Pat & Frank arrived on Thursday afternoon and we had a great visit with them. They were able to stay through Saturday morning before heading back to their home in Ft Myers. I had a message from Pat that they stopped overnight, on the way home, in the quaint little town of Mount Dora, FL. We had dinner out two nights and breakfast out both mornings. Frank's taste in restaurants is excellent and his 6th sense of discovering some of the best is beyond belief. We definitely ate well while they were here and it was a treat for us not to have to cook on the boat for those times.

As Nancy mentioned, Pat is my beautiful, younger sister and Frank is her husband and a really great guy. Pat and her first husband Dennis came to FL in the early 1980's, about the same time that I moved my family to TN. Unfortunately, Dennis died at a young age of Pancreatic Cancer. Dennis was a hard working diesel mechanic who became the manager of Clark GM Diesel in FT Myers before deciding that he preferred being a mechanic rather than a manager and returned to the trade. I was very fond of Dennis and I think of him often, still today. Now, as for my young, beautiful sister, she went to work for a fledgling construction company, called River's Edge, as a warehouse secretary and girl Friday. I think River's Edge may have gone belly up and later the place where she now lives became Gulf Harbor. Pat held a few other positions at GH, eventually becoming a property manager. The folks she worked for convinced her to get her real estate license so she would receive a commission for doing the work. Well. I'm proud to say that over the years, as a Realtor, Pat has risen in the ranks of her peers and is now a multi- million dollar Real Estate agent. Needless to say, she has worked very hard and deserves the bounties of her efforts. I'm so very proud of my little sister!!!

If anyone is ever interested in real estate in Ft Myers, be sure to contact Pat at :

Patricia Warner  

Real Estate Specialist  

Gulf Harbour Yacht, Golf & Country Club

Amerivest Realty Of Lee Island Coast, Inc.

 

(239) 980-3740 - cell

GulfHarbourLifestyle.com

Pat and Frank were married a few years back, and as I said earlier, he is a really great guy and has always made me feel welcome when we visit. He's been a welcome addition to our family!! Frank is from Rhode Island and his family owns and operates a Retail / Commercial Flooring company in Cranston, RI.

 



 

We will be leaving St Augustine on Tuesday morning, assuming all of our mail has arrived by then. If it hasn't we'll stay on until such time that it does. I had been through St Augustine a few times in the past but I had never spent the time here that we did this trip. St Augustine is a city rich in history and it's heritage and some of the architecture is unbelievable. Henry Flagler built 3 gorgeous hotels here in addition to buying a couple of others. These hotels were built for his rich and influential friends from up north. Once he learned that his friends didn't want to make the trip down because the railroad ended short of here, he bought up 3 smaller RR's and merged them into a completed RR to St Augustine. That's when his money started pouring in. Of course, since he was already a partner with Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Company, he probably didn't need the extra money. Today, one of his hotels, the Ponce de Leon is the Flagler College here in St Augustine. The windows in the dining area of the hotel turned college were done by a young, unknown glass designer by the name of Tiffany. Those windows are still in place and now insured for about $170 million. This is the largest collection of Tiffany in the world. Can you imagine Bluto from Animal House starting a food fight in that dining hall???

 

We're moored at the St Augustine Municipal Marina which is just south of the Lion's Gate draw bridge. The following pictures show where the locals came up with the name.

 

I love the expression on this guy's face.

They tell us one lion is named Lefty and one is Righty. If you notice their raised paw, you'll understand why.

This is the 450th anniversary of Drake's raid on the city driving the Spanish out for a while. We attended the re-enactment of Drake's taking of the city which began at the old gates to the city.

We visited the old, historic fort, Castillo de San Marcos and were privileged to be able to see a re-enactment of the loading and firing of the cannon in defense of the fort. This procedure took about 15 minutes and I was told that even in the heat of battle, the very precision military formality of loading the cannon took place so they were able to fire one round every 15 minutes. But, since there were 42 guns at the fort, this was not a problem. They felt aiming for accuracy was more important than rapid fire. The uniforms shown are Spanish artillery uniforms for the time period.

 

The fort was originally all whitewash and story has it that when the British shelled the fort once, the Spanish would sneak out at night and re-whitewash the damaged areas. After about 21 days of shelling the British decided the fort must be indestructible and returned to Charleston. The walls of the fort are made of coquina, which is a block of sand and sea shells that have compressed and is quarried, then left to dry into this very hard material. 

We saw so many other beautiful architectural features and spots that I just can't comment on each one. But, I am going to post the pictures for you to, hopefully, enjoy. Let us know if you have any questions.