St. Augustine 2021

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, is a place Steve and I love to visit.  We first went there in January 2015, when the city was celebrating its 450th anniversary. We stayed with our friends Nina and Roger Pitkin, who spend several months a year there. In February 2017 we returned to play more golf and see more sights. Last year Roger invited Steve to play in a member-guest golf tournament at Marsh Creek, but COVID-19 intervened. Last week, with all of us vaccinated, we finally got to go again.

When we arrived on Wednesday, Nina was in the kitchen baking Cowboy Cookies and Roger was at the grill smoking a pork roast for Friday night.  Just watching them in action was inspiring. We hadn’t seen them since they visited us in Scotland in 2019, so we had lots to catch up on.

Thursday I saw old friends from Northern Virginia and met new ones. Nina kindly drove me an hour up beautiful A1A highway to Atlantic Beach to visit my long-time friends, Chet and Andrea Davis. They showed us around their Navy-connected retirement community, Fleet Landing. Then we celebrated Chet’s upcoming 85th birthday with lunch at The Flying Iguana. Feasting on yummy fish tacos, margaritas, and churros, we exchanged memories of pre-pandemic travels.

That evening Nina introduced me to her friends who had lived in Northern Virginia. Sharon Jeanes and her husband Don were both band directors in Fairfax County–there’s a special place in my heart for band directors. Before dinner at Sharon’s house, we attended an outdoor concert by The King’s English, a vocal ensemble formed at the University of Dayton in 1965. I loved a song they sang by Alan Jackson, The Older I Get:

The older I get
The more I think
You only get a minute, better live while you’re in it
‘Cause it’s gone in a blink
And the older I get
The truer it is
It’s the people you love, not the money and stuff
That makes you rich

On Friday I explored two places on my own and documented them in photos. My new friend Linda Osborne had recommended Alligator Farm Zoological Park as a great place to learn about alligators, crocodiles, serpents and birds. Roseate Spoonbills and Egrets flashed fancy feathers as they fed their young. Nile Crocodiles made me think of Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber, one of my kids’ favorite books. Click here to see Everglades animals and related species without the crowds.A few miles north of the Farm, I found Fort Mose Historic State Park. Because of pandemic restrictions, there was just one volunteer on duty. She showed an instructive video and opened the door to more displays. I walked around the lovely grounds and took photos of all the informative signs. Click here to see my pix and learn about how Spain invited runaway slaves from Georgia to gain their freedom in St. Augustine, IF they joined the militia and the Catholic Church.

While Steve and Roger golfed, Nina and I took a long walk around Marsh Creek. That night the Pitkins hosted a Pulled-Pork Party for fourteen fellow Virginia expatriates–the band directors and many other fascinating people. After my stimulating adventures at the Farm and the Park, Steve’s 27 holes of golf, and a delicious dinner complete with Cowboy Cookies, we slept very well.

On Saturday morning five of us visited an exhibit of American Impressionist artists at the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, providing more to learn and document. Here is my album of artworks and their labels. We chatted with some of the local artists competing in a Plein Air event the museum was hosting.  More fun: lunch at Sunset Grille on St. Augustine Beach, watching the final shoot-out of the tournament, and a wonderful dinner at the Club. Here are the best flower and bird photos I took in St. Augustine–a canna lily and a blue parrot.

Wait, there’s more! I woke up at 4:00 the next morning because unusual lightning was flickering outside. I didn’t go outside to see for myself, but fortunately, Roger had previously recorded a similar event. Just look at how spectacular nature is in Marsh Creek: