Castillo de San Marcos and the A1A

Despite not having to tear down and pack a tent, it still took us 90 minutes to go from waking up to rolling out!  Fortunately, our first stop wasn’t far down the road.

We spent a good hour and a half crawling though Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in the US.  It has quite the history, and has never fallen in battle, though it has been operated at different times by the Spanish, British and Americans.  Its success in surviving numerous assaults and sieges lay in its placement, design and construction materials.  A must see if you’re ever nearby.

We left St Augustine with many sights unseen and headed south along highway A1A, which kept us right along the coastline until just shy of Daytona Beach, where we angled inland for Kissimmee. The A1A was recommended to us, and so we’ve been travelling it for a couple of days now. To be honest, it’s a straight road that is physically near the water, but which really only affords us water glimpses on occasion, just enough to tease us into hoping for more than we’ll ever actually get. Still, it’s better than the interstate.

We reconnected with the Wards at the budget hotel we’ve reserved for the next few days (yeah, we’re going to do a little Disney), and went out for the very best vegetable biryani we have ever had. Seriously, the A’Taj Indian Restaurant got 8 thumbs up from us! You must try the Kashmiri naan and the vegetable biryani!

Intemperately sated, we are tucking in hopeful that the forecasted rain ends early so we can have a dry ride to church tomorrow.