Sutures and St. Augustine

We have moved from the Orlando area to Ormond Beach, FL.  This is an area in between Saint Augustine and New Smyrna.  We want to explore around Saint Augustine and we have to visit the dermatologist for scheduled day procedure in New Smyrna so it seemed a good fit for us.

The procedure is to remove a couple of cysts on Bibi’s face that are bothering her.  Interestingly, Florida has an abundance of qualified and highly regarded dermatologists.  She found the group she visited via research on the web and reviews from patients.  Her first visit was to the clinic in New Smyrna a couple of weeks ago where they advised her minor surgery would be required to remove the cysts and scheduled her for the Saturday following the ladies (see last post) departure.

The only part of the whole ordeal that made her feel funny was the name of the dermatologist that would do the actual surgery.  His name is Dr. Savage.  Yes, that is his name.  Now this is pretty funny if you stop and think about this doctor is going to be cutting on your face and his name is Savage.

All turned out well and she liked him a lot.  She was assured by the nurses that he is really good and will make sure any scar left from the procedure will blend into the natural contours of the face.  She was very relieved to hear this and found his manner soothing and comforting.  All is well - for now.

The procedure was done on Saturday and she came out sporting two nicely wrapped spots in the whitest white gauze which had to remain in place for 48 hours.  Underneath is flesh colored tape covering the wounds and stitches.  I tried to get her to let me take her to church on Sunday so we could show off the bandages but she politely refused.

We knew we would need follow-up afterwards to have the stitches removed and look her over to make sure healing was progressing.  Therefore, we made plans to stay in the area for at least a week and as it turns out almost two weeks due to weekends.

During this recuperation time we visited Saint Augustine, the oldest settlement in the U.S.  Prior to Florida’s admittance into the union (right before Texas) as the 27th state in 1845, the Pilgrim’s Plymouth Bay was recognized as the oldest in the U.S.  Now Florida wishes to lay claim to the oldest settlement.  Some of their tourist brochures use the statement, ‘Rediscover the Nation’s Oldest City’ as a means to garner your attention.

Gate to the original city of St. Augustine

We have found using a guide service is the quickest way to gather a lot of information and an overview about a location enabling us to make smarter decisions about further investigations.  In Saint Augustine we chose to ride the Old Town Trolley Tours guide service.  This is a service that follows a route with numerous stops and you are allowed to hop off and hop on throughout the day.  The drivers constantly tell stories, give explanations about things you see when traveling between stops and provide very interesting commentary.

A view down a street in old St. Augustine

There are two stops on the Saint Augustine city tour that one of our drivers was sincerely bemused about when we stopped.  One was a winery with free tasting room and the other was a distillery with free sampling.  It seemed no one on the tram that trip was interested in either and he was unable to comprehend how anyone could pass up free booze.  I suspect it was because the next stop was a chocolate factory tour and looking at the folks on board, I surmised we all might be more enticed to sample its wares.  Jus’ sayin’.

There are many interesting sights to see in Saint Augustine.  Things such as the zero mile marker for the eastern end of the Old Spanish Trail, the first transcontinental road from St. Augustine to San Diego, CA.  The influence of Henry Flagler, the partner of John D. Rockefeller in starting Standard Oil Company, is seen all over Saint Augustine.  His legacy is seen in the area as he brought railroads to Florida (eventually extending all the way down Florida into the Keys) and he initiated the winter escapes of the very wealthy to the Florida coastline by building hotels, plus his philanthropy of contributing to churches and hospitals for the area.

Church built by Flagler and where he is buried

Intricate carvings on one of the 8 front doors

Interior shot of a ceiling detail

Organ pipes and more architectural details.

He built the Hotel Ponce De Leon as one of the retreats.  It had running water and electricity (installed by Thomas Edison) both of which were unheard of at the time.  Only the extremely wealthy could afford to stay and were expected to stay for the entire winter season.  It closed in 1967 and was re-opened the following year as Flagler College which has an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students now.

Typical architecture around the city.

