Back to the Beach in St. Augustine, FL

Terri and I spent 4 days in our nations oldest city last week. St Augustine has always been one of my favorite places and it was nice to return to the beauty and history of the city. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the Bridge of Lions was reopening after an almost five year long renovation. The beautiful bascule bridge (draw bridge) was built in the 1920s and is now in top notch condition. The temporary bridge will be removed in the next 3 or 4 months and the concrete from it used for an artificial reef. The major ceremony will be in 2011 after the Lions that sit at the base of the bridge are replaced. We crossed it on the first day it reopened.

We arrived to some wet and chilly weather but made the best of it. We did some shopping at the very nice Prime Outlet Mall and dined at several of the areas excellent restaurants. We tried The Seafood Kitchen, The Sunset Grill, and my all time favorite....Salt Water Cowboys. Salt Water Cowboys sits on a salt marsh viewing the intracoastal waterway and features authentic turn of the century Florida cuisine in the tradition of an old fish camp. The views from the restaurant are beautiful and the food is excellent.

I also stopped at Sailors Exchange, a marine consignment store to look at parts for the renovation of my boat.

Even on the chilly or rainy days we took a drive down the beach. We also drove to a beach near Marineland for a while. The last day we were there it warmed to the 70s and we spent the afternoon on the beach under a cloudless sky. It was the perfect end to a vacation in one of my favorite cities.

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