Thursday
24 September
We’d
discussed last night the plan for my birthday – and had decided to drive to St
Augustine for the day. We were up early
and off!
First
stop: Flagler Beach and a restaurant
named ‘Funky Pelican’.
Wikipedia:
America's Coolest Small Town
finalist
Flagler Beach was a finalist in the 2013
Budget Travel Magazine contest
for "Coolest Small Town".
The magazine described it by the
following:
"Twenty miles north of Daytona Beach on A1A, Flagler Beach couldn't be more different from its
party-hardy neighbor to the south. In fact, the area seems to attract more sea
turtles and right whales than spring breakers. And it's not hard to see why:
This thin strip of a beach town, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal
Waterway, has remained significantly
less developed than its neighbors. The six miles of pristine sand— which boast
an orange hue thanks to crushed coquina shells—are only interrupted by one
fishing pier. In town, the vibe is laid back and retro, thanks to spots like
Grampa's Uke Joint, which sells ukuleles, and High Tides at Snack Jack, a 1950s
fish shack that attracts surfers with funky dishes like tuna reubens, ahi club
sandwiches, and sake Bloody Marys.”
2013:
On Wednesday, the Funky Pelican opened its
door in the softest of openings (“Come On In” was written in big letters, in
chalk, on a giant blackboard-like wall fronting Oceanshore Boulevard).
Flagler Beach is experiencing a restaurant
renaissance of sorts. The demise of Hurricane Patty’s and another short-lived
bar partially named “pelican” aside, the town has seen the re-emergence, after
big moves or major refurbishing, of Blue and the Beachhouse Beanery, and of
Kokomo’s, where the Beanery used to be, with more coming.
The Funky Pelican was always going to be a
main course, because of its location, because of the Pier Restaurant’s history,
and because of the epic negotiations that preceded its opening.
After
brekky pancakes, French toast and eggs, we hit the road and headed north to St
Augustine!
Wikipedia:
St. Augustine (Spanish: San Agustín) is a
city in northeast Florida and the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States.
Saint Augustine was founded on September
8, 1565, by Spanish admiral and Florida's first governor, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. He named the settlement "San Agustín", as his ships
bearing settlers, troops, and supplies from Spain had first sighted land in
Florida on August 28, 1565, the feast day of St. Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200
years, and remained the capital of East
Florida when the territory briefly
changed hands between Spain and Britain. It was designated the capital of the Florida Territory until Tallahassee was made the capital in 1824. Since the late 19th century, St.
Augustine's distinct historical character has made the city a major tourist attraction. It is also the headquarters for the Florida National Guard.
First
stop was the outlets – quick shopping expeditions on both sides of the
highway. Next we drove into the
Historical district and found a place to park, mainly in the shade. We wanted to find the craft beer house – ‘A1A
Ale Works - it was a beautiful old place, right on the corner at 1 King Street,
with a view of Mantanza Bay. Many of the
historic buildings were decorated in celebration of the city’s 450th
Birthday – it was first settled in 1565.
Historic buildings
450th Birthday decorations
Birthday margarita!
Street view - 1 King Street
We
walked along the shore front to the Castillo de San Marcos – the fort built to
protect the settlement. It’s
construction is ‘conquina’ – (Spanish: "cockle.") is a sedimentary rock that is composed
either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and
mechanically-sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites,
brachiopods, or other invertebrates. It’s very interesting to look at
and must be quite solid, as construction began in 1672!
We
took the A1A back to Daytona rather than the interstate, because it is the
state road and passes through all of the coastal towns. We stopped at Matanzas Inlet for afternoon
tea – site of a French massacre in 1565!
Then
began the drive home…..
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