Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

Wherever we go on vacation, Chris and I love to visit state and national parks. Actually, a lot of vacations are planned so we can visit parks. Florida was no different. The main goal was to visit the Everglades — one of my life time goals!

But we also squeezed in visits to many other parks, such as Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Fla. (I don't know why, but whenever I hear "Bill Baggs" I think "Bilbo Baggins." You know, from "Lord of the Rings"  and "The Hobbit.")

Beach and historic lighthouse at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park./Photos by E.A. Seagraves & Christopher Brooke

Don't use photos without permission.

Anyway, we made a stop in Miami to visit Chris' cousin, Alesia, and her family. She suggested Bill Baggs would be a nice place to spend the day. And it was.

It's basically a beach and has bike rentals, boating and trails. We spent most of the time playing in the water and sand with Kelly and Edward, Alesia's two kiddies.

Pelicans we saw on our bike ride.

I'm assuming since there's a toll to cross the bridge from the main land to Key Biscayne, many people don't venture to the park. As a result, the beach wasn't too crowded.

We ate a late lunch at the Lighthouse Cafe. It was a pretty nice meal (Cuban fare) and I really liked being able to sit outside in sight of the water.

After Alesia took off with the kids to put them down for a nap, Chris and I rented bikes and rode around the park. It was hard to tell exactly where the bike path went, but we rode around nonetheless, using the parking lots, roads and what paths we found.

We also walked along some trails. One took us along areas that featured red mangroves and other plants. Pretty cool.

Red mangroves out in the water.

Pretty flower along the trail. Don't know what it is though.

Savannah, Ga.

On our way to and from Florida, Chris and I stayed over in Savannah, Ga. This has to be one of my most favorite places ever!

I love the old architecture and how the historic city is laid out. From the many greens and walkability of the city to the old buildings and the riverfront, I can't pinpoint one thing that I loved the most.

Capital building (I believe)

All photos by E.A. Seagraves or Christopher Brooke. Don't use without permission.

Cotton Exchange

One cool thing was how, along the riverfront, buildings were built on existing buildings, creating three levels of road and buildings. I tried to take a picture to demonstrate this neat engineering, but I didn't do it justice:

The third, lower level is River Street and is behind these buildings.

While in St. Augustine, Fla., we bought a print demonstrating this cool view at Bouvier Maps & Prints, 11-D Aviles St., (904) 825-0920.

Mr. Bouvier is quite the gentleman and a lover of old maps and prints. He took the time to show us some maps and Bird's Eye Views of various cities, including Cincinnati, Ohio, and Savannah. Chris didn't realize Bird's Eye View prints were so expensive (anywhere in the $100s  to $1,000s!). So we bought the small Savannah print instead.

Mr. Bouvier also gave us the name and address of another map collector in Savannah, V. & J. Duncan, but the store is open odd hours and would be closed by the time we got back. So that'll have to be a scheduled stop some other time.

Restaurants we stopped at include Churchill's, an English pub, and Papillote, a small shop offering French cuisine.

Churchill's was fine, although I found it odd that the waiter steered Chris away from the shepherds pie. He called it "bland." How can you screw up shepherds pie?

Chris went with the traditional roasted chicken instead, served with sage and onion dressing and roasted potato. (Chris first asked for chicken curry, but was told the kitchen was out of the curry.) I got the portabella and vegetable panini with sweet potato fries.

For the most part, the food and experience was good and I would recommend the pub. Nice atmosphere and good view of the busy historic street.

I hesitate to tell you about Papillote because, well, it was fantastic and if I tell you about it, it will sure be crowded the next time we stop by to eat there.

This is a tiny little store with just a few tables. Most diners, I guess, are expected to order and take out. Luckily, on the cloudy, cool day we were there, one lady got up as we placed our order, allowing us to snag the only table that would be available for awhile.

Chris got the goat cheese, spinach, roasted tomato pie and I got the crab mango tartine. Both were served with mixed greens and ginger vinaigrette. Both were out of this world.

Before ordering, I couldn't decide between the crab mango (served on toasted brioche with avocado and a spicy sauce), the Le Parisien (ham and swiss with brie and apple on ciabatta) or the goat cheese tomato pie that Chris got. All made my mouth water!

Also, quite charming, was the glass bottle with a stopper attached that I was given when I ordered water.  It was quite an experience to pour water into my (plastic) cup from such a cute bottle.

