St. Augustine, FL

Friday, November 6, 2014

We visited St. Augustine over two days, Wednesday the 4th and today.  As you probably know, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US as Don Juan Ponce de Leon landed here from Spain in 1513.  He was exploring trade routes from Mexico and Cuba and searching for gold and a spring with magical powers.  He found no gold, but did find the Fountain of Youth.  The spring was a fresh water supply for provisioning the ships. He also found the nearby gulf stream that would aid Spain’s fleet.

Spain attempted to settle here several times but failed, however in 1564 the French did set up a fort and colony.  Spain recognized this would be a problem for their commercial fleet so they sent a military guy, Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles here in 1565.  He killed off all the French and took over the colony and fort.  He renamed the town St. Augustine, predating Jamestown and Plymouth Rock by several decades.

The history gets a little crazy here with the British coming in and Spanish getting it back, There were 8 flags over St. Augustine over the years, but the Spanish influence here remains strong.  We are drawn here by the history and the buildings. 

Our first stop is the Fountain of Youth.  Here we are trying a little of the magic water.  Do we look any younger?

Hmm…. maybe you have to drink lots of it.  It seems we should have had something more ceremonial than paper cups.

Our next stop is the fort, Castillo de San Marcos.  Yes I know, we said no more forts.  This one had a couple of things going for it; first was the historic weapons demonstration scheduled for today and it is constructed of coquina. 

Coquina is unique to this area, it is calcite that is loaded with old seashells.  The stuff is quarried out in blocks.  It was originally formed from an ancient seabed that covered the area 10,000s years ago.  Coquina has some unique features, it is a relatively soft stone, so cannon balls just stick in it rather that splintering the stone.  The walls are 10 feet thick in some places making it impenetrable.  Although the outer walls of this fort are covered in tabby (like stucco) and white washed, other Coquina walls have a surface that is really nasty with knife sharp edges due to the shells in it.  The Spanish would often coat coquina walls with a  poison that would kill would be attackers.

The antique weapons demo was a cannon.  We were hoping for pistols or long guns instead, but JQ Public likes to hear cannons.  These guys re-enacted the drill of loading and firing, so it was interesting.

The fort, designed and built by the Spanish from 1672 to 1695, is shaped to place attackers in a crossfire from any two bastions.  In addition there is a dry moat surrounding the fort, creating an effective kill zone for would be attackers.  This fort was never surrendered under battle.

A walk across the street brings you to the entry to St. Augustine, the City Gates. Back in the 1600-1700s the city was walled off with a sentry at the gate.  There was no entry after dark.

The main street through the historic area, which extends from this gate, is St. George.  This is the street that has all the old historic buildings. Unfortunately they have really commercialized it with shops in most of the historic buildings.  Kinda cheesy, in our opinion. 

Lets skip ahead to the 1910 era.  Remember Henry Flagler?  He loved this place, so he built a really big hotel called the Ponce de Leon, now used as Flagler College. 

It was built for the vacationing millionaire. Price to stay was in the $1000/night range, but you had to pay for 3 months worth, up front.  The next picture was the lobby, looking up.

Its interesting that there are about 2900 students attending the Flagler College and there is no vandalism.  It would really be easy to trash a place like this, but they take a lot of pride in being here.

Here is another hotel that Flagler built called the Alcazar Hotel, now the City Hall.

Flagler built a hospital, jail, church, and other buildings to make St Augustine a desirable destination.

Our final stop to share in St Augustine is their lighthouse.

It was built in 1871 and first lit in 1874.  Keepers quarters were added in 1880.  Its 165 feet tall with a first order Fresnel lens. 

It was restored in 1980 and the burned out keeper’s quarters were restored in 1988. The lighthouse is the oldest brick structure in St. Augustine. Its 219 steps take you up to the top for some great views of St. Augustine.

 

We enjoyed our visit here, however a couple things we would do differently.  You really need some transportation to get around.  It is a lot of walking, so we bought tickets on one of their trolley tours.  This thing takes an hour to loop the city with stops at places they promote and sell “discount” admission tickets.  We found that our senior rate in most places equaled their discounts.  You had to buy them in advance, so if you got there and decided it wasn’t going to be worth it, too bad, they gotcha.

Everything has an admission of about $10 to see, which gets pretty costly after spending $25 each for the trolley tickets.  Some of the stuff was a good value; others, not so much.  Doing it over we have a better idea of what to see and we would just buy the trolley tickets and decide when we got to the places if they were of value.

Our Adventure Update

Monday, November 10, 2014

Today we arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway Campground in Concord, North Carolina.  Things have gotten a little busy the last couple of days as we have been trying to work out details for our final stops before returning home.  As a result, we have gotten lax in updating our journey.

