Day 2 - St. Augustine

Last night we all hiked across the road to the beach and spent a couple of hours riding the waves in the Atlantic Ocean. We had dinner at Cowboys, a St. Augustine staple, and finished the night with cards and the Olympics.

This morning we ate the breakfast provided in our motel room and headed into town. I have convinced everyone that we should park at the trolley station and pay to ride the trolley around town where we can get off and on at points of interest. Our tickets are good for the next three days.

We spent the day exploring places of interest. We started at the Old Jail where the tour guide, dressed for the part, took us through as if we were prisoners. She was a hoot. I loved her. At one point she made all of the women and girls pile into this tiny cell with one bunk bed where she explained that this was where we would live and sleep. She pointed out that the window only had bars on it and nothing else.

In the summer there would be heat and bugs. In the winter it could get a "might chilly", but we could cover ourselves with that thin blanket there on the bunk. The good thing about the open window was that we could use it to empty out the potty bucket, but we had to be careful that it didn't splash back on us. The whole time we were in there elbow to elbow we were cutting up. One woman yelled, "I'm innocent. It wasn't me!" But the longer we stood there listening to the guide the harder it got and I was quite thankful I wasn't really a prisoner.

Another place we visited was the Florida Heritage Museum which took us back 400 years and featured displays of the countries that ruled St. Augustine. Of course, we ended up in the gift shop where the kids spent more time sightseeing there then they did in the museum. Darcy and Michael each purchased a pair of handcuffs. That's a tad disconcerting.

We rode the trolley around the city to get our bearings and to try and decide where to get off and explore. We had lunch and ice cream at a small eatery in front of one of the stops. We ended the day by touring Castillo de San Marcos, which I blogged about earlier in the summer.

Back at the hotel we changed and went to the beach. We got into the water to frolic, but it started raining. We ignored it and continued to play for about a half an hour. Then the rain came down in sheets and we ran to help Beth gather up our belongs. The rain stung and Tom was hopping up and down and dancing like he could avoid the drops all the while shouting, "Ow! Ow! That hurts!"

I looked over at Madison who had her wave board over her head and I noticed small drops of ice. It was hailing! We took off running, laughing all the way. Some Floridians we are.