May 15 – “Day Twelve: St. Strand-ustine”

Yesterday was set aside to roam the quaint and ancient little burg called St. Augustine.  And it didn’t take us long to realize it was Galveston’s Strand – a regular St. Strand-ustine.  But before I get into that, I had a very strange wake up call from the Lord last night.  I mean literally, “Hey, you.  Wake up.”  It was sometime in the middle of the night.  I woke wide awake with an image of a couple in my head and the names Paul and Becky Neuhauser.  I have no idea who that might be, but I prayed for you during the middle of the night.  May God be with you, whoever you are.

 

We decided last night that there might be a little too much to do in St. Augustine to just stay one night.  So we extended our stay so we could go a little more slowly.  I went to the front desk to ask about the price.  And I found out that it would be seven dollars cheaper if I reserved through our Choice Hotels app.  I asked her to wait just a moment, and explained what I was doing.  She was patient and ever so gracious about it.  “Hey, saving seven dollars is saving seven dollars,” she intoned.  Such deep wisdom from such a young thing.  As soon as the order popped up on her screen from the main computer, she gave us the cheaper rate and let us have the room we were already in.  Thank you, Choice Hotels.

 

Our first stop was the Castillo de San Marcos.  No, we weren’t suddenly transported to south Texas.  This was the big ol’ fort that guarded St. Augustine for many years (The city, not the Christian).  It was built out of 16 foot thick blocks made of a conglomeration that was mostly crushed seashells.  Really odd material, but it sure did the job.  Still standing after hundreds of years, and still handling tourists’ footsteps daily.  The views of the sea from the fort were amazing as well.  The way it was constructed and where it was situated made it virtually impenetrable.  In fact it was never taken.  Pretty impressive.

 

Next stop was the Pirate’s Museum.  Aaarrr.  This one was almost worth the typically exorbitant tourist price tag.  Lots of memorabilia – knives and swords and coins and instruments of torture and death and the like.  Also lots of recreations of pirates and their daily lives.  We even got to fire a mock cannon.  Oh, and as a bonus, we found all the hidden artifacts (buried treasure), so we were rewarded with a piece of eight and a stolen Spanish jewel. 

 

From there we entered colonial St. Augustine.  It was an entire lecture/experience revealing what life was like from the time the Spaniards first settled there.  Our guide was Ty Pennington.  Well, maybe not actually Ty, but he could sure have passed for him.  Looked like him and even spoke and acted like him.  This guy wasn’t a carpenter, but he was a blacksmith, and he did show us how to fire an actual cannon.  I’ll take that trade-off any day that I’m in St. Augustine. 

 

We had some lunch at the Bull & Crown Publick House.  That’s their spelling, not mine.  Great club sandwich.  And Chris made quick work of her chicken pot pie.  Then we walked St. George Street and perused the Strand-ish shops.  Before we left we made a quick return trip to the Colonial experience because we forgot to climb the tower.  This one had a disclaimer warning heart patients and people who were claustrophobic and afraid of heights that this might not be for them.  Check all of the above for Chris, but she went anyway.  It was a piece of cake.  Way easier than those 203 lighthouse steps.  The hardest part of the climb (and of our earlier castle experience as well) was the wind.  It was a fairly strong north wind, so it got chilly.  I had to turn my cap around more than once to keep it from blowing off. 

 

Our final excursion of the day was supposed to be a tour of a winery.  We did get to go through, but all tours were canceled, and all it amounted to was three tasting stops as you walked on your own through the distillery.  No explanations of the processes at all.  We were disappointed. 

 

We ended the day back at Cracker Barrel.  Chris had some vegetable soup and I had some breakfast (pancakes and eggs and bacon).  Back to the room to crash for the night.  We still have a few more things to do around here tomorrow, so it’s time to get rested up, follow some Astros (On my MLB phone app), and sleep. 

 

Habakkuk 3:17-18 says, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

 

Father, again I ask that you be with Paul and Becky, whoever and wherever they are.  Draw them close to you.  Amen.