A complicating factor is the colder weather that has arrived.  Some campgrounds we were considering for a final night stay have closed.  Mid 20s are problematic for us without electrical hook-up.  Likely an issue for Wednesday night.

Tomorrow we are going to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  Several years ago we were here to visit the garages and tour the track. The Hall of Fame was opened the year after we were here.  Since it is on the way home, we had to stop.

We’ll share our visits to St. Augustine and the barrier islands off Jacksonville, hopefully on next post..

Daytona and the Birth of Speed

Thursday, November 6, 2014

We need to bring you up to date.  We left Homestead on Tuesday making our way north about 350 miles to St. Augustine, encountering significant traffic until we got north of Miami. Our current home is Anastasia State Park which is located on an island in the Atlantic.  St Augustine is a short distance west, but on the mainland.  You can’t see them from our campsite, but can hear the ocean breakers.  Pretty neat.

As you probably know, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US.  Ponce De Leon made landfall here in 1513.  We visited Historic SA on Wednesday and will go again tomorrow, Friday.  We will share our experience in the next installment.  Today we went to Daytona and Ormond Beach.

The first stop was Daytona International Speedway, where we took a track tour.  We have been to the 500 in February about ten years ago, but it was too zooey during race day to really see much.  The tour was 90 minutes; visiting pit lane, the garages, tech inspection area, a suite, a pre-race  driver’s meeting, and a lap around the track.  We really enjoyed it.

Something we have not seen up close and is a relatively new innovation by NASCAR, now used by nearly all car racing series, is the SAFER barrier.  As the next picture shows, instead of an outer wall of concrete or ARMCO rails and posts, this system consists of a movable steel wall with triangular Styrofoam spacers.  When impacted the outer wall moves toward the concrete collapsing the foams blocks, thus reducing the impact energy.  SAFER refers to Steel And Foam Energy Reduction.  Drivers now walk away from 180 mph impacts with this wall system.  Prior to the SAFER barriers in 2000, Dale Earnhardt crashed at Daytona coming out of turn 4.  The sudden impact broke his neck and killed him.    

They have been racing here since 1959 when the track was built. From about 1936 until 1958, they ran a race course that went down highway A1A then onto the beach, then back up on A1A.  This brings us to our next stop, tracking down the location of where the old track was located and how could they race along the beach?

The first milestone was the north end of the course.  Today a bar and grille is located at the site of the north turn.  This was the point where they left the beach and came up onto A1A.

 

This view looks southward.  The cars would be coming from that direction about 1 1/2 miles along the beach.  The sand at the beach is very firm, you leave no footprints as you walk on it.  But as you move away from the water it gets softer, so 1 to 2 foot ruts formed as they left the beach to access A1A.

Traveling to the south end turn, there is a marker.

We entered the beach and drove the truck along part of the course.  Today the speed limit is 10 mph.  Even with our balding tires, we easily made it down the beach, but getting back up onto the street was a little tricky.

We next drove back north along A1A.  All along sections of the east coast you encounter A1A.  It pretty much parallels US1, which runs along the east coast down to Key West.  FL highway A1A has the hotels and resorts and provides the beach access. 

Located about 10 miles north of the beach race course on A1A (Atlantic Ave.) at Kemp Street is the Streamline Hotel.  It was in the Ebony Bar of the Streamline, in 1948, that Bill France met with drivers and sponsors to form the National Association for Stock Car Racing, NASCAR.  It was to assure sponsors paid drivers the prize money promised.

Unfortunately, the hotel was closed.  The sign outside says under renovation, but we heard the current owner may not have the money to bring it back.  They continued to race on the beach until 1957, with another race in Darlington, NC.  In 1958 France had built his new 2 1/2 mile Daytona Speedway on property next to the Daytona airport.

Now lets set our time machine back to 1902 to learn how they started running races on the beach.  Remember, Flagler and others built big expensive hotels to attract the rich and famous to Florida’s east coast for winter vacation.  Many of these people had the new rich man’s toy, the automobile.  But the roads were so bad everywhere they didn’t have much opportunity to drive them.  So, a guy named Hathaway promoted Ormond Beach as a place they could run their cars along the stretches of beach here.

The next thing you know, not only did they bring their cars, but they started to race them to see who had the fastest one and pretty soon the beach became known for setting speed records.  In 1904 Flagler built the Ormond Garage, the “Gasoline Alley”, used for prepping the cars. Speed trial racing went on for several years and each year the speeds got higher and the beach run was extended to 7 miles. In 1935, the final year for speed trials, top speed reached was 276 mph.  Ormond Beach became known as the “Birthplace of Speed”.

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The original garage burnt down in 1976, along with all kinds of vintage cars and memorabilia.  This is a replica located in the Ormond Speedway Park. 

