Palm Coast, FL

After my sweat and car-filled journey down the east coast, I arrived in Palm Coast, FL on August 16. Some of you may wonder about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of visiting Florida in August, but I was fortunate enough to stay in Kim's house, which is blessed with the miracle of air conditioning.

Florida is a beautiful place, exceptionally green and lush, with water everywhere.

On August 21, George, Elizabeth and I visited Fort Matanzas in lovely St. Augustine. The name Matanzas comes from the nearby Matanzas River, and means "killings" or "slaughter" in Spanish. Apparently, in the 1500's the Spanish gave several hundred French Protestants a choice: convert to Catholicism or die. Given the name of the place, you can probably guess what they chose. Here's a picture of the fort:

For those of you into karate-related humor, here's a picture of me attempting to penetrate the fortress:

While we were in St. Augustine, George and Elizabeth treated me to lunch, and Elizabeth ordered a giant bucket of clams.

That's a big bucket.

The rest of the day, I drove around on the beach with Chris, and then we played Gears of War 2 until 2 in the morning. That night, I dreamed I was playing Gears of War 2.