Saint Augustine

So we have now come to my last full day in Florida. I made some comment to Jess about why she doesn't have a state parks pass because we were always pulling cash out to get into all these attractions. She made the point that she usually doesn't visit a different park every day for a week straight. I guess that's a reason. Monday morning we headed up through the forest to St. Augustine; the oldest city in America. It was so beautiful. We started out at the Castillo de San Marcos which overlooked the water. There was really no battle history there but I love wandering around old forts and imaging what life was like for those soldiers. Jess decided to go all first person and lie down on one of their mattresses while everyone else was gathered out front watching the musket demonstration.
This experience led me to think about our other experiences at sites of historical significance: Don't get me wrong, we love national parks, but we have to experience them in our own way (i.e. with no rules).
Later, I wanted a picture on the rooftop so I sat down and had Jess take some and then she says quietly "Kelly you better move, that Ranger is yelling at you" (if you look closely you can see the Ranger in the background). I took cover and was nervous the rest of the time that they had an APB out for me. I really enjoyed the Fort though. It was huge with lots of rooms to explore and the roof had tons of old cannons that were tinted a really pretty green. Despite being on the water, the Fort was oppressively hot so we went into the historic part of St. Augustine and came across a wine shop so we decided to go wine tasting. Apparently the wine was made from fruit and not grapes so it was nice and sweet. I tried the raspberry and it was delicious. Too bad I can't carry liquid on the plane. The historic part of St. Augustine reminded me of a movie set. All the facades are straight out of ye old days and the streets are really narrow. By this point we were bitching out from the heat and all I could think of was "why is this the oldest city in America?" I can't imagine being a colonist and disembarking my boat with 8 layers of wool in 90 degree heat and 100% humidity and thinking "Yup, this is it. This is where I want to start my new life" Ugh. My ancestors were smart to stay North. Our next stop was Fort Matanzas (another NPS site). I am now up to 81 out of 392 parks. By the end of this year I would like to hit 100. My life goal is to get to all of them. I wonder if anyone else had done that? We blew through Matanzas because by that point I was sweating so much my sunglasses wouldn't stay on my face. We rushed down to the dock when the visitor center lady told us the ferry was about to leave. Something was wrong with the big ferry so the rangers had to take the smaller one and we barged our way on it ahead of people that had been waiting there for half an hour or so. Haha. It was just a quick jaunt aross the channel to the Fort. It was a smaller outpost operation of St. Augustine and only two bullets were fired from it.
It was still a really neat little Fort to see and it was integral to keeping the Spaniards out so there was some redeeming historical value. My favorite part was when we were leaving and Jess was totally over the heat. The video is priceless.

On the way out we stopped to climb in some live oak trees. I've always wondered why it was called a live oak because I figured all trees were live but Jess explained to me that they were live because they remain green and "live" throughout winter. I guess an MBA doesn't teach you everything.
We were on our way to being cooked through from the heat and humidity so we tore over to the beach on Anastasia Island. This time it was the Atlantic and I didn't have to worry about sting rays so I went running in Baywatch style. It was cooler and darker than the Gulf Coast but I enjoyed it all the same. Jess was disappointed at the wave size but they were big enough for me. I almost lost my suit a couple times. It's so weird to feel the water pulling away and then be slammed by a wave a few seconds later. I tried to build a sand castle and Jess told me the sand I used was too wet so she took over but she packed it so hard that the sand wouldn't even come out of the bucket. I stole my bucket back and proceeded to make three lovely towers with my wet sand. So there Coastie. A storm was rolling in so we headed back.
I should mention that throughout the week I was there, Jess forced me to watch Veronica Mars. She has been going on about this show forever but I resisted watching it because last time I got sucked into a show I put my life aside and devoted myself to it for a few weeks straight. But OMG I heart Veronica Mars! It's just so interesting. I watched all of Season 1 in FL and have been slowly getting through Season 2 at home. I had a great week in Florida and I would like to thank Jess and her family for all their Southern hospitality.