St. Augustine

We visited St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city at the end of June.  We drove from Orlando to St. Augustine, which was about a two hour drive.

Since there's so much to see in St. Augustine we decided to stay in the middle of the city.  We were a little surprised when our hotel looked like this.  This ended up being the back of it, but it was smack dab in the middle of a city street.  It was the oldest and smallest Hilton in the United States, but our room and stay was great!

The first day,  after scoping everything out we decided to buy trolley passes to see the attractions.  We rode the trolley around part of the loop to hear some of the history and take in a few stops. 

Hotel Ponce de Leon:  This hotel was the first hotel in the United States to have running water and electricity (installed by Thomas Edison) in every room.  Now, Flagler College uses this building.

Basilica de St. Augustine:  This Cathedral is the oldest congregation of any denomination in the United States.

Across the street from our hotel was Matanzas Bayfront.  We spent a lot of time walking, sitting on benches, and eating popsicles here.  They also had horse drawn carriage rides every night here.

Due to the heat, the best investment we made during this trip was the trolley ticket.  Your ticket was valid for three days, and we used it every day.  Here's a view of the "prettiest street in America" through the trolley window.

St. Augustine History Museum:  This museum was filled with 400 years of Florida history.

The Old Jail: The same company who built Alcatraz built this jail in 1891.  Henry Flagler paid for this building, so he could control its look and location.  

Learning about the public hangings was very interesting.  We were told the story of a hanging gone wrong, and also saw the only photograph which was ever taken.

Women's cells- Bucky was nothing, if not authentic- making us get inside

Men's cells

Castillo de San Marcos: This fort was built in 1672, and was used to protect treasures carried by Spanish ships from pirate attacks.  It's the oldest masonry fort in the United States, and has never been taken by force.  

Honestly, after visiting the forts in Puerto Rico, this one wasn't as impressive as those.  But, it was interesting to see the similarities between them.

Mission Nombre de Dios:  On the grounds there is an old Catholic Cemetery, and a walking path.  There's also a statue of Father Lopez, who accompanied Menendez when he landed in St. Augustine.   The first Catholic Mass in the United States was celebrated here.

The Shrine to Our Lady of La Leche:  This shrine is in the middle of the mission grounds.  It was really beautiful.

The former teacher had to stop at the oldest school house

The front of the Hilton

Fountain of Youth:  This property used to be the home of the Timucuan Indians, and several Spanish forts have been found on the land.  There were different exhibits to view: a cannon firing, burial ground, and the fountain Ponce de Leon was searching for: the fountain of youth.

Jake drank from the fountain, and recently said he isn't feeling any younger...

Random peacocks roam the grounds

Family Visit

Jake's niece was playing in a volleyball tournament in Orlando in June, so they came to visit before the tournament.  It was great to see them!

We spent the first day exploring Clearwater beach.  There was a LOT of walking, but it was a beautiful day!

The next day was spent at Anna Maria Island- soaking up the water and sun!  

The following weekend we drove to Orlando to watch his niece's volleyball tournament.  Her team did really well, and it was fun to see her play.  We hadn't watched her play for a few years, and it was amazing the growth she has made!

After the tournament, we had dinner with their team so we were able to spend a little more time with them.  It was great to see them, and we look forward to next year's tournament!

Y'bor City

We visited Y'bor City over Memorial Day weekend.   It's known as Tampa's National Historic Landmark District.  In the 1880's immigrants came from Spain, Cuba, Italy and Germany to inhabit this area.  Many of the early residents worked in the cigar making industry.  Y'bor City was known as the Cigar Capitol of the World until the 1930s.

We spent some time walking around the area, taking in the old buildings and streets.  Now Y'bor City is filled with many different restaurants, touristy shops, cigar shops, and a few random roosters walking around...

Chihuly Collection

A few Saturdays ago we went to the Morean Art Center in St. Petersburg to see the Chihuly Collection.  It was pretty amazing!

We'll let the pictures do the talking...

Blender Recipe Fail

We got a Blendtec blender, and have loved using it for many things- but the first recipe we tried out of their recipe book was an epic fail.

The recipe was for spinach whole wheat pasta.  It didn't start off too bad, it looked like dough. 

It all started to fall apart when we tried to roll it out.  We used a bunch of flour, and then rolled the dough out. But, no matter how much flour or how many times we tried rolling it out it wouldn't work.  The dough kept sticking to the cutting board.

So, we decided we should just throw them into the pot.  Jake thought we should make spatzels, so he balled them up and put them in.

Maybe spetzels are great (KC has never had them)- but lumpy spinach pasta was not so great.  The texture was a lot to get past.  We smothered it in meat sauce and cheese, and it was barely edible.

Thank goodness this blender makes great smoothies! ;)

New Recipes

Jake has been working a lot, so KC has spent a lot of time trying out new recipes. Pictures of some of the winners are below. :)

Salmon with lemon and thyme and balsamic green beans

Orange honey chicken and quinoa

Steak, potatoes, and balsamic green bean salad

Cod piccata

Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center

On President's Day we went to the Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach.  After living in Florida since July we hadn't seen manatees up close.  (We think we see a few moving around in the bay near us from our apartment- but that's a far view.)

There were hundreds of manatees just hanging out in the bay.  The Tampa Bay Electric Plant keeps the water warm during the cold months, so a lot of manatees congregate here.  It was fun to see them up close moving around a little.

 

 

After, we walked along another path and we able to see a few sharks jumping and some other big fish.  This was an easy to access, free activity- and now we can say we've seen manatees.  Next up, alligators! ;)