Henry Flagler contracted with Louis Comfort Tiffany to install windows in the hotel dining hall.  This installation helped launch Tiffany's brand and his name became synonymous with excellence in glass.  Those 87 original windows are still in place and are now valued at more than $100 million.  Of course, there are bulletproof exteriors and interiors to protect them from accidents and/or vandalism.  Wow, just wow!

$100 Million windows, not very impressive in this shot
but regardless, there they are behind the bulletproof glass.

Saint Augustine was established by the Spanish and the architecture reflects the influence.  The original city was a Presidio or what we would call a walled city.  The city had a wall with redoubts where soldiers could stand lookout and cannons would have been placed for defense against invaders.  At night the city gates were closed at a certain time and you had to be inside the city or you got to sleep outside in the swamp with the gators, other critters and hostile environs.

There was also a fort that guarded the harbor from hostile forces from the Atlantic Ocean.  Saint Augustine was important to the Spanish to protect its ships ferrying goods and gold from the New World to Spain.  At the time, it was used as a place to re-supply ships and provide protection from pirates trying to steal the wealth being transported to Spain.

View from the fort overlooking harbor and entrance
from the Atlantic Ocean.

The streets of Saint Augustine are very narrow and not laid out in a straight line, unlike other cities laid out in a square grid pattern.  This layout helped the breezes from the ocean accelerate and cool using the Bernoulli Principle.  It also aided in the defense of the city by not allowing a cannon ball a straight shot down any of the streets.  Pretty ingenious, huh?

Of course you cannot mention this city without thinking about the Fountain of Youth which is one of the stops on the trolley tour.  It is adjacent to the spot where Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles landed on September 8, 1565 to secure the area for the Spanish crown against incursion by the French Protestants (called Huguenots) that were encroaching into the area by establishing a fort nearby which infuriated the Spanish King.  That landing spot is marked today by a huge cross placed and dedicated to mark the 400th anniversary of the occasion.

Marks site for original landing at St. Augustine

Also close by is the beautiful street, Magnolia Avenue.  It is lined with Florida live oak trees.  It has a beautiful canopy of branches and they are enhanced by the Spanish Moss that hangs from the branches.  Of course the name moss is a misnomer.  It is actually a plant that is related to the pineapple but do not try to eat the stuff.  It is a plant that gets its water and nutrients directly from the air and is not parasitic in nature.  It is home, as it is known in the South, to a critter called a ‘chigger’.  Others know this horrid little animal as a ‘redbug’.  These very small things bite and burrow into the skin and cause untold misery.

Magnolia Avenue with Live Oaks
draped with Spanish Moss

Henry Ford was unaware of this peculiar relationship between chiggers and the moss when he came up with the idea to use the Spanish Moss as stuffing or padding in his car seats.  Of course this idea, which seemed very good at the time economically, led to the very first automobile recall in history.  He had to replace all the seats stuffed with Spanish Moss with a more human friendly material.

While on the tour, we were introduced to the city’s oldest living resident.  He was here before Ponce, Pedro and Henry.  He is well over 600 years old and 13 feet around.  His name is the Old Senator.  He is actually a Florida Live Oak tree and his name comes from being so crooked and shady.  Very appropriate, again just my opinion.

The 'Old Senator'

Also found in the city is the very first ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum.’  Robert Ripley traveled the world and collected many different weird and bizarre objects and decided to display them here when he purchased the old Warden Castle that had been transformed from a private residence to a hotel.  He opened this museum in 1950 as the first of its type.

During our recuperation from the surgery, we found time to attend another Tortugas baseball game.  Again the hapless Tortugas lost but we did procure a Tortugas baseball hat for our son-in-law.  We also found time to visit a Saltwater Taffy factory and a Chocolate Factory while visiting Daytona.  All three of these items are part of our bucket list items we regularly dip into from time to time.

Bibi caught the free Wawa T-shirt and was
congratulated by Sheldon, the Tortuga mascot!

We decided to visit the Tampa Bay area for a major league ballgame between the Tampa Rays and the Texas Rangers.  Visiting the major league ballparks (primarily American League) is also on the bucket list.  We had tried to find a game when the grands were around but it was All-Star break so we settled for next available.  This meant driving across the state from East Coast to Gulf Coast, for a 3 hour drive.  There is quite the difference from driving across Texas, east to west which takes a good 3 days.

