January 21, 2012
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- Category: Danielson Walker Florida Trip 2012
- Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 20:22
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We had a great day of travel today. After about a 2.5 hour drive from Anna Maria, with a stop at Starbucks of course, we visited The Villages which is a Sr. Living Developed Community just southeast of Ocala Florida. It is a relatively new development with lots of golf courses, many other activities, trails and great City Squares. We had lunch at Lake Sumner Landing It is a great area, only missing the beaches.
We went from ther to Daytona Beach, past the Daytona Race Track and on to the Beach area on the Atlantic Coast. Interesting thing here is that you can actually drive out on the beach and park near where you will beach for the day and actually tailgate at the beach. Pretty neat.
On to Saint Augustine and never in the world did I ever think I would go to St. Augustine. It is quite an old city but also quite commercialized and full of people, most of them an embarrassment to the US, but I might be biased. I do have a thing against tattoos, piercing, foul language and of course skate boarders. Other than that, there were some well dressed European visitors there also.
The Old Fort interior visits were closed for the day so we walked around the outside perimeter of the 360 year Spanish Fortress.
We had a great dinner on the patio of a waterfront restaurant named "Hooked on Harry's". It was a beautiful evening and the place was packed to the walls and beyond. We walked the streets of Historic Saint Augustine which are all narrow Europe like streets with pavers. Many unique shops and old buildings St. George is the main shopping attraction so of course the ladies had to visit a shop or two.
We will attend mass in the morning at the Oldest Catholic Parish in America which is called the St. Augustine Cathedral, then go to the Old Fort for a visit thereafter and then begin our way home with probably a distraction or two along the way.
We spent a lot of time today talking about how much fun we had at Anna Maria. Thanks to Don and Marcia for their hospitality.