March 14, 2012 Fountain of Youth

Bright and early we headed out for the Fountain of Youth.  Ponce De Leon landed here in  1513 and claimed Florida for Spain. He landed at the site of this park and left a stone cross made of rocks. There is rumor that this spring was the fountain of youth he was looking for.  There was also an Indian village here, then later a Spanish village.

Live oak and Spanish moss on the street to the fountain of youth.  Here it is, the fountain of youth!! We are going to go in and get younger.

it was pretty cheesy. There was water dripping down behind this light, under the plastic fern at the bottom of the photo, and the Indians and Juan Ponce above. A lady was sitting there with a bunch of plastic glasses of spring water you could drink. Pink Azaleas.

Here is John before and after he went in and quaffed the waters

 

You could even buy bottles of the water at the Fountain of youth gift shop. The large glass bottles are $3.50 and the smaller plastic travel bottles are $1.95. The Spanish built a wall around St Augustine like the one above. It is palm trunks, and they planted yucca in front of it, the yucca is now called Spanish bayonets.

A conquistador lighting the cannon, he looked pretty nice in his tights and boots.  John conquistador was not wearing tights.

citrus flowers, they smelled really good, and a wisteria starting to bloom, it smelled good too.

I am feeling so youthful, I think I will go find a conquistador. I found John conquistador, he is wearing some cute pantaloons.

The shrine of the lady of La Leche at the mission de Nombre de Dios. The shrine of milk-a shrine to mothers at the missions of the name of god.  This is the 4th chapel built on this site. The British led by Sir Frances Drake burned the town down a couple times and then the Spanish blew it up because they thought it was a place invaders could hide. This chapel was built in 1925. A close up of one of the stained glass windows.

The cross is built at the point where  Pedro Menendez landed with Father Lopez who had the first mass in the US here. The statue is Father Lopez. He built the first mission in the US here.  Mission of Nombre de Dios. Name of God. Pedro Menendez and his 700 soldiers  destroyed a French  village here. They killed all French because they were not catholic. A great horned owl near the shrine.

John is feeling so young here he is in the throne of Love. I turned my back on him and joined a chain gang at the oldest Jail in the US.