Ladynomad on the Road to Nowhere

New Orleans and Mardi Gras

2012-02-18T11:18:00.001-06:00

Leaving Pensacola, we traveled to Gulfport, MS, where we spent the night in the parking lot of Island View Casino. It is so sad to travel along Hwy 90 between Biloxi and Pass Christian. The area still has so many signs of devastation from Hurricane Katrina, and the old homes can never be replaced. But the next morning we were on our way again to Fountainbleu State Park, on the north shore of Lake Ponchatrain. Just across the 24 mile bridge is New Orleans on the south side of the lake. Tom V. had never been to New Orleans before, so we headed down to the French Quarter so he could see it before the craziness of Mardi Gras next week.

Even the market dresses up for Mardi Gras

You can find musicians, mimes, magicians and street acts going on all through the quarter. Notice the man in the air. He jumped over the group of people by tumbling.

Had to take Tom to Cafe Du Monde for beignets (pronouced been-yeh) and coffee.

This is typical of most bars and restaurants in the area. Large doors open to the public with tables outside as well as inside.

But what set this place apart from others was this help wanted sign.

We walked up to Pat O'Briens for dinner. This is their famous flaming fountain inside the courtyard.

As the sun sets it gets more crowded on Bourbon Street.

This is me with another parade watcher showing off the hats we caught. They throw more than just beads I found out. This is my first Mardi Gras and it has a rich tradition going back to the 1700s. Originally started in Mobile, it gained its notoriety in the 1880s here in New Orleans. But I did not know the parades do not go through the French Quarter. The parades start on Feb. 4, and go until Fat Tuesday, which is the day before lent starts. Towns all throughout Louisiana and along the gulf coast celebrate Mardi Gras. As it gets closer to Fat Tuesday, there are more and more parades, sometimes 3 in one evening. We only stayed for the first of 3 parades this night.

Each parade has a theme and is put on by a Krewe. The floats all represent the theme in some fashion.

Friday evening in Mandeville, on the north shore of the lake, the Krewe of Orpheous was putting on the parade.

The floats are all beautiful, heavily decorated and they throw everything from beads, to stuffed animals, to cups, frisbees, and even hats.

After the parade we came back to the campground and had a fire.
Saturday is forecast for rain all day and as I sit here posting this blog, it is raining outside and the campground has large puddles of water standing everywhere. But the rain is supposed to stop tonight and clear out, so more parades tomorrow.

Pensacola, FL

2012-02-11T09:20:00.002-06:00

Parked at the Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area on Perdido Bay. We tried to get into the campground at Gulf Island National Seashore, but they were full. After getting here though, I think we have a better campground anyway. The gulf is just a block away and if it wasn't so cold, I'd put the kayak in the water.

Downtown Pensacola had the Peacemaker docked and you could tour the boat for free. But as Max said, it wasn't free since we bought some pastries they had for sale and he gave a donation. The Peacemaker was originally built in 1989 in Brazil by an Italian shipbuilder. It was taken to Savannah, GA, to be finished, but sat for 8 years untouched. The Twelve Tribes bought the ship and finished it in 2008.

The ship, both inside and out, was beautiful. All wood and stain glass, it was luxury like I have never seen on a masted ship. The Twelve Tribes is a religious organization which believes in separation from the things of the world. When you join you give all you have to the tribe. All money you make from then on goes to the tribe. You live, eat, and do everything together as a tribe. For more info, google the Twelve Tribes.

This area is known for its white sand beaches. Some of the whitest, finest sand I've ever seen.

Fort Pickens is at the end of the barrier island. It was one of 3 forts built to protect Pensacola Harbor.

It is probably most famous as the home of Geronimo when he was sent out here after his capture. Although he only lived here 2 years before being returned to Ft. Sill, OK, Florida capitalized on his presence while he was here.

Pensacola Naval Air Station is home of the Blue Angels, the Navy's premier air show troup, and also has the Naval Aviation Museum. This is my second time here and neither time were the Blue Angels here. When they are in town they practice on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and you can go watch them for free. But the museum is worth going to anyway.

