East Coast Spring Vacation 1.5 - St Augustine

One of the primary reasons for this trip was to visit St. Augustine, FL.  The main attraction there being the fort and the old town.  Admittedly, going to the fort and the old town wasn't high on my personal list, but I am glad I went.  The fort was really cool.  The old town, well, not so much.  Having lived and travelled extensively in Europe, we've seen OLD towns; and they are usually really neat.  The St. Augustine old town might be on the site of what once was the old town, but I cannot believe that much is left that's original.  Really, it felt more like a cruise ship stop that anything else.  But the fort and the hole-in-the-wall restaurant that we found for lunch (no pics, sorry!) made it worthwhile.

The boys have to "read" every sign.  With Parker now being able to read, this is a much longer event than it used to be.  He usually gets bored after one sentence on a sign like this.

Ahh, sailboats.  Anywhere there's sailboats is a wonderful place.

Crossing the drawbridge!

I forget what this was, but obviously Mason feels it's very important.

Now I know why the Spaniards stopped and built a fort here.  What a view.

Entry to the fort is quite an ordeal, but pretty neat nonetheless.

The telescopes are out again.

Parker's spying, Mason's "bamming" the mortar.

Cannons and the Spanish flag (of the period that Spain held the fort).  Who knew Spain loved St Andrew's cross so much that they put it on their flag?

Supposedly the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the USA.  I think not or at least not original.  It was done-up for paid tours.  Anytime there's a mannequin sticking it's head out of the window and they want to charge me money for a guided tour, I walk away.

OK cruise ship go-ers, look familair?  Oh yeah, not as many people, no cheap liquor stores, and no "Tanzanite" stores.

The original city door.  This is the one thing that I think that was original to the old town.