St. Augustine - Week 10 Starting the New Year

 What better way to start the New Year than with a hike 

at Princess Place Preserve!

 

 

 

and walks at Waterfront Park in Palm Coast

and Moses Creek East

Tucson takes in the view

We were fortunate to get our first Covid Vaccination!

and a Bike trip up A1A north of St. Augustine

 

This is a pipeline bringing in sand dredged from offshore onto the beach.  It extends for 3 miles from Vilano to South Ponte Vedro beaches.  You can just make out the barge dredging on the far left horizon.

A Castle?!  Yes - Castle Ottis - built by Ottis Sadler and Rusty Ickes between 1984 and 1988  "Done in Remembrance of JESUS CHRIST.”  The two men took care of all the masonry themselves with no additional paid labor. It is an impression of an Irish castle of 1,000 years ago. 

On our way home we stop at Our Lady of La Leche.  Home of the huge wooden cross you can see from St. Augustine.

We had tried to come here two years ago  but it was closed for renovations.

 The statue is of Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales.

The Cross marks the approximate site where in 1565 the cross of Christianity was first permanently planted in what is now the United States.  The Great Cross was erected in 1966 to mark the 400th anniversary of that moment.

 

 

It's a truly beautiful and peaceful setting 

with lots of quiet places for reflection

This chapel is the 4th on this foundation.  First erected in 1615 it fell victim to War, Pirates and Fire.   The last reconstruction took place in 1918.

This Rustic Altar calls to mind the Thanksgiving Mass offered here by Diocesan Priest, Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales on September 5, 1565, the day St. Augustine was founded. 

 

 A great start to the new year!