This Stearman is the aircraft Cadet George Bush flew while in training for WWII at the Naval Air Station in Minneapolis, MN.

This funny looking plane is actually the first plane to cross the Atlantic. We usually think of Charles Lindberg when we think of the first Atlantic flight, but he was the first non-stop Atlantic flight. This aircraft crossed the Atlantic some 13 years earlier, in 1919, make 2 stops.

St. George Island and Mexico Beach

2012-02-09T10:22:00.001-06:00

We headed out to visit Port St. Joe and Cape San Blas lighthouse. If we had stayed they were having a moonclimb to the top of the lighthouse later in the evening.

On our way we spotted a pair of eagles. They were sitting in separate trees, but I got a good shot of this one.

Their idea of snowbird appreciation day was to register for $9 and you get a baked chicken dinner under a tent in the parking lot with a cash bar. We declined, deciding we would rather pay out $9 for a dinner of our choice in a location of our choice.

St. George Lighthouse. If you registered you got a discount on the cost of climbing to the top of the lighthouse.

We decided to check out another sunset from Mexico Beach at a place called Toucan's.

Great sunset over the gulf. Tomorrow we head down the road to Pensacola.

Super Bowl Party at the Moose Lodge

2012-02-07T11:38:00.001-06:00

The Moose Lodge in Panama City. We had stayed here back in 2009 and were looking forward to seeing the friends we made back then. In addition to staying here we met up with members from this lodge at Talladega, AL, for the nascar race. You can check in my archives about that visit.

They really go all out for Super Bowl. Behind the 2 large screen tv's is the VIP Tent. For $50 you have private seating.

In addition, you got free food and drinks and special service too. Only 15 tickets were sold for the VIP tent.

There were silent auctions going on as well. I bid on and won a 19 inch digital TV for a bargain.

Sparky is the governor of the lodge and our friend.

They had both a kids and adult karaoke contest.

And guess who the judges where? Yeah, you got it. We didn't really know most of the contestents, so they thought we would be more objective. There was a 15 year old girl who won the kids contest who could really belt it out.

And yes, we did see some of the game. It was just after half time when the final karaoke contest was over, so we saw the best part of the game anyhow. Tom and I both won door prizes as well. Tom's door prize was a gift certificate to Sharky's restaurant (yes, where we watched the sunset). And I have a gift certificate to Sonny's BBQ.

Panama City Beach

2012-02-07T10:58:00.002-06:00

Since we love Jimmy Buffet, we always drop by his place any chance we get.

It's pretty quiet and deserted now, but in several weeks when spring break starts, look out.....

Now this is some chair!

We even entertained by the waitress and the hula hoop.

The sunset was our goal, but it was cloudy and sunset was sort of funky. But I still love being on the beach at sunset.

We had a nice dinner at Sharky's while watching the sunset on the beach.

Mardi Gras in Panama City, FL

2012-02-04T18:15:00.001-06:00

We got to Panama City and found there was a Mardi Gras Parade .

Choices, choices. What to choose for Mardi Gras. Na, I don't think so.,

Not this one either.

Yeah, this one might be it.

These little girls are all ready for Mardi Gras.

Everyone has their own idea for a costume. I thought this was pretty good, but I do wonder how they see.

Max's hair really got long while we were in Florida.

Max's Mardi Gras hat.

The Parrot Head Club Float.

I agree with that!

This band had its own tram. No marching for them.

What fun on our first day in Panama City. I can't wait to see what we will do next.

More Kayaking and Exploring the Homosassa SpringsWhere

2012-02-02T21:13:00.000-06:00

The grounds of the Moose Lodge are covered with these large pinecones. They are the largest I have ever seen.

One of the highlights of kayaking the Homosassa River is Monkey Island.

