We were talking about something, got distracted and missed the exit. We ended up traveling an extra fifteen to twenty miles because of that. The navigation feature on her phone was turned off, but it may not have been speaking anything anyhow. For some reason, when we decide to go a different way and ignore "her," the navigation stops speaking to us. Who says machines are not alive.
We paid (probably too much) for the guided tour by trolley. The tour guides had a clever and amusing repertoire of history and interesting tidbits during the tour. You could get off the trolley and catch another one every fifteen minutes.
Lunch was the Columbia Restaurant, a Spanish oriented place. The decor was wonderful as seen below. Our food was not as good as it sounded from the description on the menu, but it was good in general. This was a restaurant where ambiance made up for better than average food.
The trolley tour guide pointed out numerous features of St. Augustine and a lot of the history. It was interesting for the most part. For example, there is a long, low lying depression on one side of the city that was the location of the moat. Another interesting story was about the white washing of the fort during a battle to fool the British. St. Augustine history in as few words as possible - Spanish, British, Spanish, Indians, British, Flagler, railroad - but you get the picture. We visited the Basilica in addition to the required totally touristy shopping locations. We enjoyed the day, but it was still cool and a hot coffee hit the spot in the afternoon. All of the walking took its toll on me for some reason, but more on this later.
The third day in Jacksonville was a day to relax and rest. We did take a drive to see what the city looked like and explore in general. Everything in Florida, so far, has a nice, new appearance.
On Tuesday, we drove to Tampa to our week's reservation at a rv park there. We wanted to be near Dunedin, on the coast as Gin had read about things to do there. We arrived and immediately found a situation that left something to be desired. The entry sign clearly said that rvs should go to the right around a very tight circle to end up in front of the office for registration. Gin and I both recognized that it was going to be a very difficult turn with our car in tow. By stopping ahead and with the forewarning, a wide turn was initiated that looked like it was going to take out the right side of the driveway's vegetation signs, three palm trees, a dumpster, three old ladies with poodles, and assorted landscaping. We avoided scraping the landscaping, just barely, and stopped as directed in front of the office with the toad in a precarious position that might cause it to run over a good sized rock that could damage the car. Well, that could wait until after registration. To jump ahead a little, the next day we saw a longer rv with a toad trying to do the same thing, but the length made it impossible. An irate lady was demanding that park personnel help her husband, probably in his mid to upper seventies, unhook the dolly holding the car, move it to a location past the circle, then hook it up again. She was dead on with her anger. For a park of this quality, this was a very strange situation that defies belief in that it was not addressed.
We registered and went out to survey the potential for disaster. I decided that almost taking the office wall down with the front, right of the rv would work..... and heavens to Mercatroids, it did with three frog hairs to spare. I found a flat spot to unhook the toad before getting to the assigned site and another miracle occurred with a smooth unhooking. Onto the site.... All the sites were back-in, which meant turning a 32 foot vehicle into a narrow spot that was bordered by a large tree and a large landscaping tie on the other side. Gin gave me directions from outside and behind the rv while I was backing, but the real progress was made when a gentleman showed her that the post designating the site could be simply lifted up and out of its hole. This logistical task took only a minute or two, but several nearby senior citizens were seen rolling on the ground, not dying, but shaking with laughter - not really, but it makes for a good story.
We got settled in. It was warm and for the first time, it felt like Florida. As we ascertained from visiting other nearby rv parks, this was far and away the best rv park that we could have been in. We were really lucky. Gin's extensive research and planning played a role in the choice, but we were lucky that that they even had a vacancy. Every once in a while...
The park had a dog run that was very well taken care of - an oddity for the ones we have visited. It also had a warm water bath for the dog, which he appreciated. The main activity seemed for everyone to have a dog and walk it, so Gin was right at home. People were friendly, even though we were in the vast minority of short term rvers. In particular, our next door neighbor from Branson, Missouri filled us in on everything we needed to know. We went for a relatively long walk with the dog. Once again with the extensive walking, there was some discomfort on my part.
Our neighbor, when asked, said that the next day park activity, a barbecue was well attended. As one our goals for the trip was to eat a grilled hamburger, that is, one cooked over charcoal briquets or a wood fire, this seemed like a good idea. We went and the hamburger was delicious. It was the first real hamburger, not the 93% fat free ones cooked over a gas grill, that we had had in over a year. We sat down in one of the limited remaining spots with a couple from Illinois. We had a conversation about the park, rvs, and so on. It was a nice time. It was warm and it was nice. Ahh, Florida...
The next day, we went to a state park on the gulf coast. We shelled mainly. Got a bunch of shells for the grandkids. It was nice and warm, but a breeze was just right. Other than the sun block I had to apply, it was a good time. There were some shell veterans there, one who said she had been doing it for fifteen years and that she did crafts all the time. Later we went to public beach in the state park and ate lunch. The fish sandwiches were relatively good, but loaded with whatever they deep fried them in. It was very pleasant and we took our good old time for lunch.
We decided that with the time we had that going into Dunedin, was a thing to do, even though that was planned for the next day. The shops looked unique and I was surprised that Gin did not want to spend hours in them. She did go into one and I headed for the bakery near by after sitting in the car for a while. Long story short, we got some of the best carrot cake that I have ever had. Back to the park and a very light dinner as is our custom when having bought lunch. Bought lunches usually are more than we can eat and require very little for the remainder of the day.
The next day, we went back to Dunedin, primarily for the advertised farmer's market. Gin got some strawberryies, which she said were wonderful. She did some shopping, not much.
We decided to proceed on down to St. Petersburg on alternate route 19. Bad choice as it was stop and go like rush hour for miles and miles. We finally got to the city after going across country and hitting the interstate. I had heard about the terrible traffic in Florida during snowbird season and have confirmed it!
Without a planned designation in St. Petes, we latched onto an advertised area that was labeled Bay Walk. It looked like it had been a design for an upscale shopping area near the bay, but probably had succumbed to the 2008 crash and never recovered - a real bust. Back to the park....
