LIFE ON THE ROAD: At the Beach in St. Augustine!

Hi Loves: We’re in St. Augustine – at the beach – about 5 hours north of Palm Beach!

Pedro flew out from CA and visited us in Palm Beach for a week. Stayed at the Hilton right on the beach. We had a super time exploring the area. Palm Beach and the area south to Boca Raton and north to Hobe Sound (about 40 miles in each direction) is the nicest I’ve ever seen. Incredible estates on the water, much like you would find on the West Coast but nicer because of the palms and other tropical foliage and the intracoastal which makes each estate a little island of its own. Just spectacular.

Pedro at the Hilton with Carolina snooping around!

Pedro's view from his room! Incredible!

Happy Pedro.

The very lovely West Palm Beach Government Center, below.

Palm Avenue which connects the intracoastal with Palm Beach.

Oldest church in Palm Beach, catholic. Next to The Breakers by Coconut Row.

City Place, the happening place in West Palm Beach.

This is a shot across the intracoastal waterway to Palm Beach. The gorgeous Flagler museum is the tile roofed building.

The draw bridge up over the intracoastal waterway . West Palm Beach is on this side. Palm Beach is on the other. Palm Beach is basically an island.

The walkway along Flagler Avenue along the intracoastal. The draw bridge up is in the back ground.

Carolina and I at Tiffany's. This is Worth Avenue, Rodeo Drive of Palm Beach.

Courtyards on Worth Avenue.

Departure from our gypsy homes is always interesting … and leaving Palm Beach was no exception. The day before, I start readying Maggie for her voyage, cleaning her windows to view the next day’s adventures, and making a house back into a car. My neighbors, who never seem able to believe I am driving this rig alone, start counting down to the great departure.

At our Palm Beach home all of our neighbors were French, from Quebec. When I arrived one of the women was able to speak enough English to say, “I’ve never head of this” when I told her I was indeed alone. Well, today as I started up the engine I believe the entire male population of my French neighbors was outside watching me take off.

I made it out of my spot, past the row of handsome French faces and to the first corner without mishap … but as I turned the corner framed by many palms, I realized that Maggie was hung up. I got out and saw that one of the palms leaned in up high, and my awning was hung up on it. Almost instantaneously, five of my French neighbors came to my rescue. I truly felt like the Damsel in Distress rescued by her paramour, well five of them!

I wish I had this on film. It all happened in less than 5 minutes. I got back in Maggie, backed up to dislodge my awning, aided by French hand signals – and the tree trunk ended up smack dab in the one foot space between my patio awning and my bedroom awning. The six of us stood around looking at the situation – them speaking French gobbledygook and me not understanding anything. In my American mind, the only way to get out of this predicament was to move this 25 foot tall tree. Ha!

I guess the French solution was the same. As I stood there in disbelief, my French troop jumped into action. It was incredible. One ran up the ladder to the top of Maggie and began to push on the tree. He then looked down and called Charles who then also scampered up the ladder. In unison, they pushed the tree. At that point, one they called Claude jumped in the driver’s seat and followed the directions of Peter as he moved Maggie forward, then backward, while the tree pushers shoved on the tree. Maggie was free, the tree was fine, and my French guys were incredible. None of them spoke English and I do not speak French. But, one was able to say to me, “You need man”. I laughed and my five French guys waved me off as Maggie, Carolina and I drove away.

The palm trunk was stuck between these two awnings!

Five hours later we arrived here in St. Augustine. One of the great aspects of traveling this way is to find really great parks to call home. Well, this one is amazing. Couldn’t be any more different from the ritzy Palm Beach Park. We are on an island between the intracoastal waterway and the Atlantic ocean. We walk 100 yards down our road and arrive at beach bordering the river. We walk 100 years the other way at we are at the Atlantic. The whole park is nothing but sand, palms and tropical plants galore. We have 3 restaurants, all on the water, and our spot it humungous and very private. We’ve done historic St. Augustine which is very touristy and not my cup of tea. But, this park is utterly incredible. We’ll probably spend much of our month here just hanging out between the river and the beach … in paradise.

These are the city columns to St. Augustine's historical district. This town is the oldest settlement in the US. Now it basically houses loads of cheap tourist shops.