St. Augustine, Florida - Summer 2020 Episode 5
Good. Morning. And greetings. From flagler, beach. Today we're going a little farther, north, but, what better way to begin the day. Than a beautiful, atlantic. Sunrise. Hello. Yeah. This. Never get. Old. Look who came to visit. Hello there. Good. Morning. I'm, writing. Writing. Writing. As i said, the plan today, is to go just about, 30 miles, north. We're going to be staying at anastasia. State park, been there before. Once, a couple of years ago with my mom actually, and back then i was only able to stay one night, but now, we're staying for three whole nights, and of course we're going to visit saint augustine. Which is the oldest, european, settlement, in the united, states. It is such a cool, and scenic, drive, this part of a1a. Right here, next to the ocean. And this road, generally. Hugs the entire, east coast of florida. But the ocean, is not always as close, or as visible. As in this segment, right here. And we're enjoying, such, perfect, weather. Here's an area where the road goes a few feet inland, to accommodate, for this oceanfront. Properties. Yeah, some of these are very nice. And here's another, bucket list, oceanfront. Rv, park. Beverly, beach camp town. One of these days, one, of these days. Here's also flagler, by the sea, rv, park. And more, lavish. Oceanfront. Mansions. Paulie. This body of water here to the left, the matanzas. River. And this, is the matanzas. Inlet. What, a beautiful, area. There we can see the saint augustine, lighthouse. We are almost, there. Oh this is pretty congested. Let me go. Checking. All right. Here we are. Let's go check out the beach. Seems, pretty nice. A little windy, and choppy, today, but, nice. And there's the saint, john's, county ocean, beer. All right. To san agustin, we go. And i did. Practice practice. My ancestors. Tradition. Called, the siesta, this afternoon. So. Yeah. Full of energy to explore. America's. First. City. I don't recall, exactly, who recommended, it, but i had this place, marked on my map, called, the floridian. So let's check it out. Is good. Cheers. It is good. Fried green tomatoes. That looks, good, the concept, is like a southern, fusion. All the flavors, very well balanced. Very, very good, by the way. That was delicious. Pleasantly, surprised, by the floridian. Let's go for a stroll, along saint george, which is the main tourist drag. Absolutely. Charming, town, founded in 1565. By pedro, menendez. Florida's. First governor, and it was the capital, of spanish florida, for over 200. Years. A lot of these historic, buildings, were reconstructed. In 1965. To celebrate, the city's, 400th. Anniversary. Here's one of the city's, most iconic, landmarks. The bridge, of lions. Spanning the intracoastal. Waterway. Which in this area is also matanzas. Bay. Matanzas. The spanish, word for slaughter. Named after the massacre, of the french, huguenots. By aforementioned. Menendez. For all the times i've been here, which, have been at least four. I have never visited the castillo, de san marcos, the old spanish, fortress. Guarding the bay. Nowadays, owned by the national, park service. It is the oldest, masonry. Fort, in the continental. United states. Made out of a peculiar. Stone, called, kokina. Which is formed, by ancient, seashells. So it would heat up. The balls. Right here. Inside. Like a pulling alley. Actually, i find it to be very similar, in design, to other spanish fortifications. Found in places, like, cuba. Puerto rico, for example. This time. When we finally, decided to visit. It is closed, indefinitely. Due to covet. It figures. There they are parking my yacht, be careful. And we can see the lighthouse. The one other place we've never visited, here. And. It is. Such a gorgeous. Evening. But we're gonna start, heading back to the car. Slowly. And color the. Night. Before we continue, let me tell you about surf shark vpn. And what it is it is an app, software. And what it does it creates a secure, private connection between your device, and the internet. And this is particularly. Convenient, and important, actually, if you are connecting to a wi-fi, like a campground. Hotel, a coffee shop that you really don't have control, of. Somebody could be if it's dropping, on that connection, having a keylogger, you know still your passwords, your bank accounts god forbid you your identity.
