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

Book Review: Becoming, by Michelle Obama

Since DH has done most of the driving on our road trip, I've had some extra time to read.  A friend lent me Michelle Obama's new memoir, Becoming, and, as the miles went by on one interstate after another, I finally had the chance to finish it.

Mrs. Obama divides the book into three parts: “Becoming Me,” “Becoming Us” and “Becoming More.” 

In “Becoming Me,”  Michelle Obama recounts her experiences growing up in a small apartment on the south side of Chicago alongside her mother, father and brother, Craig. She remembers her father's strong work ethic in spite of multiple sclerosis and the time her mother spent teaching her to read. She recalls the times she sat with her Aunt Robbie and labored over piano lessons (Boy, could I identify with that!). At school, even in kindergarten, she notes that she "just wanted to achieve". She shares her mother's advice about bullies: "Just remember that they're just scared people hiding inside scary people". That advice served her well long after she left childhood behind.

Due to her hard work, and her parents' support and high expectations, Michelle was accepted at Princeton, where she was a minority student for the first time, learning to navigate in a white world. She then went to Harvard to study law, followed by her first job, where she met her future husband, Barack Obama.

Michelle at Princeton

In "Becoming Us" and "Becoming More", Mrs Obama opens up about her marriage and children, including her experiences with in vitro fertilization.  She shares stories of  her time on the campaign trail and insights into her transition to life in the White House. 

The theme woven through Michelle's story is how a few key people in a life can support a young girl and elevate her, so that she, in turn, can elevate others. It is with this in mind that she developed her priorities in her years as First Lady.

I enjoyed Becoming. Probably because I admire Michelle Obama. The book was written in a conversational style and the story drew me in. It read almost like a novel and, even though I knew what was going to happen next, I couldn't wait to read about it in Michelle Obama's own words.

My sense is that if you liked the Obama's, you'll like this book.  If you did not, you probably won't.

OK, I admit it: I included this next photo for two not-very-literary reasons:

                             1. I LOVE the dress, and,

                             2. Who wouldn't love a man to look at them that way?

Both as a teenager and later as First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama asks the question many women and girls ask themselves, "Am I good enough?" 

She insists that the correct answer is, "Yes I am."

This post is linked to:

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party 262 at Bluesky at Home 

Sundays at Home at Little Farmstea

Over the Moon Link Party at Eclectic Red Barn

Wonderful Wednesday at The Eclectic Red Barn

Keep In Touch #60 at Let's Add Sprinkels

Road Trip: Vilano Beach, FL

We left Virginia Thursday morning and, after two days on the road, we're finally in  St. Augustine, Florida!

St. Augustine is a beautiful old city with cobblestone streets, Spanish architecture, tall palms and huge live oaks covered with hanging moss. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. To read more about the history of St. Augustine, click here.

Our campground is on Rt. 1A at Vilano/North Beach in St. Augustine. To get there, you cross a causeway from the city of St. Augustine to the beaches. I took this photo from the car as we crossed the causeway yesterday afternoon.

When you leave the causeway, you're in Vilano Beach. This is a view of Vilano Beach looking back toward the causeway and the city of St. Augustine.

Vilano is a little ArtDeco-inspired village that still shows remnants of its history as a tourist destination in the 1940's and 50's.

I love this hand-painted fence at the base of the causeway in Vilano.

Just North of Vilano on Rt. 1A is North Beach. This is our fifth year staying at North Beach Campground to visit our friends Fred and Anita.  Fred and Anita retired in 2014, sold their home in Maine, and began to live their dream of being full-time RVers.  

Sadly, our dear Fiber College/camping friend Anita passed away in 2016.  We've continued to come here each year to spend time with Fred. 

Anita and Fred at Searsport Shores, ME 2014

The beach is right across the street, a short walk from our campground.

I took this picture of the beach yesterday afternoon while Hank was checking into the campground.

We're on site #52 . . . 

Where the Casita is nestled into the palms.

In the site next to ours is one of the neatest vintage campers I've ever seen.

. . . A 1940 Zimmer!

These used to be nicknamed "breadloaf trailers" and were manufactured throughout the 1940's.  I've never seen one on the road, until now. And it's turquoise; I love it!

By suppertime, we were all set up, just in time for a sunset pot luck on the river side of  the campground at the Matanzas Inlet. The sun rises on the beach side here and sets on the river side so we get to enjoy both.

We had a great time catching up with Fred and his friend, Anne, who is from Rockland, Maine.

What's better than drinking wine with friends . . . 

                     While the sun goes down over the water.

I'm writing this on Saturday morning. DH, aka Hank, was up early combing the beach for shells (no luck yet) while I slept in. Hank, who usually shies away from cameras, was so excited to finally be having breakfast outside that he asked me to take his picture!

The sun just came out and it's getting warm. 

Today we're planning on a day of rest after all the driving.

Sunshine and a good book sounds perfect!

This post is linked to:

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party 262 at Bluesky at Home