Sit right back and you'll hear a tale.

So Saturday I had an ambitious plan. We'd decided on St. Augustine, so the plan was to hit a state park over in Palm Coast, then head up A1A and maybe visit Fort Matanzas on the way to the St. Augustine lighthouse. And THEN swing over to another state park we've been wanting to visit before heading home. I knew going in that it was probably too ambitious for us, but aim high, right? Ha!

So firstly, we didn't even get out the door until after 9am. The girls slept in and then took their time getting ready, despite saying how excited they were to go explore some new places. So I figured okay, maybe we won't have time for that last state park, especially since it's a bit out of the way.

When we left, I again noticed something I'd noticed the night before: the van's starter cranked a bit more slowly than usual. It started, so I didn't think too much of it. And I'm sure you can already see where this is going.

We stopped at a Publix in Palm Coast to get our usual picnic lunch: a sub for Heather and I to share, and Lunchables for the kids. Headed back out to the van to be on our way, and.. dead battery. I kicked myself because I should have known that was why the slow cranking. And I didn't think to put jumper cables in the van, either. So I called AAA, but as I was talking to them the couple in the car next to us offered a jump, so I said great! and got off the phone. Unfortunately I'd misheard them: I thought he'd said he had cables and could give us a jump, but he actually said if *I* had cables he could give us a jump. Oops. But we managed to find someone with a pair to lend, and got cranked up in short order. But then our first order of business was to secure a new battery, so off to the auto parts store. That was actually quick and pleasant--the weather was lovely and the auto parts guy was very nice, so he popped in the new battery and that did the trick. But between our late start and unforeseen delay, it looked like more of the agenda would have to be sacrificed.

So we went to Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, which is definitely a new favorite. The park straddles A1A in Palm Coast, between the Matanzas River on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. So on one side of the road it's a nice riverfront park with some cool old structures, magnificent live oaks, and a neat formal garden. And on the other side of the road it's a strand of beach unlike anything I've seen elsewhere in Florida. My perennial favorite beach has been Playalinda, near Titusville, which I like because it's so natural and undeveloped, unlike a lot of touristy stretches of beach lined with hotels and surf shops and whatnot. This beach was a lot like that, but with the added bonuses of lots of coquina rocks to climb on and seashells to sift through. Definitely a new favorite park and beach.

So the girls had a blast exploring the beach, and then we went across to the other side of the park. And by then everyone was a bit worn out and it was already into mid-afternoon, so we decided to call it a day and leave St. Augustine and that other park for another day. I still want to climb that lighthouse!

Sunday we planned to mostly take it easy, but we headed out in the morning for one of our favorite local parks, lunch, and a stop in at Goodwill to donate some stuff and find some more books to add to our collection. I really do need to get going on the library project sometime!

Okay, more photos from the weekend: ( Clicky! )

And that's about all for now. I just realized I never posted about the Christmas Wish photo session! I'll do that in another entry. Hope everyone is having a good Monday so far!