Andrew, Laura and Hannah came to visit a couple of weekends ago...
Saturday:
They got an early start on Saturday so they could catch the 10:24 AM Skybus flight from Greensboro to St. Augustine.
Jeanie and I drove the Durango to St. Augustine to meet them.
We arrived at the St. Augustine airport a few minutes before the scheduled arrival, so we drove around the outside of the airport. It was cool seeing the Galaxy Aviation FBO and FlyBy Cafe from the "other side."
I had been trying to figure out what Skybus would use as a terminal. Since this is a regular commercial airline, I figured they would have to have TSA security, etc. The solution? A fabric Quonset hut as a terminal - an interesting approach. Even though at first thought, it seemed to me that a fabric structure wouldn't be such a great idea in this part of the world, Andrew told me that he had spoken with someone, and the projected life of the structure was 20-30 years, and that it was more hurricane resistant than traditional hangar type structures.
Seeing the flight arrive, other than the fact that it was a brand new 737, was like stepping back in time. After the plane taxied up, the ground crew rolled up large stairs front and back so the passengers could disembark. Rather than walking into the terminal, the passengers walked directly from the apron through a chain link gate and gathered at a outside covered area to await their baggage. The bags were quickly delivered right there on the sidewalk.
The weather was cool and wet, but not horrible.
Since it was after noon by the time we all got in the Durango, we decided to go straight to St. Augustine and eat. We decided to have lunch at The Prince of Wales English Pub. Lunch was yummy. Jeanie and I shared a large Cottage Pie. The Cottage Pie (otherwise known as Shepherd's Pie) consisted of "lean ground beef, onions, peas & carrots in a rich brown gravy topped with princely mashed potatoes & sharp cheddar cheese." We were torn between the Cottage Pie and the Beef & Guinness Pie - my guess is either would have been great. Laura also had the Cottage Pie and Andrew had the Large Pub Salad topped with Coronation Chicken ("a combination of [chopped] chicken breast, mayo, red wine, apricot jam, white onions, curry & tomatoes") which was really tasty.
Andrew and I toured the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, where we were recognized by the Spanish Soldier re-enactors that we had met at lunch. After walking around, we watched the cannon firing which was pretty cool (and very loud). The exhibits were nicer than the ones at Fort Clinch, and there was a great variety of canon, but Fort Clinch's big canons are nicer.
Cell phones make life so much easier. Rather than having had to schedule a rendezvous time and location, we just agreed that after we had our fill of the fort, that we would call the girls. We did so, and ended up meeting them on St. George street. We walked down St. George street back to the car, and then drove around the city some.
We went to the Davenport Park and Hannah and Andrew rode the St. Augustine Carousel.
Then we drove to the St. Augustine Light Station. We decided not to go up into the lighthouse, but walked around and went through the visitor center / gift shop.
By then it was starting to get dark, so we headed home.
Jeanie made a delicious salad for dinner, then we had the twelve layer chocolate cake she had bought last week at her parents for desert - oh my goodness!
Sunday:
The weather was beautiful - clear and crisp.
Andrew and I went for an aerial tour. We spent about an hour aloft. I got lucky and made a nice landing. Jeanie, Laura and Hannah were at the airport as we taxied in. Before putting the airplane back in the hangar, we put Hannah in the plane and taxied around a bit - she seemed to have a blast. I got a kick out of Hannah getting to believe that she was "steering" the plane with the yoke, while I actually directed the plane with the rudder pedals.
After leaving the airport we went to lunch at Pablo's, then walked around downtown and the marina.
After lunch, we drove to the beach and walked and shelled.
We drove back to the house and dropped the girls off, the Andrew and I drove to JAX so Andrew could pick up a rental car so they could get back to St. Augustine for their flight home on Monday.
It took longer to get the car than Andrew or I expected, partly because Andrew had to get Avis to switch out the car after seeing that they had given him a Mustang, which, while it might have been fun to drive, wasn't suited to accommodating Laura, Hannah, and their luggage. Eventually, we both returned home and I cooked steaks on the grill while Jeanie prepared the rest of the meal.
Monday:
I had a 7:00 AM work call. They showered, then we visited a bit more and I helped Andrew take stuff to the rental car while Jeanie made take-out breakfast for them to eat on the drive to St. Augustine.
The Kagans left around 9:00 AM.
It was a lovely weekend and we look forward to their next visit.
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Posted by David at February 08, 2008 07:05 PM