ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- While tourists adjust their baseball caps and guzzle water, rangers at the Castillo de San Marcos have wool to keep them cool in triple-digit heat.
Park rangers like Jeffrey Edell wear full uniforms, just like the Spanish soldiers who guarded the fort hundreds of years ago.
"Second biggest question I get besides, 'Where's the bathroom?' is, 'Aren't you hot in that?'" Explained Edell, a park ranger for more than eight years. "And of course, I tell them 'Yes,' or 'I'm kind of cute, but I wouldn't go that far.'"
But the outfits actually keep him cooler than the people wearing shorts in the summer, said Edell.
The uniform is made of several layers of linen and wool. The fabric pulls sweat away from the skin, which naturally cools the person inside.
"I'm probably cooler than you are; it's just I'm a little wetter," Edell explained.