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Adventures with Kate, part four

It was Tuesday, August 10, and Kate and I were in St. Augustine, America’s oldest city. The guy we were staying with lent us a couple of bikes for the day so we could get around by ourselves. I hadn’t ridden a bike in a while, but it was like riding a bike. They were both mountain bikes, and even though I thought I would have a problem with them (I’ve always preferred single-speed bikes), I didn’t really.

Our first stop was the lighthouse, a short ride away. This would be our second visit to a lighthouse; we had visited the Hillsboro Inlet lighthouse in January. I couldn’t help but compare the two lighthouses. Most notably, the Hillsboro lighthouse is only open to visitors a few days per year, while the St. Augustine lighthouse is only not open to visitors a few days per year. The former is still owned and operated by the US Coast Guard, while the latter is not.

The St. Augustine lighthouse is also more impressive overall. It’s taller, and it has that classic conical lighthouse shape. We spent a while at the top of the lighthouse even though there were a lot of other people there. It was a nice day, and the breeze was strong but refreshing. After going back down, we checked out the adjacent museum and, of course, signed the guestbook.

Kate had wanted to go to the beach, so the next stop on our bicycle journey was Anastasia State Park. At the park, we ate some overpriced hamburgers and then went to the beach. It was a very wide beach with shallow water. After briefly going into the water, we decided to lie in the sun. I had grabbed a couple of towels from for us our host’s bathroom (with his permission, of course), and I unraveled mine to find that half of it was labeled “FACE” and the other half was labeled “BUTT.” Kate thought it was hilarious.

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s putting on sunscreen. It’s greasy and smelly and makes a mess. So I didn’t put on any sunscreen, and neither did Kate. Instead, we just lay. After a while, we were incredibly sunburned, and we decided to go back to our host’s to relax. But a short stay turned into a long one, and by the time we went out on our bikes again it was getting dark.

I wanted to take Kate to see the scenic campus of Flagler College, so that’s where we went. We spent a lot of time taking photos of the buildings (especially Kate, with her new camera) and then just talking. We were tired, having had a long couple of days. And it was pretty quiet, with only the occasional horse and buggy going by with an annoying tour guide and some family inside.

After a while, I thought we should head back; I didn’t want to be out too late. At our host’s place, Kate and I had some frozen dinners that we had bought at the grocery store. Not long after, we laid our sore, sunburned selves down to sleep.

Read about The Origins of 10 Nicknames. (Via The Presurfer)

Really interesting: Top 10 Codes You Aren’t Meant To Know. I’ll never think of stores the same way again. (Via J-Walk Blog)