Trails of Hats'n Hospitalitea

Start the day off right with a hair cut in the parking lot of Wal-Mart Campers

I love Wal-mart, it has to be the only place where I can wake up in the morning, have my hair washed, get new nails put on and give grandpa a hair cut without the neighbours coming by for a trim. 

We have found ourselves surrounded by the Ghosts of St. Augustine

Without any idea on where to go we took a trolley tour of St. Augustine

Henry Flagler was the second wealthiest man in the USA

Most of these buildings were owned by Flagler

The Flagler College

We visited ghostly looking old school houses

Saw others on our tour taking a horse and buggy ride

Henry Flager lost his grand-daughter at child birth, then his daughter while he was on transit to her side. He told workers that he would triple their wages if they could construct a church less than one year.  The church was built in 361 days exactly with men working 24 hours a day.

Lunch at Scarlet O’Hara’s

Back on the trolley to visit other places. Across the street is a pavillion style flee market with vendors set up

Side streets filled with quaint shops

I’ve always wanted Grandpa to get a Fedora, but found this Bowler hat to fit much nicer. I on the other hand got a fedora, western style. I almost bought a black fine wool hat until I saw the price tag of $385 and decided I didn’t need it all that much

Onto more shops with pots, jewelry and shells of all sizes

A quick stop at Spanish Bakery, a small purchase of gelato and cream fudge

Then we found this haunted coffee / tea shop with a garden out back so we

Made a stop for Afternoon Tea

The tea was made with a French Press and it was bitter, some bitter

After that experience I found a pepper shop and bought a few spices to trade, then sat on the bench waiting for the trolley to come by the station at Brighton   I felt like Anne of Green Gables sitting and waiting.

Then we continued onto visit a few museums

This graveyard is one of the oldest  and has head stones with up to 35 people burred beneath it from the Yellow Fever that plagued the USA in 1888

Ghosts aboard a pirate ship

Yup I managed to find the largest tree in St.Augustine that is 600 years old in the Howard Johnson Hotel… The Old Senator is an Oak, this tree was 100 years old when Ponce de Leon discovered Florida

This wall was the last construction built by slaves. They are preserving it and building a sea wall in front of it

This, I believe is to be the Henry Flagler Hotel, it was built for the pristine, Rockefelle,r  Vanderbilt and Beakers would come to the hotel. You couldn’t stay for a night as the hotel only rented rooms by the season and it is said that the cost for one season was 1/4 of a million dollars in today’s money. Most hotels had one or the other of electricity or running water but this hotel had both, what a commodity 

Just hanging out and listening to another story

Into another shop that opens to a lovely garden out back

Some of the shiny things inside

In the garden outback

Back on the trolley heading out for supper then waiting for our big night on the town

Yup, we took a Ghost & Graveyard Tour

We drove to a burial ground and stood around taking pictures in the dark waiting for something to happen. We were told oracles and orbs as well as ghosts would occupy our pictures.  I found those orange orbs again but I think the rest is all dust on the lense

Then off to the haunted old jail where an inmate by the name of Charlie gave us a run for our money

The lights went out in the jail and all of a sudden then came back on and this dude was in place of our tour guide

He took us out back and reenacted his hanging on the  old gallows

Now our ghost tour has ended but we have to remain yet another day as we didn’t get to see all of St. Augustine while we were here. I’ll close off here and maybe I’ll be back tomorrow with a few more shots of the last couple of places we wanted to visit.  Then it is onto Orlando

Good night, xoxo Cindy