Our first stop – St. Augustine
From the time we left our home on Kent Island in Maryland, we have been cold. Most of the campgrounds have also been wet and muddy. Luckily, we have spent a lot of our times visiting the nearby cities instead of hiking and exploring the campgrounds. It’s been an adventure and we have enjoyed it, but I was ready not to slosh around in the mud anymore, and I was anxiously awaiting having the sun shine on my face again.
I never thought I’d say this…but thank goodness for Florida! Living in Florida when I was little does not bring back fond memories. I remember hot muggy days that brought on a halo of frizz to my then wavy hair and constantly spitting out gnats as they swarmed my sweaty head. There are various other reasons Florida does not top my list of places to visit (most of which have nothing to actually do with the Sunshine state) but that is for another time. This January however, changed my mind! We drove into Saint Augustine a few days after my birthday. It was not extremely warm, but it was dry and it was the first “RV Resort” we were staying in. The each RV spot was large (and dry) and there were paved paths with beautiful landscaping all around. We made a fire and spent the night outside (animals and all).
Roxy and Raleigh Enjoying the fire Dinner by “candlelight”
The next day was 68 degrees and very sunny! Warm, not hot, but that did not stop my kiddos from busting out summer clothes, riding bikes around the park, playing on the playground and yes – swimming in the pool. It was here that we wrapped up learning about the colonies and the children made their very first infomercial. Ben taught them to use iMovie – Sloan was unsurprisingly better than me! I gave myself a little pat on the back as they worked together to decide which colony they should promote and backed it with evidence and reasoning. They worked together to edit away, adding titles, transitions and music.
Shorts and Sunshine! Playing in the pool.
Did you know that St. Augustine is the oldest city in our country? Well you may have, but I did not. Remember, I am no history buff. I’m learning as I go. I did know that Florida was a Spanish colony to begin with and it was very interesting to investigate the history and differences in the treatment of Native Americans and Black people during the Spanish colonization. The first legal free Black community was also in St. Augustine at Fort Mose – before Florida became a British Colony. That really stuck in my head. A city in the South, full of freed Black people, that were constantly concerned that if the British took over, their children could be taken and sold. This was a great conversation with the kids that fell perfectly inline with the upcoming MLK Day (a day they told me they would get “off” from school). Quick tip – The National Park Service has lessons for teachers that can be easily adapted to the parent that wants to teach their child about any place/time/event. If you are curious, and your children are curious, it’s easy to find many topics to discuss and dive deeper into.
Anyway, I found information on the “Castillo de San Marcos” and that is what we decided to visit and investigate as a family. The Castillo is the oldest masonry fort in the U.S. and it is made of Coquina – a stone that is made of sand and shell. Think about that, it is literally made of sand and has been standing for nearly 350 years. You will see the stone in walls all over St. Augustine – it’s beautiful and the science geek in my was baffled. It is a very cool National Park to visit. You don’t need a lot of time to visit the rooms, read the history and get an idea of what life was like for the soldiers. There are amazing views from the top of the fort and lots of great photo ops.
Our first National Park Walking along the water wall View into the Fort Entering on the drawbridge Soldier Sleeping quarters – tighter than our camper! Coquina A cannon on top of the fort
After we left the fort, we walked around the town a bit. It is a shopper friendly town with lots of cute shops and places to pop in for a quick drink or bite to eat. We already knew we would be eating at Harry’s (a recommendation from our old neighbor) so we skipped the food but stopped in a few shops. Sloan found Hyppo Pops and we had to promise we would go back for desert. Jackson saw a Key Lime store so we stocked up on supplies to make our own key lime pies and key limeade. After a great meal at Harry’s (read about it in Ben’s blog here), and of course some good cocktails, we wanted to explore some more.
Streets of St. Augustine Starting to rain…prepared! Jackson’s Key Lime Stash
We bought macaroons from an authentic french bakery to make my Father-in-Law jealous and then moved on to keep our promise to Sloan. Jackson and Sloan took a very long time to choose their pops from an endless selection of all natural choices. They happily walked out in the rain to head back to the square to see the lights that stay up all of January. It was magical. The trees of the square were gorgeous all lit up like it was still Christmas. It was a great way to end the day.
French Macaroons Sloan is drooling Nights of Lights Enjoying their pops Quick Selfie
The rest of our time in St. Augustine was really spent at the park. The day before we left, I definitely fell down on my homeschool duties and let the children play all day. It was too beautiful not to. I spent the day planning and making reservations for more of our trip. St. Augustine was a nice welcome to Florida.
