Eastern Florida Wrap Up

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Our trip into historic St Augustine was definitely the highlight of our stop here but we figured there was more to see before we head west. Since we won't be near the ocean again for quite some time, we decided we had to spend one of our remaining days checking out the beach.  Our destination would be south towards Daytona Beach.

For the 60 mile trip, we headed down the famous A1A. We were taken by the amount of debris piled along the road. Lots of it was tree and brush piled high but when the piles were household items stacked ten feet high, it felt a bit more somber.  Hurricane Matthew certainly made a mess along the Florida coast. So many homes had tarps for roofs while waiting for repairs. There was even a mile of A1A closed while heavy equipment moved out truckloads of sand pushed up onto the road.

Small Beach Area Along the Way

Cactus in Foreground

We also weren't having great luck with our stops along the way to check out a small park or find a geocache. Most of the parks were closed due to damage and so many of the caches were missing - likely washed away. By the time we got to Daytona Beach, we had better luck. We found a few caches and even a couple that were very creative hides.

Waves Crashing at Daytona Beach

The wind was whipping up the waves so not many people were out in the water but the beach was open. We even spotted a lifeguard watching those that did venture in to the surf.

Lonely Life Guard Bundled Up

Nice Little Park in Daytona Beach

On another day we headed north towards Jacksonville, with our first stop being at Ed Austin Park for a round of disc golf. This is a BIG park, apparently a former golf course. Lots of soccer fields, baseball diamonds, skateboard park, and even a pee-wee football game with a real scoreboard. It took us quite a long time to even determine where the first hole of the disc course was. This was a very good course. However, there were 2 holes that were adjacent to a big pond. We think the intent was to throw over the water on the way to the pin, however, we were not willing to either lose a disc or go swimming so we took the long way around the water and needed a handful more throws over par to get those holes in. But we ended our round with the same discs as when we started.

After the park, we headed to Fort George Island Cultural State Park home to the Kingsley Plantation State Historical Site. On our way there, we called to see if we could get into the ranger led tour that afternoon, but were told it was already full. We still enjoyed our visit and explored the various building on our own, reading about the history of this place. 

Old Plantation House

View From the Dock

Front View

Side View

Greeted by an Armadillo