USA road trip Florida and St Augustine

Ok its the hurricane season so what do we do to keep ourselves occupied?

We considered Peru and Cuba, however getting to these places by boat is a no no and its not possible to visit either without going via Canada or the UK so what shall we do?
As we have both spoken about a road trip in the USA Don booked us several flights throughout the country so we can have a break off the boat.
We flew with American Airlines, most of their planes have wingtips like this, I wondered if the pilots have misjudged the parking.

The flight most of the way was low enough to see most of the islands in the Bahamas so I took a few shots of the Islands we stopped at on the way up last season.

We are looking forward to returning to the Bahamas and spending more time there.

First stop Miami, collect a car then drive to Fort Lauderdale to stay and visit our friends there.

Geoff and Stroma let us stay in their Winnebago which is parked on their front lawn.
We managed to order and buy bits for the boat which are difficult to buy in Grenada so that was a bonus.
Met up and surprised our other friends who had no idea we were arriving we had a very nice meal at an Italian restaurant in town. Pete and Liz invited us to their home for a barbecue we had a great time.

So after breakfast on Sunday off we set for St Augustine Florida which is the oldest city in the United States. We were very lucky to checkin at a hotel right in the centre of the old town so we could walk to most places.

The Fort which had walls that been repaired, we didn't visit the Fort as we have been to so many.

We took advantage of the trolley ride which had a great commentary, you can hop on or off at any of the stops.

Spooky place

The Corn Exchange in days gone by

The Old look out tower, which had obviously been restored

All through St Augustine are so many old oak trees most of which are covered in Spanish moss

I wonder if he found a room

There is a distillery which is fairly new they are making vodka and gin at the moment and bourbon too, the bourbon wont be ready for a few years yet. We had a tour and commentary and of course tried a few samples.

The stills in the background

We visited the history museum which is next to the old jail.

An old settlers wagon, I bet it must have been a heck of a bumpy ride

Don waiting for customers at the gallows

This sherif was a huge guy

The old General Store

We spent hours inside, Ripleys Believe it or not museum,  the first one Mr Ripley ever had built. Some of the exhibits are pretty amazing but some you really have to think about and almost had me and Don believing they are true.

Clever?

Lizard man, yuk

A real shrunken head

I can think of so many things to say about him, it must have been very difficult for him 

Come on who believes in vampires?

Must have been one heck of a show 

Ok so how did it eat? must have been a very skinny bird when it died

All made with old car bumpers

Scary Don

They had to surround this fella with trees, he's a long way from home

Afterwards being suckers for these trips we did the Ghost tour, a trip on a "scary bus" first to a park reputed for seeing ghosts, what I found unnerving was the guide talking about being careful where you step as one of his last visitors found himself taking a "selfie" with a rattlesnake! During the trip we went to the old jail which had an actor that jumped out from the dark and did surprise a few folks. The real gallows stands outside which did look a little scary.

The whole place has some wonderful buildings throughout in fact there is lots of historic buildings to see.
The fort, the city gates the cemeteries hold so many tales I can't tell them here all I can say if you are interested Google St Augustine and its history you will enjoy it we did.

Next Stop Savannah, Georgia.