March 31, 2023 — If St. Augustine has been anything, it has been relaxing. After a busy winter up north, we needed some sweet southern idle time. And so, we’ve slept in till the encroaching sun has turned our rooms into ovens, and layed out to feel the cool ocean breezes battle the warm midday sun on the surface of our winter-pale Michigan skin.
Of course, our Greater Swiss Mountain Dog has been the opposite. When Hawthorn and I took Sonny to the beach for his first dip in the Atlantic, we laughed as he spit out his first sip of the ocean. Then he tried a different wave, and a spot over here and a spot over there. All yucky salt to his disbelief. Florida has been new and fun for him. Time after time, we watch him lift his super smeller of a nose as he identifies a new scent in the air and chases after it.
Through most of our stay here in this historic area, our three-year-old has felt and acted like a guest and been on his best behavior. But as he’s been here longer, his young-buck antics are rising up. Coming up from the beach last night with me, he literally disappeared in the dark through a prison system of fences and gates to chase pythons or alligators, I don’t know what. I searched the beach twice to see if he circled back to harass a nesting seagull we noticed earlier. But no, on his own, he reappeared a half hour later, huffing and puffing and happy as ever.
One way or another, we are all getting what we want on this excellent Florida vacation.
