The Wright's on Vacation: Georgia and Florida

Hullo Georgia, Hullo Florida

Leo with I-Pad while we set up

We passed through Georgia pretty quickly, we thought long and hard about heading into Savannah for the day but we still weren’t sure how long registering our car and camper were going to take in Florida (2 weeks we had heard) and we decided that the kids would benefit more from biting off a few kilometres and hitting the beaches of Florida. Not only that but we read up about a place called St Augustine that boasts of being the oldest Spanish settlement in America, founded by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513, when Leo heard they had an old Pirate Ship called Black Raven and a jailhouse that’s where he wanted to go. It helped that they had a Fountain of Youth that mummy was particularly interested in. We pulled up at Anastasia State Park which is just gorgeous. The camp sites are very private and each one is carved out of the bush. The beach is lovely, nice waves and nice and cool finally! Fine white sand as far as the eye can see. There are also huge spiders that spin their webs from one tree to the next so that when you are walking down the road you look up and you can see these spiders that look suspended in the air all the way down the middle of the road. They are HUGE. Leo had a close call with one when silly mummy put him in a swing without checking that one had made it’s home between the swing pole and swing chain. When mummy gave Leo a big push the spider hightailed it directly for Leo….Panic!!! I got Leo out of that swing so fast he left his shoes behind and we both laughed (albeit a bit hysterically). Check out the photo of the spider…Leo is quite proud to say it almost got him.

Leo's spider

Anastasia Beach, Florida

We also had a problem with a marauding racoon. I was up late alone one night doing some admin and heard a lot of thumping and scratching from what sounded like the inside of our cupboards. Needless to say Justin was woken immediately and sent outside to investigate because he had forgotten to shut on of the outside flaps that leads to our cupboards. The cheeking thing was trying to get to our food.

Just with our camper plate

Hitting Florida meant that we could try and register our car and camper because you don’t need a permanent address in this state to do it (like you do in other states). We went to the DMV and managed to get the camper done which cost $300 (!!!). We had to change our insurance over to the State Farm (our insurance company) in Florida though to get the car registered. In the course of doing this the Florida branch discovered that the Virginia branch had lied on our application to get it through! They said that Justin had a permanent job in Virginia so if anything had happened our new agent said that they wouldn’t have paid out. There is now going to be an internal investigation. For us it means that our premiums went up and we had to pay for 6 months in advance even though we are only here for 3 months. We can, however apply for a refund of the extra 3 months when we leave. That done, it then cost us $400 to register Louie (!!!!!). Oh well, I guess we are legit at least. We have been told that if we ever return to the USA we can have our plates back i.e. register any vehicle at no cost as we have already paid. That’s something I suppose!

We had a great time at the beach in the waves. Someone’s Grandad lent us his body board and the kids had a play on it. Spencer especially loved it, what a little surfer chick. She got straight back on after being dumped and cried when we had to give it back.

Florida Spencer

Leo in action

Surfer chick

Dunked!

Sufficiently cooled off!

Black Raven

The town of St Augustine is well worth a visit if you are in the area. It’s like stepping into Spain for the day complete with cathedrals, museums, historical buildings and it’s own colonial Spanish Quarter. It is located on Matanza’s Bay and boasts of being the first place Ponce de Leon landed. The Black Raven was a hit with Leo, he and Daddy and a good explore and it turns out the owners used to own a paper mill in NZ (they are Swedes) before moving to USA so Leo got on for free! The Fountain of Youth was too expensive for our budget so I stood outside and hoped for some spray to hit me but I think I’ll just have to try to age gracefully ;o). We saw the oldest house in Florida and the first recorded public space (like a town park/square) in America.

View of St Augustine from bridge of Lions

Castillo de San Marcos fort

Spanish Moss

The Spanish Quarter was brilliant, a really lovely vibe. We bought icecreams and wondered down the original cobbled streets, the kids marvelled at the locals (some dressed in old colonial clothes) and the horse and carriages that swing past. We topped it off with a naughty dinner out at a local Irish pub where we got talking to the irish bartender who had done the same trip as we are doing in an RV with a mate. He told us we could park anywhere we want to because the police never chase anything up, ummmm….not with 2 kids and a pop up to wind down before we can do a runner mate. Anyway he made a contribution to our cause with 10% off our bill and two shot glasses to keep, lovely guy. This day made missing out on Savannah worth it in our minds.