Tuesday - Our 1st Full Day at St. Augustine!

Ken was up a little before 6 and did his devotions and reading.  I had stayed up too late watching the Steelers, so I only appeared around 8.  After taking our time getting ready, we had breakfast with Rick and Joyce in their unit.  We enjoyed sitting around the table drinking coffee, chai and tea sharing life and then planning our day.

By 10:45 we drove into St. Augustine stopping to spend about 3 1/2 hours at Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.    On the way we called Deb Eberly back home and by way of speaker phone, the 5 of us had a great conversation.  Lloyd is still waiting for an appointment for his needed Cat Scan and then with his specialist.  What a long time of being in limbo!  

The  4 of us enjoyed walking around The Fountain of Youth Park which is privately owned.  It is the original site of Spanish Colonial St. Augustine, the oldest successful European settlement in the US.  Located in the area 1st explored by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 and settled by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565, St. Augustine was founded here in the park 55 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, and 42 years before Jamestown was colonized.  It was a very interested area!  

Ponce de Leon

These structures show where some of the 1st buildings were
constructed!

watching the demonstrations -

A replica of the 1st Christian church built in the continental US!

Fairly simple inside!

This baptistry dates back to the 1800's!

Sleeping quarters for 1 family.  Each family had a section of
the area with different "buildings" for sleeping, meeting,
cooking, food storage, etc.

These beds do not look very comfortable!

going to the show at the Planatarium -

The show explained how the early explorers found their
way on the sea by following the stars!

another show at the theater -

This 2 story globe showed the routes followed by the early
explorers!

feeding the peacocks -

and then the most important thing - drinking water at the fountain of youth!  I wanted to submerge myself in the water, but it really is just a "spigot", so that wasn't a possibility!  I am hoping by tomorrow that I will look like a new person - not!!!!

 We also checked out the burial grounds and because the folks where lying on their backs with the hands crossed over their chests, they knew they were Christians.  The Indians here were converted by the Spanish.

From there we drove to downtown St. Augustine and had a delicious lunch outdoors. 

Then on to Vilano Beach where we walked out on the pier to get photos of the beautiful sunset.

We enjoyed such a wonderful day together!

Back to the resort by 6:15 and after watching the world news the 4 of got together in our suite and played one game of Skip-Bo and one of double handed Pinochle.  The women were victorious in both - YES!

We called it a day at 10:15 and I worked on this blog for a short time and downloaded some photos.  We did get a call from Samantha, our service adviser, that the roller needed for the slide repair did not arrive on the morning delivery, but hopefully in the afternoon one.  In the meantime, the warranty company has still not confirmed that they will pay for the repair and Wilbur has been there since last Monday.  How can things take so long?????  We are still hoping we can get him back on Thursday, but who knows????