Visiting a friend in St Marys, GA

We visited our friend in St Marys, Georgia, and met her at her church there.

Wheeler Street Church Of God

We have known Patricia since we met her at her home about 20 years ago.  She is as hospitable as ever and we enjoyed our visit.

The service.

We enjoyed the time with them and heard a good message on "Going Further".

A lady reading Scripture with hat and gloves.

With our friend Patricia.

St Augustine, Florida

We traveled along FL A1A after Daytona Beach to look at the Atlantic Ocean.  We stopped at a parking area and admired the wet sand after the high tide had ebbed.  

A pretty spot along the A1A highway.

 

 

 

 

 

Driving along A1A in Florida

 

We met a woman from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada simply as she offered to take our picture with our camera.  We had quite a discussion about bird watching, her work as a manager of a section of James Bay bordering the Arctic Ocean for the Canadian equivalent of the Fish and Wildlife Service in the USA.

Our friend from Canada.

A recommendation that produced good results.

We stopped at this restaurant upon the advice of our Canadian friend.  The waitress mentioned that her "regular job" was cleaning houses.  We mentioned that a friend of ours in Eagan, MN, has transitioned her "house cleaning" into a caring service for clients.  So upon our server's request, we are putting the two in touch.

We arrived in St Augustine, Florida, with the purpose of visiting the
. 

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

My model in front of the walls. 

The interior of the fort.

According to research in Wikipedia, the fort was started in 1672 after a raid by and English pirate.  After completion, it withstood sieges twice, in 1702 and 1740, with the forces of the North Carolina and Georgia governors who must have wanted to expand their territory.  Some 1500 persons were inside the walls of the fort for up to two months.  The fort is  a 

masonry star fort made of a stone called coquina (Spanish for "small shells"), made of ancient shells that have bonded together to form a type of stone similar to limestone.  This stone absorbed the force of small cannonballs and the two governor's forces eventually withdrew.

Cannon firing demonstration.

Poster celebrating the founding of St Augustine.

A very patient trained horse ready to tour the old area.

Tourism is a major industry in St Augustine. 

Counter-clockwise my model, Sue, an old building, a monument and a cannon.

A monument to Ponce De Leon who founded St Augustine

A monument to Ponce De Leon who founded St Augustine. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first known European expedition to La Florida, which he named, and is associated with the legend of the Fountain of Youth, supposed to be in Florida.

A monument to Confederate Civil War dead.

The Stars and Bars of the Confederacy.

 

 

 

Grace United Methodist Church is a historic church in St. Augustine, Florida.

 

A little controversy with Henry Flagler.

Henry Flagler was a co-founder of Standard Oil along with John D Rockefeller.  He was a prominent developer of the Atlantic coast side of Florida.

Old neighborhood in St Augustine, Florida

Kennedy Space Flight Visitor Center

  We have arrived on Thursday in Tampa.  From there we went to Kissimmee, FL.  Weather is fine and we found that Tampa is a busy area and thanks to our new iPhones, we had help getting to Kissimmee, Florida for our first night.

Then we headed to the Cape Canaveral area to visit the Kennedy Space Center at the Visitor Complex. 

 The space program was spurred by President John F Kennedy after the Soviet Union placed a satellite in orbit.

Our ticket included a bus tour to an area which dated to the Apollo/Saturn V rocket which launched the astronauts that walked on the moon's surface in 1969.

We drove past the Vehicle Assembly Building where rockets, past and now, were assembled.  The flag is 21 stories tall, we were told.

The actual launch control center with videos of Saturn V flights.

An unused Saturn V rocket on display near the launch pads.

The actual Apollo 13 capsule that came near to disaster when an oxygen tank exploded in flight.

Then we viewed the Space Shuttle program.  This model displays the shuttle on its fuel tank and two engines.  

The actual Space Shuttle Atlantis.  Atlantis made 33 trips into space over about 30 years or the space shuttle program.

Another view of the shuttle.

Sue the pilot.

A memorial to Christa McAuliffe who perished in the Challenger disaster.

Two visitors to the center with 12,000 steps.

Planning a fish sampler dinner.

Getting ready for our Florida trip and cruise

We are planning our trip to Florida.  It will be in two parts; first a road trip around Florida and then a Western Caribbean cruise.
Some of us have a Christmas card list that includes folks that live far from us.  We exchange the cards giving news about our families and what they are doing and then finally about our kids when they have established families of their own.  So on this trip, we plan to visit ones like that.

But first, we want to let you know that we have passed a very important celebration.

A birthday party for us.




Just in case you could not read the data.

Our trip takes us to Tampa, Florida, the jump-off spot for our cruise.  We will spend the 10 days before by travels to the Kennedy Space Flight center, St Augustine, Jacksonville, Gainesville and several places nearer to St Petersburg. 

After our return from the cruise, we plan to attend a NY Yankees spring training ball game in St. Petersburg.

Ketchikan, Alaska

Our next stop was Ketchikan, Alaska.   It is a city with a population of 8050.  In the past it was a center of logging which ceased around 2000.  Since then tourism and fishing are its main occupations.

 A clean city by appearance.

Constant take-offs of seaplanes with bush pilots ferrying supplies and people to outlying districts and tourists for an aerial view of glaciers and mountains. 

Fishing boats would come into harbor and unload fish and then head out again.

A waterfront monument featuring people from many eras in Ketchikan history.

A totem dedicated to a leader in the past.

Sitka, Alaska

We arrived in Sitka, Alaska, on August 19, 2015.  This was probably our favorite site as the weather was fine and the city was not too crowded.

The ship was anchored in the harbor and tenders, actually large lifeboats, were used to ferry passengers from ship to shore.

After a few minute ride, we disembarked at the dock at Sitka.  This time, we were the only ship visiting the port which was nice.

So we  arrived in Sitka and found this grand sign welcoming us.

 A monument to the settlers of this area after the territory had been purchased from Russia.  He might also represent those who came to Alaska seeking fortunes in gold.

Sitka was a major settlement by the Russians in Czarist days and the blockhouse in the background dates from that time.

This is a replica of a Native American canoe.  The raven was credited as a very wise bird and we heard stories and legends about it.

Fishing remains an active occupation along with tourism for the area.

Always be prepared.  Not a sign used in mid-western USA.

An excursion tour leaving Sitka harbor.  In addition to those advertised onboard the ship, there were also tour operators on the dock offering less-expensive tours.

The sky cleared up as we walked around and there was not much traffic.

This church, a replica after a destructive fire not too many years ago, was built by the Russians and served as the cathedral for Bishop Innocent.  Note the cross above.  What do you see?

A closeup of the eagles perched on the cross.

This was the house and center of the Russian Orthodox church for Bishop Innocent.

We were told that after the American purchase of Alaska, missionaries tried to separate the Indians from their culture and language while the Russians had allowed more indigenous ideas and customs to continue.  As a result, Indians held on the the Orthodox faith more tightly.  This photo dates from about 100 years ago.

A docent explained the symbolism of the icons found inside the cathedral.  At the time of the fire, many of these articles were saved and so grace the church today.

Another church nearby.

We had a bite to eat and Ruth enjoyed the time.

An old-fashioned soda fountain in a Sitka drugstore.

A view of a store selling imports from Russia.

This set was our souvenir of the trip.

Finally it was time to head back to the ship.