I was here early in 2014 to visit a friend and former co-worker. Since I was in the state, I decided to spend an extra day and drive beyond the destination of southern FLorida to pay a visit. In 2014, we spent most of the day touring St. Augustine and places nearby. This time I wanted to see a couple of nearby forts that also are part of the National Park Service -- Ft. Caroline (east of Jacksonville) and Ft. Matanzas (south of St. Augustine). I had to skip seeing Ft. Matanzas because both Delta Airlines and Enterprise Car Rental in Orlando were so slow, especially Enterprise. I will not deal with them again.

Fort Caroline It is part of the national park service thus counts towards my goal of visiting 100 national park sites. This one made #88.

It was fun seeing my friend Amanda in Jacksonville and her new constant companion Tracy. They took me to dinner Saturday and to Ft. Caroline and Kingsley Plantation on Sunday. We even took the $8 ferry ride across the St. John's River to get to Kingsley. A long very bumpy gravel road ride was required to get to Kingsley. But as we were leaving, Amanda, who was complaining about the road on the way in said that seeing the plantation was well worth the bad road getting there. On the way out, I suggested taking the eastern road (there are two leading from the river to the plantation) and it was much smoother than the western road. Lesson learned.