2014 Vacation - Day 9

If Yesterday was "Tourist Day", today was "Nature Day".  We slept in a bit, made breakfast, then packed a lunch and headed out to see two "gardens". 

The first garden is built on and around an early Sugar Mill from the 1800s.  The Sugar Mill Gardens are maintained entirely by volunteers.  Himself and I agreed that if we lived here, we would volunteer too.  A shaded beautiful garden of tropical plants that we are pretty much unfamiliar with.

 

Enter here

This Oak Tree is called The Confederate Oak.

Confederate soldiers camped under this tree in the 1860s.

Is that awesome or what?!?

 

No, sir.  You can't stay here forever.  Come on, we gotta go.   

 

 

Washington Oaks Gardens

 

The next garden was a Winter Home for Louise and Owen Young. They lived the summers in New York.   Owen founded RCA and was Chairman of General Electric early on.  Almost 400 acres, a cottage, studio, other buildings and formal gardens were donated to the State of Florida by Mrs. Owens after her husband died. 

 

 

Enter here . . .

 

 

Old trees covered with Spanish Moss and Resurrection ferns.  Walking paths and Nature trails.

 

 

Beautiful flowers, some familiar others that we can't name

 

 

 

Ocean waters and rock formations not found at home.

 

It was a good day. 

 

Speaking of Nature, last night a rip, roaring thunderstorm blew thru.

 

 

The sky darkened. 

 

 

Clouds came in and darkened the ocean waters.

 

A veil fell and one couldn't tell sky from sea.

 

Nature in its rawest form.

 

 

Tomorrow, we pack up and head home. 

I'll be dragging my heels, trying to slow down the inevitable. 

That said, don't look for us until you see us! 

 

 

2014 Vacation - Day 8

 

Himself was up early to get this great sun rise. 

 

Today was a Tourist kind of day.

 

A trip to St. Augustine, the earliest settlement - 1565 -

 in the Continental United States by Europeans.

 

 

 

Lighthouse at St. Augustine.

 

219 circular wrought iron steps up. 

 

View from the top.

 

 

 

 219 easy steps down.

 

How would you like to wash those windows?   

 

 

 

I butted in line to get the glass of water from

The Fountain of Youth.   Need it now! 

 

 

 Don Juan Ponce de Leon had heard rumors of the Fountain of Youth

and that spurred him into finding this land now called Florida.

 

You remember that from school, right? 

 

Himself seems to stagger under all the knowledge and facts we learned today. 

 

 The Spanish held this area for a couple of hundred years before giving it up to the colonies. 

 

 

 Peacocks, especially the male, are just stunning.

It is mating season, someone told us, and the peacocks were vocal and strutting their stuff. 

 

 

1672 Spanish Fort

17-foot block walls, hand built.

 

Himself and I spent the day driving an hour north, climbing a lighthouse, walking around the Fountain of Youth compound and a historic Spanish fort.  We watched cannon and musket demonstrations.  We had a surprisingly good Tourist lunch of crab cakes and a Cuban burger, eating at a picnic table while watching people and peacocks.  We came home for our supper and then witnessed a thunderstorm march in, threatening and bragging and dropping a couple inches of rain. 

We are worn out, I am sunburned and it will be early to bed. 

Can't wait to hit the floor running tomorrow!

 

 

 

2014 Vacation - Day 7

 

It was a miracle. 

I awoke at 5 am.

 

I was awake, not half drowsy as I usually am. 

I awoke and said I will watch the sunrise.

 

 

About 7 am, Himself and I strolled down the board walk, took a stroll out on a pier

and past the tourist beacons (towels, bikinis, caps, t-shirts for Sale!  50% off everything!)

We didn't buy. 

 

This is Ocean Walk Resort by Wyndham.

We are using our World Mark points. 

 

After that, it was kick back, chill out, relax!

We parked ourselves in two lounge chairs under a beach umbrella and watched the sights . . .

                                                                              

 

 

 

Sand and Atlantic Ocean.

 

Bikinis

Kites

 



 

Wave walking.

 



 

Waves and tides.

 

 

After 5 days driving, I couldn't get Himself in a car 

so this day was rest and relaxation.

Tomorrow we sight see!

2014 Vacation - Day 6

Eureka! 

 

Daytona Beach!

 

The Fountain of Youth!

 

No.  Not.  It is not the Fountain of Youth . . . but it is that exciting for us!  Himself had not been to Florida before and I hadn't been since a child.  We are enjoying this vacation.  Five days of constant travel in a car was beginning to take it's toll.  That and irregular eating times.  You girls know how that is : )  We were glad to get here.  

