Are you looking for a Valentine's Day escape? Or just a romantic getaway any time of the year?
Leave it to our Scott Fais to find a bed and breakfast where Cupid's arrows aren't a match for "Mabel" -- a ghostly spirit who never checks out.
This is Florida on a Tankful, with "Greetings from St. Augustine."
"This house was built for elegance, quality," said George Dann, the owner of the Casa de la Paz bed and breakfast.
Under blue skies and beyond the archway, the prime spot in St. Augustine holds a prime secret behind its gates.
"We knew the story of this place," said Melissa Taylor, a guest at the bed and breakfast.
"We have a lot of nonbelievers, and then something will happen and they start to question 'Maybe that is real?'" Dann said.
What's real at the Casa de la Paz are the afternoon wine tastings over a casual game of Scrabble. But it's what you can't see that may take a few clues to spell it out.
"Mabel is our ghost," Dann said.
"We've had guests here report they've seen her on the stairway and she has asked guests when are they are leaving," Dann said.
The home, built in 1915, offers seven guest rooms, one of which is always occupied.
"We're in the Queen Isabella Room, where Mabel, our ghost, originates," Dann said.
"Her husband went out to sea and never came back," Taylor said.
"She died of a lonely heart here in the house. She died in this room," Dann said.
Spending the night with a ghost was something newlywed Melissa Taylor jumped at.
"We're always hoping for stuff like that to happen," Taylor said.
"So am I," Fais said. "I spent the night in the same room where Mabel died, hoping to connect with her."
"After a quiet evening, the only thing out of the ordinary I found -- how our battery charger started beeping uncontrollably in the middle of the middle of the night," Fais said.
Melissa experienced something else.
"We were both there watching TV and he had one hand on me and the other hand on his pillow, and I felt three taps on my shoulder and I looked at him and said, 'What?' And I said, 'You just tapped me on the shoulder,' and he said, 'I didn't tap you on the shoulder,'" Taylor remembered. "I think it was a ghost."
"But that kind of thing goes on here all the time," Dann said.
"We are so not disappointed," Taylor told Fais.
Mabel the ghost doesn't like kids. Dann said that his bed and breakfast is reserved for folks 15-years-old and older.
You can find Casa de la Paz and several other bed and breakfasts located on the waterfront in in St. Augustine.
To see more Florida on a Tankful, go to Central Florida On Demand, Digital Cable Channel 300.
The Lovely Haunted Bed & Breakfast: Casa de la Paz
Where:
St. Augustine
St. Johns County
Open:
7 Days A Week
Address:
22 Avenida Menendez
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Latitude: 29° 53' 45.3372"
Longitude: -81° 18' 39.888"
Phone:
Local: (904) 829-2915
Toll free: (800) 929-2915
Fax: (904) 824-6269
Price Per Night:
$129- $300
Prices adjust depending on day of the week and time of year
Web site:
http://www.casadelapaz.com/
Central Florida Directions:
Expect a 2 hour drive when using Orlando as a reference point.
From your part of Central Florida, merge onto Interstate 4 eastbound. You're bound for Volusia County.
When approaching Daytona Beach, take the exit on the left onto Interstate 95 North. Signs will read toward "Jacksonville." Now travel for 37 miles.
Take exit 298 to merge onto U.S. 1 North. Signs will read toward "St Augustine."
Continue to follow U.S. 1 North. Travel 16.9 miles.
Turn right at Orange Street for 2 minutes.
Turn right at South Castillo Drive, also known as the famed A1A. Continue to follow SR-A1A for 1 minute.
Arrive at 22 Avenida Menendez, also known as A1A. Parking is in the rear, just off the garden patio.