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Our next stop after the state park in rural Georgia was to the oldest city in America - St Augustine Florida. It is just under a 200 mile drive but mainly along Interstate 95. This isn’t going to be our first time in the area. Back in 2016, we had camped in a private campground about 10 miles outside of town. But back then, we were dealing with all the paperwork to become Florida residents and had only made it into St Augustine proper for one day of exploring. We knew there was so much more to see and do in the area.
Our plans would have us staying at the Elks Lodge in town. We have stayed at over 80 lodges across the country and the vast majority of them are first come first served but this lodge actually takes reservations. We had booked a site for 12 nights back in August when we were formulating our travel itinerary for the winter. This particular lodge has 10 full hook up sites. They go for $50 per night but are centrally located along Highway A1A on Anastasia Island just a couple miles from downtown. We got situated in our spot and headed into the bar to register and pay. The cook saw us sitting at the bar and brought out a small sample of what he was planning for dinner later that evening. I guess it was a good marketing ploy because we came back a couple hours later to have dinner and chat with some of the other members. It worked out well since besides a good meal, we got a lot of useful information about things to see and do in the area for the next week or so.
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| St Augustine Elks Lodge |
We had a rainy day to contend with on the first full day, but the skies cleared up and we headed out for a bike ride the following day. Our mission was the Palatka to Saint Augustine State Trail. This is a very long paved rail trail. We have actually biked over twenty miles of this trail on the far western end a couple years ago. We had many geocaches to keep us busy along this stretch of the trail. There are numerous trailhead parking lots available and we picked the closest one just west of I-95. We start by heading northeast back towards St Augustine. It was a nice trail, in great shape and not very busy. After 1.5 miles, we hit the end of the trail. A pile of ruble prevents us from going further and the old railroad tracks are still in use. There seems to be a large concrete plant next to the tracks and I suspect it is still in operation and the trains still service the facility. I doubt this rail trail will ever be completed into downtown St Augustine.
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| Palatka to St Augustine Trail |
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| The End of the Rail Trail |
We turned around, went past our car and continued to the southwest. We ran into a few more people in this direction and at one point the trail parallels State Route 207 so it isn’t particularly pretty or quiet. We stopped at another trailhead area with picnic table and a restroom for lunch. There is a gap of several miles with no more geocaches so we decided to turn back shortly after lunch. It ended up being a short 7 mile bike ride but we still enjoyed it.
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| Our Lunch Stop Setting |
We weren’t done for the day. In fact we wanted to go to the town of Palatka, and this trail would have taken us there but it would have been another 15 miles or so of biking to simply get to town and then a long ride back. We opted for the quicker approach and drive to Ravine Gardens State Park so we actually had energy to walk some of the trails in this unusual park. We had already purchased an annual pass for Florida State Parks figuring we would be in the state for many months and could make good use of it. Located on the south side of town, this small state park has ravines that aren’t all that common in Florida. There are a few miles of trails within the park so the several hours of daylight we have left in the day should give us enough time to explore.
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| Entrance at Ravine Gardens State Park |
The gardens were originally developed back in the 1930’s as a city park and was only made a state park in 1970. We head out to hike the two trails. The Perimeter Loop is about a 2 mile trail around the park above the ravine. The Azalea Trail is about 1.3 miles and works its way down to the bottom of the ravine along a small creek. The later trail is rated as moderate which seems appropriate given the steepness and obstacles we needed to get around.
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| Over or Under the Obstacle? |
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| Bubbling Spring |
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| Azalea Bloom |
There are two suspension bridges that span the ravine near both ends of the park. They both provide a decent view of the lower part of the ravine. There is a little bit of sway associated with their design but not too scary to cross.
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| Crossing Suspension Bridge |
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| Trail Beneath Bridge |
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| Almost Ready to Bloom |
There weren’t many azaleas in bloom but given the number of the bushes planted in the park, I suspect they are quite prolific when closer to being in season. We likely only spent 90 minutes exploring the park but did enjoy the trails and the fact there are actually hills on a hike in Florida.
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| We Didn't Confirm the Sign |
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| Bright Blooms |
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| Suspension Bridge from Below |
After we finished our visit to Ravine Gardens, we headed into downtown Palatka to use an Adventure Lab to tour some of the many murals painted on the sides of businesses around town.
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| USS Columbine from Civil War |
A couple days later, we head into downtown St Augustine. Like I mentioned earlier, we have seen some of the town back in 2016 but this time we are here closer to Christmas and apparently this town knows how to light up the town over the holidays. Parking in downtown can be difficult to find and is rather expensive but our bartender at the Elks Lodge had suggested we park in the side streets of the neighborhood just before the Bridge of Lions that spans the Matanzas River. From there is is a mere half mile walk across the draw bridge into St Augustine. As we were heading towards the bridge, traffic was stopped to permit several sail boats to pass.
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| Bridge of Lions Drawbridge Up |
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| View of St Augustine from Across River |
After crossing the bridge, we head over to Castillo de San Marcos. Originally built in the late 1600’s by the Spanish to protect the city, this is definitely a very popular destination for visitors to St Augustine. The entrance fee is $15 per person but our National Park Pass gets us in for free.
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| Walkway Along River Towards Castillo |
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| Entrance |
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| Bastion and Sentry Box from Outside |
There are a lot of things to see here. Many of the bronze cannons are very fancy with engravings and all sorts of ornate artwork.
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| Stubby Cannon |
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| Cannon or Artwork? |
The lower courtyard level has many rooms to explore. Some were sleeping quarters while other were storage rooms.
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| Sleeping Quarters |
The upper level provides for nice views of town and the river. There are several volunteers dressed in period clothing that have all sort of information to share about the history the fort.