The monkeys (originally 3 spider monkeys and 2 squirrel monkeys) came from what is now the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. They were brought back from Africa by Dr. Hamlet, but they were causing trouble at the park by escaping, stealing things from tourists and even biting. One of the developers of the park also built the island from a pile of rocks in the river which boaters were forever hitting. They moved the monkeys to the island and they have lived there happily for many years. They island and the monkeys are privately owned by Riverside Resort and they are fed twice daily and their habitat is changed often so the monkeys don't get bored.

Everyone got a kick out of Charlotte's dog kayaking with her. I don't think Fancy would stay still that long.

Just north of Crystal River is the Crystal River Archaeological Mounds. The mounds date back before Christ. Some scientists even believe the mounds could be as much as 10,000 years old. They were abandoned before 1200 A.D. The museum has lots of pottery shards and flints, some that date back to 300 B.C.

Homosassa Springs and area

2012-01-30T18:38:00.001-06:00

Florida has some soft, soft sand and I found it. Thank goodness for Coach-Net Road Service.

The Yulee Sugar Mill ruins, now a state park, is located in Homosassa Springs. At one time sugar cane was a common crop in the area and each plantation had its own sugar processing mill. The mill opened in 1849 and provided sugar, syrup and molasses to the confederate soldiers.

Part of the process was cooking the juice, squeezed from the sugar cane, through a five step or kettle process. The juice would cook in these kettles, being hand ladeled from the largest to the smallest, each kettle getting progressively hotter. By the time it reached the final kettle it was a syrup. After being cooked, it was cooled in large wooden vats. As it cooled it would crystallize. Sugar back then was not white, but brown.

North of Homosassa Springs was Crystal River and Three Sisters Springs. Because the water all around this area is warmer than the gulf, even if only a few degrees, the manatees gather during the winter months. Some of the more inhabited areas are roped off to people and boats. Manatees are protected and you are not allowed to chase them, harrass them, touch them, feed them or bother them in any way. If you are snorkeling you are not allowed to dive down to look at them. If you are kayaking, don't float over top of them either. You are subject to fines of up to $1000 for bothering the manatees. But there are still people out there snorkeling and we paddled close, just tried to give them some distance. There are supposed to be around 500+ in the Kings Bay area of the Crystal River alone.
Manatees, commonly known as 'sea cows', are large, slow moving mammals which live in water. But they are air breathers and come up every few minutes for air. They are either used to people and ignore them, or they are unaware of us, I'm not sure which, but these didn't even seem curious about all the people and boats.

Visiting Oklahoma and the grandkids

2012-01-29T19:18:00.001-06:00

I spent three weeks in Oklahoma, visiting kids and grandkids. The hands on science museum was visited not once, but three times. And I always love going to the zoo. All too soon it was over and I flew back to Florida. Here are a few of my favorites memories.

Only 3, but that girl knows what she wants.

Loves to climb and play outdoors.

The science museum has a simulator.

and you can see what is happening inside from a video screen.

They are experiencing the simulation of returning to earth.

That is one big table.

This fighter jet cockpit was most popular.

They love me. They even made me these wonderful pipe cleaner glasses.

He could have spent the entire day building dams and redirecting the water.

At home the computer keeps his attention.

What is it about boxes that captivate kids?

He's practicing to be the next big rock star.

Key West and the End of 2011

2012-01-20T22:16:00.000-06:00

One advantage to being retired military or retired DOD is being able to stay at the many military bases around the country. My favorite is Trumbo Point at Key West. Boondocking just a mile from downtown Key West, it's easy to walk down to Mallory Square every evening to watch the sun set, or it's only a short bike ride over to the beach.

One more item to check off on my bucket list.

You are about 600 feet behind the boat and about 300 feet high.

All too soon it's over and they reel us in.

This osprey was raising her 2 chicks in the campground. You sure knew when they were hungry.

The next few pictures are some of the highlights of Key West.

The name says it all. No tables, no chairs, just a walk up bar.

I haven't been on all of it, but I imagine I traveled 80% of it this past summer and fall.

This is where it begins.

And of course there were the beaches.