We also ate at Dockside along River Street. Our waitress was great and taught me how to tear into snow crab clusters, my first meal in Savannah and first ever snow crab. Across the street is where musicians play, entertaining the crowds with horns, strings and voices.

Some activities I could recommend, visiting any of the historic houses (we went inside the Juliette Gordon Lowe Home, birthplace of the Girl Scouts founder), strolling down River Street (so you can view the river and view the three levels I was talking about earlier) and visiting the various greens throughout the historic district and Forsyth Park, the largest park housing the city's famous Forsyth Park Fountain (below) and where lots of people mingle, playing ball or visiting.

Juliette Gordon Lowe Birthplace

River Street

Forsyth Park Fountain

We also visited Savannah Smiles, a dueling piano bar. The night we were there, four bachelorette's, yes, four, showed up with their bridal shower party. So, there was a lot of "Our bachelorette is better than your bachelorette" going on up on the sign board. You pay money to change the message behind the piano players, upping the price each time to change the message.

A lot seems to go on in Savannah too. While we were there, the city was hosting a music festival and a home and garden tour. We didn't get to participate in either one, but next time we'll research a little more before heading to the city so we'll know what activities to squeeze in.

Flowers in bloom

Last weekend, Chris and I made, what's becoming an annual Easter trip, to the Austinville end of the New River Trail State Park.

Like last year, we recorded the flowers we saw and the number and type of butterflies and birds we saw.

On Sunday we saw:

Flowers --

Cut Leaf Toothwort

Rue Anemone

Bloodroot

Dutchmen's Britches

Fragrant Sumac (or, possible, Spicebush)

Coltsfoot

Butterflies -- 4 blues, 4 morning cloaks, a painted lady, a question mark (or comma)

Morning Cloak

Question Mark (or a Comma)

Birds -- kingfisher, cardinal

St. Augustine, Fla.

On our way from Savannah, Ga., to Kissimmee, Fla., Chris and I made a stop in St. Augustine, Fla.

I expected this stop to only be a couple of hours, but it quickly turned into a six hour stop over!

St. Augustine prides itself in being the first permanent settlement (1565) in American and as the site of the oldest wooden school house in the U.S.

Oldest wooden school house in the U.S./All photo rights reserved/E.A. Seagraves

St. Augustine isn't usually credited with the first European settlement in America because the settlers were Spanish. The U.S., after all, was eventually created by British subjects rebelling against the crown. So, usually, American history only refers to the settlement of Jamestown as the first settlement in the United States, although that settlement wasn't until 1607.

The historic district, accessed mostly on foot, reminded me of Gatlinburg, Tenn. There were some old buildings (I think 36 are still left standing) that housed shops, so it was possible to get a feel for what it was like back in 1565.

Several people braved the rain to hang out in St. Augustine's historic district.

We spent a lot of time in the Spanish Quarter, talking with living history interpreters — a carpenter, blacksmith, leather worker, church scribe and wife of a soldier. St. Augustine was settled as a military outpost so was home to a lot of soldiers.

A carpenter in the Spanish Quarter Museum.

A leather worker in the Spanish Quarter. (Heaven forbid you call him a leather maker!) :)

A women making a netted bag.

She would have been the wife or mother of one of the soldiers.

St. Augustine was a military outpost

A church scribe.

Most of the homes would have been built without glass in the windows and cooking took place outdoors on hornos, or ovens.

Only after the English took over the Spanish settlement (first time in 1763) was glass placed in the windows and cooking take place indoors.

The admission ticket we bought also got us access to the Mesa-Sanchez House that was home to Spanish, then English and then again Spanish families. The guide stopped in each room and explained when and how each section was added. It began as a one room house and eventually was a two-story home by the 1830s.

We also got to go through the Government House Museum of History and Archaeology.

We could have gotten a discount at the Taberna del Gallo, but we didn't have time to grab a drink before heading to Kissimmee.

Columbia Restaurant is a delicious restaurant offering Spanish fare. We hid out there for lunch until rains subsided. (It rained lightly most of the day.)

Besides talking with the living history interpreters about life for the Spanish in the 1500s and enjoying the food at Columbia, I really liked the architecture.

It's worth a stop. Next time, Chris and I plan to stop at the fort, which we didn't have time to explore but did drive by.