Discovering Florida

We had a great time with my mom visiting last week.  Garrett took a couple days off and we had some opportunities to explore some areas surrounding where we live.

On Monday we took a day trip to St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the United States.  It's a beautiful place, but definitely a tourist trap.  Everything costs money, sometimes a lot of money!  More than we were inclined to spend.  So, we drove around for a bit, and also walked around Castillo de San Marcos, which is the  oldest masonry fort in the United States.  It was pretty neat!

 This contraption was pretty neat... they used to put cannons down the tracks, and underneath they kept a fire.  The cannons would get really hot, then once they were shot and landed on ships, the heat would make them catch fire and sink.

We went to a really good Spanish restaurant for lunch.  Abby was pretty happy about the crayons she got... I was pretty happy about the ENTIRE LOAF OF BREAD I got before my meal.  Sorry, no pics... I ate it too fast.

The main event was going to the beach!  It was a gorgeous day outside.... a little bit hot in St. Augustine, but the breezes at the beach made for perfect weather.

 Even though we planned to stop at the beach, we didn't pack bathing suits for the kids because for some reason I didn't think we'd really swim.  I did bring changes of clothes for the girls, though, so all was well.

They played in the water and the sand until their little hearts were content.  It was so much fun, and very relaxing to sit in the sand and look out over the beautiful ocean.

(from my ipod:)

On our way home, we saw the Carousel in St. Augustine and just had to stop and ride.  The girls were so excited, you would have thought we were at Disney World.

Abby was especially thrilled.  She knew right away that she wanted to ride on the golden horse.  It was so fun to watch her excitement... I was just giddy for her!  I will have to find a Carousel close by... I would take her every day if I could.  So fun to see her face on that ride.

On Tuesday, we drove to Micanopy (pronounced MICK-a-NO-pee) to go to Paynes Prairie to see some alligators.  The prairie was gorgeous!

Downtown Micanopy is full of little antique shops, so of course we had to stop at those.  We only got the girls out of the car once, though... as you can see, they weren't too eager to hold hands (or pose for a picture, clearly).  Thankfully, Garrett sat in the car with them for a while so that Mom and I could run in and out of the shops more efficiently.  It was fun to see what was for sale, but everything seemed pretty overpriced, and everything was pretty knick-knack-y anyway.

Finally, we drove to the Northern part of Paynes Prairie (about 12 miles north of Micanopy) to see the gators (you can't come to Florida and not see the gators!).  Unfortunately, this is about as close as we came to them, despite the sign (below):

I say "unfortunately", because I was really hoping to get kind of close to one.  I mean... I'm deathly afraid of alligators and I have had my share of nightmares about them since moving here, but I kind of wanted to look fear in the eyes and have a good story to tell.  Oh well... maybe some other time.

There were bugs everywhere - it was like we were walking through a giant cloud of love bugs and dragonflies.  There was also some gorgeous wildlife to see (besides the gators, of course):

The north end of Paynes Prairie.

On Wednesday, Abby had preschool so after dropping her off at that, we did some shopping and driving around town.  We spent the afternoon playing in the back yard and just hanging out.

On Thursday, we drove to a small town and went to the most beautiful state park I have ever been to!  Someday, I would love to camp there.  There were nice cabins, a mess hall, an amphitheater, places for fishing, canoes to rent, a playground, lots of trees for shade, etc.  It was just beautifully kept.  There was also a fun, wobbly suspension bridge that we had fun crossing.

After the state park,  we drove to the small town and went to a few more antique shops.  These were a lot better than the ones we went to in Micanopy!  We still didn't buy anything but it was fun to browse.

We also went to a fun farmer's market.  We sampled some of the local honey and it was amazing. Interestingly, I have never liked honey in my life.  However, I tried this organic pumpkin honey and it was so good - I bought a gallon of it for a good price. (Pumpkin honey is honey made from pumpkin flowers - it doesn't have a pumpkin flavor).  I also bought a quart of gallberry honey, another type I sampled and loved. It is very sweet at first, but then has a sour aftertaste.  Yum.

And, what goes well with honey?  My mom's homemade bread, of course.  Mom, you can come back any time and make this bread for us.  I have never been able to make bread as good as my mom's.  (Okay, I've only tried once.  But I will try again, and soon.  Garrett claims that it's the best bread in the world and I have to agree.

We were so glad my mom could come visit us.  Abby cried when we dropped her off at the airport.  Hopefully next time she comes, she'll bring my dad along!  I know Mom was sad to leave, too, but thankfully her trip wasn't over after Florida.  She headed straight up to New Hampshire to spend a weekend with girlfriends, then this week with my brother and his family.  Safe travels, Mom!  Thanks for the great week! We love you!