Day Three

I’ve been living in Florida for 15 years, and this is my first visit to St. Augustine.  Day three and we started off, where else, The Fountain of Youth!  I wanted to bring a big straw, but couldn’t find one long enough – I would have probably drank that thing dry!  J  Located on a beautiful oak lined street (named Magnolia St.

although it should have been Oak St.), the old archway announce Fountain of Youth.  I could tell by the surroundings as we drove in that it was very laid back and relaxing. 

We strolled the grounds of the park, enjoying the beautiful trees and the breeze from the salt marsh.  We checked out the well from which the fountain sprung, and drank some of the mineral water still springing forth from the earth almost 500 years after Ponce de Leon first tasted it - a little sulphurous, but surprisingly clear and somewhat cool.  After watching a short presentation in the Discovery Globe theater, a two-and-a-half story tall lighted globe of the earth that is one-of-a-kind and over 50 years old, we meandered about enjoying the grounds and the ambience. 

We witnessed a live cannon firing, during which time Sam’s eyes bugged out and Buster decided it was time to leave.  J 

Some time was then devoted to following around the male peacocks, as they were in full swing with their mating calls and large tail displays.  There was even a male and female pair of albino peacocks, but the male never displayed his tail feathers for us.  He did, however, perch above our heads on some overhead branches and pose prettily for photos.  A mirror placed about a foot above the ground was strategically placed along on the fences for the peacocks to admire themselves, and they did. 

Sam also spied a green anole walking along the fence, and cajoled me into capturing it for him to hold.  I let him hold it, gently, for a couple of minutes and then he released it.  He then told me that this was the best day of his life so far, because he got to do one thing he had never done before, and to see one thing he had never seen before.  I asked what those things were, and he said, “I got to hold a green anole, and I got to see the peacock with his tail up!”  Eight years old – gotta love it!

After some lunch and cool refreshment at the snack shack, we walked over to the Old Jail for a tour.  It was pretty cool, and the tour guide was very informative and cute.  Interesting tidbit - this was the first jailhouse built by the same company that built Alcatraz.  Some of the most interesting facts were details about the prisoner’s diets – grits for breakfast, beans for lunch and dinner.  The only meat was whatever the chain gang managed to catch during the day so the female prisoners could prepare it and put it in the beans.  And don’t even ask what “hard tack” consists of, or how it is eaten.  Yuck!