On The Road Again

While we may not be actually singing it, that's definitely our theme song. We're in Jacksonville, our home away from home in our effort to  see the shuttle launch. Why Jacksonville? Well, it's a cool area to explore and it's not that far on down to the NASA facilities.

Wayne had been talking about getting tickets to the launch scheduled for August. It's a night launch which sounded awesome...until we found out night meant 4am. And since you need to be in place hours ahead of time, it just wasn't meant to be. So kind of at the last minute we decided to drive down to this one. We won't be able to get into the reserved area as those tickets are long gone, but Wayne's found a public viewing area only a little farther away. So that was where we planned to be until last night's thunderstorm caused them to delay the launch for 24 hours to be sure there was no lightning damage. We're committed to staying for another attempt, but if it doesn't go tomorrow night, we'll have to try for a different mission.

So how have we filled out time? When we arrived last night, We headed over to the University of North Florida to walk the Robert W. Loftin Nature Trails there. It's a series of linked trails through woods and around a small lake so it was shady and pleasant. We didn't see the alligators that apparently live in the lake but we saw the namesake tortoises on Gopher Tortoise Ridge. Like this one:

She might not have been dinner-plate size, but she was close. We're guessing the screened area is protection for eggs that haven't yet hatched. We saw other areas with the remnants of hatched eggs. And despite her size, she can move pretty quickly. Shortly after this photo was snapped, she disappeared into the hole on the right.

Today we wandered around Daytona Beach and St. Augustine.

The Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is an old Spanish fort that is well-kept and an interesting place to explore. From the upper level, you can see why it's situated where it is as there is  sweeping view, making it easy to see enemies approaching. Like much of Florida, control of it changed hands between the Spain and England during its history.

I was fascinated by the canons. While there were some of the big black ones mounted on wheels, these Spanish canons had a beautiful aged patina and intricate etching. If I were guessing, I'd say this one might be the coat of arms of the Spanish ruler at the time. The designs on all the canons of this type were different.

There's lots of beautiful architecture in old St. Augustine, ranging from a strong Spanish influence to Art Deco. It was just interesting to walk and look.

We finished the day by eating seafood at Jacksonville Beach then taking a sunset walk along the water's edge. The sand isn't as soft and white as what we have at Pensacola Beach but the coarser sand is easier to walk in, especially when it's wet.

With any luck the shuttle will head skyward tomorrow evening and we"ll be there to watch. And if it's delayed again, well...we'll be on the road again but heading home.

Comments

[Jeanne]

VERY cool! Love how you embrace the area you visit and learn what you can. Good luck on the launch, but even if it doesn't go, you've had a wonderful little getaway haven't you?

[Rhonda Hestir]

We're watching for the launch today, too. With a 7-year-old son, rockets are on our must-watch list. I remember where I was when Challenger exploded. I had just walked back into my college dorm between classes, and everyone was gathered around the tv room.

[Charlene]

I love St. Augustine! Great architecture and great food.