I took the picture from the back side rather than stand in line for 30-45 minutes.

You can't miss Mallory Square

Sometimes as many as 5 or 6 street performers are going at once. You can wander from performer to performer.

Even his dog gets into the act before it's over.

Live music every afternoon and evening.

We spent one afternoon just listening to the music.

The only country bar in town.

This was our first stop on New Years Eve.

Not many people dancing but everyone wanted to ride the bull.

We decided to wander to see what else was happening and found CNN was covering the 'dropping of the shoe'. The streets were packed.

Yes, that really is someone in the shoe and it will drop to the ground on the last 10 seconds of the year.

But at the other end of Duval and down on the waterfront was the dropping of the wench on a pirate ship.

She made it down safely and we rang in the new year.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2012.

Marathon, FL, for ChristmasI

2012-01-17T09:48:00.001-06:00

I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins, so I visited the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon. Although I really didn't swim with the dolphins, I did get to shake flippers with one. This guy had been with the center for only 9 months and he is about 2 years old, still a youngster. He was found in the oil spill off Louisiana. In fact, BP not only paid for his vet care but pays part of his upkeep now because of their responsibility of the oil spill.
This facility has been here since the 1960s. How many remember the TV series "Flipper"? Well, the show was filmed at this location and most of the 22 dolphins are descendants of the original 5.

Joel, Tom C and Max went charter fishing one day.

Each caught at least one fish.

Tom made all the arrangements and I think everyone had a good time and the boys provided our Christmas dinner the next day.

This is the one that got away. Max fought this fish for over 45 minutes before it got loose. The captain estimated the fish could have been as large as 200 lbs.

About 2 miles along the Seven Mile Bridge is a small key called Pigeon Key. It was the home for many of the workers who built the Flagler railroad from Miami to Key West back in the early 1900s. It is now a state park and National Historic site. You can take a ferry to the key or walk out the 2 miles on the old bridge. But the entrance from the old bridge had been shut down by DOT the week before so we didn't get to visit the island itself. It was a nice 4 mile walk though.

Part of the new Seven Mile Bridge. The old bridge sits along side and most is not accessible at all is rotting away. The original bridge was completed as a railway bridge in 1912 and revamped for autos in 1935. It was replaced by the newer bridge in 1982.

At No Name Key is the No Name Pub. At one time (before Facebook and the internet), if you didn't know where it was, you probably didn't go there. But times have changed and they are now of Facebook and Twitter and every GPS has the coordinates.

They still have good food and the inside walls and ceilings are covered with money. Darn, they wouldn't even let me use some of the money from the wall to pay the tip!

On Deer Key and Big Pine Key they have Key Deer. They are the smallest deer in the world and are only found here in this location. Since there is nothing to gauge the size by, you will just have to take my word, they are only about the size of a Labrador dog.

Christmas Day we didn't have the traditional ham or turkey. No, we had us a fish fry. I must say, Tom C fried up some of the best fish I've ever eaten.

While Tom cooked, the rest of us sat around and ate and visited.

Spent the day after Christmas at Bahia Honda State Park. Finally got my new kayak in the water too. I even paddled in both the Atlantic and Gulf in one day. On one side of the highway is the Atlantic and the other is the Gulf, so all I had to do was paddle under the bridge and I was able to paddle both.

Bahia Honda is known for its great beaches. In fact, I think the travel channel lists this as one of the top ten beaches in the U.S.

On Christmas Day we visited Sombrero Beach and guess what? The Grinch was there.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Onward to the Florida Keys

2012-01-16T11:04:00.000-06:00

I recently updated my blogger interface and am now using Google Chrome to post my blogs. It is different and I'm still figuring out how to use it. Some things are easier, but others seem more difficult. One thing I am trying this time is not reducing my pictures before posting. Please give me feedback as to whether you think it is taking the web page longer to load. Thanks.

