I was going to take LeRoy to the "First Turn Restaurant where Jade and I dined about 20 years ago while we were in Daytona Beach. Much to my dismay the restaurant has been closed since Covid-19 appeared. LeRoy would have enjoyed the many old photos of drivers from years ago.
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| Original First Turn Restaurant |
However, they have constructed an outdoor bar and grill alongside the Original First Turn location.
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| Now a Biker Bar |
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| Chickens on the Loose |
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| Dang! |
We headed to Daytona Beach, FL seeking a change in latitude.
We were excited to hook up with my cousin, Mary, and her husband, Kim, who moved from Alaska to Florida just two years ago when they retired from a drilling company in Prudhoe Bay. They are happily settled in the new development called "Latitude Margarataville." We enjoyed a tour of some of the model homes in Margaritaville. It is somewhat similar to a Del Webb community, with single family homes, villas and cottages. This development is huge and even more land is being cleared for more residences.
Kim and Mary took us to see how Daytona Beach has grown and expanded over the years since we had last been here. Lots of restaurants and high rise hotels. Margaritaville even has a property on the beach where you can be bussed for the day.
NASA successfully launched SpaceX from Cape Canaveral. We initially saw the sky light up above the trees, then followed the rocket until we lost it in the clouds.
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| Big Foot |
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| Big Boy |
Realizing we only had a few more days in St. Augustine, we went to the beach to check out the surf and collect a few sea shells.
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| Drawbridge Up |
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| St. Augustine |
Every year, for the past 27 years, 20 blocks of St. Augustine's historic district are lit up with three million lights during the annual Nights of Lights. It takes the city months to get ready for the tradition and brings thousands of visitors to the nation's oldest city.
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| Plaza de Constitucion |
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| Horse Carriage Rides |
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| Old Town Trolley Tour |
It's been 39 years since we visited St. Augustine with our daughter, Jade. Today we hopped aboard one of the trolley tours for a narrated tour of the city to reminisce and see if we missed anything on our first tour.
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| Ponce De Leon's Legendary Spring |
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was supposedly searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to Florida in 1513. It is legendary that anyone who drinks or bathes in the waters of the Fountain of Youth will have their youth restored. Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 2016. St. Augustine was founded 55 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.
There is a statue of Juan Ponce de Leon in the Plaza de la Constitucion, the oldest public space in America. The Spanish explorer claimed he was 5'5" tall, but that was including his 3" boots and his hat's feather. In reality, this Spanish dude was only 4'11".
Henry Flagler was a co-founder of Standard Oil. He invested himself in the development of Florida, literally inventing modern Florida. He is best known for his development of Florida's east coast, responsible for building the Florida East Coast Railway from Daytona to Key West.
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| Formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel |
Grateful citizens wanted to name a city for Henry Flagler to recognize his contribution to Florida's real estate booms. What is now Miami was supposed to be named for him but Flagler didn't want anything named after him.
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| Ripley's Believe It or Not! |
The St. Augustine Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum is housed in the former Castle Warden Hotel. Several employees of Ripley's say they hear or see the ghosts of the two women that died in a fire at the Castle Warden in April 1944.
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| The Old Jail |
In 1891, Henry Flagler contracted the company that would eventually build Alcatraz to construct a jail north of downtown so it wasn't an eyesore near his hotel, the Ponce de Leon, built in 1988 as a luxury hotel. The Old Jail was built to look like a hotel and painted in an unassuming color.
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| Villa Zorayda |
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| Flagler College (now) |
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| Lightner Museum |
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| Castillo de San Marcos |
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| Bridge of Lions |
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| Black Raven Pirate Ship |
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| Lions Guard the Bridge |
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St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum
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| 2nd St Augustine Lighthouse |
The black and white stripes and red top let sailors know they are off St. Augustine. It's called a daymark and each lighthouse is unique so sailors can tell them apart. No other lighthouse has this color scheme.
The lighthouse is 165' tall and has 219 steps to the observation deck. It was first lit in 1874.
The keepers house had up to 3 lighthouse keepers and their families that lived in the home. It housed up to 15 people at any given time.
This is the original keepers house that was gutted by fire in the 1970s and restored.
I personally think these Fresnel lenses are beautiful pieces of art.
What do you think?
Here's an interesting World War II fact that President Franklin Roosevelt attempted to keep secret about the threat to America. Only six hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hi on December 7, 1941, Hitler sent six U-boats from a port in occupied France to attack the east cost of the US.
On April 11, 1942 the tanker SS Gulfamerica was hit by torpedoes as it pushed past Jacksonville Beach on the way to NYC with a load of furnace oil.
A coastal blackout was issued following the attack to decrease the ability of Nazi U-boat Captains to target allied ships silhouetted against coastal lights. The lights went out for three miles in-land.
Did you know that in Florida waters alone, 24 ships were sunk by U-boats?
Nazi agents also landed a rubber boat on Ponte Vedra Beach on June 17, 1942. Four Germans came ashore with orders to harm American infrastructure and utilities. The FBI captured them and they quickly faced the death penalty.
Time for a Change
Covid 19 has been ravaging Wisconsin this winter so it was time to get out of Dodge...and we were committed to several reservations in Florida campgrounds.
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| Look Who We Found |
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Our 45' motorhome fits on the site which has a propane grill, fire ring, and table and chairs. We are parked just 3/4 mile from the beach. There are several mini malls near us, two decent restaurants and a french bakery. |
