After waiting almost 2 1/2 years (Father's Day, June 2019), Cristina and I undertook another trip to the United States, this time our destination was St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in the US, founded by the Spanish in 1565.
The trip got off to a rocky start as, under the rules as of November 5, only Brazilians with Green Cards or part of an American citizen's family could fly from Guarulhos Airport to, in our case, Atlanta. We were prepared, bringing with us our original Brazilian marriage certificate.
However, there was a short delay in receiving our boarding passes while the Delta representative disappeared with the certificate to get the approval of someone over the phone. I was nervous and agitated as she said nothing to me when she left.
From Atlanta, we flew to Jacksonville, Florida and then took an Uber to our hotel in St. Augustine. I was very happy to discover our hotel room (#436) at the Homewood Suites by Hilton had a walk-in shower instead of a bath tub-shower combination. Getting in and out of a bath tub can be dangerous.
On our second day there, the San Sebastian River, adjacent to our hotel, rose to a level where the bridge above it and the streets near it flooded preventing us from walking in the area nor would an Uber driver pick us up. Instead, a very kind employee of the hotel (leaving for the day) drove us to the nearby Georgie's Diner where we ate lunch.
That night, we encountered another calamity. We ordered some Chinese food that would be delivered by a service known as DoorDash, the largest food delivery service in the US. In order to limit contact between customer and delivery personnel, they simply drop the food at the door of the customer and dash away.
But, what if the delivery personnel make a mistake and leave the food at the wrong door? Our first and perhaps only experience with DoorDash happened exactly like that. For about 15 minutes after their delivery, we didn't know where our food was. Finally, a kind and honest woman, who was behind the door where the food was delivered, brought it to our room.
One day we took a tour of the nearby San Sebastian Winery, where we sampled some of their fine wines. At one point, the attractive young couple in front of us was asked if they were on their honeymoon. His response was, "first date."
We also toured the Lightner Museum, the Whetstone Chocolate factory and the campus of Flagler College. I highly recommend the following restaurants, each of which we visited twice: Harry's, The Floridian, The St. Augustine Fish Camp and Columbia. I loved the ice cream at Kilwin's (two locations) on St. George's Street.
Of course, the main reason we went to St. Augustine was it was near where my son Bret lives with his girlfriend Pam, whom we met for the first time. We spent much quality time with them, plus my daughter Rachel who flew from New York to spend the weekend before Thanksgiving with us all.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, Bret and Pam hosted us for Thanksgiving dinner, Cristina's first, which coincidentally fell on her birthday. It was a Happy Birthday celebration as well. Three days later, we celebrated the first night of Hanukah again with Bret (who cooked the brisket), Pam and her family which is originally from Philadelphia.
On our last night in the USA, Bret, Cristina and I were joined at dinner by my sister-in-law Janet who was visiting family in the Jacksonville area.
Last Sunday, December 5, Bret drove Cristina and me to the Jacksonville International Airport for the start of our trip home. I cannot leave off without mentioning Vernon, a most kind Delta employee who both checked us in to our two flights, but also spent over an hour patiently helping us complete the Anvisa (the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency) online form required of those arriving in Brazil.
