Anastasia State Park won the title of the 6th best state park in the country, and from our expectations it lives up to it. The sites are huge and private surrounded by green. The biggest drawback is the cell service needed for getting camping spots for next year since Florida State Parks work on an 11 month booking window. Texts, calls and Uber goes through just fine, but my own California competitive camping spot stress is frustrating, I need to learn to chill, or get a booster, or something. But we just found out we can camp in Tent Sites and they have water and electricity at this park, and they are more available. But let’s talk about the wide open beach that if we ever would stop chasing beer or music in town then maybe we would get a chance to ride our bikes on it.
There is a nice Beach Cafe that supposedly has internet and you can get ice cream at the small gift shop. Facilities are in excellent shape and so well marked. One of the best things about St Augustine is the music scene. The campground borders the St Augustine Amphitheater, we were sorry to miss Billy Strings by a week. On Saturday there is a wonderful farmers market and the Free Rangers gather for a bluegrassy feel of about 25 musicians that seemed to increase as the morning went on.
Individuals would take turns leading anything from the old cowboy 30’s genre to the Eagles, and everything in between. There was a fabulous harmonica and keyboard that showed up for the jam, as well as multiple typical stringed instruments and a fabulous trumpeter.
When the guy needed to give his trumpet lips a rest, he played the washboard with spoons. Evidently this goes on every week, and I received some more venue tips from a woman who sat next to me. Celestino’s Wine Room (no bridge crossing required), San Sebastian Winery (weekend music) , The best part is that it is a bike ride away. Continuing on with the camping facilities…There is an excellent boat launch into the intercoastal Matanzas River Outlet and perfect for StandUp (not comedy).
The other side is the Atlantic Ocean beach and the protected dunes so birds are plentiful and the fish are even more so, as they were jumping all around me and one tiny one even jumped on my SUP. Move over White Sand of New Mexico because the white sand dunes of Florida also are beautiful.
Evidently the St Augustine Fort, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, (date back to the 1500’s ) that went between Spain and England several times before England got Florida as a consolation prize after they lost the American Revolution.
And it even had a moat. With a drawbridge.
The Fort was constructed from coquina (we’ll just call it shell cement that took 1 to 3 years to dry and would actually trap the bullets/balls – they could be reused against their enemies).
We had visited the Fort when Darlene, Julie and Bo came down for the day. The Senior National Park Pass got 4 people in the door and the history was quite interesting..In fact, I may want to do a trolley tour before we go, and I usually don’t like to do that kind of stuff, but first a beer at Prohibition Kitchen.
Energized by Farmer’s Market Lone Ranger live music, we decided to attend the Ma’am Music Festival at Colonial Oak Music Park. It was in the most quaint,beautiful setting, tucked under a huge oak tree, in the middle of the St Augustine tourist hustle and bustle, off the St George Street pedestrian zone.
Ma’am is a women featured fest and one of our favorites was the energy of Romona and the Riots, look at those pink platforms.
We also saw a fabulous older electric guitar shredding woman, Vange Durst, and young Annie Duke’s Band with whom John really connected. And finally the headliner, Kaylee Rose, a St Augustine native whose parents would have to bring her to gigs since she was underage back in the day. She moved to Nashville some 8 years ago and has achieved some top songs, and I really connected with her lyrics.
We obtained our beer mug and cocktail mug that saved the landfill and gave us discounts to the St Augustine Distillery where J’Bo likes to go. We will leave them securely in their possession upon our departure from Florida.
We had ridden our bikes to the pedestrian gate near the amphitheater and $10 Ubered into town and back, a great way to travel and another perfect reason to rebook a stay in Anastasia state park. The night cap to the evening was a stop at the Ancient Times Brewery for another Coconut Porter that we had discovered on the first day of our arrival to St Augustine, with the 10 mile roundtripper bike ride over the bridge and into the downtown.
This was our 3rd bike drawbridge crossing but we were rewarded by a fabulous Coconut porter and a Grilled Cheese Specialty Joint that delivered right to our bar stool. Queen Brie (Brie, Raspberry and Bacon) was the bomb, and there are many other yums to try and they also have Mac and Cheese, but not just plain old Mac and cheese.
We scoped out the Peace, Love and Little Donuts for the next day’s visit. Luckily I had thought to go back for the bike lights before we departed because although we stayed on sidewalks for the most part, the road was busy.
Day 2 more music, as we decided to go to the Elks Club that had a British Pub band that was featured. USMC veteran, Dave, became our friend and signed us into this members only event and we listened to Charlie, the dancer, tell us everything from his Angels (he had 3 daughters too) to his head-on car crash, to his great grandchildren, to daughter 3 on the 3rd husband. Dave showed the fabulous outdoor facilities and RV areas that membership includes. We danced to the oldies with a lot of Do-wop, but also a good variety of music. The 3 person band sometimes just sang to music tracks and sometimes played guitar. This would be a fine place for the 4 J’s!