So That's one of the things that is very important for you know it gives you that peace of mind when you connect to that. Potentially, insecure. Network, and it has other features, it is actually really easy if you want to connect you say boom connect, to the closest server and boom that's it you are secure, now, but it has other features it has the clean web feature that that blocks, those annoying, ads, that you know. In websites. It it has um, it has an incognito, mode and what my favorite feature actually is you can change your location. Virtually. They have over a thousand servers, in 56, different countries. And, not that i would ever do this but do you know that in the uk, you can watch star trek picard, on amazon prime, the point is you may be able to watch, a tv show or a game or something like that that is not available. At your particular, location, and you can change let's say i want to be in melbourne, right now, and, it takes a few seconds, and um. And that's it, i'm in melbourne. Anyways, i have a great deal for you guys if you go to. Surfshark.deals. My rv and you enter promo code my rv at checkout, you get 85. Off, and three months. Free, so, and i want to thank them for sponsoring, this. Episode. Good. Morning, how about some vitamin, d and salt, water. That's what we came for right. Just, what the doctor, ordered. Nice. So. Why does the beach make you so hungry huh. Anybody knows. Well it is time for another, rv. Cooking show. The classic, original, recipe, calls for some smoked, pork shank, but, we don't have any so we're gonna use bacon. By the way we're making some cuban style, red kidney, beans. And we've had him soaking, for a couple of hours now. We have some chorizo, spanish, sausage. And we're going to remove the casing first. And then, slice. It. While the bacon and the chorizo. Release some of that fat. We're going to chop an. Onion. Let's do a green, pepper as well. Of course we have to have some, fresh. Garlic. Salt, to taste. Black pepper. Paprika. Even though the chorizo, already has plenty of that. Oregano. And. A little bit of cumin. Some of that vinoseco. Cooking wine and. Some tomato, sauce. Mix it all together. Now the beans. I don't think it's gonna fit, we still have to add potatoes. And carrots. And this is the thing we're used to the larger, instant pot we have at home, but, we'll figure it out. Let's give it some pressure, for about an hour and, we'll see. And an hour later. I forgot to mention i added some celery, last, minute. Ili is going to give it the taste, test, and that way we make some room for the carrots, and the. Potatoes. Another 20 minutes of pressure, and, hmm. That came out, great. Good. Morning, good afternoon, actually. Let's do it again. It is almost like groundhog. Day but in a good way. Swim. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Repeat, kind of. Thing. But i didn't show you because i forgot to turn on the camera, our friend randall, came by yesterday. You would know him as minitini's. Official, detailer. And he brought us some tickets to the trolley, so that's what we're gonna do today. We've never actually taken the saint augustine, trolley, so it should be fun, and, informative. Driving, across the bridge of lions, into downtown, saint augustine. Never gets old. There's a little bit of traffic. As, expected. I don't think we've ever been to this part of town actually. Here we are, old, town. And it looks like we just, missed the trolley. We'll have to catch the next one. Here they have the old, jail. And it does look, a little, tourist, wrappy, in a disney, ask, sort of way. But there is a history, museum. And a bunch of other cool stuff. Like a gristmill. And the oldest, store, museum, experience. But we really, just came for the trolley. And it's going almost empty. There's the fountain, of youth. I drank from it, once, some years back but it didn't really work. That's a big, grass. There's castillo de san marcos. Here we have the old city gate and a small segment, of the original, city. Walls. Check it out the old, 1886. Drugstore. Is now a wax museum. This was the first location, of ripley's, believe it or not museum. If it feels like we're going in circles. It's because we are. Here we are once again by the old city gate and castillo, de san marcos. And, lots. And lots, of museums. And family, activities. Experiences. The drawbridge, is up. Nice, sailboat. Going through. Let's go into the narrow, cobblestone. Streets. Of the touristy. Downtown. Where most of the restaurants. Are. We've always wanted to go to that balcony, up there and have a sangria. Cuban cafe, and. Bakery. Beautiful, memorial. Presbyterian. Church here. Built by henry, flagler, in 1889. It is considered. One of the top religious. Wonders, to visit, in the united states. There is flagler, college, coming up originally, the panzer, leon hotel, built in 1888. And also developed, by henry. Flagler. So many beautiful, buildings, here in saint augustine. Here's, a better view of flagler, college.
Such, A beautiful, building. It must have been a majestic. Hotel, back in its heyday. Here's casamonica. Also built in 1888.. Here's a statue, of the aforementioned. Pedro menendez, d'aviles. Founder of the city and florida's, first governor. In front of the lightner, museum. The building was originally, the alcazar, hotel, built in 1888. By, take a guess, yes henry flagler, i'm telling you i think this guy built the whole town. Oh there's a brewery. Let me tell you had we not missed the previous, trolley. We might have gotten off here and sampled some of the local ipas. Here we have the accord. Civil rights museum. Here, in the historic. Lincolnville. Neighborhood. White victorian, house belongs to mrs cora tyson. One of two houses, where martin luther king jr, stayed at once, while in town organizing, protests. Lincolnville. Here was settled by former, slaves. And it is known for its civil, rights, heritage. Coming up here the yalaga. Plantation, house one of the oldest, in florida, dating back to 1800. And here's the saint augustine. Distillery. Another place we wanted to visit, originally. But let's face it it's been a couple of lazy beach, days for us, we came too late and we don't want to risk, missing, the last, trolley. It is such a great tour though. And it is happen, and hop off. For us a great overview, of the city, and we get to see places, and areas, we didn't even know existed. Here's, plaza, de la constitution. The obelisk, commemorates. The spanish, constitution. Of eighteen. Twelve. This used to be one of the most iconic, restaurants, here the santa maria. Decaying, since 2015. When it closed. One of these days, one of these days we have to visit the lighthouse. And let me tell you i never realized. There was, so much to see in saint augustine. Beyond, the beaten path. Oldest, house. Interesting. Now uh. For those of you that couldn't see that cannonball, just, um, we're gonna make a u-turn here so we'll be able to see it on the way back and we'll get into the story of that cannonball, now let me tell you something, this guy has some driving, skills, taking this train, on this, narrow alleys, actually, you have a spanish, home, notice the flight roof see the wooden open windows, and also on the side of the house the courtyard.
Now The courtyard, that's how they entered the home and that's where they had everything on their livestock. It's a little bit of a bumpy, ride. Now here we go. You guys get a better view just that, second window on the bottom. Floor. Now that shows you, what the cannonballs, would do, when they hit cocaine, they would either stick in the side like that or they would bounce off the side of the home to support. Whatever's, made of cocaine, they would never make their way inside. And here we have a statue, of ponce de leon himself. He led the first official, european, expedition, to florida, and was the first governor, of puerto rico as. Well. We're back by ripless, believe it or not which is the old, warden, castle. Constructed. In 1887. By, one, william, g warden, of. Philadelphia. This wall is made of a kind of man-made, coquina, called, tabby. And here's, our final stop the fountain of youth. I definitely, need some of that. Okay, let's go back to saint, george, get something to eat and maybe a sangria. At that balcony, i mentioned. Earlier. Tip of the day. Of the corner of spanish, street, and. Sita. Which happens to mean small street in spanish like little street. Parking, space there a parking lot, five. Dollars, after five pm. At least on weekdays, that's it that's the deal, here in the in the downtown, area. And if you walk a little further here's a, hippolyta, street. Let's, take a stroll. Along the narrow, cobblestone. Streets. This is not, something i would recommend. Driving, your rv, into the narrow, streets, of. Saint augustine. Actually, that is something i would have totally done back in the day. And with a small enough b plus. I probably, still would. Fit. Okay this is, george. And uh, that's our place right there. It seems to be empty. How about that corner table up there. Yes the ground floor and the second floor are apparently. Two different, restaurants. And we are really in the mood for a refreshing, sangria. After that tour. Alfresco. Which, in june, in florida. Means, warm humid, air. I think this is it. It is called old city sangria. Pretty traditional. Simple, of course we've had the one at the columbia. At the one in tampa which is much, better, a lot more fruits but. You pay for it of course. This is exactly, what we needed. Simple. And refreshing. And i think we are going