December 31 -- ring out the old!

The last day of 2014 was chilly and windy in Ormond Beach, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the day! Ann and Jim took us to lunch at one of their favorite spots, Bettys A1A Cafe, where we had Betty's special onion rings as appetizer, followed by haddock and various sides. Dessert was amazing -- coconut cream pie and banana delight.

If you come down Highway A1A from the north, you'll find Betty's on your right on the outskirts of Ormond Beach. We walked away stuffed and very satisfied from the delicious meal.

After lunch, Smoky took this short video of the beach. Did I mention that this was a windy day?

We spent a short while recovering from lunch, and then Ann and I went shopping at Beall's, so I could find some Florida clothes! What fun. We had a buggy stacked up with possibilities and were trying things on right and left when the intercom crackled and an announcement came on -- the shop was closing in 5 minutes! We rushed a little more and managed to get in the checkout line a few minutes after closing time.

Right now it is just a short while before the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. How nice to be able to celebrate this occasion with Ann and Jim.

Happy New Year! --Shann

September 30 -- St. Augustine to Ormond Beach

St. Augustine's oldest house;
view from garden area.

This morning after checking out of the motel, we drove to the oldest house in St. Augustine. The González-Alvarez House has been owned by the St. Augustine Historical Society since 1918, but even before that the residents opened the house for tours.

It was fascinating to see the house and to hear how all the former residents had lived and modified it over the years. The grounds of the house were lovely, with brick walkways around the grassy and garden areas.

There was also an 18th-century-style kitchen, completely separate from the rest of the house. I identified garlic and rosemary growing in the kitchen garden.

18th-century-style kitchen

Inside view of kitchen

One corner of the garden area seemed to have been been designated for something special. Our tour guide didn't mention what it was for, but there was a lovely statue of a Franciscan monk and an Indian boy.

Statue in garden at
oldest house

After our tour of the oldest house, we walked around the area a little. On one of the side streets is a beautiful old home, very meticulously kept up. As I stood on the sidewalk admiring the house, one of the city tour trolleys came down the street announcing that this lovely house is one of the Sears Roebuck kit houses! Interesting.

After admiring these old homes a little longer, we climbed back in the car and headed for Ann and Jim's home in Ormond Beach, so we could visit with cousins Stephanie and Dennis a little while before they left for West Palm Beach and Miami. Jim's sister Cille and husband Ed came by for a short visit, too. We had a nice family gathering!

One of Jim's "pet" squirrels.

Another park squirrel who
loves peanuts!

Before we fixed dinner, Smoky and I went with Jim to walk Max, the cute little peekapoo who splits his time between Jim and neighbor Beth. Ormond Beach Central Park was our destination, and it is a great place to walk, run, bike, or simply stroll with your dog. The trail winds around several lakes. Jim carries raw peanuts for the squirrels. It looked like every squirrel in the park knew Jim. What fun!

Thanks, Steph, for leaving behind the spaghetti sauce and salad greens. We had a delicious dinner, which ended with the four of us splitting a chocolate turtle confection from St. Augustine's Chocolate Turtle Dessert and Coffee Shop with a side of Blue Belle Homemade Vanilla ice cream! If you missed the chocolate turtle picture, check out yesterday's blog entry.

Now we begin a few days of rest and relaxation for all four of us.

-- Shann

December 29 -- Vidalia to St. Augustine

Our room at the Quality Inn in Vidalia, Georgia, last night was very nice. We awoke to rain (again). It had rained on and off since we left home Saturday morning! We drove down to the historic district of Vidalia, not sure what we would see. The town's water tower was quite interesting, so Smoky took a photo of it. On the way out of town we drove past the Vidalia Onion Factory Museum and Gift Shop! We couldn't resist checking it out. I could just imagine what kind of oniony knick-knacks I could find for gifts! Alas, it didn't open till 11, and we didn't really want to hang around that long.

Smoky spotted what looked like an interesting town to travel through -- Santa Claus! We were hoping to take advantage of the post office we had heard about in the town, but the only thing we could find that even identified the town was the Santa Claus Storage Center. Not exactly what we had hoped for. And it was still raining.

We drove on down Highway 1 toward Jacksonville (still raining) and on to St. Augustine (yea, some blue sky and scattered clouds!). It was around 3 when we found our motel, which is located in the historic area of St. Augustine. Smoky and I had thought we would enjoy exploring some of the old buildings and especially the Castillo de San Marcos, construction of which began in 1672. Built of native coquina stone quarried on Anastasia Island off the coast near St. Augustine, the fort is a fascinating piece of architecture . . . and a very popular tourist attraction! We headed there first after dropping our car at the motel, and there were people everywhere. The views from the top of the Castillo looking over the Matanzas Bay are beautiful, especially in the late afternoon light.

