Whalechaser's Musings

No Matter Where You Go...
There You Are
Make the Best of It

Saturday, March 1, 2008

St Augustine and Guana Tomolato Mantanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve

We played the tourists and visited St Augustine this morning seeing the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and the 'shooting of the cannon'. I have been here twice before and I don't remember all the rooms being open and described in such depth. Here the volunteers and one park service employee go through the motions of firing the canons.
Chuck is examining the parapets of the fort.
Soldiers getting ready for the demonstration.
Stubby cannon...but don't be fooled, this is a killer!




I enjoyed this visit because it was educational and the weather was perfect...nice and cool. I think the weather is key to being a successful tourist. If you're sweaty or there is sand in your crotch...well things have a way of going downhill from there.

We visited the Flagler College and strolled the mall street; got a delicious ice cream cone and called it quits.

We headed north for the Guana Tomolato Mantanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve and the various and sundry bike loops they have there. It was a trail that I discovered on the internet, so we were not too sure if it was going to be any good. We were pleasantly surprised.

The trails were great, few inclines but wonderful shade and great scenery at every turn. We found several places where we could park the bikes and stroll the bay beaches. The water was clean and the reserve seemed virtually empty of people. We passed some people, but few for the 9.5 miles that we travelled.

We saw 5 armadillos, but I was not able to get a clear shot of one. The beaches were divine and I know we will add this place to our list of places that we will see again when we return to this beautiful state.


I could not resist taking a picture of this beautiful weathered wood on the beach. They were actually trees, but the positions they were in make it look like large pieces of wood. Double click to see a larger view of it.
Here is Chuck on one of those desserted beaches
We were not alone...

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