Feb 22, 2010 - St. Augustine



Pottery Shop

 Took off early to see old St. Augustine before the rain moves in this afternoon. When we got to the parking garage, Beth tore the pertinent pages out of our AAA Tourbook so we wouldn’t have to lug the whole thing around, which seemed like a good idea until she realized now she was left with a dozen or so loose pages to carry. It was still early, and not real busy in the garage yet, so the lady attendant didn’t have much to do. As we were getting ready to exit to the street, she called over to us, "Can I help you folks find anything specific?" So we walked over to talk.

She gave us the basic layout of town, and advised us to go to the visitor’s center and talk to the ladies there at the desk before we set out. We chatted for a bit about the town, then she said, "Is there anything else I can help you folks with?"

"Yes," Beth said, "do you happen to have a stapler?" Hah, she never saw that one coming! But she fixed us up. As we stepped off the curb and confidently strode off toward the visitor’s center, she stuck her arm out of the booth, pointed the exact opposite direction from the one we were going, and called out, "No, you want to go this way." And to think we used to navigate all over Lake Huron.



Spouting Masks

 Shortly after we got started, I got a call from my old buddy Dennis. Dennis is now a resident of Beverly Hills, FL, but he and I used to race sailboats on the weekend on Lake Huron back when he was a MI resident. Actually, he was the brains of the outfit. I mostly went along and responded to his tactful commands to "trim a bit" or "ease that sheet, please" or "let’s get set up for the spinnaker set." In the specialized and highly technical language of sailboat racing, he was the "tactician". I was the "deck monkey." We had talked yesterday, and after making sure he wasn’t going to upset any of our carefully thought out plans (bwah ha ha) he wondered if it would be OK if he and wife Carol came to visit. Today he was calling to let me know that he had managed to snag a campsite for two nights here at Anastasia, and would be bringing his popup camper over for Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Walked the town until about 1:00, then we stopped for lunch at Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille on the waterfront, with authentic Louisiana style cuisine. When our waitress came back to ask me if my jambalaya and fried green tomatoes was OK, I said, using my best Emeril Legasse voice, "Oh yeah, babe." Poor Beth. Someday she’s going to pull a socket muscle from rolling her eyes so hard.

We managed to get another hour or so of walking in before it started to sprinkle.




Street Musician



Knockin' On Heaven's Door



St. Photios National Greek Shrine



St. Augustine Street

St. Augustine Street