It was over 400 miles to Marathon, our next stop (in a real RV park too). So we stopped in Port St. Lucie, Pompano Beach and Miami, before arriving at Marathon. They were all short stops and I didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing, but here is a little of what I did see and do along the way.

Outside of the Citrus Museum was this cute painted turtle.

The Citrus Museum was very small, but packed a wallop of information. Did you know to label oranges or grapefruit as 'Indian River' fruit, the fruit has to be grown within a small area surrounding the Indian River?

I visited the Navy Seals Museum too. There was some history about the frogmen and UDTs (underwater demolition teams) from WWII, who were the forerunners of the Navy Seals.

We got to Pompano Beach Moose Lodge in time for their Christmas party. We sat at a table with some people from NJ. In fact, very few people there were from Florida, most were snowbirds or transplants.

We even had a live band, sort of. But they did play some dance music. Every other song was a Christmas song.

And we were thoroughly entertained by one of the members.

The Fort Lauderdale Beach was what I expected. Lots of people enjoying the winter sun.

And I was even brave enough to get in the water.

Max put on his panama hat to fit in with the locals.

We came across a flock of these parrots on our morning walk. There must have been 50-60 of them. I did some research and found they are not native, but have either escaped from captivity or were let loose and like some other exotics, found they bred very well in the subtropical climate of Florida. In otherwords, they are flourishing and becoming more and more common.

Miami Beach.

Santa was catching a snooze at Miami Beach.

Titusville and area

2012-01-15T12:40:00.000-06:00

I have a lot at The Great Outdoors RV Park and hadn't been there in several years. So I stayed there for about 2 weeks and played tourist to the area. Much of what I visited I had seen before except for the Astronaut Hall of Fame and the NASA Space Center.

Downtown Disney in Orlando is always fun to visit and they had added some new things since I was last there, including this new restaurant.

It was like eating among the dinosaurs.

I don't think I would have wanted to have a table underneath this guy. He might have wanted my lunch.

I always loved the displays outside the Lego Store.

The VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) at Kennedy Space Center is the 4th largest in the world. It was the largest when it was built in 1965. It is 526 feet tall and was built to assemble the Saturn V rocket vertically. It's main use was to assemble the manned launch vehicles.

One of the launch pads at Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center. Since the shuttle program has been discontinued, the launch pads are being remodeled for the capability of launching several type rockets using mobile launch pads.

There are wild pigs roaming around the space center grounds.

They had a kennel at the Kennedy Space Visitor Center, so Fancy got to come along for the day. (We had other activities planned and did not want to leave her at home all day and evening)

Don't you like my 3-d glasses?

One of the displays at the visitor center was on robots. It was my favorite.

We got to the Astronaut Hall of Fame and found we were already featured there as being some of the latest people accepted into the astronaut program. (ha, ha)

We did try out the G-Force Trainer. The trainer simulates the pressure of 4 times the force of gravity and a simulated shuttle landing. I love roller coasters, have skydived and been on many other simulators, and never gotten motion sickness. This was as close as I have ever come to getting motion sickness. I was really dizzy after it stopped and had to sit there before I could get out. WOW.

The water in December, along the Florida Atlantic coast, is still pretty cold. I was smart enough not to get in.

All around the Cape Canaveral National Seashore and Wildlife Refuge you may see these creatures digging in the dirt looking for bugs. They totally ignore you, don't run from you or anything.

Downtown St. Augustine, FL

2012-01-09T10:20:00.010-06:00

St. Augustine is a combination of modern, old (around 100 years old) and very old (over 200 years). Here are some pictures from all three era's.

The Old Jail house was built in 1891 and used until 1953. Henry Flagler, founder of Standard Oil (along with Rockefeller), and founder of Florida East Coast railroad, donated most of the money to build this jail. It is the oldest surviving government building in St. John's county.

I think Max liked this idea.

But I liked this better.

Downtown has several streets blocked off to traffic. Most of them aren't wide enough for a single lane of traffic anyway. Some of the older buildings date back to the 1700s. It is now populated with shops and restaurants.

