Jensen Beach/Stuart/Ocean Breeze FL 10/27-10/29 2019

We continued our southern sojourn along the Florida coast with our next stop in Jensen Beach.  We stayed at the Ocean Breeze Resort which it turns out, is a city of it's own!  The city limit signs are on either side of the resort.  The place is really nice.  It is a 55+ resort with lots of RV sites as well as many park models and what they call beach bungalows.  Sun Resorts took over and there is a lot of new construction going on.  Our site had a nice patio with picnic table and a gas grill.  They also had a great dog park with doggie baths too.

We chose Jensen Beach so we would be able to visit my old Air Force buddy, Chuck Wilcox.  He and I worked and flew together in Okinawa and then again in Omaha at Offutt AFB.  We had not seen each other since we both left Omaha back in 1981-1982.  That's almost 40 years!  We had a great visit and caught up with each other's lives.  

Chuck getting to know Pablo

Chuck acted as our tour guide and showed us around the area.  He also took us to a wonderful lunch at The Dolphin Bar. The place was built by the famous historic movie star, Frances Langford.  The atmosphere and the view was wonderful, as was the food.  

View from our table at The Dolphin Bar

 After our yummy lunch Chuck drove us around and showed us the sites.  We saw some beautiful beaches, dolphins, and the old town of Stuart.  Just about the only pictures I got were of the beaches... Ha!  So here are some pics of the beaches!  

One of the beautiful homes along the beach.

This is yet another place that we wished we had more time to explore.  Hopefully we will be back!

St. Augustine FL 10/24-10/27 2019

We made it to the Sunshine State!  Here is a picture of our now completed map with all of the lower 48 states filled in!

Our first stop was planned to visit with Linda's nephew, Luke and his wife, Kelly in Jacksonville.  We had a reservation at a place called Flamingo Lake RV Resort which is just north of Jacksonville and not too far from Luke and Kelly's.  When we arrived to check in at the office, we noticed a big sign on the counter that said "We do not allow any vicious breeds in our park".  So we said "That's a good thing, what are the breeds?".  To our surprise, Malamutes were one of many on their list!  We explained that we saw nothing on the web site and there was nothing about it in our reservation or confirmation.  Long story short - they were not very friendly and their RV Park was definitely NOT dog-friendly as it was advertised!  They did not allow us to stay but, thankfully, refunded our advance payment.  However, we were now left to try and find somewhere to stay at 3 o'clock on the day of arrival.  We talked to Kelly on the phone and finally found a KOA in St. Augustine about an hour away.  Everything works out the way it should - this place was much nicer and in a much better location.  

Our site at the KOA in St. Augustine Beach

The RV Park had a nice lake in the middle that had fish and turtles in it.  We even saw an osprey perched in a tree with some squirmy thing in it's talons.

Luke and Kelly and their two younger kids drove all the way out to have dinner with us the night we arrived.  Then on the next day the whole family (Luke, Kelly, Julie, Dylan and Addison) met us in St. Augustine for some site seeing.  Our main focus was Castillo De San Marcos, a fort built by the Spanish in 1695.  It was used by the Spanish, the British and then in the Civil War both Confederate and then Union troops.  Here are some of the pics from the Fort:

Entrance. Protected by walls in front, which I am standing on.

Soldiers quarters.

Cannons, lots of cannons...

Fancy cannon!

Dylan with a 16th century soldier (actually a history teacher).  He explained in detail what it was like to have to load a musket while in battle.  

These cannons were fired while we were there.  It was quite a process all conducted in Spanish with everyone in period costume.

Central courtyard.

Another cannon

View of the moat - which was kept dry and used for grazing cattle in a protected area.

Linda and Addison!

Firing of the cannons!

A fancy mortar

Another view of the entrance.

Front side on the water.  The fort was positioned so that ships coming in were not able to "broadside" the castle but had to head straight in.  

The protection of the front entrance. 

Dylan with the cannons that were fired.

View from the beach

Good view of the moat - imagine cows grazing here....

We finished our tour of the castle and then Luke and Kelly took us out to a wonderful lunch at Harry's.  We got to try Boudin Balls, a mix of Cajun sausage, rice and creole seasonings which is deep fried.  Yummy!  

Overall, we had a wonderful visit with family and also enjoyed St. Augustine.  It is a great place and I hope we will make it back there to spend even more time. 

Savannah GA 10/21-10/23 2019

Continuing our way south along the coast, we stayed a few days in Savannah.  What a beautiful place!  The picture above is a good example of the squares that are literally every couple of blocks all over town.  There is usually a fountain or statue in the middle and lots of live oaks like this with Spanish moss hanging down.  These squares and all the wonderful architecture makes it a very special place.  

We stayed at the Red Gate Campground which was very close to the historic part of the city - only a 10 minute drive or so.  I realize now that I did not get a picture of the place.  But I did get a picture of Pablo meeting the horses!

We drove into the city on our first day and had lunch at a small cafe called the Little Duck Diner.  I had a great chicken salad sandwich on a croissant while Linda opted for a sandwich called "the train wreck".  Ha!  She won't make that mistake again.  It was HUGE and had bacon, sausage, eggs and cheese.  She was barely able to eat half of it.  The Little Duck was right across the street from Paula Deen's place but it looked like it was being remodeled or something.  

Paula Deen's restaurant - under construction...

After lunch we just walked all around and got the lay of the land.  We wound up down on the waterfront about 2:00 and the lady at the hop-on/hop-off trolley said if we bought a ticket after 2:00 we could use it again the next day.  So we did! Here are some of the places we saw as we toured around.  We did almost the whole route the first afternoon and then returned the next day and did some more.  

A view of the capitol from one of the squares

These live oaks are everywhere. Most are nearly 300 years old.

An English pub.  I liked the phone booth...

Jones street - posh neighborhood.

Mercer Williams house - from the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".

The Pirate House built in 1794.  Actually a tavern for seaman where if they got too drunk they might have been shanghaied to complete a captain's crew.  The frame at the top of the window on the first floor is crooked on purpose to keep evil spirits and ghosts away.  The color of the shutters is also supposed to do the same.  It isn't green and it isn't blue - something in between.  You will see that color on a lot of houses in Savannah.

For lunch on the second day we went to cool little deli called Goose Feathers.  I had a club sandwich and Linda had the special which was an orange chicken sandwich.  Really good coffee too. 

Goose Feathers - lunch place.

They didn't have a local root bear but Linda did find a really good ginger ale.

The Chandler Oak Tree. Estimated to be around 300 years old and designated a Georgia Landmark. 

I noticed that there were very few homeless people around town.  I only saw two.  This is probably one of the reasons!  What a great idea.  I wish they would do this in some areas in California!