were tired and it was misting rain, the crashing waves and beach were too enticing to ignore.  So we added more steps to the day and saw the St. Augustine light shining through the mist.  

The next day started with a rainbow at breakfast, always a good sign!  

And for me, no day is better than a day at a museum. In this case, the Lightner Museum.  Housed in a historic building that was originally the Alcazar Hotel built buy Standard Oil executive Henry Flagler, the museum houses the collection of Otto Lightner who bought the property in 1946 to house his extensive collection of Gilded Age art and antiques.  It's worth a visit to see the building, and the collection feels almost secondary to that. But it is a lovely collection! The visit was made even better because we were able to catch the free tour with a lovely guide who explained the history of the property, including the massive indoor pool and spa area, which has now been turned into the center atrium of the building, and houses a restaurant.  

Former diving pool and now a restaurant.  It was deep enough that guests could dive off the third floor balconies.  The hotel hosted diving shows and swim meets.  Gertrude Ederle (first woman to swim the English Channel) competed in the National AAU championships that were held at the Alcazar hotel.

Dutchboy loved this clock!

The prettiest bassinet I've ever seen. 

Yup.  Stair lounging AGAIN

Beautiful windows created frames for the world outside

Another awesome thing about Lightner Museum? You're within a two minute walk of a brewery! Dog Rose Brewing had some nice brews and shuffleboard (the tabletop version).  I grabbed a flight and a wiled away an hour.  I discovered I suck at tabletop shuffleboard. 

We visited San Sebastian Winery, too.  But all I can say to that is if you like muscadine wine out of plastic wine glasses, go for it.  I, however, do not like any of those things.  I wanted good food and to forget I ever heard of this place. 

Dinner was at a place called Forgotten Tonic. It was a great choice! The place was decked out for Halloween, the beer was great and the food was fantastic.  I didn't even know black hummus was a thing?? 

Black hummus

chickpeas, black tahini, black garlic and tamari, topped with chili oil

and pomegranate seeds 

Pasta Alla vodka (Dutchboy's choice)

FT Burger (my choice)

beef burger, melted havarti, caramelized onions, bacon & pickles. 

Dressed with FT sauce on a warm pretzel bun

After that delightful (and huge) meal, we headed back to the hotel to walk off our dinner! Our last evening and we wanted to spend it walking on our now favorite beach.  Seemed like the fitting end to a wonderful visit.

But first, a quick stop to change my shoes.  It was then I noticed for the first time, our elevator. 

Looks normal, right??  But wait...

It's Schindler's Lift. 

Okay, okay.  On to the Vilano Beach and the most glorious sunset I've seen. 

We had it to ourselves for a bit. It was so gray.

But the clouds were breaking. Look at that light!!

"Here comes the sun and I say, it's all right."

Would I recommend St. Augustine? Absolutely.  But with a caveat.  Go for the beach. See the fort, walk through town. It's touristy, but it's cute.  But don't stay in town, go to Vilano Beach.  Stay there instead. You're less than 10 minutes away from town and it's quiet and beautiful.  Oh, and don't drink the water.  The "fountain of youth" that cured Ponce de Leone's impotence? Just the sulfurous, disgusting tasting (and smelling) water in the world. You can taste it in your hotel room, and every restaurant in St. Augustine.   It won't hurt you to drink it, but you'll be gagging into your Stanley cup if you do.  And who wants to do that when you're rolling down A1A???   

Up next, our trip continues to Savannah, Georgia where we have an encounter with a very famous weiner.