Fort Matanzas and Scenes from Highway A1A

We decided to drive US Highway A1A for about 70 along the Atlantic Ocean and visit Fort Matanzas National Monument.  It was a very relaxing day.  We did not get back to the campground until 4:30.

I took this last night.  There was not a good sunset picture but I liked this shot of the sky and office.

This is the highway on which we spent most of our day.

We drove to Flagler Beach (about 35 miles south of St. Augustine) and then drove north about 35 miles.  The southern leg was closer to the ocean and much more scenic.  We arrived at the Atlantic Ocean at the perfect time because it is experiencing what is called a "King Tide."  A King Tide is an exceptionally high tide that occur during a new or full moon.  This picture shows the ocean waves over what is normally a stairway down to the beach and normal ocean tide.  We were not able to do any beachcombing or walking on the shore today.

I love to look at the houses along the drive.  Here are a few pictures of some I thought were interesting.

A lot of the houses have observation decks with chairs so that you could look at the ocean.  I think it would be a very calming way to spend an evening.

I saw unusual (to me but I am sure not the owners) mailboxes.  I saw lots of dolphins.

Manatees

Dogs

A pelican

An artist must live in this house.

This is a fortified watchtower built in 1742 which defended the southern approach to the Spanish military settlement of St. Augustine.

The picnic area in this park contains huge live oak trees.

A lot of the limbs on the live oaks had fern-like plants growing on them.

This turkey was wondering around through the picnic area. As we were leaving the park we spotted a small group of turkeys along side of the road; however as we drove past, we noticed a Bald Eagle in the midst of the turkeys.  We have never been that close to a Bald Eagle.  We have seen them flying high in the sky but not 15 feet from us on the ground and with turkeys. I wish so much that I had been able to get a picture of that scene! 

The back of Fort Matanzas.  The fort is only 30x30 feet and 50 feet high and has two stories.  The first floor is where six soldiers billeted.  The second story contained the ammunitions and the captain of the fort stayed.

These cannons did their job very well.  We were told that only 12 times did they have to be fired and repelled the attackers. 

This is the bed where the enlisted men slept.  The men rotated shifts so only three at a time would sleep while the other three stood guard.

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Fort Matanzas can only be visited by taking a park service ferry.  This is the ferry we rode.   We were here three years ago and a hurricane had come through and destroyed the docks so we were unable to visit this park at that time.

The front of the fort.

This where we ate our mid-afternoon meal:  Red Frog and McToad's

Carol had shrimp, fries, cole slaw, and hush puppies:  very good.
I had Blackened chicken and Fettuccini Alfredo:  very good.

This is where we have been staying for the last three nights.  Tomorrow morning we will drive 700 to Cape Hatteras for three more nights before we turn the motorhome west and head back to Illinois.  We will divide the 700 miles into  a two day's drive.  We already have the car loaded so it shouldn't take too long to pack up and get on the road.  When we got back to camp, I did laundry.  That will be the last time I do laundry until I can use my own machines.  It has cooled down and we are thinking about turning off the air conditioner.  We sat outside for a while.  It was very pleasant and no mosquitoes!!