APRIL 24-MAY 1; WASHINGTON DC

Heading further North to meet our daughter in DC, we overnighted at Flying J for gas/dinner/wifi and a parking spot. Well it was a first for us as we usually use Interstate rest areas. The food was lousy, the internet slow and gas pumps crowded, not my cup of tea. we arrived Friday morning around 11 a.m. at Cherry Hill RV park. Seems they had a 3 day rainy spell and sites where wet to muddy, ours was the latter, it was an adequate park and easy for access to DC as the Greenbelt station is a 2 mile drive down the beltway. The drive in was error free and not bad at all, I guess it helps to hit the beltway after rush hour, say 9:30 or later.

All i can say about DC is that if you have never been there you need to go, this was my 3rd visit and I am still finding new museums, memorials and places to go. Twelve years ago I saw the new Korean War memorial and hated it, this time I saw it at night and it was haunting, completely different effect. The night time tour overall we thought was a bust but we did discover the FDR memorial and it's many faceted "rooms", quite nice. Our daughter Amy came in from NYC on the AMTRACK to see DC with us and we had a great time together, we will also see her in NYC in a few weeks when we get up there.We picked her up at Union Station and had a Capitol tour from John McCain's Senate staff and as we exited the Senate subway and mounted the stairs to the Senate chambers Senator Kerry was descending, only interesting person we saw on the DC trip.The second day we toured the Holocaust museum and it took over 4 hours to see it all, a tremendous amount of information and pictures/displays to process and so disturbing, but something every person should visit. Our daughter had heard of the new Spy museum so the third day we left Mom home and went there and also walked Dupont Circle and Embassy Row, rather interesting architecture for sure, especially the Brewers Castle, his brewery was at the present site of the Kennedy Center.

The spy museum was 3 floors of real cool stuff! The shoe phone, 007's Aston Martin and a lot of hands on stuff (for the kids) and virtually the history of spying which had it's start in the Bible. Think about that for awhile! The Ford theatre was around the corner from the museum but it's closed for restoration. We still have places to see in DC and next visit I will get on line reservations months in advance for 2 places, the Washington monument and the White House, we also need to visit the Library of Congress which was closed on the day we had set aside for it (Sunday) so we visited the Postal museum. Wow, what a treat, it is a neat exhibit, well done and entertaining and you will be surprised by the history I am sure. We spent several hours there, sent special postcards and viewed an exquisite stamp collection with  stamps that started in 1841! there is so much to see/do in DC that I could go on forever. Just go!  

APRIL 22 AND 23; CHARLESTON SC

Driving slowly up highway 17 along the coast we finally arrived early afternoon at James Island County Park. We landed smack dab in the middle of a kayak rally. It was winding down but I saw every type of kayak available! We might explore that sport next year. This park has miles of bicycle paths, a lake, conference center, water play areas and lots more, a rather nice place but a little high at $37 for a government run park. Downtown was about a quick 6 mile drive so that was nice. After we setup the rig we took a drive around the island and found 3 places to go that afternoon.

First was Angel Oak, a rather immense tree that belies the imagination, I am not sure even my pictures do it justice! Next, did you know there is only one tea plantation in America, that's right, and its on James Island. Sue and I took a factory tour and naturally bought some tea, a very pleasant surprise. A short drive away was Folly beach, a summer hangout for young adults and families. At the end of the road we parked and took a half mile walk to the end of the beach where we could take a picture of the now defunct Morris island lighthouse. It is out a ways in the bay due to erosion.

The next day we sauntered into town and took the Grayline tour, which disappointed us as they do not drop you off and pickup at convenient locations, they just narrate at a fast clip for an hour and a half and charge 28 bucks, thank you very much! It did include the ferry to Fort Sumter, the start of the civil war, and that made it worthwhile.

While there the flying Air Force Thunder-birds where practicing and did about 6 fly overs the Fort, awesome! We ate dinner at Bubba Gump's and there hush puppies are great! 

Since Charleston did not seem to have the same charm as Savannah and our schedule had changed as to when our daughter was meeting us in DC we left a day early. We probably should go back and spend a week but frankly we did not feel all that welcome:(

 

APRIL 18-21; SAVANNAH

After another quite drive up the coast we arrived at Fort McAllister State Park outside Savannah, Georgia. What a difference from the Florida area, live oak trees and spanish moss adorned the campground. We had a beautifull view of the salt marshs and the people where very friendly! They actually have a small museum and you can walk the fort grounds which have been restored impeccably. I was surprised to learn that Mr. Ford of model T fame had once owned the surrounding lands and actually stumbled unto the remains of the fort. Mr. Ford granted the land over to the State for preservation of the fort and construction of a park.

We really fell in love with Savannah, the architecture in the downtown area and the numerous town squares where a wonderfull sight. We ate lunch at Huey's on the riverfront and had shrimp PoBoy's, very good! Sue sat on the same bench that Forest Gump said "Life's a box of chocalate" and I got a great picture of the oldest tree in town.

After several days of touring downtown we explored nearby  Tybee Island where there is a lighthouse and Fort Pulaski, which has 23 million bricks! We got treated to a musket load and firing by the resident ranger, excellent!

As we got tired and hungry we went over to "Uncle Bubba's" resurant which is owned by Paula Dean and her son (TV cook). Let me tell you know that the fried chicken was the BEST I ever ate and the chargrilled oysters, shrimp and pecan pie was not bad either:) We left Savannah knowing it was a place we want to explore further and see more of the downtown area.

APRIL 14-17; ST. AUGUSTINE

Well we arrived in good condition after about a 4 hour drive up the coast. We stayed at the Stagecoach RV campground. It was fairly adequate with the only problem being low water pressure. We met a nice couple from Nova Scotia and since we are heading there they offered to have us stay on their property outside Halifax for a few days.(EXCELLENT). St. Augustine is the oldest city in the states having being established around the early 15th century when the Spainards arrived.We had a great couple of days riding the "little red train" around the City and once again we toured a Flagler museum-this time it was his 5 star hotel (hotel Ponce DeLeon) that has since been turned into a college (Flagler College). Fort DeSoto, also the oldest standing fort in the Americas, was another cool tour. We had lunch at the famous "Columbia" resturant, most excellent!

www.trolleytours.com/st.augustine/flagler-college-lightner.asp

www.columbiaresturant.com/st_augustine.com.asp

WEST PALM BEACH; APRIL 10-13

Hey, meet my buddy Harry the hippo! What a trip driving through Lion Country Safari while we stayed at the KOA. Cmpsites where tight but adequate and with the safari thrown in it wasn't a bad deal at all. We traveled across highway 80 around Lake Okeechobee and arrived after about 3 hours from Englewood near the gulf. On Saturday we went into town and checked out the Breakers Hotel and Flagler museum. Old man Flagler had some serious dough he spread around Florida.If you never heard of him he was a partner in Standard Oil and spent vast sums developing the State of Florida as he brought his railroad South. Check out the links in my blog! (you will learn more when you read about St. Augustine)