Traveling to and through Florida DAY EIGHT

Obviously we have been busy enough on this trip not to allow me to blog. It's all good.

The day after Stone Mountain, we spent with our daughter and son-in-law at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Hundreds of acres of flowering plants and birds along walkways and glassed-in shelters drowned all awareness of the urban pace and congestion just a few feet away. Clear skies and warm air with a slight breeze were sweet extra perks. Evening dinner we took outside at a well known sushi bar with the skyline blazing in front of us and the night air cool enough for jackets. Now I know why people with a taste for urban life love Atlanta.

Next we headed to rural North Central Florida. Father Bob Napier and his parishioners in Interlachen welcomed us as family. It was a delightful two days with some of the loveliest people I have ever met.

Taking the scenic route once more, with camera poised to capture a black bear or wild boar through Ocala National Forest, the trip to Orlando was relaxing. The lights and activity of Orlando greeted us with all their dazzling energy. We are grateful for our beautiful, well-appointed condo in shades of sea green and terra cotta, on a small private lake that allows the respite required to re-energize each day. The tops of tall palms are at eye level from our screened balcony as we take time to breathe in creation each morning.

Since The Weather Channel predicted severe thunderstorms in the entire region, we ventured to St. Augustine, the first established city in this country, fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. We figured we could easily duck inside buildings to escape any rain harder than our Land's End rain jackets would protect us from. We got a typical vacation-mode late start to the two hour drive with our only concern being that perhaps since it had just started raining in Orlando we would hit some bad stuff late in the day.

The air in St. Augustine was hot and humid, again making me wistful for our impending move to northern Colorado. The clouds, ominous. The breeze from the bay, refreshing. We climbed the coquina steps of the impenetrable fort, Castillo de San Marcos, built by the Spaniards over 330 years ago. We walked many blocks to the Mission of Nombre de Dios, Name of God, where the first Christian mass in this country was spoken by Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales in 1565. There we saw a dolphin gently dancing in and out of the inlet's calm water. We walked through the old town and along St. George Street.

Four hours later, we jumped back into the car and headed to the St. Augustine Lighthouse before dark descended, thinking of the countless lives that light has saved since 1874. We walked out on a boat launch at Lighthouse Park and marveled at the numerous beautiful sailboats anchored on the calm water for the night. They made me think of the Tall Ships that must have anchored here long ago. From there we headed to St. Augustine Beach. It was dusk and the beach was nearly empty. The waves rose with the shifting tide, each crashing louder onto the sand than the one before. The breeze could now be called wind; it whipped our hair as it stroked our bare arms and legs. We paused to listen and breathe.

Dinnertime was upon us. We discovered a small, moderately priced seafood restaurant on the island on Anastasia Boulevard. O'Steen's proved what the 486 Urban Spoon reviewers said. When we ate the light and fluffy battered shrimp we knew exactly why it had been featured on The Food Channel.

Content, we headed to our vacation base. What an amazing day. Nothing short of perfect. Oh, did I mention that the only rain we encountered were a few spatterings on the return to Orlando? Yeh, pretty darned perfect.