State Parks and National Parks
The Delaps had planned a real treat for us for breakfast the next day. We drove to De Leon Springs State Park, home of hot springs used by Native Americans 6000 years ago, later a pretty kitchy tourist site (water-skiing shows and the like), and now home to the The Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant, where we went for breakfast. Each table has a griddle in the middle of it, and the server brought us two types of batter (whole grain and white) and the toppings we selected (pecans, blueberries, and chocolate chips, I believe), and we made our own pancakes. Big-B was our main chef, and he declared it the best breakfast he'd ever had. He was even sufficiently inspired to fix me pancakes (Mickey Mouse shaped, of course) in bed a few days later after we got home. We walked around to some of the historical markers, then headed back to the Delap home so that we could thank them for their hospitality, pack out, and be on our way.
Big-B has been an enthusiastic participant in the National Park Service's Junior Ranger programs, and we look them up wherever we go. Therefore, our next stop was Fort Matanzas, where we toured the visitor center, watched a video, and hiked around the area (but did not actually take the ferry over to the fort), and Big-B completed the activities required to earn their Junior Ranger badge. Fort Matanzas guarded St. Augustine’s southern river approach when the European powers were fighting over colonial lands. The thing that made the strongest impression on me were the massive overhead webs of the ?banana spiders that we saw along the nature trail. We then headed up to St. Augustine. We got into some traffic so decided to stop for lunch, and ended up at a perfect local seafood joint ... popular, good hush puppies, yummy green beans, reasonable prices, just the sort of comfort food I was looking for. Big-B did pretty well, too.
After lunch we headed to Castillo De San Marcos National Monument and another Junior Ranger program. The Castillo was built over 300 years ago to protect and defend Spain’s claims in the New World, and was never defeated in battle. Its coquina (tiny shells) construction caused it to absorb cannon fire with little damage. Later it was used as a military prison, and held many imprisoned Native Americans, among others. It's an impressive edifice in a good state of preservation and internal reconstruction, and I only wish we'd had time both to fully explore it on our own and see all of the ranger program. We compromised by doing some of each. We then drove around St. Augustine a little bit before heading North. We had hotel reservations in a Travelodge in Richmond Hill, GA - along I-95 just south of Savannah, so had to get going. Big-B is a great road warrior, so we did just fine, and got to our hotel in time for an in-room picnic dinner before I put him to bed. I paced the parking lot a little bit catching up with Tanner and my folks on the phone before turning in myself.
Big-B has been an enthusiastic participant in the National Park Service's Junior Ranger programs, and we look them up wherever we go. Therefore, our next stop was Fort Matanzas, where we toured the visitor center, watched a video, and hiked around the area (but did not actually take the ferry over to the fort), and Big-B completed the activities required to earn their Junior Ranger badge. Fort Matanzas guarded St. Augustine’s southern river approach when the European powers were fighting over colonial lands. The thing that made the strongest impression on me were the massive overhead webs of the ?banana spiders that we saw along the nature trail. We then headed up to St. Augustine. We got into some traffic so decided to stop for lunch, and ended up at a perfect local seafood joint ... popular, good hush puppies, yummy green beans, reasonable prices, just the sort of comfort food I was looking for. Big-B did pretty well, too.
After lunch we headed to Castillo De San Marcos National Monument and another Junior Ranger program. The Castillo was built over 300 years ago to protect and defend Spain’s claims in the New World, and was never defeated in battle. Its coquina (tiny shells) construction caused it to absorb cannon fire with little damage. Later it was used as a military prison, and held many imprisoned Native Americans, among others. It's an impressive edifice in a good state of preservation and internal reconstruction, and I only wish we'd had time both to fully explore it on our own and see all of the ranger program. We compromised by doing some of each. We then drove around St. Augustine a little bit before heading North. We had hotel reservations in a Travelodge in Richmond Hill, GA - along I-95 just south of Savannah, so had to get going. Big-B is a great road warrior, so we did just fine, and got to our hotel in time for an in-room picnic dinner before I put him to bed. I paced the parking lot a little bit catching up with Tanner and my folks on the phone before turning in myself.