St. Augustine with the family

What a treat! We drove to the oldest city in the United States! St. Augustine is on an island with the original fort still standing.  This was the area settled by the Spanish, given to the British, taken back by the Spanish and then sold to the United States.  Some beautiful buildings still standing:

Part of Flagel College

We walked for probably about 10 miles (okay, a slight - very slight my body tells me - exaggeration) went into a multitude of shops - there was one called Dragonfly that had some really beautiful earrings and Sandi and I each bought a pair - ate some killer pizza at a place where the man was actually from Italy, did a LOT of people watching and just enjoyed being together.

Sandi, Chris, Ray and Justin

We always said that Justin had his Mom's nose!

Now, on the the town itself; the walls of the fort and several of the dwellings and buildings are constructed with a material that consists of oyster shells, chocilla shells (a small mollusk) sand and mud.  The blocks were harvested from the island off St. Augustine and are really fascinating to see.  The composition of this stuff apparently made the walls much more resistant to cannon balls than the typical brick walls.  Here's what it looks like:

The wall of one of the dwellings/businesses in town 

The wall of the fort

When we got to the fort, I thought it was really interesting that the design was very similar to that of James Fort except that this fort had 4 sides.  St. Augustine fort needed to protect all sides unlike James Fort, which had the swamp at it's back.  One think I can say with great certainty is that the Spanish settlers of 1565 were much shorter than we are now; either that or they slept on very short mattresses...to the tune of 15-20 in a row! We were totally blessed with beautiful weather, wonderful people (this country is FILLED with them!) and a joyous time.  Here are some views of the fort:

St. Augustine Fort

Gun emplacements which were on all walls

Couldn't resist this one of Justin racing through the shot. Didn't get the Michael Jordan leap, though!

View of city (and Justin and Ray) from the Fort

With all the walking, looking, aah-ing and oo-ing this, I think, is my favorite shot:

22 years married.  It makes a Mother's heart sing

Today, Chris is at work and Justin is at school.  Sandi and I will do washes and figure out our next stop and the route; we think we will go to Pensacola, FL, spend the night and then on to New Orleans, maybe.  Apparently there has been an upswing in crime, so we're going to think about it.  Anyway, from there we will go to Houston, TX , then maybe San Antonio, TX, Austin, TX and on to my friends Randy and Helen in Waxahachie, TX.  All is to be decided, but you'll know as I continue this blog what the decisions are! More later.