We found the beach! Finally, after driving for days, we reached St. Augustine and our hotel on St. Augustine beach. Actually, we stayed on Anastasia Island, a barrier island just off the coast of St Augustine, the oldest town in the US. As you can see in our pictures, it's a beautiful, wide beach covered with tiny, tiny sea shells. Since it's January, the water is much too cold for me to swim but we watched the surfers in wet suits try to ride the waves, and we walked along the shoreline.

We went into St Augustine the afternoon we arrived to look around . The best way to see the town and learn its history is to ride the Hop On/Hop Off trolley that traverses the entire town with 23 stops along the way. The drivers provide a running commentary of the sites along the way. We rode the entire route to see where we wanted to spend our time the next day. Then, we had a wonderful dinner at the Sunset Grill near our hotel. Seafood enchiladas and mahi tacos were yummy.

The next day was sunny, and we toured St. Augustine. Did you know this town was continuously occupied for over 200 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed? We toured the Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish fort built to protect the town in the 17th century. We learned about coquila, the clay mixed with shells used to build the very thick walls, and watched soldiers dressed in period uniforms load, prime and fire ancient muskets over the bay. We walked through the Castillo, viewed the barracks and jail, and learned about the hundreds of native Americans held here during the American Indian wars . It really was a fascinating look at centuries of people who carved a new country that eventually became our present home. A bonus was that the Castillo had free admission today because it's MLK day, a national holiday!

We explored the town and shops a bit on foot, had lunch, and arrived at the courtyard of Flagler College at 2 pm for our tour. The present home of Flagler College was once the Hotel Ponce de Leon, the most luxurious hotel in the country when it was built by Henry Flagler, the railroad magnate, in the 1880's. It hosted guests on the Social Register with names like Rockefeller and six American presidents during its time. Flagler built the railroad from New York City to St. Augustine and eventually extended it all the way to the Florida Keys. He built hotels all along the railroad line to house his passengers. However, the Hotel Ponce de Leon's 450 guest rooms were very exclusive. It was only open from January to April every year and each guest paid nearly a million dollars (in today's money) for the entire four month's stay . We toured the original lobby and rotunda of the hotel, the fabulous dining room with its Tiffany stained glass windows (the largest collection of Tiffany glass in the world and insured for over $40 million), and the ladies' salon. The rooms are fabulous. The guest rooms where these wealthy people stayed are now the women's dormitory for Flagler College and a lovely young student conducted our tour.

Hopping back on the trolley, our last stop was the new St. Augustine distillery housed in the old ice house of the town. We toured this young business that started only 2 years ago and tasted the craft vodka and gin they now produce. They are still aging their whiskey and rum, but it should be ready for consumption soon. Since it was cocktail hour, we made a refreshing stop at a new cocktail bar and tasted their hand crafted and creative cocktails. We made our way back to our hotel, stopping for some clam chowder to eat in our room and rehashed our day. We really enjoyed seeing St. Augustine and learned so much today. Enjoy our pics.

Tomorrow, we're driving to the Boca Raton area of Florida and will visit our friends, Joe and Sha who live in Boynton Beach. Stay tuned for more fun!