Raindrops on Roses and whiskers on Kittens?

Where Key West is concerned Julie Andrews can stuff her brown paper packages tied up with string up her... 

Here' s our favorite place to stay. 

The Andrew's Inn
This is actually their Eyebrow House and we stay upstairs in Treetop 

This is the main office and Bed and Breakfast: Little plug for them:  http://www.andrewsinn.com/

Onward ho!

In the wee hours of the morning...
while the honeymooners were yet sleeping, we headed (in our NON Cube car!) down the Florida coast on Highway 95 toward Ft. Lauderdale and The Florida Keys. 

With pedal to the metal, as they say, (too bad I don't have the ability to add a cheesy soundtrack right here-- some Steppenwolf "Born to be Wild" would really set the proper tone, I think.) we sped down the highway hoping to make it to the Mile Marker 0 of Highway 1 by  noon. Sorry no time for MacDonalds!

Finally, we are taking the exit to Highway One which is the only way to the Florida Keys and Key West.

Love at first sight

The beautiful architecture and lovely oceanic views, historic connection and lush Florida vegetation which I adore about Key West made me simply fall in love with St. Augustine so I am simply going to overdue it with pictures in this posting. We were only there for three days but I went wild! 

I'm not sure which bridge this is but I took this picture from the wall of the Fort.

After our first very long day with virtually no sleep-- we finally got to our lovely rooms at the Inn at Charlotte. They were so accommodating and welcoming there that I want to make sure and give them a little plug. Here's their link: http://www.innoncharlotte.com/ 

This is the little garden in front of the Inn and they apparently have a wedding package that couples buy. One couple that was there while we were got married right in front of this fountain. It was quite beautiful and then they were carried off in a horse and buggy to ride about town which is quite quaint considering so many of the old streets are still paved with brick.

You can just imagine yourself having an frosty glass of lemonade as the sun goes down...

St. Augustine at a glance

I can't possibly do the oldest continuously occupied European city and port in the United States any justice without starting from the beginning... 

The vicinity of St. Augustine was first explored by Ponce de Leon although it seems that "exploration" mostly amounted to his waving as he floated past the shores of Northern Florida. Here he stands, apparently still in search of his Fountain of Youth. The one he found (at least according to local legend) not far from this statue was worthless since he did in fact die.

So Ponce de Leon found Florida... or at least saw it first and then went on his way but the French thought they'd give it a go. They were not terribly successful as the Florida coast was a wild and mosquito infested area. But when it became a hideout for pirates who then attacked Spanish ships along the Caribbean, the Spanish began to take notice. That's when Pedro Menendez de Aviles headed for the Florida coast and spotted land on August 28, 1565. As this fell on the feast day of Augustine of Hippo, he decided the area was to be dubbed San Augustin (and only later to be called St. Augustine.) and his little flag was quickly planted...