Monday, May 7, 2007 St. Augustine, FL

We had a surprise when we read the newspaper this morning. It showed of St. Augustine with pictures of streets closed due to flooding. It seems that there was quite a rainfall earlier on Sunday. Since we arrived about 6:30 PM, the rain had stopped and the flooding was no longer a problem. The wind had not stopped, however, and once again we were made to feel at home, this time with Florida’s version of the Santanas!

We took one of Ripley’s Red Train Sightseeing Tours to get an overview of the city of St. Augustine. This is the oldest city in the United States and has flown under five flags: Spanish, French, British, Confederate, and the U. S. It has beautiful Spanish-influenced architecture. Many buildings and walls are constructed with coquina and tabby. Coqina is mined like granite and is made of shells and limestone. Tabby also has shells and limestone in its makeup and is poured like concrete. One of the stops we made was at Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish fort used to defend St. Augustine against pirate raids and attacks by Great Britain. We took advantage of a ranger-led tour.

This evening was a very special occasion! We met my “Florida Family” at the River Grill Restaurant in Ormond Beach. The group included Hank and Bonnie, Sonny, Allen and Sherry.

Of my cousins (Bonnie, Sonny, and Allen), I had only met Bonnie, and that was when we were little girls, so we had many years to cover over dinner. These cousins are the children of my dad’s older brother, Gene. We said good-bye with hopes of another get-together in the not- too- distant future.