2/18/13  Monday  Left Fort Lauderdale by driving north on hiwy A1A along the coast, then inland to the freeway.  Took 95 north, drove over Boca Raton and thought of Seinfeld (it's where JS's parents had their winter place). We had to see Palm beach so did a drive through.  It too is on a barrier island.  Didn't know the entire East coast has islands all along!  Very unlike California.  We took a bridge over to Palm Beach from West Palm Beach and then the houses changed.  Gorgeous mansions with beautifully manicured yards and especially hedges. No hi-rises here.

On our way over a different bridge to come back we were the 7th car back on a draw bridge.  All kinds of boats went under from both sides.  Sail boats, yachts, working boats...it was a sight to see.  As we were watching I notices the names of two fancy yachts and decided to google the names.  One was Unity Yacht, and the other Triumphant lady.  The Unity Yacht is owned by Henry Ford's great great granddaughter and is rented out (for a small fee of course!) and the Triumphant Lady is being sold for $8,900,000!!!
     Our next stop on Florida's East coast was Cocoa Beach (recommended by the Jersey girls as a happening place!  We cut over at Melbourne and drove north on the island to the town of Cape Canaveral and could barely see the space center across the sound on the other island. Very exciting to be here in this special place.

     As we drove through Daytona Beach we thought of Lucas studying away in Sacramento to be a race car mechanic.  We texted him and got a very short "thanks but I'm in school now".  What a good boy!!!
     Our goal for today was St Augustine Florida and we made it! (another recommendation by the Jersey girls!  We have learned so much and had so much fun listening to people's suggestions.
     We had time on the freeway to reflect on our trip.  We are not foodies, I think our most expensive meal was $40!  We are not expensive drinkers...Jerry always finds the cheapest beers and me, water is usually free....We are not the wildlife  hunters Carla's daughter, Tova is with in Tanzania!  They have seen gorillas, tigers, giraffs, etc.  We did see manatees, alligators and one dead armadillo in Alabama (the jury is still out on that one!)....We are not musicologists...we just like the live stuff we like...down home stuff but we are having the time of our lives!  We sleep great, the heartburn isn't too bad, we still like each other and this blog and phones are keeping us from becoming homesick.  I thought being retired was one big vacation but it isn't, you do have to get away!
     We dropped the car off at St John's RV park in St Augustine Florida and drove into town.  We explored that night and returned in the morning.  2/19/13 Tuesday:  
     St Augustine is gorgeous.  It is the oldest continuously occupied city in the USA. It was settled in 1565 by the Spanish, ceded to the British in a treaty in 1763, returned to Spain by the new USA in recognition of their help in the revolution in 1783.  In 1821 Florida became a US possession so it was ours again!  Needless to say there is lots of history here!  A huge fort "the Castillo de San Marcos:

The fountain of youth, The oldest wooden schoolhouse in the US,

 Cathedrals and a Spanish Military Hospital museum and so much more.  The only tour we paid for was mine of the hospital and it was amazing!!!  Do you know where "wakes" started?  Back in the day, 3 out of 100 people were buried alive because no one was sure it the person was dead.  Wakes were stared so everyone could watch a person for 24 hours just to make sure they didn't wake up!  And I learned a lot more trivia!!!  Just ask me!

 Our greeters in St. Augustine!  Behind the window in the wax museum where we parked.... 

 Narrowest street.  Pink building on the left is the Spanish Hospital

 Ponce de, Leon

We also checked out the Flagler College in downtown St Augustine.  It was built in the late 1800s by Mr. Flagler of railroad fame. (we had never heard of him before either but his name is everywhere in East Florida.).  He made his fortune building a railroad all the way down the east cost of Florida to Key West.  This building was originally built as the Ponce de Leon Hotel.  In the 70s when it was falling into disrepair and times were hard someone had the brilliant idea of making it a college.  It is gorgeous and the college pays for the upkeep.

     After lunch of pineapple and bacon pizza down town St Augustine we drove to Anastasia Island over the bridge of lions to see the beach and lighthouse.  It is replaced with silt from the bar into the bay ever 5 years for $27million dollars....

 Very big and fake looking

 

     Then north toward Savanah, across the state line into Georgia!  Another lovely, huge visitor center..They are everywhere in the south.  We found a lovely RV park just outside.  It happened to be attached to an antique and cement statue store.  Owned by the same sweet ladies.  Mom and daughter.  I literally had to go in the store to sign up to stay!  I found a lovely lion fountain head for my wall. $20!  What a steal.  They gave us directions into town and we disconnected the casita and away we went!

    Another gorgeous city.  Also right on the water but this feels more European.  Cobblestones, huge brick buildings and very interestingly, the Riverwalk is about 15 feet or more lower than the rest of the city.  There are stairs to the riverfront along about a mile of shops.  This is the 2nd largest port on the Eastern seaboard second only to New York!  Who knew! There are two riverboats that give tours, a free ferry to the convention center across the Savanah River, two free trolley services that take you all around town.  We did everything free! and had a great time.

 Stairs to the street above

 Lots of statues

Kids singing acapella (spelling Sue?)

 Johnny Mercer who wrote "Moon River!"

 Look who we found!  is having a book signing on Sunday but we must move on!  This was in her store!

 Her Restaurant

Loved the stairs!  Moss and ferns along the edges

The RV park lady had suggested this restaurant.  It was started in the 20's.

It was all booths around a huge dance floor.  Now there are tables where folks used to dance.  The booths used to have curtains so gentlemen could entertain their mistresses in secret. 

 The food was fantastic!
The best bar-b-que ribs and  smoked chicken! We brought some home but not the white toast.  It was our lunch the next day...

Our waiter, Stylzes!  He was great and gave us a complete history of the business.  When we ordered coconut cream pie for dessert, he asked if we had AAA.  We answered yes and he said, then your dessert is free! What a guy!

  It was still early and we didn't want to have to deal with the internet again so we went to the movies and saw "Silver linings Playbook".  Very good movie.