A Summer Road Trip, Part 1 - Castillo de San Marcos

Hey everyone, it's the summer so you know what that means - ROAD TRIP! I am taking some lucky humans on a road trip and our first stop happens to be St. Augustine, FL.

Here I am in Castillo de San Marcos - Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle" - which is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. The city of St. Augustine was founded in 1565 for the Spanish Crown. The city was repeatedly attacked and its wooden forts were burned to the ground numerous times - er, like 9 times.

So this fort was built out of something different, stone made of crushed sea shells to form a rock similar to limestone, called coquina. I guess that was a good idea, because the fort is well preserved even today!

Oh, and they have volunteers doing reenactments so in the background here, you can see people walking around in Spanish soldier uniforms. On certain days, they will do cannon firings, but not today as they are still in training.

Soldiers in training. Let's keep our distance as they don't seem to know what they are doing yet with those cannons.

The walls of the fort were very good at absorbing the impact of cannonballs. The cannonballs would sort of sink into the walls instead of shattering them.

"HEY AJDIN!" said someone.

"Hi Droopy," I said. Can you spot Droopy in the picture? I pretty much expect Droopy to show up on every trip I take from now on since we have the same travel agent.

In 1763, the British took control of the fort as part of the Treaty of Paris. This agreement gave Britain all of Spanish Florida in exchange for returning Havana and Manila to Spain. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, the fort was used as a military prison during the war.

In 1933, the fort was transferred to the National Park Service where it is now a popular tourist destination!

Stay tuned for the next part of our road trip!

Ducksitting

 Hey everyone, today I thought I would talk about --

"Quack quack quack! Excuse me, are you Ajdin?" a voice called out.

"Yes, I am," I replied. "May I help you?"

"My name is Ms. Quackers and my good friend Arthur Tibbs said that you are an excellent babysitter! Well, I was wondering if you would mind watching my little ones while I go to the store."

"He said that about me, huh..." I began to recall the last time I babysat.

"Yes, he says you are very patient," she said.

"Ah, well... I guess... yeah, sure. Why not?" I talked myself into saying yes.

"Terrific, thank you!" Ms. Quackers replied. "Time to get out, kiddos!"

I looked to her back where she had a convenient carry pouch for her ducklings.

"Oh, how cute! Yes, I can definitely handle one," I said.

"Well, I actually have more than one duckling," she said.

"Oh?"

POP!

A second duckling popped out.

"Oh, twins! Ok, well... I think I handle two. That's not that much harder than babysitting one, right? That's just a little more attention and care..."

POP!

A third duckling appeared.

"Triplets? Uh... wait a second..."

"Ms. Quackers, I've never babysat three babies before," I said. "I don't know if I can..."

Before I could finish my sentence, a fourth duckling appeared.

"I think you'll do a great job, Ajdin! See, they are already warming up to you," she said.

"But but but --" I stammered.

POP!

Finally, the 5th and last duckling popped out.

"Oh yes, they like you very much already! I'm sure you all will have a good time together. Thank you again for doing this, Ajdin. Now be good, kids. I'm off to the store..."

"Ms. Quackers, wait!" I called, but she was already gone.

The ducklings looked at me. I looked at them.

QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK!

Help me, someone? Anyone?