Our last couple of days in Orlando were filled with sightseeing and fun. We all took a day to drive to St. Augustine which is about two hours from Orlando. Rick and I have been here a couple of times and it is just a cute town with rich history. They say that St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US. Ponce De Leon "discovered" Florida and the Fountain of Youth here back in 1513 and claimed the area for Spain. We love it because of the beautiful lighthouse that has 360 degree views of the area as well as the fun walking street lined with shops and restaurants.
While Brad and Ruth decided to take a trolley tour of the town Rick and I wanted to see the lighthouse. I knew our time was going to be short here and I wanted to climb all 219 steps to the see the beautiful view so we skipped the trolley ride. I'm glad we did because the others were on the trolley for two hours!! What a beautiful view of the ocean and surrounding town. We loved it!
After the lighthouse we had to stop at Whetstone Chocolates and pick up some treats. chocolate caramel for me and nuts and chocolate for Rick:)
After the lighthouse and chocolate shop we found a parking spot (finally) and walked around the old town streets admiring the beauties of the area. Our big find was in a Greek Orthodox Church gift shop. They had lots and lots of nativities set up and on sale. Since I started collecting nativity sets many years ago I have always wanted an olive wood nativity. Sister Bolinder, a lady I visited many years ago and has long since passed, had one and I always had admired it. She bought it on a trip to Israel and it was beautiful. I figured I would never get one because I didn't think I would ever make it to Israel.
In this little gift shop there was a nativity set that was made with olive wood from Bethlehem and local artist there carved each piece. Apparently the trees are pruned every couple of years and the artisans use this wood to make the Nativities. I was kind of iffy about buying one but Rick really wanted it. The sales lady told us that they never come on sale except for this very weekend because it was the towns Night of Lights ceremony where they light up the town square for Christmas. Well, it was 20% off so that was it. Rick said, "We're getting it." The sales lady found a box and we were able to pack it in our suitcases and get it all home in one piece. It is now being displayed on my kitchen hutch!
Buying our Nativity
Lighting of the town square.
The day we were to fly out was a Monday and our flight was not scheduled to leave until 6:00 that night so We followed DeeAnn and Darrell to a fun place they had discovered on Sunday night in their exploring. It was a quaint little town. I wish I could remember the name of it but we walked through some shops and had lunch at a French Bistro and then walked by the lake and spotted some alligators and turtles:)
Rick really wanted to see Gatorland (he has a passion for wildlife!) so we drove up to Gatorland and only had about an hour and a half there. We did get to see two wildlife shows and also got to see some big gators and crocs. It was a nice way to end our week long vacation in Orlando.
We caught our flight and made it home to sleep in our own beds that night! It was a wonderful trip and we made some fun memories!
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