For my birthday (Monday Oct. 5) this year I decided to spend the weekend with my parents and my brother at my parents' condo in Ponce Inlet, Florida. We had a fun time and since it has been a while since I've blogged I thought I would write about it.
I arrived Sat. afternoon and spent the rest of the day just hanging out at the condo relaxing and doing nothing. We had dinner that night at Down the Hatch, overlooking the Halifax river and watched the sun set. Sunday morning we just relaxed once again but that afternoon we went to the science center down at the inlet. The science center consisted of a museum, a turtle rehabilitation center, and a bird rehabilitation center. We visited all three. The museum had several display aquariums of sea life in the area. As I have my own aquarium, albeit fresh water, I enjoyed these exhibits the most. The turtle rehab center is a small hospital where sick or injured turtles are isolated and cared for until they heal and are ready to return to the wild. There were turtles there for a variety of reasons, such as propeller injuries, digestive issues, and fight wounds. There was one display showing the kinds of things that often end up in their stomachs, such as fish hooks, cigarette butts, and deflated balloons! The bird sanctuary was a similar facility for birds and there were several varieties there including owls, pelicans, bald eagles, and even a stork with a broken wing. That night we went to one of my favorite restaurants Aunt Catfish's in Port Orange. I enjoyed Lobster (for $12.99!), the giant salad bar, and their cinnamon rolls.
Monday on my birthday we drove up to Saint Augustine for the day. Saint Augustine is the oldest city in the United States, founded by the Spanish in 1565. I had not been in about 15 years though I went several times as a kid with boy scouts and school. Our first stop was the Castillo de San Marcos fort built in 1762 to protect the city from the British and French. We took a self guided tour of the fort and saw various rooms, an old prison, a chapel, and a musket demonstration. We also walked around on the ramparts looking at the old canons and admiring the view. After the fort we went over to the Columbia restaurant for lunch but it was closed. We were all disappointed as we had been talking for several days about eating there. At this point it was super humid and we were super hungry. Not a good combination for four stubborn people. But after going to three other restaurants we finally found an Italian one that we all agreed on and ended up having a really nice time. After lunch we walked through the historic district to the Cathedral and went inside just as it started to rain. After that, we slowly made our way up St. George Street running from awning to awning dodging the rain. Before we left town we decided we would go take a tour of the oldest house in Florida. It looked simple enough to find on the map but we hadn't counted on their being so many one way streets and several being flooded. It was actually nice to get lost though and see the old city from a different perspective (that probably is not how my mom would describe it though as she was driving). The oldest house in Florida was built in 1702 shortly after the British burned St. Augustine. The house had had several owners over the last 300 years and the different rooms were decorated to each show a different time period in the history of the house. We then drove around a little more before leaving St. Augustine, having had a fun day. That night we had breakfast for dinner, an ancient Rencher Sunday tradition (even though it was Monday) which I enjoyed experiencing on my birthday.
Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun weekend.
I have posted an album on Facebook of pictures from the weekend. You do not have to be a member of Facebook to view them. Just click on the link below and enjoy:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38706&id=1410030498&l=27a846e850
