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Friday 21 March - 23 March (Easter Weekend)
Even though Easter seems to be a big deal in the U.S., the chocolate, the coloured eggs and the Easter Bunnies, it is only celebrated on Easter Sunday with schools and the majority of work places not closing on Friday and definitely not on Monday. This is because "Spring Break" is the major school holiday at this time of year and that falls the week after Easter this year.
But, luckily for us, Shelly, Katrina and Ralph were not working Good Friday and we were able to get the kids out of school early to have a "family" trip to St Augustine on the East Coast of Florida. A lovely and quaint town, St Augustine is steeped in history and retains the flavour of a 16th century Spanish colonial walled town. At it's centre is the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest remaining fortification and the first permanent settlement by Europeans in continental United States. You can spend many hours walking through its narrow streets, taking in the history of the oldest house dating from the 1600s and the oldest jail, mixed with the modern-day shops. We had dinner at the Prince of Wales pub - strange to eat traditional English fare and drink Guiness and Theakstons Old Peculiar in the Floridian sun!
Saturday 22 March
A completely different day today, tourists no more but volunteers for the St John's River Water Management District's Watershed Action Programme! Shelly works for Volusia County Environmental Management and one of the initiatives she is currently working on is bringing the attention of the people of Volusia County to the quality of water going down it's storm drains.
So we joined about 25 other volunteers in the Lake Winnemessett and Deland Municipal Airport areas and went off in groups to glue stickers to curbside storm drains with the message "No Dumping, Drains to Waterways". The goal of the project is to dispel the idea that all stormwater gets treated before it enters the water table. So it is important to inform the public not to dump anything into the storm drains. A very interesting morning, we were able to support Shelly in her work and do a small bit for the envirnoment in Volusia County.
Then, in the evening we were able to support Katrina, who also works for Volusia County as the Environmental Learning Centre and Scrub Conservation Programme Manager. Something completely different again and this time we were invited to attend a presentation, given by a lcoal historian, on the importance of river boats in the 1800s in the central Florida region. The venue for the presentation was Debary Hall which we were lucky enough to have a tour of and learn more about the Debary family and it's influence in Floridian history. The Hall was built in 1871 as a winter hunting retreat for Baron Debary and his family. The Baron was originally from Germany but sailed to America to be the agent for Mumm Champagne and subsequent members of the family were involved with the shipping of goods and visitors in the central Florida region. Guests at the Hall included Presidents Grant and Cleveland, the Prince of Wales and General Sherman. We found the presentation to be very interesting, which included little sketches performed by children in costume of the period, as the majority of the places mentioned were already known to us. We were also very pleased to be able to support Katrina in her work to promote the construction of the Environmental Learning Centre in Deland.
Sunday 23 March
Time to celebrate Easter and all round to Nancy and Ted's place, friends of Shelly's, and meet more of her friends. Food, drink, hot Sunday afternoon sun, more food and more drink included! Happy Easter everybody.
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