After our warm day on Sunday, Monday we bundled up for cold weather and headed to downtown St. Augustine.
It is such a cute and charming town.
There are streets that are pedestrian only, no cars. The streets are lined with shops, coffee, food and treats.
We enjoyed walking around, and we stopped in a shop to buy a Christmas ornament and some postcards.
After our time downtown, we headed to the the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Tickets are $12.95 for adults and $10.95 for kids taller than 44 inches. An adult accompanying children shorter than 44 inches gets in half price. We were able to save $35 by purchasing a family pass for $50.
We met up with a friend and her daughter we’ve known from Facebook but had never met in person. That was fun!
We climbed 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse, and we walked out onto the observation deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Manning, Rhythm, Tapestry, Cherish, Liberty and Jubilee were tall enough to climb with me. Ryan took our little ones to the lighthouse playground to play.
The lighthouse was built between 1871 and 1874. It stands 165 feet tall. It was really cool to see.
Tuesday we went to Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in the United States and a national monument. We were able to get in free with Cherish’s 4th Grade Pass.
Castillo de San Marcos is a large Spanish stone fortress built over 315 years ago to protect and defend Spain’s claims in the New World.
We saw rooms that housed soldiers and prisoners.
We got to see what the soldiers wore, and we learned about some specific soldiers.
There were all sorts of rooms and interesting passageways.
We watched a video and learned all about the history of the fort. Manning especially loved watching the weapon drill demonstrations.
Seeing the cannons up close was awesome.
All of our kids really enjoyed learning about and walking through Castillo de San Marcos.
We wanted to visit the Fountain of Youth when we finished at the fort, but we were all cold and decided on a good indoor option…Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
Adult tickets are $14.99, and tickets for children ages 5-11 are $6.99. Children ages 4 and under get in free.
We saw all sorts of weird, interesting and unique things. There were some occasional creepy things as well.
We were all amazed that a man carved the Lord’s Prayer in the top of this tiny pin head.
Standing next to a model of the tallest man in the world made us all feel pretty short.
Bugs for supper, anyone? Ewww.
My very favorite thing at Ripley’s Believe It or Not was freezing our shadows.
Wednesday we relaxed at the RV park, and Thursday morning we flew a kite on the beach before heading to our next location.
We loved St. Augustine and could have happily spent another week there!