St Augustine

May 1 - May 3, 2012

Quick, where was the first landing and what is the oldest city in America? Isn't Jamestown the site of the first landing and settlement in America? Or was it Plymouth Rock? Wrong, it was St Augustine, FL. My parents, who live in Santa Fe, NM say that there is some debate as to whether Santa Fe is actually the oldest American city, but there's no doubt in the minds of the residents of St. Augustine that they live in the "oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America." Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain in 1513. He came ashore in St Augustine, met Indians who lived very long lives and were over seven feet tall, and decided that he had found the fountain of youth that he had heard tell of in his travels in South America. Ponce was only 4 foot 6 inches tall, so he was particularly impressed with these Indians!

Other Spanish explorers found riches in Mexico and Peru which they sent back to Spain on ships which traveled along the gulf stream. Spanish settlements needed to be built in Florida to protect the treasure fleets. The French had troops garrisoned near Jacksonville, which made the Spaniards particularly paranoid. King Phillip II of Spain sent Pedro Menendez to settle Florida and drive out the French. On September 8th, 1565, Menendez and 700 colonists landed here and founded St Augustine. The Jamestown landing was in 1607 and the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts in 1620.

While here we have visited the old Spanish fort called the Castillo de San Marcos. It's a National Monument, run by the National Park Service, We purchased an annual pass for $80 that will allow us admission to all park service facilities for the next year.

We've also visited the old jail which makes my old place of employment, CBIF, look like a luxury hotel.

We have a third family member traveling with us this year. Her name is SiSi and she is a very spoiled six year old Australian Shepherd. Rick has been trying to convince me to get a new dog ever since our beloved cocker spaniel, Taz, died five years ago. He finally won. Here is a photo of my 37 pound "lap dog."