5/16/2008

St Augustine, Florida

This is my third time here in St Augustine so I don't even bother plugging in my GPS unit. I have not noticed any changes since my stay on Anastasia Island last summer. After just four days here, I'm still not sure if I'll be here another week or several months.

St Augustine is a pretty laid back community with a lot of retired or partially retired individuals, many of which hail from the upper east coast. During spring break, the beaches are wrapped up with college and high schoolers and the summer with vacationing families. It's about an hour from the airport in Jacksonville and about an hour north of Daytona Beach.

St Augustine claims to be the oldest continually occupied European established community in the US and oldest port in the continental United States. The historic district is a great place to wander around and spend time looking at tourists who may have an appearance more dorkier than yourself.

Obligatory sights are downtown of course, the Fountain of Youth as well as Ripley's Believe It Or Not. They've dismantled the old Bridge of Lions and at present, constructed a by-pass bridge. So far, I've passed on the alligator farm across from the lighthouse but plan to walk the endless beach. I've settled in at the Holiday Inn and expect little if any excitement, That probably isn't a bad thing.