The Oldest City in the US

Day 35 - St. Augustine, FL - Cloudy mid-60's:

The hangover finally wore off from the Budweiser brewery and we made our way down the coast to St. Augustine. St Augustine was established in 1565 and is the oldest continuously occupied city in the continental US. The morning was very cold and cloudy so we so we drove around the city for a bit and saw where Ponce De Leon discovered the fountain of youth. We didn't pay to actually drink from the fountain because we heard the water's not very good and just a big tourist trap. We then drove by the oldest house in the town and walked around to explore the outside of the house. From here we made our way to the visitor information center to see what else there was to do in the city and watch the St. Augustine introduction video. We then made our way through the city gates which were once the only entrance to the city and headed to the Oldest Wood School House in the US. Heather wanted to apply for a teaching job but the building was just not in very good shape.

From here walked over to Flagler College to see their campus as it was once the Ponce De Leon Hotel and was a truly amazing site as you can see in the pictures. We then walked over to the Dr. Seuss Imaginarium Gallery which was an art gallery that features the work of Dr. Seuss. We found out Dr. Seuss had a personal collection of prints and paintings that weren't released until after his death. It was great to see some classic characters from the books and also see some of them come to life with actually taxidermy heads. After spending time with Dr. Suess qw went to the Castillo de San Marcos an old Spanish fort and explored the old building and got to see an actual 8 pound canon fired from the gun deck of the fort. It was a very well preserved fort and once had a 40 foot moat which they still have drawbridges for.

After we finished the tour we headed out of town and made out way to Port St Lucie for the night. On our way to the hotel we had one minor problem...we ran out of gas on the highway!! I have now learned that you actually do have to put gas in the car once the fuel light comes on. I wasn't paying close attention and when I would remember I kept saying to myself "I'll stop at the next exit" Well we didn't make it to the next exit and had to call AAA to the rescue. They brought us a couple gallons of gas and we did finally stop at the next exit. Later that night Heather was talking with Brawleigh on Skype and she tried to make me feel better by saying "Don't worry Ben it happens all the time." Somehow I believe that when it comes from Brawleigh!!