OtherGoose: Feb 2-4 Visit with my sister in St. Augustine

February 4, 2015

So, where to start?

We arrived at River’s Edge Marina around 2:30 and got signed in. It is a very tiny marina on the side of the San Sebastian River. In fact it’s hard to tell the difference between marinas... they are all strung together along the river banks. And there are tons of boats from little junkers to huge yachts. There are also shrimpers in the river.

Barb and Dan arrived at around 3:30 and we got some of the laundry done. Mark and Gail came over to meet them and we had ‘happy hour’. Then we had dinner before going back to the motel with Barb and Dan. It took some getting used to sleeping in the solid bed. It kept moving!

When we got up in the morning we went for breakfast and then boarded the Red Trolley for a tour of the Old City... what a great ride! We went through the whole tour and then stayed on to go back to some of the more interesting areas. On this tour you can get off wherever you ant and get back on when another bus comes by. We got off at the oldest section of the downtown and walked through the small streets visiting the tourist shops! So much great art and craft stuff! Barb and I bought a couple of dresses [no, Barb bought me one for my birthday and she bought one. We are twins again! Only the siblings will get the joke!] Thanks Barb!!

We spent the whole afternoon there and went for dinner before we went on a “Ghost and Graveyard” Tour at night. THAT was even better! But we had to come back to the boat to get warmer clothes. The tour guides were Ted (prisoner & driver) and Chris [narrator in period costume]. We went to the old lighthouse, past all the haunted places that have been documented and heard all the stories. [Check out Ghost Hunters in2006 episode for St. Augustine].

The last place we went was the old jail. We were trailing through this spooky, cramped scary old jail, when he scared the crap out of us by ‘hiding’ in an alcove and talking as we went passed. But worse than that, we had the cell door slammed shut with about 20 people in this little room. This psycho dressed in stripes with tattoos and a shaved head was in there with us, talking about all the hangings.

At one point he asked one of us how many he had mentioned and when the person got it wrong he was right in their face! The last hanging he talked about was his own, blaming it on someone who was badmouthing his wife, so he shot him. Rick was standing off to the side taking pictures, so he turned and focused on him. We really thought he was going to go after him! They guy’s name was Gavin and he did a super job! It was an awesome tour.

We went back to the hotel and stayed the night again. This morning we went for breakfast and then came back to the boat after we stopped at the Sailor’s Haven so Rick could check up on some parts. We were ready to leave and Barb and Dan headed north. It was an awesome two days with my sister. I love spending time with Barb... and Dan too. Thank you for taking the time to meet us. It was great!

We were off the dock by 12:45 and got about 14 miles before we dropped the anchor in front of Fort Mantanzas. There weren’t many boats out on the water today in the rain In fact when we went tough the bridge he must have been bored because he opened way too soon and we held up the bridge for about 5 minutes. I’m sure the cars waiting on the bridge weren’t impressed.

We were going to take the dinghy and go to shore to check it out but it was drizzling when we got here so better to stay inside and stay warm. We’ll explore when it warms up!

ttyl

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