Checking out the interview of Elvis Andrus prior
to the game.  All in Spanish, did not understand
a single question or answer!

Hey!  How did he get here?

Texas won and so did Bibi.  While sitting in the game, she was checking her Facebook feed and saw where a good friend of hers was at the game too.  She was able to track them down and catch up with them during the game.  They were on vacation and decided to take in the game because it was raining outside and the stadium is domed so the game would be played regardless of weather conditions.  Ain’t it a small world?

After the follow up visit to dermatology and removal of sutures, we headed towards Savannah Georgia.  There will be more about that in the next post.  Until then be safe.

Georgia, here we come!

It Must Be a 'Girlie' thing...

We headed back to the airport later in the evening (see prior post) to pick up our one and only granddaughter and her mama for a visit.  It is amazing that just a couple of hours earlier, they were in Texas after picking up the grandsons from the airport after their visit to Florida.

This is the first time in our grands’ visit that we will be doing some ‘girlie’ stuff.  Now before you get all huffy and mad about that remark, let me remind you that the ‘princess’ (as she is affectionately known) has a reputation.  This is the same girl, when she was just about a year old that wandered into the boys’ room, where they were playing, and disrupted the activities.  The oldest called to mom to come get whatever she had taken back from her and put her out of their room, to which mom responded, “I’m busy, just take it from her and get her out of your room then shut the door.”  His quick reply (full of emotion and desperation) was, “No!  I’m scared of her!”  He is six years older than his sister who was a toddler at the time, you should know she still has her bluff in on everyone!

You might wonder also how she got the moniker ‘princess’ if she is willing to take on two older brothers and any others that might wander through her universe.  Part comes from dad calling her ‘princess’ but the other part comes from an episode in her young life.  The older brothers were taunting her and calling her names one day.  The specific name was ‘weenie’.  This apparently she took great exception to because one day she announced, “I’m not a weenie.  I’m a princess.”  Enough said, right?  From then on she definitely was the ‘princess’.

Her ‘girlie’ stuff is not 100% pink and soft.  In fact, she wanted an airboat ride and a day-long excursion to a wild roller coaster filled theme park.  Neither of which is typical ‘girlie’ stuff in my book.  Now don’t get me wrong, she can shop with the best of them.  Endurance is no problem either.  I am usually wilting before she gets her second wind.  Luckily, Bibi handles the shopping excursions and I am relieved of participation duties.

I enjoyed the airboat tour with the boys and I easily entertained another ride through the swamp.  So off we went just south of Kissimmee to Wild Willy’s.  The name did not deter our enthusiasm in the least.  We managed to see a couple of gators but not as many as on the other tour.  This time we saw more winged nature than before.  After the tour we found ourselves in their shop where we were encouraged to hold small alligators.  Here are all three ‘girls’ holding the amphibian, notice there are no males holding the creature, must be a ‘girlie’ thing.

Mr. Gator lolling along.

Definitely a 'girlie' thing - right???

The next day found us at SeaWorld.  A theme park that is full of roller coasters with names like Manta, Mako, Kraken, etc.  You get the drift; a bone jarring, teeth rattling bunch of rides that try to make your heart race, stop or skip several beats.  I would love to partake, but have found out in my ‘older’ years that riding such contraptions do make me so sore, I can barely move the next day.

Manta - upside down and backwards, no thank you!

Kraken, whipping and diving plus Virtual Reality headsets, no thank you!

Not everything in SeaWorld is thrill-ride attractions.  There are many live animal shows and displays for those that do not participate in roller coaster actions.  We found several to our liking, the Sea Lions, the Dolphins and yes even Killer Whales.  However, there is a bit of warning attached to these shows (especially the Killer Whales) as well.  There is a section, which the princess took us to upon arriving, at the whale show that is clearly marked, ‘Soak Zone’, and followed by several audio warnings stating, ‘you will get wet, really, really wet’.  Now I’m not always the sharpest tool in the box but I get it when presented clear and convincing evidence.  However, I’m easily persuaded by a princess to do things I do not ordinarily do, warnings notwithstanding.  Besides, I had already wimped out of the amphibian handling thing, I could not wimp out on a seemingly harmless wet adventure with my favorite granddaughter, now could I?

