Caching by Trolley? Saint Augustine

Oh, what a mess! I upload my pictures from Florida, and they save with the file name of "when they were uploaded" and not "when they were taken"! Quel dommage! But now that I have finally sorted Ocala from Orlando and Saint Augustine from Gulfport, what a trip!

And I realize among many of the "firsts" we experienced on this trip, we cached from a trolley. Literally. God bless, Saint Augustine!

To be up front, Saint Augustine wasn't on our radar when TaGeez & I planned our trip to Florida for his Father's 90th birthday. We thought we'd only have a day or two, at some point, to see something of Florida. As our time was limited we thought hitting Daytona, but our dear friend, ShelleyJean, steered us to Saint Augustine - "The oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States,"

This was my first trip to Florida (state souvenir at the Welcome Center! Woo hoo!), and we were lucky enough to stay at Saint Augustine Beach (with an almost-view of the ocean from our hotel room). 

So, with only 1 full day to take it all in, what do we do? 

I was over the moon when I realized the same trolley company that ran the tour in San Diego had a hop-on/hop-off trolley here! Better yet, the stops aligned perfectly with almost all the Virtuals and the Adventure Lab in historic downtown!

BEST DAY EVER!

The trolley tour is a hoot and the tour guides tell the best stories (and the worst jokes). I was excited for TaGeez to have this experience, and we spent the entire day hopping on and off. 

Before we proceed, you should note that there are no spoilers for caches below.

One of our first disembarkments was at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.

"The oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, the Castillo de San Marcos is a large Spanish stone fortress built to protect and defend Spain's claims in the New World. It's a National Monument and, at over 315 years old, it's the oldest structure in St. Augustine."  [Source: unknown]

It looks like Signal loved it! And the Bridge of Lions in the background 💓

Hot Shots Virtual GCB34B

"Not only is the Castillo de San Marcos the oldest of the country, 

it might be the most successful as it has never been conquered." [Tour Guide]

Back on the trolley we next stopped at the city gates, which was located... 

...next to the Huguenot's Cemetery (listed in 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoads - the Kindle version of this was invaluable on this trip).

And next to that was the Saint Augustine Visitor Center, with another fabulous cache recommended by ShelleyJean. And, on our way in the door, we found a Zero Milestone! I have a collection of these now! This one is the Old Spanish Trail Zero Milestone that marked the end of the OST auto highway that connected from San Diego to Saint Augustine (San Diego again!).

OST Zero Milestone

Sister City Fountain

This traditional cache leads you to the Florida GEOCAC benchmark nearby (you will see Signal with it shortly). The staff was super friendly, carrying the cache from the Information Desk to a "private viewing area" and the a.c. was Heaven-sent!

FLORIDA GEOCAC BENCHMARK
PROJECT GC1MVYP

Mosaic outside Visitor Center

Tolomato Cemetery

One thing we weren't used to anymore is the heat. It was hot, and we were walking around with very little cover. On a recommendation from the Visitor Center gift shop we stopped for lunch at Mojo's for more a.c. and fabulous barbeque. Now, if you go to the wrong Mojo's, we ate at the one on Saint Augustine Beach, too, and the nachos were phenomenal!

Refreshed and fed, it was time to mosey to St. George Street - a pedestrian street lined with shops, restaurants and geocaching stops! TaGeez really availed himself to all the amenities!

3 cool postcards for my sister! 

St George Street ended at the Cathedral Basilica, established in 1565, is the oldest Christian congregation in the contiguous United States. I regret I didn't take more pictures of the building and plaza out front, but time to answer more Virtual and AL questions before hopping back on the trolley!

Cathedral Basilica Virtual GCNH8C

We learned alot about Henry Flagler and Flagler College, the former site of the magnificent Ponce de Leon Hotel. The tour guide pointed out the mesh over the opulent round dining hall windows - the mesh is to protect the 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows worth $3.5 million!

Ok, so I mentioned at the beginning of this post that this is the first time we've cached by trolley. You may say, "But what about San Diego?" Well, San Diego I got off the trolley to go find the caches, but in Saint Augustine we claimed this virtual right from the carriage seat! This is the Old Senator, an ancient live oak tree that pre-dates Ponce del Leon by almost a century! Rumor has it if a couple kisses under its boughs they will have a good future together - I left those pictures out! 

Wow That's a Big ___ Virtual GCGMAE

After some serious sightseeing and serious caching, I think the heat of the day got to us and things took a weird turn! 

TaGeez mobbed by peacocks at the Fountain of Youth

Scrapcat at Ripley's Believe It or Not

It was finally time to leave the trolley tour - well worth every cent - so we decided a drive to the Saint Augustine Lighthouse would be a perfect cap to the day!

Our new friend! First of dozens!

Our evening ended with us driving around and around the Bridge of Lions trying to get a photograph of Fiel and Firme (Faithful and Firm) with mixed results. Slap-happy, time to head back to the hotel.

Beautiful, historic Saint Augustine, Saint Augustine Beach and the A1A (Beach Boulevard) drive along the blue Atlantic Ocean is now one of my favorite spots ever. I'm so glad I was able to share this time with TaGeez.

The next morning it was time to head to Ocala for the nonagenarian's birthday, but we couldn't resist one last stop at Saint Augustine Beach Pier Park to watch the waves and smile at the surfers.

Of course, I got soaking wet and smelled like fish for hours, but, hey! That's Florida!