Week of May 22,2005. (This is going to be long.) Vacation Week! We traveled down to Orange Park, Florida to Tony's parents house on Saturday. It took about 8 hours to drive. We just spent the afternoon at the house and went out to dinner at Grant's which was on the water (canel or lake). It was very rustic and noted for having lots of stuffed critters in the building and lots of critters on the menu as well. As a vegetarian, I ate a really good pasta dish. We then drove around Jacksonville over I don't know how many bridges and went downtown. We saw the Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium where the Superbowl was held this year. There was also a great mural painted on a building of a Jaguar that looked like it was looking out of the windows.

On Sunday, May 22 we went to the Jacksonville Zoo. It is really a lot larger than it looks from the outside, being so spread out. It was great! Elephants of course, a close encounter area with the giraffes (though they weren't in the mood this day). But they had a baby giraffe that was only 3 months old. He was in a separate area with his mother. So cute! There was also a Lorikeet encounter where you could feed then nectar out of small cup that you held and they would hop on your arm. My bird kept walking up and down my arm and pecking at my bracelet. Obviously she had good taste and wanted the shiny beads. They had giant anteaters that I took a picture of and sent to my daughter called "Antibus Lives!" (Kingdom Hospital reference, we both enjoyed that show.) One of the more interesting things was this hugh flock of wild Wood Storks that took up residence in one tree in the Africa exhibit. These are big birds and every one had a nest with a couple of babies in it. I don't know why that tree didn't fall down. And every baby was making a sound that I said sounded like they all were saying, "mom, mom" over and over. People were just facinated by these birds. The zoo had a "free exhibit", unless you want to think about the poop cleanup under that tree. It was clean, so I know someone was working. There were 3 walk in aviaries which are my favorite thing other than elephants in a zoo. We spent all day there. Afterwards we drove to Mayport and saw the St. Johns River Lighthouse (first of 4 lighthouses in one week). It is not too far from the fence on the Naval Base there. We looked around this area and then went to dinner at Buca di Beppo, which means Joe's Basement. It was a very neat restaurant. It is a maze of individual rooms with low ceilings and lots of pictures on every square inch of wall space. They take you on a tour of the place before seating you. So that by the time you get to your seat, you have no idea where you came in the building. Also there is one (very requested) table in the kitchen. The food is Italian and orders are large and meant to be shared by everyone. Lots of courses too. Even the dessert (great chocolate cake) was hugh. The four of us ate one "slice". I'm glad they tell you this or you would order way too much food. After all this we drove back to the house which is in a private gated community with lots of walkways and a private nature walk with a built up boardwalk that goes to the water and out on a long dock into the water (Doctors Lake that connects to the St. John's River). We watched the sunset over the water and looked for manatees. Didn't see any, just fish jumping to avoid an aligator. Lots of canals, lakes, and waterways full of aligators here in Paces Island (community in Orange Park, FL).

On Monday, May 23 we went to St. Augustine. Now I have been here before. A long time ago as a kid. The fort I remembered, Castillo de San Marcos, started in 1672 and completed in 1695. Of course, I now am more interested in it's history and read everything in the guide as we walked around. It was interesting to see how just the footsteps on the stone staircase wore down into the rock. The moat allowed seawater to come in and "flush" out the latrines, though the moat's purpose was not to be surrounded by water, but to allow the townspeople to bring their livestock in during a seige. The fort in more recent times did have water in it, due to people "asking" for water in the moat. They stopped that in 1996 due to the possible erosion effect. Great views from there. They even had a "hidden" powder room that you had to crawl into. (we did) The old city had a main street, St. George's that is now closed to traffic (too narrow) and crawling with visitors checking out the great shops. There is also lots of great old buildings here, including the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the country. The whole surrounding area has great buildings, museums and Flagler College. Beautiful. I could have spent all week here. Luckily it is only 30 miles from the inlaws house, so I'm sure we will be back. We crossed the "Bridge of Lions" to go to the barrier island and to see the St. Augustine lighthouse. It is beautifully restored and you can climb to the top (all 219 stairs). They have a great museum there too. And talk about spectacular views! If you aren't afraid of heights. Good breeze up there too. We decided to try and see as many lighthouses that we could. This one, St. John's River, Ponce de Leon, and Amelia Island. The other one on St. John's is on the Navy base and they wouldn't let us on to see it. We even tried to see it from a park across the river. No go.

On Tuesday, May 24, we got up a dawn and headed south to Lake Poinsett to take an air boat ride and ecotour. Now, that is fun! We went on the Grasshopper Airboat Eco-Tours. It was weird taking off on a boat and heading for the grassy areas and right through them. That boat could go into water only about 6 inches deep. It was a great boat ride by itself, but the guide, Captain Rick, was very knowledgable about the area, the wildlife, and gave a great tour! We saw a very large aligator, and lots of smaller ones, Wood Storks, Anahigas, Great Egrets, Blue Herons, and kinds of birds. We even went back into a cypress swamp that had wild orchids and bromilids in the trees. Before we left, Tony and his Dad both saw a Nutria. We took pictures, but I could have rode all day on that boat! I highly recommend it. Tony's parents are going again, when the seasons change. Migratory bird time would be great! After the ride we headed over to Cocoa Beach and Titusville.