Road Trip: St. Augustine, FL

This is our fifth year visiting our friends, Fred and Anita, in one of our favorite cities, St. Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine is not the typical city one would think of when imagining Florida; in fact, is is something of an "anti-South Beach". St. Augustine is very old, very Spanish, very artsy, and very beautiful. It brims with both flowers and history. Sadly, cancer took Anita from us much too soon, but we continue to come down to visit Fred each year.

Aviles Street is our favorite street in one of our favorite cities.

This is our favorite restaurant on our favorite Street, La Herencia ("The Heritage" in English). It's just a little bistro with a few wooden tables inside and three umbrella-topped tables on the sidewalk. 

We come here every year to enjoy the Cuban food and galleries along quaint Aviles Street.

Yesterday, DH decided to start us off with a couple of white wine Sangrias.

And, yes, he shared one with me!

We sat outside where we could watch sightseers, trolleys, and horse-drawn carriages go by on the narrow cobblestone street as we shared a Cuban sandwich and a bowl of rice and beans.

 Delicioso!

I have to admit, though, that the real reason we come to La Herencia each year is for their Tres Leches (cake with "three milks").

Just our luck, La Herencia was out of Tres Leches yesterday. The good news is that that gives us an excuse to return on  Wednesday, when they will have more. It's homemade and so worth waiting for!

Instead of dessert, we decided to take a walk along Aviles Street admiring the architecture, shops and gardens along the way.

We even saw grapefruit growing high behind an old coquina wall. 

Inside this gallery on Aviles St., a leathersmith was making belts and shoes.

 I loved this tray of old shoe forms.

Just as we left the gallery, this horse ignored his passengers and stopped right out front.

Out came the gallery owner with a bucket of feed for him. Seems this is their daily routine!

Aviles Street runs right off of the town green, La Plaza de la Constitucion.

Shaded by old palms and Live Oaks, the plaza is a good place to cool off.

The old Slave Market is at one end of the Plaza, a reminder of a sad time in St. Augustine history. It is now a quiet place to cool off and reflect about what once happened here.

On the opposite side of the Plaza from Aviles Street is St. George St., which is usually crowded with both shoppers and tourists.

 St George St. is old, cobbled and lined with historic Spanish-style buildings, Today, many of them are filled with upscale stores and galleries as well as cafes and souvenir shops.

In the evening the whole street is lit with tiny white lights, as is much of the city of St. Augustine.

As we left the city to head back to camp. we passed the iconic Bridge of the Lions, which crosses the inter-coastal waterway from the center of St. Augustine.

I managed to get a picture of one of the lions from our car, even though he is competing with a poorly-placed red yield sign.

Just past the Bridge of the Lions is . . .

El Castillo de San Marco, the Castle of St. Mark.

The Castillo de San Marco is the oldest masonry and only extant 17th century fort in North America. The fort was constructed by the Spanish between 1672 and 1675 and was used to defend their primary trade route to Europe.

After a busy day, we went to Fred's (much larger) RV for supper with him and Anne. 

It was fun sharing our day over a glass of wine and key lime pie!

It's a little cool and windy today for St. Augustine.

DH did get out to the beach early this morning but, alas, no shells yet again.

 So it's a good day to be lazy:  blogging, reading, and resting up for our next adventure.

Hope you'll follow along with us!

This post is linked to:

Wonderful Wednesday at The Eclectic Red Barn
Keep In Touch #60 at Let's Add Sprinkles
Thursday's Favorite Things at Follow the Yellow Brick Home

Snow Day

There's something magical about waking up to the sound of the wind gusting outside the window, hearing the pings of hail hitting the skylight, and slowly opening the bedroom curtains to expose a world turned white.  I feel like a kid again, ready to yell, "Snow Day!"

As a kid, that meant getting out our ice skates and and heading to "the Pond".  Now, although my choices are a little less physically challenging, I still love that gift of unexpected, unplanned time.

Time to  . . . 

          Work on the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle.

Sew buttons on the two cardigan sweaters my friend Margaret just completed. Margaret is my knitting "mentor". In exchange for her help with my simple projects, I sew the buttons on her more complicated ones.

                    Margaret's sweaters are always colorful; just what I need to work on on this gray day.

Yesterday, Margaret showed me how to interpret the directions for this hat project which I got at Fiber College. I love the hand-dyed yarn. I promised to allow myself some time to start this project today. We'll see. Snow Days have an uncanny way of flying by!

And, every Snow Day should include some time for a good book, right? 

Here's my current stash!

In addition to everything else, DH and I spent an hour of our snow day working on travel plans. We're headed to Portugal (a magical place!) and Spain in October. I finally hit "Purchase" and booked the airline tickets today: Boston to Lisbon, Portugal and then  home to Boston from Barcelona, Spain, Can't wait!

                  And finally, this unplanned Snow Day is providing time to catch up on my little blog.

So much to do at Applegate Lane.

Happy Snow Day!

This post is linked to:

Sundays at Home Party at Little Farmstead

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party #254 at Bluesky at Home

Amaze Me Monday #298 at Dwellings

485th Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life