St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US (I think I have the correct modifiers here.) According to one local, if you arrive at the historic district when school is out, the place is mobbed. It’s impossible to drive. There’s a large parking area on the outskirts. We arrived when the area “isn’t busy”. We stopped at Castillo de San Marcos and found cars literally crawling around the parking area looking for the opportunity to spend $10 on a parking space.

It was an easy drive up I-95 but long. It takes 4.5 hours to do the drive, but of course we have to stop. One stop was for a car wash. After being parked under a tree for 21 days, the car was so filthy we didn’t want to touch it. But all is well. We found a great car wash. The weather cooperated. Traffic was a little heavy at times but overall it wasn’t bad. The fort is quite nice. We heard an excellent presentation about the weapons of the day and how they were used to attack and defend a fort. We also learned the origin of several common sayings, including “lock stock and barrel”, “flash in the pan”, and “going off half cocked”. We decided not to visit the “million lights” exhibit because we were tired from the long drive, plus there’s a good chance of rain this evening.

Our hotel is right next to the historic area visitor center. Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast at “Schmagel’s Bagels”, then visit a few more attractions around here. Then we’ll head north, turning left at Jacksonville and starting our way across the Florida panhandle.

There are a few pics on the website. I hope this finds everybody doing well.