When stock car racing started in 1936, it was moved south about 10 miles where the beach was wider to accommodate side by side racing. So, its Ormond, Florida, not Indianapolis or Bonneville, that is the Birth of Speed and it was also the precursor of Stock Car Racing.  So now you know the rest of the story!

Homestead Part 2

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Over night it cooled and the humidity dropped to very tolerable levels, with a brisk north wind.  On our agenda today was a visit to Bill Braggs State Park to see the Cape Florida lighthouse and then on to Viscaya mansion and gardens.  Both are on Biscayne Bay a few miles south of Miami.

Bill Braggs State Park is located on an island in Biscayne Bay connected by causeway to the mainland. The Cape Florida Lighthouse is located at the southern tip.  The lighthouse is not as interesting as it’s history.  It is 95 feet tall and was refurbished in 1996.  The current lighthouse is the second one on the site and placed into service in 1855.  The original operated between 1825 and 1835, but was attacked and destroyed by the Seminole during the Indian war of Florida.  It was set ablaze with the assistant keeper inside, wounded,  burnt, and left for dead.  He was trapped at the top, 65 feet up, with no escape possible as the steps were burned away.  A Navy ship arrived a day later and rescued him using ropes to get him down.

In 1846 the current lighthouse was built and activated in 1847.  In 1855 the tower was extended from 65 to 95 feet to aid in it’s visibility.  It was also given a second order Fresnel lens and a larger, more powerful lamp.  During the Civil War, the tower again came under siege and the lens was broken.  It was decommissioned in 1878, then re-commissioned as a signal station in 1898 during the Spanish American war. It was then again decommissioned.  In 1978 the Coast Guard re-commissioned it and automated the light.  It was again decommissioned in 1990.

It sat idle until 1996 when it was restored to its current state.  It no longer operates.

109 steps to the top and yes we climbed them.

The view from the top was awesome.

Back on the mainland, our next stop was at Viscaya.  This is a mansion and gardens built by millionaire James Deering, the owner of Deering Harvester Co. which later became International Harvester.  Tmeframe is 1910 – 1920, referred to as the “Gilded Era”, a period when guys like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, etc. made their fortunes and spent it building extravagant mansions.  These were the days of the Titanic.  You get the picture.  So Deering, a lifelong bachelor, built Vizcaya in a Spanish motif, with art from Europe.  He wanted it to embody Florida history.  It is named after a Spanish province.

We never saw cost estimates, but think millions and back then that was big money.  The amazing thing, he occupied it only during winter months, November to April, entertaining other big shots constantly.  He lived in Chicago, France, and New York City during the summer.  He died of a heart attack in 1925 at the ripe old age of 64.  Guess you can’t take it with you.

Here are a few pictures of the place, outside only, no photography allowed inside.

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This picture is taken from the garden. The next shot is of the garden.

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Actually there were several gardens with statues, sculptures, plants, and flowers.  On one end was an orchidarium, our favorite area.  We saw orchids at Selby, but here the variety and size was larger.  Here are a couple of our favorites.

Did you know an orchid is an epiphyte?  These were tied to stakes, branches, and stems of other plants.  The back of Viscaya faces Biscayne Bay.

Called the Barge, it was an after dinner hangout that required a little gondola ride.

A secret garden.

A Gazebo, today used for wedding pictures and ceremonies.  In fact, the joint was undergoing a prep for a wedding reception with caterers setting up tents and tables, etc.  Bet that cost some bride’s daddy a buck or two.

Viscaya was quite an eyeful, but the whole time you’re thinking, couldn’t Deering find anything more meaningful to blow his money on?  Think back to Flagler.  He left a legacy with his string of hotels and railroad.  He also gave a bunch of his money to people in need of help in getting started in the cities he launched along Florida’s east coast.

You see Flagler’s name on streets, buildings, parks, and beaches around here.  There is nothing with Deering’s name on it.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Today we visited a couple locations, the first was Biscayne Bay National Park.  There wasn’t much going on here since the Park IS actually Biscayne Bay and an island across the bay with a lighthouse.  Since there is no boat concession operating, there isn’t much to do.  So your visit is limited to the mainland visitor center and little shore trail.

Our next stop was a little place called the Fruit and Spice Garden.  It is run by the Homestead Garden Association and has a collection of tropical fruit trees and spice plants.  The trees were from all over the world.  Part of their goal here is to see what they can grow in Florida’s climate.  Hurricane Andrew messed up the place pretty bad, so they are just again getting going.  Here are some of the cool things we saw.

Jack Fruit.  They can grow to 70 pounds! 

Guinana Chestnut.  This is about 6 inches across. the following is the flower that precedes the chestnut.

Ever wonder how a banana grows?