to eat someplace. Else. By the way we're celebrating, ely's birthday, which is technically, tomorrow, but, we're here today. Let's go someplace. Else. We're gonna go into this place called, prohibition. Kitchen. They have a pretty good beer selection, and that's what i'm having. And, very nice ambiance. Kind of reminds me of new orleans. They have poutine, which i wanted the one with pulled pork but i guess she didn't hear me, and the giant, pretzel. Yeah today it's all about greasy, bar food. And live music. Of. Course. It looks like saint, george, is getting busier, as the day progresses. How about some ice. Cream. Cool they have a model train that goes around the ice cream shop. That's really, cool. And it is. Raining. Let's start heading back. Definitely. Plenty of places, to eat, and have a good time, here in st tigers. Team. So. Good. Morning. We're almost ready to go. This is our. Campsite, here. The last loop last uh. Last campsite, of, this area 105.. Very nice. And. Yeah anastasia, state park here very wooded very. Feels very. Very remote, even though it is not. If you look at a map like, like the city is right there, before we go let's stop by the public beach, which, we've never actually been there. Come to think of it, there are many things in st augustine, we've never done before. Here's the fishing pier, and i believe you have to pay to go in so we're not gonna do it. Okay if this drone footage, looks a little lower quality than usual. Stick around till the end, i'll let you know what happened, of course, many of you probably, already, know, by the way, this is a great, view of matanzas. Bay here, the inlet. Downtown. Our state park here in the foreground. Even the. Lighthouse. Let's, hit the. Road. Riding. Riding, in my. Rv. Wherever. I, want, to be. Because, i'm free. In my rv. Yeah. I'm writing. Writing. Writing. I'm writing. Yeah, i decided, to take a cruise around saint augustine. With the trailer, in tow. Get some video, from the higher perspective, of the trailer, camera. Besides, i wanted to see it one last.
Time. Do. Today we have about a three hour, long, drive ahead of us, we're going to taylor county to visit our friends rob and trish, the irish, campers, and perhaps, look for some property, in the area. Just a piece of land, away from big cities and regulations. It's still early days in our property, search but, you gotta start. Somewhere. Hmm, i wonder what's going on. Oh a funeral. Large one too. Here we are, we're gonna spend the night at their property, and tomorrow, we'll look for something, similar, by the way robin trish the average campers on youtube, super cool couple. And i love what they've done with the. Place. Oh we slept, so well, last night. In this area of florida, it actually cools down at night, a little bit. Even in late june. So we didn't have to run the ac all night long like we usually, do. And it is, so, peaceful. At 10 a.m. Shannon, the realtor, showed up and we went to look, at some properties. And this is what they look like in the raw. So a little bit of work would have to go into it, which, i don't really mind if the price is. Right. Imagine. Having a piece of land, that you can shape to your liking. And nobody, really cares, what you do with it, you can build a mansion. Or, just full hookups for your rv. And you are just a few, minutes away from the gulf of mexico. I don't know sounds pretty good to me. We get dolphin, out here, you know so when you're out on your boat the dolphins come by and yeah it's really beautiful. That's a lot of fiddler, crab. I have never seen anything like it. So after, looking, at half a dozen properties. Nothing really screamed, at me buy me buy me, but, we're still looking. By the way shannon, work, the realtor. Super cool guy and i really appreciate. The time he took to show me around. By the way. This. Is the very last, video, taken with the old, dji. Mavic, pro. At some point. I lost the signal. And it didn't return to me as it usually does so i presume, when the battery died. It fell to its demise. Into warm. Shallow, waters, of the gulf of mexico. Never, to be found. May the pelican, rest in peace. All this footage, i rescued, from the low resolution, version it saves on the phone. And, that's why it doesn't look so great. Till next time. Rob and trish. Thank you for the hospitality. As the journey continues, towards, the lost, coast. And the emerald, coast. Of the florida, panhandle. But, more about that, on the next, episode. Until then, thank you so much, for watching. And see you. On the. Road. I'm, riding. Riding, in my. Rv.
2020-09-07 18:05
