We made an earlier getaway today than we have in some time. Our first stop was to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche which is located at the Mission of Nombre de Dios. We rode out of the motel and across the road into the carpark, not realising just how close it was - we could have just as easily walked.
Wanda was impressed with the peaceful beauty of the place, located with a view to the sea. A historical Spanish sight dating back to 1565.
Our next stop was St George Street, part of the old town but given over to bars, restaurants, boutiques and galleries.
It was very quiet, but it was relatively early on a Monday morning after all, and the weekend crowds were gone.
A quiet sanctuary in St George Street is the Greek Orthodox Chapel of St Photios.
Amongst the old relics there we saw a number of icons with covers made of raised and chased silver and bronze that echoed the design of the icon, but with cut-outs that revealed the faces of the subjects.
Some interesting shopping.
From St Augustine we rode south east to East Palatka where we refuelled the bike and continued south on US 17 following a scenic route. At Satsuma, a really plum town, we detoured down county road 309 to Welatka where we stopped for lunch in a little diner.
What struck us was the flatness of the landscape and the heat - it was 95 F at 9:00am and stayed around that level all day.
We continued our scenic route through George town and Crescent City before continuing south on 17 to Barberville. At the junction with FL 40, there was a large market selling all kinds of garden ornaments, pots, honey and a large amount and variety of metal cast animals, letter boxes, garden setttings, etc, etc.
It was so hot we forgot about our scenic tour and headed straight for Ocala on FL 40. Our GPS was supposed to take us to the house of our friend Bill, but somehow the address in the GPS got screwed up and we ended up riding 20 miles out of our way.
Thank goodness Bill had a beer in the fridge when we arrived! We took a tour of his workshop and home and chatted about all sorts of metal and glass art before taking advantage of his laundry.
Bill is highly tallented with metal and glass work.
We returned to Bill's for our clothes and went off to dinner together at a nearby Italian restaurant.
I'm having more fun than a human should be allowed. :) And more tomorrow. wooooooooohooooo
ReplyDeleteSo glad to be a part of this......riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide.
bill :)
Wow, I've been looking at your postings about your time with Bill, feeling both impressed by all the work/fun you both got to do with him, and sad that we really didn't have the time to explore our work with you.
ReplyDeleteStill, we had a blast when you were here and thoughts of you are constantly popping back into my head. I'm especially thinking about how sensitive you both are to the people around you and getting into the groove, rather than plowing one of your own.
Continue your fun travels, friends, and we'll keep enjoying them vicariously! Love, Deana