DESPITE MY BEST INTENTIONS, I have let this journal wither on the vine, as it were. I think it’s a matter of a lack of interest for both writer and reader. Some of my earlier entries received thousands of views, but then again, the subject matter was more interesting, both to you and me.
Looking ahead, Connie has some interesting trips set up; Cameroon, Columbia and Papua, New Guinea. She thinks you might like to share them with us, even though they will be birding oriented. And I suspect I would like to reminisce about them on some cold evening years from now. So with the help of Connie’s diary, I will try to reconstruct the last few months and once again keep up the journal, he said hopefully.
Castillo San Marco, St. Augustine
FLORIDA
St. Augustine was still recovering from Hurricane Matthew when we set up house under magnificent live oaks across from the beach just north of town. Except for the wonky wifi, North Beach Camping Resort was one of the nicest places we’ve stayed.
Siblings
Not only is it the oldest city in the US, St. Augustine is the first interesting place you come to after leaving Georgia. And it gave us a chance to visit my sister Jean, whom we hadn’t seen in ten years. The city’s iconic landmark, Castillo de San Marcos, is part of the National Park system even though it was built during St. Augustine’s Spanish days. We somehow missed visiting when we were here in 2005 but we remembered Anastasia State Park where we tent camped.
`kennedy Space Center
As children of the 50’s, we also remembered Cape Canaveral and, later on, Cape Kennedy from the “space race.” Connie had been invited to a shuttle launch (postponed) but we had never visited the Space Coast. Besides touring the Kennedy Space Center we had a chance to spend some time with old friends Rod and Lois, who have vacation home in the area. As luck would have it we were able to watch a launch from the beach — not a shuttle but a GOES-R weather satellite. Can’t have everything.
Rod and Lois
Great hosts, they not only showed us manatees but invited us back for Thanksgiving dinner, albeit at their son’s wife’s mother’s home near Daytona.
