Finally.....Florida!

Monday, November 26
The forecast rain for Sunday night didn't materialize in Unadilla so we were able to finish packing up and pulling in the slides dry. We had already dumped our tanks and put away some hoses as well as the on Sunday to avoid trying to do this chore if it was raining.

As we headed further south down I75  the skies greyed up and the rain began just a few miles into Florida. Nice welcome! As we turned on to I10 east toward Jacksonville the rain picked up......a lot. It didn't slow down until we turned south on I295 to bypass downtown Jacksonville, then on to I95 to St. Augustine. It rained on and off while we found the campground, and of course it poured rain while we set up the trailer on our site........and stopped by the time we were done.

Nice boat. Twin 350 horse outboards. That'll get you to the fish and back.

Tuesday, November 27
On our first full day in St. Augustine we wanted to drive into the city to get a lay of the land. It turns out our campground is only a ten minute drive to the heart of St. Augustine. Traffic is pretty light and the roads are easy to navigate.

The Bridge of Lions across the Matanzas River. It's a drawbridge.

We started down the A1A highway and went as far at Fort Matanzas. This is a National Historic Site. The fort was built in 1742 on an island in the Matanzas river to provide protection from invaders that may try to attack St. Augustine and it's fort, Castillo de San Marcos (which we will visit another day).

The boat that will take us across the river to the fort on the island.

Fort Matanzas and the dock.

Our docent and his boat captain. The docent knew the fort and its history very well. 

The red and white Spanish flag flies above the fort. They whitewashed the walls and used a red clay on the turrets to ensure everyone knew this was a Spanish fort.

The bricks used to build the fort were called 'coquina' . It's made up of millions tiny shells compressed into stone. It's very durable.

Everything you need to run a fort.

The commanders quarters.

View out one of the gun portals looking up river.

The observation portal. They also watched out for overland attacks.

Light the fuse!!!!

These three Ibis came to check us out.

A crew of seven manned the fort continuously on a monthly rotation.

Piles were driven deep into the sandy soil to stabilize the ground. The fort is fifty feet square with the observation platform thirty feet tall.

The sentry box. It would have been dyed with a red clay.

Marks on some of the blocks may have been identifying the builder. 

We headed back north on A1A toward St. Augustine. Next stop was the St. Augustine Lighthouse. This imposing structure was built in 1871-74. It is 165 feet high and has over one million bricks. Its Fresnel lens weighs 2 tons, is 9 feet high, 6 feet across and its light can be seen over 20 miles.

From 1874 til 1885 the light was lit with lard oil. From 1885 til 1936 it was lit with kerosene. The lard and oil was carried in pails up the 219 steps! Since 1936 the light is electric.

The light keeper and his assistant lived in this duplex with their families.

Barrels that kept the oil for the light, prior to electrification.

Office area in the lighthouse.

That two-man wrench was used to tighten the bolts that held the top of the lighthouse to the tower.

The base of the lighthouse tower. A great spot for a Christmas tree!

View from the bottom of the stairs. All 219 of them!

Most levels had these informational signs with interesting facts and stories. A good spot to stop for a rest and to let others pass as they came back down.

They also had these 'confidence builders' that helped motivate you!

Be sure to read this one about the cat and the parachute!

Made it!

Interior of the lighthouse wall. That wide vertical metal band helps tie it together.

Beautiful views. This looks south down the Matanzas River.

Looking north toward the mouth of the river and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.

The Keepers house.

Downtown St Augustine

The Fresnel lens and bulb assembly.

Decorated for Christmas

The view down.

Selfie! They had a convex mirror set up so you could take your picture standing in front of the lighthouse.

Inside the lighthouse keepers house.

A model of the original lighthouse that stood here. It was wooden and far too short to project a beam out to sea. It was built too close to the shore and collapsed into the ocean. The current one is much taller and on secure footing.

They had some very nice model ships on display.

We really enjoyed our first day in Florida. The weather was quite a bit cooler than we expected, I mean, this is Florida after all....but no humidity, no bugs, and clear blue skies made up for it.

........and that was Our View From Here!