Day 3 in St Augustine was similar to Day 2 because it began with a fort. This time we went to the Castillo San de Marcos. We were only going to walk around the outside of it but when we walked to the Pirate Museum across the street we found out it was still closed so we decided we might as well kill some time and go inside the fort. I am glad we did. It was really cool and Tyler liked reading all the plaques and learning more about it.
When we finished up at the fort, it was time to go to the Pirate and Treasure Museum. Apparently it was school field trip day and we encountered 3 different groups while there- and this was not a big museum. We ended up in the first room with one school group while a man playing an accordian and dressed like a pirate told the group a story about the Pirate Andrew Ransom and demonstrated on a parent how the pirate didn't die from being garroted. I thought it was a fun presentation but the kids were happy when the group left and they had the room to themselves. After that we carefully moved to whatever room the school group had just left. It was a cool museum where the kids learned all about how violent and ruthless pirates really were. They also learned how pirates also typically spent their treasure on booze and women and didn't bury it. Plus we even got to see a legit treasure chest. After we made it through the museum all the kids (but Steven) got some souvenirs (treasure!, a small treasure chest, a parrot stuffie).
The Pirate Museum was located in downtown by all the shops and we thought about grabbing a bite to eat but knew everything would be so expensive so instead we got the kids ice cream. We did check out a couple stores before getting the ice cream and Steven finally found the souvenir he wanted (3d metal sculptures of a lighthouse and a pirate ship).
We took our ice cream over to a ledge by the castle to eat and saw a huge line to get into the castle. Apparently being an earlybird saved us from the crowds for that, even if it didn't save us from all the school groups in the Pirate Museum.
Once again we ate lunch at the airbnb, took a little break and then we decided to go to the Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth. It was the last place on our list of things to do. I had been hesitant because there was rain in the forecast and it was an outdoor place but I am glad we ended up going. It was a neat place. We got to drink from the fountain of youth (tasted so gross, like sulfur), see lots of peacock's everywhere, watch a gun, bow and arrow and canon demonstration, climb up a watchtower and walk down a pier, the kids got to "dig" for treasure and found a couple shark teeth, and we saw some fun native huts. We even got our own nasty water to take home for those days when we're feeling old. It was good way to end our time in St. Augustine.
For dinner we ate at Village Inn and I had some delicious crepes. As we were leaving Village Inn the rain came down and didn't leave until the next morning. Back at the airbnb we packed things up and got ready for the long drive back home that was ahead of us. I took some pics of the airbnb that night so we can always remember it. This was my first time splurging and it was totally worth it. Having the space for all 6 of us made everything a heck of a lot more relaxing.
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