Florida, 2018

We have never been to the East Coast of Florida before.  We have always gone to the Panhandle, which we love, but we needed a change.  Since we were going to Orlando for a Disney Vacation, it sounded like the best move.  We should have went to the beach after Disney so we could relax.  I'm not quite sure what I was thinking!  We left on Sophia's birthday, so I made sure that I had some cupcakes for us to enjoy on the road.  We made it pretty far driving the first day, and stayed in Jacksonville, Florida. The next morning, we got up early and headed to the beach.  We had never been to this side of Florida.  I was not impressed with the water clarity, but the beaches were nice.  One of the things we love to do is find beach glass and shells.  We found lots of glass to bring home for the beach jar.  Many people were searching the beach for shark teeth. Some of the beach glass is pictured below.
 
             
 
After spending most of the afternoon on the beach, we ventured to St. Augustine.  We absolutely fell in love with the town.  It had such a good vibe to it.  We would definitely like to visit again.  While in St. Augustine, we decided to check out the Fountain of Youth.  It was fairly cheap to get into the park.  We were starving, so I was glad that they had a grill there.  They served up some tasty burgers and fries.  There was ample seating for everyone and it was covered with umbrellas to keep you out of the sun.  We walked around the park by doing the self tour.  When we got to the fountain, everyone was handed a glass to get a drink.  This was the most awful tasting water I have ever had.  It tasted like I took a drink from a garbage can.  It was awful.  I don't know that it made more youthful or not, but it definitely made my stomach turn! They had a lot of peacocks and wildlife running around the park.  The kids got a huge kick out of feeding the birds and the squirrels.  They spent probably an  hour doing this.  We got to watch a worker, who was dressed as a Spanish conquistador shoot a cannon over the bay, which was surprisingly neat and interesting to watch.  It made us jump, even though we knew the sound was coming.  Another worker was showing people how to make nails and other metals from a blacksmith barn.  The kids each got a nail. 

The drive to The Fountain of Youth.
We loved this street and thought it was so beautiful!

Below is the entrance to The Fountain of Youth Park and us getting a sip of the water (blech)
I also included some pictures of the kids feeding the birds and the cannon, because honestly, they enjoyed this part of the park more than anything!
                                                                                 
                           FYI:  Brad thought the water tasted like Satan's butthole as well!

                             
They had the best time with these birds!  It was so funny to see the birds interacting with them!

Braden feeding
a peacock!

We enjoyed the trees.  I know it sounds silly, but we are from the Midwest, and there are definitely not trees like this in Illinois!  


 

After visiting the Fountain of Youth, it was finally time to check into our beach house! We couldn't check in until 3pm, since this was our first day.  Our beach house had a nice ocean view and there were tortoises hanging out in the yard, which was so neat for the kids to see.  While walking on our beach near the beach house, was also ran across some protected turtle nests.           
                           





On the second day, we headed into town and found the Lighthouse.  It was stunning.  We had never been into a lighthouse before.  It was fairly cheap to get in.  The only issue was finding a place to park.  It was extremely packed and seemed to be a pretty popular tourist attraction.  While we were walking around the courtyard, Sophie found a rock that someone had painted!  We made sure to post it to the Facebook page as we were instructed to on the back of the rock. 

We generally ALWAYS rehide rocks, because we paint them to hide as well, but this one was too good to let go.  We kept it and it's sitting in my daughter's room with her other souvenirs.

The lighthouse had a fantastic view of the ocean and the town.  On the way up, there were cases with artifacts, pictures and games for the kids to play.  The games were learning games, such as how much a bucket of coal weighed that the keeper would have to carry up the stairs every day.  It was neat for them to get hands on. 

My honey and I at the top

Braden loved to be up top.  Sophie was a bit more skeptical, like me. The view from the outside, was just as spectacular.

After the lighthouse, we went to Castillo de san Marcos, the Bridge of Lions, and many other historical sites.  The Bridge of Lions is the type of bridge that opens up for large boats to pass underneath.  We saw it go up once to let a large yacht pass underneath. We made an early night of it, because were were heading down the coast to a different beach the following day.   

                          

                

                         

On our third day, we spent our entire day at Melbourne beach, which is were our next condo was located.  The view from our balcony was to die for.  Our condo was huge.  Our room was huge, the bathtub was huge, the shower was huge, literally EVERYTHING was nice and spacious! We didn't leave the condo all day, we just spent the entire time on the beach.  They had a pool, a snack bar, and some games such as shuffle board for the kids.  That night, Brad did some night fishing and we hunted crabs.  The kids love doing this any time we are on the beach.  We collected them all in buckets, then of course release them not too long after. 

The view from our balcony

 Our last day before we headed to Orlando to visit Disney, we laid on the beach the entire day.  The only time we left, was late in the evening for some Chinese food and ice cream!  Overall, I think we would definitely stay on this side of Florida again.  The water clarity wasn't our favorite, but the beaches were nice and not too crowed. We enjoyed it! 

XOXO...Becky                             

Sharks, The Duke and a Lighthouse, Oh My

The water on Dauphin Island was very murky the week we visited.  The captain of the Duke told us that they never get very clear water down there but that week was exceptionally bad, and was related to the crazy tides they were having.  This brought on the conversation of sharks. I get a bit scared when I can't see my feet in the water.  I will swim in creeks, ponds, and lakes with murky water back home where I am sure there are no alligators or sharks, but NOT oceans.

What is it?  Shark or Dolphin???!!!  We had seen so many dolphins while swimming, beachcombing, and enjoying the beach; however, none of them acted like this. 

"The Duke"

Wishing us farewell as we leave the Marina

 These two are enjoying the ride

 
While we were on the boat, we visited the lighthouse.  He informed us that the water is around 26 feet deep around the lighthouse and only 8-10 feet in depth in the bay. Near the lighthouse, the Captain told us that it is a major hangout for bull, tiger, and black tip sharks.  He also said that it is an excellent place for fishing.  I was amazed at the current.  We were told it was about 10 knots.  It looked very dangerous.  The lighthouse was built in 1838, was rebuilt in 1873 and then taken out of usage in 1933.  The lighthouse used to have a sand walkway to get there but Hurricane Katrina wiped it out.  Now it stands alone.  It is a federal offense to step foot on the rocks because the town does not want it vandalized. 

 You can see the current around the lighthouse.  It was pretty strong!

Up close view.  Too bad this lighthouse is no longer lit.  I would imagine it would be a beautiful sight.

We had a ton of fun on The Duke.  After talking about sharks and seeing the lighthouse, it was time to put out some shrimp nets.  After the nets were put out, they were drug for about 15 minutes.  The nets were taken out and dumped onto a touch table.  All dangerous creatures were removed and all passengers were able to look at and even touch the catch.  There were so many starfish that we each came home with one to dry out and keep for ourselves.  There were plenty of small fish which the kids got to throw to the birds and dolphins.  There were some squid that inked all over the place and some hermit crabs.  Overall, it was a blast and the kids learned a ton about ocean life. 

 

My family with my brother and his girlfriend on the tour

 The birds were hanging around to catch some of our catch from the shrimp nets

 Lots of interesting finds in the nets

 Squid!

 Our Starfish

 Sea anemone

 Dolphins were hanging around waiting on the kids to throw over some of our catch

Overall, I highly recommend this tour.  If we would have done it earlier in the week, I would have booked the fishing tour and the sunset tours with them as well.  Overall, they had excellent customer service.  One thing I would have liked is if they had waters and snacks for sale.  We had to bring our own.  To reach them for pricing and booking, go to www.actionoutdoors.org 

XOXO...Becky