We went back to Jacksonville Beach on our way out of town as it was gloriously sunny day, which was great because it was Chris’s half birthday. We don’t normally celebrate that sort of thing, but given we spent our last actual birthdays painting the flat, we had sort of intended to do something nice for the half birthdays. Jacksonville on a sunny day definitely fit the bill. The neighborhoods looked quite nice, as did the beach: 
We headed down the coast on the coast road. The weather continued being gloriously beautiful and it was one of the best drives of the trip. We managed to go to several beaches and paddle in the ocean multiple times.
Ponce de Leon, the Spaniard who first came to Florida
Ponte Vedra North Beach
Spiders – big, but not hugely bigger than in the rest of the South
We stopped into Saint Augustine, a historic city south of Jacksonville. We probably wouldn’t live there as it was all about tourism, but it was very lovely too and had the biggest cross either of us had ever seen:
The wildlife has gotten increasingly exotic as we’ve driven south:
They also have what is basically an American castle, built by the Spanish just before the British took over Florida:
Castillo de San Marcos
Beach 3: Saint Augustine Beach
We carried on the road and the houses were just lovely:
Some of them were on stilts:
We ended the evening in Ormond Beach, a suburb of Daytona Beach.
We got a very reasonable deal on an older Best Western Hotel right on the water. We were able to swim in the ocean and then have a dip into their lovely 8 foot deep pool. We also got the best sunset of the trip so far from our balcony:
Do check out the video. It’s lovely:
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