St. Augustine

Now bare with me while I describe everything I saw, it might get a little wordy and tedious, but I gotta give the people what they want and by people I mean my parents.

Third day of the trip I got to see St. Augustine, which has some small roads but a lot of interesting history.
St. Augustine was explored by Juan Ponce de Leon (don't know how to put the accent over the e in Leon, but you know what I mean)  in 1513 and settled by Pedro Menendez de Aviles (again accent over the e in Aviles) in 1565.  I went to see the Ponce de Leon's fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.  It is the original site of the Spanish colonial St. Augustine, the oldest successful European settlement in the US.

Hello Friend.

Spring House aka the Fountain of Youth: Had a cup of natural water from the Ponce's Spring of Eternal Hope.

Warm and Fresh

I better look 12 after drinking this water.

Navigators Planetarium: Saw the celestial navigation techniques used by early European explorers.  This navigation was used to find La Florida.  (Again the accent over the o, I'm not good with technology)

Juan Ponce de Leon

Discover Globe: The globe showed the explorers' routes to and from the new world, as well as where they settled and the establishments of the first Universities in the Americas.

And here's a picture of a peacock cause peacocks are cool

Mission of Nombre de Dios Church: The first Franciscan Mission church built in the US and served as the hub of the entire Spanish Mission system.

Gettin' their pray on

Weapons Demonstration: Saw a Matchlock Arquebus packed and shot off.  This was used in the mid-1500s by Span during the colonization of the New World.

This guy.

Timucuan Village of Seloy: The original inhabitants of Florida for thousands of years were the Timucuan Indians.  This showed what their villages would have looked like.

Timucuan Village

Cannon Firing: Watched a cannon be fired (duh).  Pedro Menendez de Aviles brought 20 of these to the settlement of St. Augustine in September of 1565.

Canon Fire

Astillero and Chalupa: Saw a  Spanish work boat being built.  All the people working to build the boat are volunteers and after they are done they take kids on field trips from the park to the lighthouse.  The one they were building today should be done by December.

All by hand

After I saw all that history I decided to see history in the making at the St. Augustine Distillery.  It is the only and oldest Vodka distillery in Florida.  They make both Vodka and Gin and are in the process of making Bourbon.

Vodka, Gin, and real copper mugs

And coming soon