Back to St. Augustine. We arrived at our campground in St. Augustine Beach on Wednesday early afternoon in time to get set up and drive the 7 miles into downtown St. Augustine. Finally, of all the places we've been that has had a claim to "the oldest", St. Augustine takes first prize - the oldest city in the United States. We're talking OLD - Ponce de Leon came ashore in 1513 and claimed the land for Spain, naming it La Florida. The actual city of St. Augustine was founded in 1565. Thinking that we would be coming back on Friday, we decided to forgo the trolley tour and just set off walking. We saw most of the interesting, touristy sites, just didn't get the narrative to explain everything. We started at the old city gate and walked down St. George Street, a pedestrian-only narrow lane lined with shops and restaurants, many of them housed in original, old structures. (since we weren't eating and Mike doesn't go in cute, interesting looking shops, it didn't take us long to walk the length of this street.) We hadn't even gone a block when he came upon the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse in the U.S.
Having done a little research on the area, I wanted to see Flagler College, mainly for the architecture. It turned out to be just several blocks west of St. George Street. Flagler College was originally the Ponce de Leon Hotel, a luxury resort built by Henry Flagler in 1888. Henry Flagler was a partner with John D. Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Company. He also built the East Coast Railway and is considered the founder of Palm Beach and Father of Miami. Another of his resorts - The Breakers - is in Palm Beach. The Ponce de Leon had 508 rooms and was the first hotel to have hot running water and electricity. The resort was only open during January, February and March. We walked inside the main building and it was easy to envision it as a hotel lobby. It was extremely ornate and beautiful. It has the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass windows (over 25 of them) in the country. Flagler College took over the property in 1968.
Another block away was the Memorial Presbyterian Church, built by Flagler in memory of his 33 year old daughter who died in childbirth. When it was built in 1889, the cost was 1.3 million dollars. It was built to resemble St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.
We made our way back to the main avenue and I mentioned how nice it would be to go on a carriage ride because we could get off our feet for awhile, we would learn some of the history of the town and it would just be downright romantic! Somehow Mike agreed, so off we went with Bess walking at a slow pace and much of what I just related to you I learned from our carriage driver, a native St. Augustinian. (When the carriage went past Flagler College, bells were ringing a lovely tune that only added to the romantic part!)
There is a Fountain of Youth here, but when we saw that they charged to park the car and charged to get in the "park" we figured it was a tourist trap and didn't go. I never did get a picture of one of the several statues of Ponce de Leon.
Thursday was sunny and in the mid 80's. We drove on A1A, the two lane road that follows the Florida coast, heading south to Daytona Beach. We drove past miles of beautiful beaches - Crescent Beach, Flagler Beach, Ormond Beach. And when our view of the beach was blocked it was because we were treated to large, gorgeous mansions or smaller, funky beach houses. Either way, it was very interesting viewing. Our trek to Daytona was two-fold: the Daytona International Speedway and the beach itself. Mike has been to both and wanted me to experience both. We arrived at the speedway 10 minutes before the next tour (perfect timing) and joined 17 other people on a 90 minute guided tour of the Daytona racetrack. (I think the tours of Charlotte Motor Speedway and now Daytona are paybacks for all the national park orientation films I made Mike watch when we were traveling out west! Or maybe it was the carriage ride . . . ) We were led into one of the suites where we could look out over the track as our guide gave us a little history (the racetrack was built by Bill France, Sr. in 1958, the founder of NASCAR, and his company International Speedway Corporation owns 12 other tracks, including Talledega and Michigan) and also explained "Daytona Rising", a two year remodeling of the grandstand area that will cost in the hundreds of millions. From artist's renderings and the scale model we saw, the new Daytona will be the ultimate experience for any NASCAR fan. On race day, when you count the grandstands and infield, the speedway becomes one of the largest cities in Florida.
We also went to the Fan Zone, the winner's circle, the garages for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars, drove past the lake which is in the infield, through the different camping facilities in the infield (the driver's campground was the best, surprise, surprise). In the driver meeting room, our guide had us watch the exact video all the drivers have to watch before the race. The driver meeting is mandatory. Watching the video I thought the drivers probably pay as much attention to it as we do to the flight attendant safety spiel before a flight.
After a drive by the combined NASCAR headquarters and corporate offices of International Speedway Corporation, which is right across the street, the tour ended with a short film on Daytona, a look a Jimmie Johnson's number 48 car that won the 2013 Daytona 500 (sticky champagne, confetti and all, just as it came out of the winner's circle) and an exit through the gift shop. (every attraction in Florida seems to have strategy down pat).
