Lily, A Dog's Life Aboard Moondance: It was a Flager Kind of Day

First day here as I suspected they left me for most of the day, but mom took Trivia notes for me from their Red Train Tour:

Ray Charles learned to play, write and conduct music at the free Florida School for the Deaf & Blind. Went for 10 yrs before he started playing with local bands until the wee hours of the morning and his grades started to slide…

Group of pea hens together is called a muster

Carrousel spin counter clockwise & have horses while merry go round goes clockwise with other animals.

St Augustine longest European colony in US started by Spanish

Coquina stone made of tiny shells and mined from ocean

Interstate 10 was original the Old Spanish Trail marked by Coquina markers

St. Augustine was one of the original walled towns in the New World along with Charlestown and Quebec

Original Ripley Museum was built by Warden, co owner of Standard Oil/Exxon

Flagler Hotel or the Ponce de Leon Hotel was by Flager invitation only & you had to pay your 3 month stay ahead at your time of arrival in cash, $4000 or $100,000 each in today’s money. It hot & cold running water & electricity before the White House. Edison helped wire it & Tiffany designed & installed windows & other decorations

Built a second hotel across the street with activities, archery, swimming, massage & so on which is now the Lightner Museum

At the immense Alcatraz Hotel pool; Men hung out in shallow end so they could gossip & smoke cigars. While woman were forced to swim in deep, so they couldn't gossip. Had to swim. Really?!

Flagler purchased a RR to get people here from NYC. He did so well that he kept building hotels and RR until he died.

Sebastian Winery was old RR Admin bldg

Had to build power plant to make ICE, so the Ice Co. sold electric to those that had it

1813 Short period of Democracy under Spanish King. The Obelisk in the main plaza is from that time period

Government House was used until 1950 and was the longest continuously used government building in the states.

Ponce De Leon very short. Wouldn't let anyone taller than him sail with him

Bay of the Dolphins where we are staying

Oldest lighthouse in USA on Anastasia Island.

Oldest house in US lower part constructed of coquina by Spanish while upper layer is wood added by the English

St Augustine celebrated it’s 450th Birthday in 2015

The Bridge of Lions, the Medici lions are from the same Carrera marble as M's David

Took 23 years to build the Ft here…

They finally came home which I loved but then mom decided I needed a bath…Really, have you seen the size of our boat’s showers? They took me with them to dinner and shared. so I couldn’t stay mad!

Sorry, we can't figure out how to get the photos load in the proper order...UGH!

The entry way stairs with Tiffany Windows

The Oldest Home, bottom out of Coquina thanks to the Spanish and top is from English period. By the oldest Jail...silliness

Lovely old mini golf course by our docks

In Ponce de Leon Hotel another Mosler safe

Found this funny hooked rug in the Lightner Museum, a very eclectic collection of valuables...

Here's the perfect rocker for our Sage Grandchild?! Lucky for them, it wouldn't fit on Moondance!

Lily enjoyed her special attention at dinner tonight

I love ironies, look closely here at the door handle.

Trying to get a photo of Moondance in each place, you can see the tiny Marina office in the background

They have their special dingy tie up area here.

Flager really left his mark here.

The church he built in memory of his daughter. He is buried here with her, his first wife and a granddaughter.

In 1968 to save this grand old Hotel, it was turned into a girl's college and then it became coed in 1971. What a bargain...in today's prices; tuition and board is around $25,000 per year and the most students they have per class is 30... Needless to say, the campus and buildings are gorgeous!!!

The vaulted ceiling you see here is the entrance rotunda as you come in and the grand room to the lower right is the dining hall that the kids use daily.

The dining hall boasts having the most Tiffany windows in one place while the bell tower above never had bells because it was originally a water tower.