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| Party! Party! Party! |
St. Augustine -> Pensacola Beach
I’m writing, now, from a picnic table at a campsite in Fort
Pickens, a tiny finger of white sandy beaches, jutting out into the Gulf of
Mexico. Above, the biggest moon of the year is on the rise. To the front of me,
maybe a mile off, birds are making a ruckus, their sound carrying over the
scrub brush and water; in my ear a mosquito is making a ruckus; behind me some
drunks are making a ruckus. That’s car
camping for you: somewhere between modernity and nature.
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| Super Moon in Super Imax! |
It’s pretty out here. The sky, as the sun set, was all there
was, pink and gray, and clouds in real Imax 3D. And if that lady in the other
campsite would stop telling her companions how she’s going to pee in a bush,
though the real human bathroom is just steps away, it might even be peaceful.
This morning we wandered through St. Augustine, where
everything is just “the oldest.” What a history, and it's ours! In St. Augustine Church, established
1570-something, we bought some St. Christopher medals for the road. I wanted to
stay longer, but we had to move on.
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| A Sacred Heart |
We went down to Flagler College. J told us
that it used to be a fancy hotel and folks would come down from up north
and pay $300 to stay a season, which was a fortune in the olden times. We've had snowbirds forever, I guess.
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| Flagler College: Rich People have the Right Idea. |
I spent some time interrogating J about what she thought
Americans were like today and recording it for posterity. Now I want to write
an essay called, “You Kids Don’t Know Just How Good You Have It, and Neither Do
We.”
We also stopped by the Fountain of Youth but did not go in. It's okay, I drank from the Fountain about seven years ago. I haven't aged a day since.
We also stopped by the Fountain of Youth but did not go in. It's okay, I drank from the Fountain about seven years ago. I haven't aged a day since.
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| Where all models get their start, including me. |
We spent the rest of the day driving through Florida’s
scenic panhandle to Pensacola. The highlight was our stop at the Flying J
Travel Center where any traveler can make all of her magic wolf dreams come
true.
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| Nothing is radder than this, except a whole wall of this. |
Now we are in a beautiful place with a big moon and water
and sand and heat. M has pulled out the banjo to play, and it’s nice, just
nice.
Still, I’d like to be alone for a while.
I like that gap between "Fountain" and "of." My cynical brain is convinced that the gap is just the right size for the word "not."
ReplyDeleteHa, wow, it's true! There is just enough space for a disclaimer.
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