Mr. Sea Lion

Whoa baby!  Soak does not describe what happened during the Killer Whale show.  More like being baptized multiple times.  The first pass was with a whale on its side with its tail partially out of the water supposedly waving to the crowd but in reality splashing hundreds of gallons of saltwater out of the tank onto the audience in the ‘Soak Zone’.  Yes, the majority of the water hit Bibi and me to the great delight of the princess.  Again, it must be a ‘girlie’ thing.  Lucky me, I had decided to wear quick drying garments that day but I was afraid my hearing aids would never be the same afterwards.  Good news though, I can still hear.  When I heard towards the end of the show the whales would be waving goodbye, I headed for higher ground.  …And I’m not a wimp jus’ sayin'.

Petting? the stingrays

Night time sights after the fireworks show.

Easily persuaded by a princess, you say?  Yes there is another incident in our history that reflects the wily and almost deceptive nature of the female gender in our species that seems to be innate.  When the princess was about five years old, we were hungry and decided to leave older brother’s baseball tournament to grab a bite to eat.  Just the three of us (Bibi, me and the princess) stopped in at a popular fast food chicken place.  After much discussion and contemplation, the order was placed.  Princess insisted on French fries with her meal; however, after surveying the scrumptious looking mashed potatoes I had chosen, she suddenly changed her mind.  Now I am not one that gives up my food selection easily because after all it is what I ordered and wanted.

After a period of asking, begging and pleading for my mashed potatoes, I thought she had given up since I had been resolute in my stance and consistent in my response of ‘No, you ordered fries so enjoy them.’  Not to be deterred, she found a way to ‘persuade’ me to part with my bowl of mashed potatoes.  How you say?  Well who can turn down this offer?  She confidently told me she would give me a hug if I gave her the mashed potatoes.  Well the fries were pretty good; jus’ sayin’ again!

We also enjoyed swimming in the pool and a day at the beach.  We went to Cocoa Beach for this excursion.  Remember the famous and fabulous body surfing boards?  Yes, they were used again today and for an even longer period of time.  We managed to shut down the beach.  We stayed until it was almost completely dark.  The tide started coming in and eventually forced us to move our resting area further away from the encroaching water.

Cool cats!

Cooler cat - in the shade that is.

We played many board games too.  The princess is the queen of board games.  She loves to play games and is very competitive.  I think her passion is to see how many times she can beat her Gran.  Of course, I am not a pushover when it comes to Crazy Eights.  I understand the strategy and logically see the way cards should be played, what I do not see is the out of left field draw of the cards that she usually gets to beat the whampums out of me!  We had fun laughing and sharing around the table as we played many a game.

Bibi and princess took a shopping trip on their final full day with us and allowed me to stay home to hold down the fort and protect mama while she worked (she has a computer based job that allows her to be mobile) that day.  Of course, I spent the day making sure a couple of chairs did not move and stayed exactly where they were supposed to be.  Quite successfully I might add.  Only when it began to rain later that afternoon did we see the shopping duo.  According to Bibi, princess knew what she was looking for and avoided stores that did not have promise and only frequented areas of a store that would contain the items she was interested in researching and viewing.  Even resorting to bypassing an item in case she saw something she wanted more only to return if she did not find something ‘better’.  Now that is definitely a girl thing.

We all went out for a dinner on their last night out followed by a shopping trip at Disney Springs.  Luckily for me, two of them had been out shopping most of the day and we were still experiencing rain showers and drizzle so the excursion was short and sweet.  After a purchase or two at the Disney store, we managed to find some dessert choices at Disney Springs.  For me, one last Mickey Ears ice cream bar.

One of my 'ears' is gone!

The next morning found us making our way to the airport to say Bon Voyage to the ladies.  We could not believe how fast the time has gone by during the grands’ visits.  We had loads of fun and will always cherish the memories.  Now we go back to the rig and head down the road a bit.  We will check back in soon for our next adventure posting, until then be safe and enjoy life.

Love these girls - AND that's not a 'girlie' thing!