The banana forms under the red petals of the flower.  The petal then drops and the bananas grow in these rows.  The following is more mature bananas.

When its time to harvest the banana that whole stalk is cut off, the plant is cut down, and new plants grow around the base of the original, called a mother plant.

Sausage fruit. Poisonous to humans but elephants and orangutans eat them.  It makes the orangutans drunk; like intoxicated drunk. 

The flowers of Passion Fruit.

Some other cool flowers

There was a tram tour through the park where the guide told us about many of the plants here.  Like it takes an avocado tree ten years before it will bear fruit, no wonder they are so expensive.  And worldwide the most consumed fruit is the mango.

Anyway, a very interesting afternoon.

Homestead, Florida

Friday, October 31, 2014

We left the Keys yesterday and made our way to Homestead.  We enjoyed our visit to the Keys.  The weather while at Bahia Honda was fantastic; sunshine mid to upper 80s every day.  While the Keys are nice and good for a visit, they’re not great for a long stay unless you want to fish, swim, snorkel, or kayak.   I know, you’re thinking what’s wrong with that?  Right?

Unless you have a good sized boat you will be fishing from bridges and shore.  And, its all saltwater; in fact all the fresh water for the Keys is pumped from Miami.  Electric and all other utilities come from the mainland.  Jellyfish are a constant pest for swimming and snorkeling.  Their sting is like that of a bee, Dan got stung 4 times on the first snorkel trip and Lynn twice.  Although cooler, we have both decided freshwater is better.

Thursday we attended a Park Ranger lecture on the overseas RR and highway.  The ranger told us the first highway was so narrow back in the 60s and 70s when RVs started traveling, they regularly got their mirrors torn off when passing other RVs and trucks.  Keys residents would collect the mirrors, fix them up, and resell them back to those who lost them!

Our park here is Boardwalk RV Resort, another urban mobile home park with many permanent residents.  It has many amenities, including clubhouse and pool. A neighbor recommended locking up bikes or they will get stolen.  There is a pretty heavy iron gate with required entry code to get in.  Hmmm….

Our objective today was a revisit to the southern end of the Everglades, between  Florida City and Flamingo.  We did not see or learn a lot of new things, but the story of Flamingo is interesting.  If you look at your Florida map, you will see that Flamingo is about as far south as you can go on the mainland.  Back in the early 1900s it was inhabited by about  200 very tough people; living in shacks, making a living selling fish, alligators, birds (mostly flamingos) for meat and feathers for the lady’s big hats.  Living conditions were terrible; think mud, mosquitos, subtropical, no electricity.  Water came from the swamp.

However, their business was so big they decimated the flamingo and alligator population and nearly wiped out several fish species in the area.  When the Government declared the Everglades a National Park, the people of Flamingo wanted nothing to do with it.  When NPS declared Eminent Domain and forced them to leave, it was a battle.  Most people burned their house and belongings when they left.  Today, the town of Flamingo no longer exists, only the NPS visitor center marks where Flaming once was.

The visitor center is in rough shape also.  In 2005 both Hurricane Katrina and Wilma did substantial damage,  They are still recovering.

Its Halloween, here is Lynn’s costume, trick or treat!

Pretty real looking isn’t it?

Along the 38 mile drive there were pull offs, one with Royal Palms, the real big majestic Palms.

Although most was again saw grass prairies, there were hammocks of slash pine.

 

One of the few remaining stands of Mahogany.

Mahogany trees are native to south Florida, almost all outside the Park have been harvested.  They grow very slowly.  You hardly ever see mahogany for sale and not much furniture is made with it anymore.  This is a seed pod that when ripe will split and drop winged seeds.

Our next stop has been in Florida for eons.  It is the Coral Castle.  It ranks high on the list of bizarre things to visit.  It is a small plot of land along US1, a bit north of Homestead.  It was once owned by an eccentric guy named Edward Leedskalnin from Latvia.  He lived completely by himself in a castle he built between 1918 and 1936 from coral limestone from his property.  It included a 10 foot wall for privacy around his castle and yard.

He made a living by charging 25 cents to the curious who wanted to come in and look around.  The curiosity was how he moved this stuff around.  Ed was only 5’ and weighed 100 pounds, so it was amazing he could move up to 40,000 pound hunks of this stuff by himself using only hand tools.

Ed’s Castle - above.  Below - his rendition of the solar system.

The guy was self taught and brilliant.  He constantly read books about physics.  He was very interested in Nikola Testla’s work. Here is a table in the shape of Florida with chairs.

A sundial, note it marks slightly after 3PM.  It was 4:06PM with DST.

A slow cooker made from a Model T differential housing.  It was hung by chain over a pit he would build a fire in.

His bed

Anyway, you get the idea.  He died at the age of 64 from a stroke and kidney failure in 1951.