The Houghs: St. Augustine

Time for the final chapter, fans and fanettes.

Day II was a draining, draining day. Shuffling about in the 95+ degree weather (with 100% humidity), trying not to lose our patience with our bored and sweaty kids when they do something stupid (and kids are always doing something stupid), and trying to squeeze in as much of the surrounding attractions as humanly possible.

Like this, for example..

For Day III, we decided to take a far more leisurely approach - we wanted to take our time and soak in the city a little more. I had already seen the Castillo, and my rage had subsided since our not-as-cool-as-it-could've-been experience at the Pirate Museum, so I didn't really care all that much how we spent our last day in St. Augustine (I did want to check out the Spanish quarter and visit the infamous Fountain of Youth,in order to obtain immortality and maybe a shirt). As for Kris, she wanted to take the girls to a nearby, gigantor wooden playground and hit up a few last souvenir shops before hitting the road.

The girls just wanted to hang out back in the hotel room - eating pretzels, spilling drinks, watching Ratattouille (however the hell you spell that) on my MacBook, and more or less resuming the behavior they usually exhibit at home.

Go figure.

Well, we managed to do a little bit of everything during our last hurrah through the Old City, and we were still able to hit the road by 6pm, which put us back at our house in Orlando just in time to put the kids down for bed, unpack our luggage, and pass out.

Enjoy the pics and video. Slainté.

- Brian

The St. Augustine Visitor's Center. We had to check out of the Pirate Haus by 10am, so we were forced to check into the nearby parking garage and figured it'd be worth it to snoop around the adjacent visitor's center.

A Spanish rapier found among the wreckage of the Acona (pretty sure that's what the name was), a Spanish ship that sunk off the coast of St. Augustine with all her crew.

Yours Truly and some super big priest that will haunt my dreams for a long, long time.

...and here's his nasty sister. Or Shrek. I can't tell.

A replica (not to scale, or necessary likeness) of a 16th century Spanish galleon. But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

Some creepy fountain outside the Visitor's Center the kids wanted to play in

One of the oldest cemeteries in North America

...and again

Enjoying a morning pipe

The Oldest Drug Store in America/Pharmacy in America (St. Augustine seems to have a lot of "Oldest _____ in America"s)

A crapload of antique medicines, toiletries, and whatever else

The counter

Look out, ladies - this guy ranks 'Wild' on the ol' Passion Scale...

Some over-priced toy/doll store (wherein Kris failed to read the posted signs)

Walking to lunch at Barefoot Bill's

Some old, dilapidated (and probably haunted) house that was for sale. I was serious about buying it and taking up a job as a pirate full-time, but Kris wasn't having it. It would definitely be a fixer upper (however you spell that), but hell... so is the house we're in now.

At Barefoot Bill's

Abby, about to turn into the Hulk

Shenanigans at Barefoot Bill's.

After lunch (where we were served by some creature whose sex we couldn't determine - I hate it when that happens), Kris let the kids hang out in the church courtyard while I ran down to a particular gift shop to pick up the necessary souvenir shot glass I had seen the previous day.

The Catholic church of St. somebody-or-other

Abby gettin' out her Ya-Yas

Down by the Market Plaza

Walking through the Plaza

Back in the Cathedral courtyard

Strolling along, having a pipe

We loved pushing this beast around St. Augustine. Absolutely loved it.

The place to go when you need to bury a Huguenot

Ripley's Believe It or Not (...we didn't go there.)

We decided to check out a nearby playground that came highly recommended by Captain Conrad at the Pirate Haus. The kids needed to burn off their pent up energy (after being strapped into a stroller or otherwise being forced along, sweaty and bored with what their parents were doing), so we figured it'd be worth it in the long run for us to let them go nuts for an hour or two...

The playground, conveniently located right across the street from our parking garage (and our air-conditioned Tactical Family Transport Vehicle... which we were looking forward to after spending the duration of the day in a humid, Hell-furnace)

Arriving at the Playground...

Swingin'

Goofin' off

Abby, enjoying herself

Alayna, not enjoying herself

After hanging out at the playground for a while, we drove out to the infamous Fountain of Youth, located outside St. Augustine's historic downtown district, where conquistador Ponce de Leon landed in 1513.

The entrance gates

Tons of Spanish moss in the area, which appropriately makes everything look really, really old

Posted sentry and informational signboard

Kris asking for admission info from a local swordsman and some chick from "Joyzee"

Entrance to the Fountain of Youth

The Spanish used this exact spring when they first landed in St. Augustine, and the local Injuns believed it to be the Fountain of Youth

The famous Fountain of Youth

Obtaining immortality...

...which consequently tasted like sulfur and butt.

"Tastes gross. I don't want it."- The Cannonball, valuing taste over ever-lasting life.

Pool from the Fountain (Sulfur) Spring

Abby

Some cherub getting pissed on

Weird Cherub Statue/Fountain...

Close-ups

An old Spanish ship anchor recovered from a shipwreck off the Florida coast

Lots of relics pulled from shipwrecks - like the aforementioned anchor, as well as numerous cannons - are placed along the walkways throughout the 15 acre exhibit, which also houses a replica Native American village, a Planetarium (that we never had the chance of checking out), the Fountain of Youth, and, of course, a Gift Shop.