 

We left Panama City this morning about 8 am.  Himself was in no hurry but I said "I'm Ready!" so we loaded up and started East.  We drove pretty continually all day.  We didn't stop to sight see really, anywhere.  We drove, we munched, we took in all the green.  Mid Florida is actually rural and farm like.  We left the tourist area of Florida, the coast, the Gulf of Mexico with hotels and businesses standing shoulder-to-shoulder and cars and people every where and drove almost 300 miles through trees and National Forest and pines and cows and parks and not so many people.  Then we reached the coast and once again found large hotels, city streets, restaurants galore and traffic and tourism. 

 

With the aid of the GPS, our maps and the laptop computer, we cruised right into Daytona Beach, got groceries, rode the elevator up to the 14th floor beach-front 2-bedroom modern condo.  Rode down the elevator.  Rode up the elevator.  Rode down . . . lol.  Okay, so we basically have moved in here . . . will it take 30 days for authorities to evict us?  We are hoping so! 

 

 

 



 

 

This photo represents mid American.  Working folks. 

Right here in the middle of Florida.

 

 

These flowers are Dianthus . . .gone wild.

They seem to have naturalized in the ditches of mid-Florida.

The travel today was pretty and fragrant. 

 

Florida

 

 

 

 

Florida bog or swamp.

 

Daytona Beach from the 14th floor of Wyndham. 

 

three of the four swimming pools and there are 3 hot tubs.

 

Himself on Bikini Watch

He volunteered : )

 

 

2014 Vacation - Day 5

We have experienced Florida!  and we are only half way across the Florida Gulf Coast but we are enjoying the views, the water and the sights.  There was only one hour trouble today where traffic in one town came to a crawl.  We stopped.  We inched two miles down the road in about an hour's time.

You won't believe this but the crowd and traffic conditions were due to a Mullet Throw.

A Mullet Throw, of all things.   

 

http://www.florabama.com/events/192-the-interstate-mullet-toss-and-gulf-coast-s-greatest-beach-party

 

Well, the laugh is on me.  On Ourselves.  We only knew a mullet to be a hair style and we thought the "Mullet Toss" was a symbol of College Days gone by.  Of folks making fun of the old hair style.  Throwing hair.  Oh My Gosh!  Were we ever wrong -- even tho we had a great laugh all day about throwing Mullets! 

 

 

internet photo

 

A mullet is a FISH! 

 

Notice this fisherman is sporting only ONE mullet. 

 

 

Putting the Mullet Case on ice (haha pun intended)  the rest of the day was a great, full, touristy, Florida sort of day:

 

Palm Trees

 



 

Entertaining Architecture

 



Sky

 



and

 

Sky and Water

 

 

Sky and highways

Bridges, sky, water and highway.

 

Himself said that today he saw more bridges and water than any other day in his life;

perhaps Himself saw more bridges and water today than he had in his ENTIRE life. 

 



We saw all things nautical and seafaring and sea worthy.

 In eastern Alabama, we drove down to the coast, across a long bridge to Dauphin Island. Did I say a Long Bridge?  The island is not a deserted, barren island as we had imagined.  It had houses, and people and hotels and stores and tourist information.  and a Gumbo Cookoff. We didn't wait for the Gumbo to be done and tasted  but there was a party atmosphere on that there island!

We found that the Ferry would take us from the other end of Dauphin Island over the gulf waters to Gulf Shore, Alabama.  The Ferry held about 27 - 59 vehicles.  We were number 9, in line.  In addition, they loaded any extra motorcycles that came along and pedestrians also buy $5.00 passes to carry them over and back.  We saw a family on their bicycles who were going over to Dauphin Island to ride.  What a great way to spend a Saturday, we thought.

We paid $20.50 to ride the ferry one way.  It was well worth it to us.

Himself and I have ridden ferries together, probably five times.  We are discussing this number and will come out with a revised number once we reach a consensus. haha   My dad would drive miles out of his way to ride a ferry so I rode ferries many a vacation as a child. 

This Ferry ride took about 30 minutes.  Folks were mainly social, most got out of their vehicles and took photos or stood at the rails and watched the sea gulls and the water. 

Caution!  Water, humidity and wind may cause Bad Hair Days! 

 

 

Himself took this great photo over Perdido Beach as we were sitting in stopped traffic, cooling our jets, waiting for the mullet to be thrown . . . or actually, for the people to get out of the street to go celebrate the Mullet Toss.  This photo may be a County Fair selection! 

 

What a great day!  And tomorrow will provide more coast time as we move on to Daytona Beach!