New Year's Eve : 2015

Happy New Year’s Eve! Time to say goodbye to 2015 people. I mean, it probably won’t be all that hard to do but, ya know, tradition to uphold and all that. Well, as it turns out, the weather lied. When I got up this morning and put on pants, I thought was supposed to cool off and be cloudy. Well, as soon as I walked out into the main room, Mum turned me around and sent me to change

since it was going to be quite muggy. The plan was to take the Old Town Trolley tour around town today. We parked at the Old Jail and headed straight to the ticket booth to pick up our tickets. On our tour, we learned about the history of the city, mostly the history that tied into landmarks we spotted along the way. Juan Ponce de Leon came to Florida in 1513, landing in the

area that would become St. Augustine while looking for the fountain of youth. He didn’t end up finding the fountain but he discovered the Gulf Stream, which is a fast moving current heading straight for Spain that drastically improved the travel time over seas. He didn’t stay in Florida long, only long enough to give it it’s name, Pascua Florida or “Feast of Flowers. He returned in 1521 to try and set up in colony but ended up dying in the process. It was a number of years before anyone attempted to colonize the area. In the 1560’s, French Huguenots established a colony a while South of Ponce de Leon’s original landing spot. In 1565, King Phillip sent his best

general to colonize the territory, Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles. Menendez quickly took over the area, massacring all of the Huguenots. The day of the killings became known as Matanzas, which means slaughter. We also learned about Henry Flagler, a business man from the late 1800s. He rose from humble beginnings to become one of the people of his time who influenced Florida the most. He visited St. Augustine on his honeymoon with his second wife and they stayed at the San Marco Hotel. He thought the city could become a major tourist attraction and he opened his own hotel, the Hotel Ponce de Leon , in 1888. However, the San Marco burned down mysteriously around the time

Flagler was building his own hotel and the blaze couldn’t have been put out because the closest fire hose had been cut. Interesting that the competition was just destroyed like that. Flagler also built the railroad all the way down to St. Augustine so his customers would have easier access to the city. We learned lots of facts on our little tour, and we also got to see a massive 600 year old oak tree name The Old Senator, which is really something you don't see everyday. It has a palm tree literally growing out the middle of it. We took it all the way around the loop, stopped to have lunch back at the Old Jailhouse, and hopped back on so we could go visit George

Street. George Street is a walking street that runs a few blocks parallel to the ocean front and is full of shops and restaurants. It was fun to walk down it and I also got a Dole pineapple float, so that was a plus. We also checked out the Catholic Church, another very impressive structure, before we headed back to the truck. When it started to get dark, we left the campsite yet again to go to the New Year’s Eve bash at the St. Augustine Pier. It took us a while to get a shuttle over to the pier from our parking lot but we eventually got there and sat down. Mum and I went off to get food and we listened to the local bands on stage when we got back. I didn’t really like the music they were playing so I mostly listened to Twenty Øne Piløts and Panic! At The Disco until the fireworks started. It was quite a good explosion show and we headed out right after they finished. The line for the shuttles was absolutely ridiculous so we opted just to walk the mile back to the parking lot. Back at the trailer, I hung out in my bed until just a few minute before midnight when Dad turned on the TV and we watched the ball drop in Times Square. It wasn’t the most exciting New Year celebration but it was nice. Welcome to 2016 people. Peace out m8s.