Between the restaurant and shopping area, some upscale housing and the touristy area near the St. Augustine Beach Pier, there is a rarely noticed boardwalk that gives a quiet tour of the Florida that was before the Europeans and developers arrived nearly five centuries ago.
Twice, I missed the blue sign tangled amongst the trees and vines along A1A Beach Boulevard, heading east from the over-developed A1A. A grey clay road, dappled with water and sunlight opened up to a dull parking lot under a canopy of live oak.
I thought I’d missed it again, but the black on white sign with tiny arrows pointed the way to a neat wooden boardwalk that disappeared into a dark stand of trees.
Green still water peered out from around the roots of century old trees. I heard birds calling one another, heard them hopping above my head, but didn’t see any feathered companions.
Clearer water opened up a short distance later. Palms and scrubs dotted the rim of an open patch. The roofs of nearby multi-story homes were visible behind the trees, but in the early morning still, they seemed less objectionable. A private boardwalk peeked through the marsh grasses to the south.
Then, as I came over the next rise on the walk, I could hear waves crashing on the shore. A few steps away, the last vestiges of the sunrise were burning into a cold, quiet morning. A bicyclist touched to a stop at the end of the boardwalk and bowed his head.
“God is in a place like this,” he said, looking up again a few minutes later and turning his bike again to the west.
God is everywhere, but you can not doubt it in a place like this…
Along The Way This Morning 