Traveling I-95

I’ll be adding new tips to our site… mainly about traveling I-95.

We’ve driven on I-95 from Maine to Miami, so I plan to write different posts about things to see, restaurants, places to stop for a few hours, and more.

One of the headaches on I-95 is south of Washington, D.C. We discovered Route 1 as an awesome detour after one of the worst snow storms came through. Read more.

Georgia was also very slow until the extra lanes were added. We’ve frequently detoured around the Brunswick, Georgia, area using Route 17. Hopefully, though, the last of the new lanes are now open on that stretch and Georgia should be much better.

Follow this link for posts about traveling I-95.

Where do you stop for a few hours for a scenic spot for a meal? What is a great weekend getaway? We don’t travel north of D.C. very often, so if you have tips going north from D.C. to Maine, please add your tips!

Arts Fest

We did not know that for more than twenty years Arts Fest has been offering free admission to different venues in four central Florida counties. We decided to participate.

Today, we dropped in on the Out of This World exhibit at the History Center in downtown Orlando. We saw sci-fi props and costumes from Star Trek, Star Wars, and more.

Last week, we visited the Cornell Fine Arts Museum on the beautiful campus of Rollins College. We were particularly fascinated with a traveling exhibit, Man and Machine, which featured Soviet posters from Stalin’s time.

Downtown Winter Park is next to the campus, with shopping and sidewalk cafes. It’s always fun just to stroll down Park Avenue. After dinner at Panera’s we also took in a short classical music concert on campus.

We are looking forward to next year’s Arts Fest.

Pensacola Lighthouse

We were visiting the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola and noticed this lighthouse across the road. We also saw old forts on the Naval Air Station property as we drove out.

I decided to make an online photo album of the lighthouses we have photographed over the years.

National Museum – Naval Aviation

We highly recommend the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. We only spent two hours there. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour which gave us a history of the development of naval aviation. This tour is perfect if you only have a short time to visit.

If we go back I would want to have more time to see the displays. I would also check ahead to see when they are offering their outside tours and when the Blue Angels are scheduled to practice. We saw some other aircraft landing and taking off while we were there.

As we drove on the property of the Pensacola Naval Air Station, we discovered old forts and a picturesque lighthouse, too.

(Also see our Emerald Coast photos.)

Saint Augustine

Sus joined Jenny and a bus load of students for a history field trip to Saint Augustine.

The weather was beautiful and we had a great time visiting some of the historic sites and museums. We saw carpentry and smithing demonstrations in the Spanish Quarter, then headed to the museum in the Government House.

A trip to Saint Augustine is not complete without a visit to Castillo de San Marcos. We even saw a cannon-firing demonstration. (If you like forts, we also recommend a short drive south to Fort Matanzas, which also protected Saint Augustine.)

In this photo are Klare, from The Czech Republic, Jenny, and Stephanie. You can see more photos from several different trips to Saint Augustine when you click here.

Related posts: on St. Augustine.

Butterfly Rainforest

We had a chance to visit the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville today. It is on the campus of the University of Florida in the Florida Museum of Natural History. (Jenny took this photo.)

Butterflies are an amazing creation of God. Read more on why they could not have evolved.

Related posts: on Gainesville.

The next day in St. Augustine

We started our second day with a little birdwatching at a wildlife reserve and then headed into town to enjoy America’s oldest city.

On this trip, we toured the Old Saint Augustine Village.

We have made several trips to Saint Augustine. You can see selected photos from all the trips at The Schmitt Album, St. Augustine Trips.

We want to also recommend, from a previous trip, dinner at the Creekside Dinery. The food was excellent and after dinner, we could sit on the patio next to the creek and roast marshmallows over a fire.

Related posts: on St. Augustine.