road trip - part 2

Somewhere between Jacksonville and St. Augustine Doug spotted this Navy plane grave yard. We thought it was definetely picture worthy.

St. Augustine

(the oldest city in the United States)

We visited the Castillo de San Marcos, which is over 300 years old. The fort took 23 years to build, and is made out of coquina shells because rather than shattering when hit with a cannon ball, the walls would absorb it. The fort had 77 cannons.

I didn't go to the top of the light house, I stayed at the bottom and waited for Doug. As you can see in the picture, the stairs were the scary kind with the space between them. And I am SO afraid of heights it's not even funny. I got up the first set of stairs and I freaked out. Plus I realized there was about 7 more levels until the top, so I went back to the bottom. Where I was safe. I wasn't the only one who turned around, so that made me feel a little better.

Daytona Beach

("The world's most famous beach.")

Home of the Daytona 500, bike week, and whatever else goes on there. It was pretty. And you can drive your car on the sand there which was pretty cool. I had a hot dog and french fries, which were super delish. Plus it was the first time I stepped my feet in sand since leaving Clearwater. So I felt a little more at home than I did in BFE, South Carolina

road trip - South Carolina & Georgia pics

Our road trip included a stay in Beaufort, a some-what quick stop in Charleston-which is so beautiful, Parris Island (for the actual graduation), and then we stopped a few places in FL on the way back home. It seems like there's ALOT more to do in Florida. So glad to be back home!

My favorite place we visited was Charleston. I loved it! Absolutely beautiful. It was so busy, and all of the buildings/houses are so narrow but tall. I love the streets of these older cities, except they are SO not practical now a days-unless you have a smart car. Trying to manuveur my SUV through this little town was a pain. What am I talking about...Doug did all the driving! I guess I shouldn't be complaining ;) We drove past the Calhoun Mansion, which I read was one of the places they filmed the Notebook (one of  my FAVORITE movies ever.) We had a book of places to visit around South Carolina, so while riding to Charleston I was reading up on things to see there, and of course when I saw the word "mansion" I skipped right to that section. So I'm reading out loud and it went something like this: "blah blah blah, the Calhoun Mansion was used in the filMING OF THE NOTEBOOK!!! I LOVE THE NOTEBOOK! Oh my gosh, we have to go there! 35 rooms- I gotta see this." Even Doug seemed a little excited about it surprisingly. I was totally expecting the white house with blue shutters that was on the lake-but it wasn't. It was a beautiful old house but it was crammed in with all of the other old houses on Meeting Street. So I'm not sure what part of the movie was filmed here, but either way I still thought it was pretty awesome.