Our cash supply (and our PB&J supply) was dwindling so low at this point, we did the unthinkablewe decided we needed an extremely cheap lunch and stopped at McDonalds. Now I dont really have anything against McDonalds, but over the last couple of years weve developed a reputation of finding more unique holes-in-the-wall for our dining pleasure, so stopping at McDonalds felt like a bit of a disappointment from that perspective. And after dining at Via Napoli and the Kona Café just a couple of days prior, there was a definite sense of going from the penthouse to the outhouse. So let me assure you that this was strictly a budgetary decision.
We drove up I-4 towards Orlando a little ways and then spotted one of the ubiquitous (hows that for an SAT word?) blue signs advertising the Golden Arches at the next exit. We followed the signs, left the highway, and the next thing we knew, wed inadvertently stumbled into this:
That spectacularly awful-looking building is the World's Largest McDonald's. We thought about turning around, but by that time the kids had spotted it, and there was no turning back. Because, of course, when youve just spent 3 full days at Disney World, a McDonalds playground is still as appealing as ever.
They did offer some unique choices on the combo menu:
Inside, the place was chaos. I might have called it organized chaos, but
well, dont kid yourself. Its not that organized. Julie took the kids to let them run around in the play area while I attempted to decipher the right way to order a meal. Even though we wanted to get it to go, we went inside. Dont ever go up to the drive-through! Want to know why? Because they @#$% you at the drive-through, okay?
It turned out that it operated much like Cosmic Rays, only with less clear direction. There were different areas offering different menu items (including a spot for McPizza) and you would go up to an order station, place the order, get a ticket, and then head up to the server area where theyd get your food for you. We went way out on a limb and got Mcburgers and fries and Happy Meals.
Look... me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.
We didnt get too many pictures of the play area (and none of them turned out all that great) because it wasnt all that photogenic. It was basically a mass of slides, climbing areas and arcade games all crammed together. If youve ever been in an arcade or a Chuck E. Cheese (one of Barrys favorite places), youve seen what this is like.
We actually ate our meals in the car so we could keep moving. Not quite 2 hours down the road was our next destination: St. Augustine, Florida. This town as founded by the Spanish in September 1565. Its not the first settlement in North America, but it is the oldest continuously-occupied one. Since the town never completely died off, it holds the claim as the Oldest Town in America. We thought the history of this place warranted a stop for the kids education. Plus we had to go to the bathroom.
We parked in the town garage and walked into the Visitor Information Center. Inside, some workers were building a replica of a Spanish galleon.
We also took some time in the gift shop to demonstrate our versatility apart from simple Stupid Hat Pictures©.
From there, it was a short walk down the street to the Old Town section. Here theyve preserved the old city gates as well as some of the original buildings from the town. The wooden-and-earth wall is a replica based on the original designs.
Across the way, the
Castillo de San Marcos National Monument guards the bay and the entrance from the Atlantic Ocean. This was our main destination, because any time you get the chance to wander around a cool fort, you have to take it. It also gave us the opportunity to get a coveted
National Parks passport stamp.
Construction began on this fort in 1672 and its been providing protection to St. Augustine ever since. Although its changed hands several times, the fort was never breached in battle. The walls are made of coquina, which is a mixture of sea shells and coral that holds up surprisingly well under attackinstead of shattering when hit, it absorbs cannon balls and the like much like a sponge.
So, when you have an un-breachable fort, you defeat it by laying siege, which is typically what happened. Cutting off all of their supplies eventually forces a surrender.
I wont go into detail about the history of the town and the fort, but if youre curious, Rob (GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes) put together a couple of excellent chapters on the subject in one of his previous trip reports. You can find them
here and
here.
We didnt have hours to spend exploring, but we were able to take some time to wander the various rooms and battlements. You enter the fort via a bridge over the moat area.
Inside, the first floor consists of barracks, cells, officers quarters, a chapel, and the magazine. Part of the fun of exploring a fort is that you never know whats going to be peeking around the next corner.
Even if they need to be put in time out.
By far everyones favorite room was the magazine, which was a secret area where the soldiers hid their Playbuh, ammunition deep inside a vault, in order to protect it from a direct hit under bombardment. Which would be, you know, bad. You had to enter the room by crouching through a small tunnel. This secret entrance immediately enhances the room beyond. There could be a half-hour-long Its A Small World ride in there, and it would be cool because you had to crawl through a tunnel to get there.
Back outside, we climbed to the top of the walls to get a good look at the view. Heres the sentry tower.
Sorry about the bluish tint to the photos. I think the white balance on the camera got messed up somewhere along the way.
Sheesh, these kids. Where do they get these ideas?
Oh, right. Anybody have a newspaper?
I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those kids.
We finished our brief tour of St. Augustine and then hit the road again for Savannah. Along the way, we called my fellow DISDad Michael (DisneyFed) once again, and this time he must have run out of excuses to avoid us because he agreed to meet. We caught up with him at the Georgia welcome center just across the state line.
Ever watch NCIS? Thats what Fed does in real life. In fact, I believe he has also consulted on the show once or twice. He is also an Iraq veteran, and I was glad to be able to shake his hand and thank him for serving our country. As it turned out, he had just been on a drug raid in the wee hours of the morning the day he met up with us, and was just about exhausted. Yet he still spent an hour hanging out with us at the rest area telling us all sorts of war stories. Hes a fascinating guy, and I could have listened for hours. But we needed to get up the road, and he needed to get some rest. Im grateful he took the time to meet up with us.
Night was falling quickly, and with it any chance of being able to explore the city of Savannah. I felt bad about thatpart of the reason wed booked a hotel near there was so we could at least spend a little bit of time wandering the city. But staying on Disney property through the morning meant that wasnt going to happen. So well just have to come back next time.
We did manage one more gourmet meal for dinner, though.
In case you were wondering, we got waffles. And hash browns, covered and smothered. The kids may or may not have put chocolate chips in their waffles.
We made it to the hotel and checked in, and pretty much passed out for the evening. In the morning, we discovered that instead of the Savanna View Room wed enjoyed the past few nights, this hotel had given us the coveted Parking Lot/Gas Station view.
Sigh. I hate coming back to the real world.
The next day was all driving, straight back to Delaware. Id try and make it sound like it was interesting, but then youd have to call out the whole chapter as a lie. So you can just rest assured that we made it back safe and sound. And broke. We'd fulfilled the first rule of vacationing: at the end of the day, be sure you go home alive. Here endeth the lesson.
Operation Big Thunder was a success.
Coming Up Next: Wrap-up and a preview of our next trip!
