St. Augustine

Our first blog from St. Augustine had glowing reports about the perfect weather, but I’m sorry to say all that changed soon after. It’s been pretty cold and windy for most of the last two weeks. Daytime highs have been in the 50-60 degree range and nights at 25-40. That is TOO cold for my sunny winter in Florida. This has curtailed the daily walks on the beach and cut back on biking and hiking. Bob and I got up at 6am one morning, bundled up and sat in the truck to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic. It was glorious.

On the few sunny and warm days we have had, we visited several state parks up on the Florida/Georgia border that are on or near Amelia Island. We rode our bikes on the beach and encountered a dead sea turtle. On our ride through the park, we enjoyed the armadillos that were rooting around in the leaves. They are such funny little critters, and don’t seem to know you are there until you get right next to them.

We also spent a day at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, which is only about 5 miles up the beach from us. They have a great visitor center focused on local wildlife and has good recreational areas. We rode our bikes on sand trails through the woods, where we observed armadillos, many species of birds, and 5 or 6 dolphins in the Intracoastal waterway.

Northern Florida is a birders paradise. I have seen many types here for the first time including wood storks. Since this is a migratory route, there are new birds coming through all the time. Several species of sea turtles nest here in the spring and summer, and in the winter the greatly endangered North Atlantic Right whales calve offshore. Bob and I went to a training this week for whale spotters, but we’ll be out of the calving area when the whales arrive in January. If we decide to make a home in this area, I know that I will get involved with many wildlife projects.

Bob and I both hoped that we could see a space shuttle take off from Cape Canaveral while we were in Florida. They had one scheduled for this week, but as if often the case, it was put off until February at the earliest. But, they had a rocket scheduled to launch on Dec 7^th, so we went down the day before and toured the Kennedy Space Center. At the last minute, that rocket got rescheduled too, so we didn’t get to see a launch, but we really enjoyed our time at the Space Center. We even got to ride in a shuttle launch simulator. What a rush!

We have one more week here in St. Augustine before we head south. I am certainly glad that we’re not in Minnesota with my family digging out from the great blizzard of 2010!