St. Augustine!

One of the final adventures in Florida was a day in St Augustine.

First stop was the Castillo de San Marcos.

 The fort construction was started in 1672!

The fort is made mostly of coquina, which is a type of limestone made of shells.  The coquina was mined from land across the bay.  

 Cari and I had been to the fort many times when we lived in Florida, but it has been a long time since then and the kids have never been.  We had a great time touring the fort and got to see a demonstration of firing a cannon.

 Next we hit the town and started doing some shopping.  This was our hottest day of vacation and we were really feeling it.

 We found a shop that does cool photos.  We all got dressed up and staged a scene.  The photographer printed it out in sepia for us and it looks great.

 Before leaving St. Augustine we had to visit the FOUNTAIN of YOUTH.  During the stop, Randy encouraged Cari and I to drink as much as we could.

Ponce de Leon was the one who discovered (after the Indians) the fountain of youth.  The fountain at one point was a bubbling spring but is now a well and the water is pumped up.  This is due to the water table dropping as the population grew over the past several hundred years.  

 Me and Ponce hanging out in the park.

 peacocks putting their stuff on display for us!

 Please don't peck my little girls' eyes.

 Um. . . there is a cannon behind you. . .

After a week long adventure in Florida we headed back home.  We had a great week visiting family and seeing some cool stuff.  St. Augustine was a great way to end our trip.  Lots of history to explore.  One of my favorites.

Oh, and here's the result of that photo I mentioned earlier. . .