We left the racetrack and drove to Daytona Beach. Or I should say, on Daytona Beach. Mike came here almost 40 years ago on spring break with his cousin Mary and some friends and I had heard the stories from that trip, along with his brother Steve's hilarious spring break tales from the following year. Mike wanted to drive on the beach again. 40 years later he found out it now costs $5 to do so, but it was worth it . We drove for a while, parked the Jeep and ate lunch at a tiki hut on the beach while Mike went over that senior year spring break trip again. So now we have not only ridden our bikes on the sands of the Atlantic ocean, we have driven our car on it too!
Back in St. Augustine Beach, before returning to the RV, we found a beachfront restaurant (I use that term loosely) called the Beachcomber and decided it would be the perfect place for a sunrise breakfast.
So Friday morning we rolled out of bed, threw hats on our bed hair and got there at 7:15. We told the cook we would be right back, sat with our back to some dune grass on the beach, our eyes on the water and watched the sun come up. Every bit as spectacular as some sunsets we've seen. Mike is often awake and outside to see this everyday occurrence. I'm sometimes up, but not usually outside so to plan to watch a sunrise just like we do to watch a sunset was really kinda neat. After our Beachcomber breakfast, we went back to the RV, cleaned up for our day at the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame is in the World Golf Village, just north of St. Augustine - a residential community with two golf courses. The Slammer and Squire course is inspired by Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead. The King and Bear course was jointly designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. The village includes the H of F Museum, a Renissance Hotel, headquarters of the First Tee program, the Caddyshack restaurant (owned by Bill Murray and his brothers) an 18 hole putting course, and a Challenge hole built to resemble the 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass. All of these are in a circle around a large pond. The admission price to the museum includes the putting course and we each got 3 swings on the 132 yd. Challenge hole. Mike put two of his shots on the green and put one over. All three of my balls found the water. (surprise, surprise)
The museum started with a tribute to Bob Hope, an odd choice maybe, but after walking through the displays, it was obvious what a promoter and ambassador of the game of golf he was. (I didn't know Bob Hope was born in England. He jokingly said he left when he realized he couldn't be king!) There were many pictures of Hope playing with presidents and other famous actors. He often brought a golf club on stage with him during his numerous overseas trips to entertain the troops.
The beginnings of golf in Scotland came next. Pictures, information on early famous golfers (Old Tom Morris) and actual equipment from the 1700's and 1800's brought this history to life.
On to golf in America and there was an entire section devoted to Bobby Jones who accomplished the Grand Slam of golf in 1930 by winning the British Amateur, the British Open, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open. (today's Grand Slam is The Open Championship, The Masters, The U.S. Open and the PGA Championship). He is the only person ever to have received two ticker tape parades in New York City. He endeared himself to the people of St. Andrews when, after winning the Open, he didn't take the Claret Jug home, but asked if he could leave it there and would they "mind it for me". His lasting legacy to the world of golf is Augusta National Golf Club and The Masters tournament.
There were sections for the international competitions - The Ryder Cup, The Presidents Cup and the Solheim Cup. The woman golfer who got her own room was Nancy Lopez. Her dad put a club in her hand when she was 7 years old and said, "Put it in the hole." If only it were that simple. But for Nancy, who was basically self-taught, it was.
The last area of the museum was the Hall of Fame. Bronze face plaques lined a wall, much like at The Baseball Hall of Fame. (the Football Hall of Fame has bronze busts). The most recent inductees had a section with their memorabilia and accomplishments. One of our family's favorite golfers - Freddie Couples - was in the Class of 2013 so we particularly enjoyed this area. We ended by walking through a replica of a locker room. Each member of the Hall of Fame has a locker with a glass front and they are allowed to choose what goes in the locker for us to see.
And once again, we exited through their gift shop.
We recommend a visit to the World Golf Village for anyone who likes golf. It is in a pretty setting and enough hands-on activities to make it interesting.
We drove north about 20 miles to the The Players Club at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedre. The drive back to the stately clubhouse was lined with banners of the past winners of the Players Club Championship. We walked through the clubhouse, but didn't wait for the tour led by "storytellers". It's too bad we didn't wait because we heard they not only give you a tour of the clubhouse, they take you by golf cart out to the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes - the 17th being the signature island green par 3.
So Saturday our eastern journey ended as we arrived in Zephyrhills about 11:15 am. The motorhome got a good washing, inside and out and we are all set up on a rental space in an RV park for the winter.
As with our western trip, we are thankful for the opportunity we had to take the month of October to meander down the east coast of our beautiful country. We certainly didn't see everything which only leaves us looking forward to more journeys. God willing, there will be more. We are open to any and all suggestions of "must see" places!
Psalm 9:1 - "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders."
