Didja ever want to go somewhere, but you never quite get around to it?  Dick & I have been married for 20 years, this September, and we've been coming to see Papa in Jacksonvill all those years.  We always wanted to see St Augustine, America's oldest city.  One time, we came close.  We followed Papa's directions (just humoring him, I suppose, no other Godly reason we would do such) and spent 2 hours going NORTH before we hit the intersection we would have come out on, if we'd only followed my instincts (and map!).  Another hour , or so later, and we made the city, but we were only there about 10 minutes when things just didn't "feel" right.  We boogied on out of town (yeah, after all that), just ahead of the approaching tornado.  Yup, a tornado. Never had one before, never had one since, but they had one that day.  We had kept the city on our list of neat places we wanted to visit, but in all subsequent visits, just never had the time.

All that changed this week!!  Tony & Gail, our neighbors from Venice, had followed us up to Mayport, and after settling in & spending a lovely evening with Karyne & Jon (along with Sue, another former co-worker & her new hubby), we all decided that we should storm St Augustine as only we could.  So, we hopped in Tony's truck & hit the road.  About an hour later, we arrived in lovely St Augustine.  It was very hot, and there was no clear consensus about what to see or how to get there, so when Gail asked if we wanted to ride the sightseeing train, it was very tempting.  Then I saw the price - $16.99!!  EACH person!!  So, no, heck no, no way was I gonna shell out that kind of money for a train ride around town when I have two perfectly good feet of my own.  Well, feet are OK, and I figured my hip could stnd some exercise, as long as we didn't have to run any races.  Then, Gail suggested that Tony wouldn't be able to walk the whole way and I thought maybe I wouldn't do so hot, either, plus Jose was amenable, so, what the hey, we're on vacation!  Well, we bellied up to the ticket station, mentioned we were military, and whattdyaknow!?  They are owned by Ripley's Believe it or Not, and they offer a 2-fer-one, so we jumped all over that!  Took a really rough "train" ride all over town, jumping off to eat a great lunch (not cheap, but pretty darned good) and play a round of mini-golf (free, with train ticket). Gail & Tony had never played Callander-style before, but I do believe they got into the spiritof things, and didn't mind (too much) not keeping score.  I took a couple of my usual do-overs (but so did they), and even scored a legitimate hole-in-one, withOUT assistance, and on the very first go for that hole.  We had lots of fun, then jumped back on the lumpy-bumpy train and headed back to the ticket-station.

After we got off, we all agreed that we had both interest and time, and wanted to visit Ponce de Leon's famous Fountain of Youth.  There's a short movie, a planetarium presentation and a sampling of the waters.  Funny, the water there tasted exACTly like the tap water at Rambler's Rest RV Resort, down in Venice (where we wintered).  I guess we should have been drinking that all winter, instead of filtering & ozoning it, huh?  While there, we all were enamored of the peacocks, blue & white varieties, and the baby ostrich that allowed us all to pet him/her.  We'll have some video & photos posted soon.  (Video will be under "thecallanders" on YouTube, and hopefully, I'll be able to add the links to Our Photo Albums page on the website.)

We went back the next day, after Tony & Gail eaded out & we said our "goodbyes."  Quotes, because they PROMISE we'll meet up again, after we do Texas & they do their commitment in Missouri & travel Alaska.  We went back for our second day (the train ticket is valid fo 3 consecutive days) and this time, we took a travel bug we'd picked up in Venice.  His goal was to see the world & have his picture taken wherever he goes....so, we spent the day, jumping off the train at the historial & pictoral spots, and took the requisite photos.  Monkey visiting the boat, the fort, the train, etc.  Was fun, and we even got another round of golf thrown in, courtesy of the absent-minded people on the previous train — they left their tickets at the station and the lady gave 'em to us.  Lucky day! 

Next day we just lazed around, Jose got his hair cut, and we packed up for the next leg.  Thursday, we got up early, did our final packing, and had a rather uneventful (THANKYOU,GOD!) trip up to Fayetteville, NC, where we stopped for the evening.  Watched a thunderstorm roll by, without much raing being dropped on us, and called it a night.  I about coudn't walk after the crappy SC roads, so once I stretched out, I was GONE!  Today, we made it to Indian Cove RV Resort, in Sandbridge, Virginia.  We went to an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet (same small chain as the one we went to in Williamsburg, VA for our honeymoon & 10th anniversary, and YES, it's the same one at which I got lost & hysterical)....OMG, I'd forgotten how expensive it is.  I guess it's our 20th anniversary present to ourselves; it's gonna take us till Sept to save up enough dough to pay for it!!!  After dinner, we went down to the beach to take another pic for our Travel Bug, and I shot a video of the waves rolling in.  Good googly-moogly, it was COLD!!  Brought home just how spoiled we've become!!!

OK, y'all, I'm about done for the day - hip's afire and computer screen is fading fast (really, not figuratively...there *is* a video problem with laptop screen...).  Y'all take care, stay safe.  Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!!