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| Sentry Box |
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| Looking Down at Moat |
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| Bell Tower |
After finishing up at the fort, we head to the visitor center and a few other places around town. We had two Adventure Labs to tour us around the outside of the fort as well as some of the more famous spots around town.
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| Fancy Mosaic Floor |
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| Fountain Outside Visitor Center |
Our plan was to wander all around town during the afternoon, then find a spot for dinner so we are able to spend the evening checking out the Christmas lights. This is definitely a very pretty town with some very old buildings. Flagler College has to be one of the prettiest campuses. The main building is the former Ponce de León Hotel built in 1888. Let’s just say that the campus here is considerably different from the ones we went to back in Ohio and Illinois.
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| Flagler College |
Our tour took us to the shore of the river. A large ship was just coming back into port. From the looks and sounds of it, the Black Raven goes out on various “pirate” cruises. We also got to see the oldest house dating back to the early 1700’s. We didn’t have time to go into the Gonzalez-Alvarez house for a tour, but it was still interesting to read about the place on the plaques outside. By late afternoon, we headed to DJs Clam Shack for an early dinner so we will be ready to walk around after sunset.
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| Ponce de Leon |
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| Pelicans Attempting a Formation |
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| Oldest House |
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| Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine |
Known as the Nights of Lights, this event definitely draws a crowd to St Augustine. Many of the visitors are using the shuttle system to tour through the downtown area with no effort, but we prefer to take our time and walk around to see the displays in more detail.
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| Fancy Horse Drawn Carriage |
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| Night of Lights |
We make it back to Flagler College and head into the main lobby of the old hotel. The inside of this place is so ornate that it doesn’t require many additional decorations. There is a huge Christmas tree in the one corner.
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| Flagler College at Night |
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| Inside Main Lobby at Flagler |
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| City Office Building Lit Up |
A block away is the Plaza de la Constitution. The trees have thousands of lights wrapped around their trunks and draped from the branches making it a magical place to stroll through.
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| Trees Draped with Lights |
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| Frosty the Snowman |
As we head north along Avenida Menendez, there are many restaurants, bars and fancy hotels. It seems like all these businesses try to outdo the other in terms of how many lights and displays they can have.
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| Massive Light Display |
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| Hilton Hotel |
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| Getting Lit at Martini Bar |
It’s hard to know how many miles of walking we did that evening. The pictures I have included here are a small portion of all the ones I took. It is definitely a unique experience. We find a few more side streets with homes and businesses lit to the max as we head back towards the Bridge of Lions. The view of town from the bridge is pretty amazing now that it is all lit up.
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| Irish Pub |
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| Looking Across the River |
About 12 miles south along A1A is Fort Matanzas National Monument. This fort was built by the Spanish in the 1740’s to protect St Augustine from attack by ships coming from the southern end of the Matanzas River. This fort is on Rattlesnake Island in the middle of the river and can only be accessed by boat. Entrance to the national monument is free as are the tickets required to take the quarter mile boat ride from the dock on the main island to the dock right by the fort. The trick is that the tickets are first come first served and it sounds like often all the tickets for a given day will be distributed by 11 AM. We arrive an about 10 AM expecting to receive tickets for one of the afternoon boat trips, but we’re told we could get on the 10:30 boat so we didn’t have to wait long to board our pontoon boat.
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| Waiting to Board Boat |
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| Fort Matanzas Across River |
There were about 20 visitors, an interpretive ranger and the captain on our pontoon boat and it was a pretty quick process to board, be given safety instructions and make our way across the calm river waters to the dock at the fort. The ranger stops us before we head up the stairs to the fort and gives us the choice of 3 topics for his presentation. The engineer in me wanted to learn about the construction of the fort, but I was outvoted and got to hear about its history instead.
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| Learning the History of the Fort |
The place isn’t nearly as large as Castillo de San Marcos - maybe a 50 foot by 50 foot square. It has 3 different levels. The main lower level has some cannons and the tools used to operate them as well as the sentry box on the one corner of the fort. The ranger had some of the smallest visitors help him change the angle of the cannon to explain how the team of soldiers would have used them centuries ago.
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| Cannon |
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| Angle Measurement |
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| Sentry Box |
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| Historic Spanish Flag |
A set of stairs leads up the the rooms where the soldiers quarters were located as well as the powder magazine.
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| Inside Quarters |
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| A River View |
In one room is a ladder that leads up through a hatch to the observation deck. We were warned that the opening was small and the ladder steep but nearly all of us made the trip up and down.
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| Up to the Observation Deck |
While it isn’t super high, the observation deck is 30 feet high so it provides a very good view of the surrounding area. Before we knew it, we were being told to head back down to the boat so we can get back in time for the next group.
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| No Enemy Ships Approaching |
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| Chris Heads Back Down |
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| Boat and Dock View |
Back on the main island, we head out on the nature trail just off the parking lot. It’s only 1/3 mile long with a substantial boardwalk and many interpretive signs along the way.
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| Nature Trail Boardwalk |
We ate our lunch at one of the picnic table here before heading out to the nearby Faver-Dykes State Park. There were a few trail options but we picked the 2.5 mile Hiram Faver Trail which starts just north of the campground.
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| Faver-Dykes Entrance |
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| Heading Out the Trail |
It is a mostly shaded trail and was pretty nice. There were only a few other people out enjoying the scenery so we didn’t have to deal with hoards of people. The trail eventually heads out to a nice water view of Pellicer Creek. We spotted some very colorful mushrooms along the way and watched an armadillo foraging in the woods just off the trail. We did have a few geocaches to find along the way so it turned out to be a nice stop.
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| Vibrant Mushrooms |
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| Armadillo Ignore Us |
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| A Very Large Creek! |
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| Time to Head Back |
