One Saturday in early February, we woke up to a beautiful day and no plans on our calendar. Jonathan suggested driving over to St. Augustine and visiting Ft. Matanzas. We’d been talking about going for ages, so we loaded up the car and headed out.
Along the way we stopped at Corky Bell’s in Palatka for lunch. We got a table right on the river. While it was nice and bright, when the wind kicked up is was a bit chilly and all of the kids ended up wearing their hoodies. But it was so fun watching the boats dock.
When we arrived, Jonathan headed to the visitor’s center to get our tickets for the boat ride over to the fort. The next available time slot wasn’t for an hour or so, so we headed over to the nature trail then let the kids climb on the trees while we waited.
It was pretty fun taking the little boat ride to the fort.
It’s definitely not a big place, compared to Castillo de San Marcos, but really interesting, nonetheless.
The kids piled in the tower.
Steps led up to the second floor, but to get to the roof you had a climb up a ladder. We all went to the top. Jonathan carried Charlotte, Rosemary followed, then Ben, and I came up last.
The view was beautiful from the roof
We headed back down in reverse order.
Before catching the boat back, we walked around the grounds at the fort.
When we arrived back at the visitor’s area, we drove across to one of the beach parking areas. We walked down to the inlet then back up to the car. It was a good 40 minute walk.
It was chilly, but the kids were not deterred from putting their feet in the water.
One of my favorite photos of Jonathan and the kids.
From there we loaded up and went to Saltwater Cowboy for dinner. I had fried clam strips, french fries, and coleslaw, the same meal that I ate earlier in the day at Corky Bell’s. (Is that wrong to eat the same meal twice in the same day at two different restaurants?) By then it was getting late so we headed home. Happy, thankful, and full of wonderful memories.