 

Figuring we were going to be competing with the thousands of people milling around this historic district for a place to have dinner, we left the Castillo a few minutes before it closed and strolled down some residential streets. It was amazingly quiet and calm here, and we saw some most interesting places. One gentleman (who resembled Santa himself) came out on his porch to chat and told us he thought the house we were photographing next door got more attention than the oldest house in St. Augustine!

We crossed San Marco Avenue and headed down West Castillo Drive to Barnacle Bill's Seafood Restaurant, beating the crowd by maybe 5 minutes! The Caribbean Mango Mahi Mahi was wonderful, and the sides were surprising -- baked sweet potatoes, collard greens, field peas, butter beans, fried okra, broccoli casserole, steamed squash. Apparently the list of vegetables varies from night to night. And the desserts were homemade. We tried their key lime pie and rated it very good! I'm sure there will be some other pieces of this pie on our menus before this adventure ends.

After dinner we walked across the gathering area in front of the Visitor Information Center and were astounded by the number of people lined up to take a trolley, one of which was labeled "Ghosts and Graveyards"! Past the Visitor Center, we headed down Cordova Street in search of the Chocolate Turtle, a dessert and coffee bar recommended by one of the Visitor Center guides earlier. We got our selections -- one chocolate turtle and one chocolate hazelnut torte -- to go, but every single item in the shop looked wonderful. 

We wandered around some more, marveling at all the shops and eateries and people, and headed back down St. George Street toward our motel. Then we spotted an ice cream and gelato shop, Whetstone Chocolates, and couldn't resist going in. They had some interesting flavors of sorbet, one of which really caught our eye -- pineapple basil. One small sample and we were hooked. So we added a small cup of this amazing sorbet to our already very full stomachs. But it was worth every bite.

Tomorrow we'll explore a little more and then head for Ormond Beach.

-- Shann

December 28 -- We land in Vidalia

Did I mention how much I dislike traveling on interstate highways? Today was not my favorite travel day since we needed to get from home through the north and center parts of Georgia and into the southeast quadrant. Guess what that meant? Yep, we spent most of the day on interstate highways.

Our travel day began around 11 (it takes a while to get going at our house!). We started on one of our favorite "back country" roads to Chattanooga -- Highway 27, picking it up in Rockwood and following it almost to Chattanooga. At least our trip began on a great road with really nice countryside to watch and not very much traffic.

Once we hit Chattanooga and picked up Interstate 75, that changed! Lots of traffic. At one point we asked each other if everyone might right now be headed back home after the Christmas holiday. I suspect instead that this was pretty normal traffic for north Georgia on I-75. Using cruise control was out of the question; we were constantly braking and then speeding up. The closer we got to Atlanta, the worse the situation got.

Actually, I can't complain about I-75 through the middle of Atlanta. That was pretty reasonable, considering where we were. Once we joined back up with the bypass and one other interstate, traffic slowed to a crawl. About one-third of the way between Atlanta and Macon, we gave up and found a secondary road, Highway 23, to take us toward Macon, returning to I-75 for a few miles before it intersected with I-16 in Macon to head southeast toward Vidalia. Unfortunately, we were out of Macon before we realized that we should have looked for a place for dinner.

Very few options other than fast food turned up on the exit signs, but we finally found an Applebys in Dublin, Georgia, using the iPhone app "Around Me," recommended by Debbie, a quilting friend. We elected to eat in the bar area, and luck was with us because we found an empty table in Marshall's area. This very nice young man said he was just out of training, having only been in Vidalia for a few months. He served us very well and shared a little of his story with us. If you end up in Dublin, stop by Appleby's and ask for Marshall.

Onion statue outside Quality Inn
in Vidalia, Georgia.

Another 45 minutes more driving time brought us to Vidalia. I was wondering whether we would have some delicious Vidalia onions on our pillow. Instead, just outside the motel we found an onion statue, so I was not disappointed!

Before we leave town, we'll drive through the historic district. I had been wondering which came first, the onion or the town. Mystery solved by Smoky: he read on Wikipedia that the onions were named after the town. There are apparently several different varieties of onions that carry the name "Vidalia," most of them sweet, due to the low amount of sulphur in the soil where they are grown.

Tomorrow we head toward St. Augustine!

--Shann

The Keys are Calling!

Today is December 27, just a few days away from the beginning of 2015, and we are packing up for our next Excellent Adventure!

We're headed for Florida to visit my aunt and uncle Ann and Jim in Ormond Beach, Florida, for a few days, then on to Miami for a short visit with cousin Michelle, and on to Long Key for a week. While we are there, we will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary!

One day during our week in the Keys, we are planning an adventure at the Dolphin Research Center. Another day we take a ferry from Key West to the Dry Tortugas. Stay tuned. I'll try to keep you posted of our adventures.

Our first stop is in Vidalia, Georgia. I can't wait to see what that town has in store.