Day Two: St. Augustine Trip

St. Augustine, Florida: Well we made it through the cold night. The lowest I noticed the temp overnight was 40 degrees. That last minute stop at Wal-Mart to grab a heater paid off as it did the trick to keep the tent just warm enough to get through the night. Now if only I wouldn’t had forgotten the air mattresses.

The cold night rewarded us with a spectacular sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. We headed to the boardwalk overlook to watch the sun peak over the horizon and welcome us to a new day of adventures.

Today was going to be a busy day so we began by heading for breakfast. We decided to have breakfast at Wildflower Café on A1A in St. Augustine Beach. They were highly recommended locally so we gave them a try. It was a bit pricey for breakfast but the food was delicious. My wife had a ham and cheese omelet and my son and I had pancakes. The best part of the meal was the bacon, I could have eaten a lot more but we had a town to explore.

After breakfast we headed to Fort Mose Historic State Park on the north end of the city. The park has a short hiking trail and a visitor’s center that depicts the history of the fort. The fort no longer exists but was the site of the first settlement for freed Africans escaping slavery.

When we finished the trail, we headed back into the old city to board the Red Train and continue exploring the city.

Our first stop was Pat Croce’s Pirate Museum. The former owner of the Philadelphia 76ers turned his live long passion of pirates into a fantastic interactive museum along the waterfront. We got to learn about the history of pirates as well as take part in interactive activities such as firing a canon. We even got to touch a 400 year old treasure chest and life a bar of gold. Our son even participated in a treasure hunt during the tour. The highlight of the museum for me was the 3-D sound adventure.

From there, we crossed the street to visit Castillo de San Marcos. Admission to the fort was free for the weekend in honor of Veteran’s Day. The fort has stood in defense of the city since 1672. The fort was built from Coquina which was mined from our campground on Anastasia Island.

We then explored the city on foot for a while, visiting the historic Huguenot Cemetery before passing through the city gates for a stroll down St. George’s Street. We made a stop at the Colonial Spanish Quarter for their Colonial Market. Colonial interpreters performed their trades and sold goods during the day, transporting you back in time to the colonial days. Afterwards we continued our stroll down St. Georges Street before hopping on the train to head to our next attraction.

Our next stop was at the Lightner Museum. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it was interesting to say the least. It was a lot like a giant antique shop, a collection of just about anything. From dolls to china to large game animals, it could all be found here in the collection. There was even an Egyptian mummy. The coolest part of the museum to me was the architecture of the building. It was originally built as the Hotel Alcazar by Henry Flager. As you walk through the grounds and the collections, you can’t help but picture the hotel during its heyday.

We hit a snag on our afternoon after leaving the museum. For some reason, our Red Train never returned to the museum. We waited almost an hour for a train that was supposed to come by every 20 minutes. All while watching it drive by 3 times a block away.

So we decided to hit the town by foot again and head off to a late lunch/early dinner at the Colombia Restaurant. Its amazing how I live less then 30 miles from one in Sarasota but it wasn’t until I travelled over 300 miles to St. Augustine before we tried it. Like everything else in St. Augustine, the building itself was just as much of an attraction. My wife had a Cuban and I had the Shrimp and Rice. The food was delicious and was amazingly cheaper then breakfast. This was the best new restaurant I have tried in a long time, will definitely be back again in the future.

Once we finished eating we walked back to the truck and headed back to the campground to take a break before our ghost tour later in the evening.

We arrived back at Ripley’s Museum for our 8 pm ghost tour and checked in at the desk. We were issued a K-2 meter and a disposable camera, tools for our tour. While we waited, we browsed the photos taken during past tours.

St. Augustine is the third haunted city in America, we were bound to find something. While sitting waiting for the tour to start, the K-2 meter already started jumping so we figured it was going to be a good night.

We were introduced to our hosts and off we went, riding the black train into the dark. We travelled the dark streets of the ancient city, listening to stories of its haunted past while making three stops along the way at Castillo de San Marcos, Huguenot Cemetery and Castle Warden. While the K-2 meter did not act up at all the remainder of the tour, we did catch plenty of orbs on the camera, including some that appeared to move from one frame to another on the camera or disappear altogether.

When the Ghost Train Adventure concluded, we hit the city by foot to do a little more ghost hunting of our own.

Afterwards it was back to the campground to end another great day. When we returned to the campground, we were welcomed by the sound of the John Fogerty concert going on at the St. Augustine Ampitheater. Tomorrow we will tear down camp, visit a few more things before hitting the road for home mid-day.

Check out the slideshow below for pictures from day two and check back later for more photos and stories from the trip.