As we approach our final two days here, I booked Site 51, a Tent only site but we fit in perfectly, Yeah, we love this place!! Today we found our favorite bike shop Island Life PEDEGO – what excellent service. John has a new tube, hand grips, and the guy even figured out our handheld bike pump and he put an extension in John’s handlebars so the old man doesn’t have to crouch down anymore.
Since we had Vinny out for the bike repair (new tube) we decided to explore the St. Augustine “barber shop” Lighthouse, and it turned out to be a couple hour exploration not only up the 16 flights of steps for the view of the area, but also into the many building of history.
From boat building, diesel engine manufacturing, to shrimping, to all the old ships running aground due to the hurricanes rearranging the ocean floor. As the American Revolution was coming to an end, Florida was a haven for British Loyalists who were ostracized from the American Colonies that were now winning the war and and their ships were sinking because of the dynamic state water depth as a result of hurricanes.
We also did the ancient Dunes trail that were probably ocean dunes once upon a time, but now are fully Florida jungle with a plethora of Saw Palmetto, those beautiful palms that are everywhere. Decided to bypass the Marsh trail as it was the evening and with any stoppage the mosquitos started to land.
Off to bike ride to the ocean where they get blown away !! Task at hand see how far the large building which we believed to be the Embassy Suites right across from the Salt Life Restaurant was. Correct, and it is exactly 1/2 mile down the beach from the main campground parking area, making it a perfect Trish Hoover setup for next year. Now we can visit with friends who aren’t camping oriented. Hopefully there will be some good musicians at the Amphitheater for next year.
But the bonus for this excursion was to see dolphins off the pier across from Salt Life and it was so cool after our hit beach walk
Last full day, and decided to do the trolley tour to learn a bit more about the history rich city of St Augustine that kept changing British and Spanish hands so many times. Particularly interesting is how Florida was where all the British loyalists who were scorned, and abused by the American patriots fled as the unrest continued to brew in the colonies prior to the Revolution. It would eventually become a haven after the Patriots won. It is so interesting how one never learns a part of history if not located in the area. Just like learning about the California Mission System that was going on the same time the 13 Colonies were getting rebellious, and now Florida history.
We walked by the Fountain of Youth, marked by the Old Senator, a 600 year oak tree, as we strolled down the famous Magnolia Tree Canopy laden with air moss that hung from the arching branches.
This time the shells were left much larger than in the Fort Castillo and rumor says if a wall scaling perpetrator would get scrapped, the bacteria would produce an infection that spelt death back in the day. Hopped back on the trolley and saw all the grand hotels, churches and buildings of Henry Flaggler, one of the three original men who started Standard Oil. Flagler’s arrival to St Augustine in the 1880s was largely responsible for the Golden Age for St Augustine, as he brought in the Florida East Coast Railroad making it a resort town with yacht racing and golf for the rich. He built the hospital and the cost of relocating a jail because the original was far too close to his resort hotels. No historical trolley ride is complete without a stop at the St Augustine distillery which gave samples of Moscow Mule, an Old Fashion, and one other rum concoction. Then off to the neighboring San Sebastian Winery for some more samples. Was very skeptical about the sweet wine made from the locally grown Muscadine grape. But all were quite good and refreshing. All of their wines were fairly inexpensive as well. $13 – $18 a bottle, my kind of price, but of course they didn’t quite make the cut, plus we rode our bikes over the 4 miles and over the Lions drawbridge to the first trolley stop.
Lunch at the Fish House as the Ice House at the Distillery, J’Bos favorite, was closed on Tuesdays. Walking back to the town center, we stopped at Dog Rose brewery for a porter, but just had to continue and have one last Ancient Times Coconut Porter. That one turned into several as we met Mark and his binder full of Sea Shanties. He had been trying to start up a Sea Shanty group and of course after a few porters in, we are shantying with him and people are coming in off the street to hear all the ruckus. Well as we talked and found out about several of his favorite Florida springs, De Leon Springs State Park and Itischeeka Springs (where you tube down the St John River). Then we went on to Shelby Mustangs and found out that his Father had been a judge at the Amelia Island Car show that Bo was a part of this year and he had met Carroll Shelby too. Then the conversation turned to Music and Stogies, a cigar bar that John had read about having a huge beer selection. Well as Old Times was in the process of closing down for the evening, he agreed to show us the way to a cigar smelling (bar was equipped with extra air suckers) and also a lovely outdoor area of Stogies. The music was excellent and as Mark got into an lively discussion about Florida being overgunned with a guy that never shot one but bought one for protection since after all the DMV advertises for closed carry when you get your driver’s license, more money for the coffers. A much more pleasant evening than I would have expected when surrounded by cigar smokers! Now, to get back over the bridge and back to Anastasia! Well the morning started with some droplets and was ugh, worried we’d need to pack up the Clam in a wet state. But all of a sudden the sky is blue and the sun is shining. and it is almost 11am; time to get the stogie boy up and get dried out before departing for Blue Springs State Park! Good by St Augustine will return next year as Elks members if our application is accepted and we can make the training at initiation that is offered in 2 weeks.
Travels with Vinny VanGo 