Beer in the Summer

It’s the Fourth of July weekend, so a beer is almost required.  We visited the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Jacksonville Florida.  No real horses like at the St. Louis brewery we visited a few years ago, but they had Larry.

 

 

The brewery has been producing beer since 1969 and make over 9 million barrels every year.  The tour is good.  We started with a sample of a new Shock Top version. 

 

The tour took us past humongous tanks and bottling lines (they were cleaning lines and were down when we visited). 

 

Of course the best is the beer in the hospitality room at the end.  Very refreshing on a hot summer day.  John and I enjoyed seeing the discussion of the can production since we both worked in the can industry at one time.

 

Amelia Island

Amelia Island has several things to see.  We enjoyed walking on a pier at the state park and seeing the beach. 

 

In Fernandina Beach, we visited the Nassau County courthouse (built in 1891).  Besides being one of the oldest county courthouses in Florida and an example of Victorian style, John’s brother Jack was involved in designing and managing the restoration in 2002!!! We got to hear some of the background problems and stories behind the restoration.  I loved the “picture” showing the steps and history of the layers within the wall of the courthouse.

 

 

This bell was used as a fire alarm until the 1930’s.  The columns are Corinthian columns in cast iron and so much gorgeous woodwork inside.

Fort Clinch

We’re visiting family near Jacksonville Florida for a long July 4^th holiday.  Today we toured Fort Clinch that sits on the Atlantic Ocean.  While it’s in Florida, it is less than a mile from Georgia. 

The fort was partially built starting in 1847.  During the Civil War it was held by the Confederates and then the North.  This transfer was quiet.  General Robert E. Lee knew they couldn’t hold it so they withdrew.  It was manned to watch (and theoretically defend) the coast in the Spanish-American War and World War II.  In all that time it was never finished.

While it wasn’t finished, the park has a lot of good ‘stuff’ added to show what it was like during the Civil War era. 

 

 

The brickwork of these forts are always cool. 

Before and After

Between all our trips we bought a small house in Pensacola. It’s been interesting.  The house was a short sale where the owners divorced and hadn’t lived in the house for a year or two.  The grass was 2’ tall with 10’ high bushes surrounding the yard.  The copper piping under the house had been stolen.  However the repairs inside are relatively minor. We’ve been working on the house since we moved in.  We expect to sell the house in a year or so, so it’s been interesting seeing how we can fix up the house without spending a lot of money.

The front yard has been our biggest investment in time and money.  We dug up many of the bushes and cut back the ones we left.  All that was left of the yard was weeds, so we planted sod.  I was able to save money on plants by using freecycle.  Have you heard about freecycle.org?  You can get rid of things you don’t need quickly and get things other people don’t need.  I was able to get quite a few plants this way.  Free, plus I know they grow well in Florida.  Here's some before and after pictures.

Inside we’ve painted two bedrooms and the repainted the partially painted bathroom.  The popcorn ceiling is gone and the wood floor has been sanded and refinished.  Oh, and we freecycled the stuff the previous owners left in the house.
 

So much more to do (in between trips)!