Northeast Florida Getaways 2008 - (Page 7) See page 15 for a detailed map of A1A in Northeast Florida. St. Augustine Side Trip The nation’s oldest continuously occupied city, St. Augustine is a must-stop for Northeast Florida travelers. In time for summer, plenty of new surprises are planned for the Old City. A 22-foot python, komodo dragon, crocodile monitor and king cobras will move in at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. 904-824-3337, www.alligatorfarm.com The Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum restoration is finished. Stained-glass ceilings, and Chinese statues were brought back to their earlier glory at the former Castle Warden. 904-824-1606, www.staugustine-ripleys.com Villa Zorayda, the small-scale replica of Spain’s Alhambra Palace (built here in 1883 by millionaire Frank Smith), has reopened after an eight-year closure. Hour-long guided tours reveal an interior as dramatic as the Moorish exterior. 904-829-9887, www.villazorayda.com A recent $10 million renovation at the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village completely remodeled every room to include flat-screen TVs. Next door at the World Golf Hall of Fame, “Jack Nicklaus: Golf’s Golden Champion” puts the golf great’s life on exhibit. www.wgv.com Ponte Vedra’s Sawgrass Golf Resort and Spa has added the finishing touch to its $56 million renovation: a sleek new lobby to complement recently remodeled guest rooms, THE PLAYERS Stadium golf course and a new clubhouse. 904-285-7777, www.sawgrassmarriott.com The storied (and four-diamond) Casa Monica Hotel dates from 1888. It’s known for its lounge bar, Cobalt, and dining room, 95 Cordova. www.casamonica.com The St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau announced Railcar 90, a free membership program available via its website. Named after Henry Flagler’s personal railcar, the program highlights exclusive offers in the Old City. 800-653-2489, www.getaway4florida.com Even with its recent renovations and the rebuilding of its landmark pier, Jacksonville’s beaches have the feel of a true, vintage Eastern seaboard beach town. Atlantic, Neptune and Jacksonville beaches attract a youthful crowd of surfers, cyclists, sunners, people-watchers and those hungry for seafood with a view. Much as they did back in the beach’s Storytellers in a St. Augustine Fort 1920s heyday, beachgoers stroll streets and boardwalks, stopping for concerts at the SeaWalk Pavilion bandshell or playing with the family at Adventure Landing amusement park. Fort George Island Cultural State Park is part of a vast spread of ecological and heritage sites outside of Jacksonville that includes a 46,000-acre nature preserve, a circa-1813 sea cotton plantation and remnants of the ancient Timucuan civilization. The time shift is noticeable as you drive south to the polished world of Ponte Vedra. The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club dates to the 1920s, but boasts a thoroughly modern approach to vacationing with its glorious spa and golf course. Here, along lovely stretches of sea vistas and maritime forests begins a 72-mile stretch designated the A1A National Scenic Byway. Then, almost as suddenly as you joined modern times, A1A takes a sharp turn toward America’s infancy in St. Augustine’s Ancient City. Here the road, labeled San Marco Boulevard, follows a timeline of Spanish and British colonial dates starting with the 1500s, when Spanish conquistadores first planted their cross, and 1672, when work on the formidable fort, the Castillo de San Marcos, began. After A1A crosses from downtown St. Augustine along the hundred-year-old Bridge of Lions, it reaches Anastasia State Park, famous for its rolling dunes, hard-packed beaches and windsurfing. While driving, you can’t miss the iconic St. Augustine Lighthouse. A walk to the top is a yearly vacation ritual (see box, below right). South of town, Washington Oaks Garden State Park combines the stunning beauty of nature-made coquina rock beaches with manmade floral and botanical gardens. Ginn Hammock Beach Resort Palm Coast & Flagler Beach: New Florida, Old Florida Prepare yourself for another jump into modern tourism as you enter Palm Coast, the latest A1A hot spot. Ginn Hammock Beach Resort is an example of the splashy new get-away-from-it-all coastal resort; it sits on two miles of beach. And then there is Flagler Beach, happily mired in the temperament of Old Florida. Here, a seven-mile section is designated Ocean Shore Scenic Highway. A stop at Pier Restaurant for breakfast and sunrise is a must. For lunch, High Tides at Snack Jack has that vintage surfer-dude air, perched as it is atop the dunes. Clubs and bars along A1A, where nothing rises much above a couple of stories, party into the night to reggae, country and Jimmy Buffett, who made the road famous with that 1974 album, simply titled A1A. Jimmy Buffett, would like it here, come to think of it, “strolling down the avenue that’s known as A1A.” WHEN YOU GO: A1A National Scenic Byway, 800-225-0963, www.scenicA1A.org On the cover In a nod to the 19th century, the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum offers a picnic lunch, Victorian-era games, attraction admission and a tour. A souvenir guidebook shows historic photos of families doing the same; call ahead for availability. 904-829-0745, www.staugustinelighthouse.com Northeast Getaways 7 http://www.alligatorfarm.com http://www.staugustine-ripleys.com http://www.villazorayda.com http://www.wgv.com http://www.sawgrassmarriott.com http://www.casamonica.com http://www.getaway4florida.com http://www.scenicA1A.org http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com
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