This is Aviles Street. In Spanish times this was the 'street of the royal hospital'. Notice the cobblestone street and the archway. They actually allow traffic down this street, even though it is barely a single lane wide.

They claim this is the oldest wood schoolhouse in the U.S. But I could never find a date, so don't really know how old it is.

There is a town square and on one corner was this sign. This is probably one of the oldest public markets in America, espcially since it predated Jamestown by 6 years.

Now Flagler College, this was built as the Ponce De Leon Hotel by Henry Flagler. He had brought his wife down here to St. Augustine and found there were not accomodations of which he considered appropriate for a man of his means. So in 1888 Henry Flagler decided to build such an establishment. This was the first of many such enterprises he undertook. Many consider him to be the man who developed Florida by building the railroads and developing hotels along the route.

This is the inside today. The main lobby of the hotel in the entry point for the administration offices for the college.

This is what the hotel was like in the 1890s. It hasn't really changed much.

Across the street is the Lightner Museum and City Hall. It opened originally on Christmas Day, 1888, as the Alcazar Hotel, another of Henry Flagler's hotels. It was a center of social life until it closed in 1931. It was then bought by Otto Lightner to house his collection of antiques and collectibles. He left then entire collection and the building to the citizens of St. Augustine upon his death in 1950.

Downstairs in the basement is a room which can be rented for catered events. It was being set up for a wedding reception when we wandered through. There is also a restaurant downstairs.

But it wasn't always a hall used for entertainment. It was built as a swimming pool and at one time was the largest indoor pool of its time.

Next door is the Zorayda Castle, built in 1883 by Boston millionaire Franklin Smith. It is built on a 1/10 scale to the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. It was sold in 1913 and in 1922 became a nightclub and gambling casino, but was closed in 1925 when Florida outlawed gambling. It opened in the 1930s as a tourist attraction.

On the more modern side, we got to see the Christmas Parade.

Since pirates have such a history all up and down the east coast, they were represented too.

My favorite time in St. Augustine though, was the tour of the Whetstone Chocolate Factory. Here are some examples of what the cocoa pod looks like before the beans are removed and dried. Then there is the bowl of dried cocoa beans and the sack as they are shipped from South America to the U.S. The harvesting and growing of the cocoa plant is still very much labor intensive with not much mechanical means used.

I always wondered how they covered those cherries.

They still hand mold their chocolate creations. And did you know that white chocolate is not chocolate at all, but simply the fat content which is separated from the chocolate in the processing.

This vat keeps the chocolate at a precise temperature until it is ready for the making of whatever product they are making for the day. Also another interesting fact I learned was about dark chocolate, which is my favorite. Milk chocolate has less than 35% chocolate. So anything with more than 35% can be claimed as dark chocolate. But to be really healthy it needs to be at least 60% or more. So if it doesn't have the percentage of chocolate listed, it is probably only 35-40% dark chocolate.

Your more common chocolate manufacturers, such as Mars and M&Ms, contract small places like Whetstone to supplement their products. This case has just a few of the candy products made for Mars, M&Ms and Mauna Lau chocolate companies. And yes, we got lots of chocolate samples. Yum.......

North of town on Hwy A1A we spotted this strange castle structure. Stopping to investigate we found it is someone's home. There is a sign which says "Castle Otttis is an original landscape sculpture in remembrance of Jesus Christ".

Just down the road from where we stayed was the St. Augustine Lighthouse.

This house was the lighthouse keepers residence and they were both built in 1874. It is now a museum.

As part of the reenactment they held a parade at night.

I think this says it all.

St. Augustine-America's First City

2012-01-08T21:01:00.004-06:00

Although native Americans have lived in Florida for hundreds of years, a Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1513.

He was looking for the legendary 'fountain of youth'.

It is said he arrived not far from this location and here is where he claimed America for the Spanish King. It is said he arrived during the Spanish Easter feast, Pascua Florida, and named the land he discovered 'La Pascua de la Florida' or Passion of the Flowers' or 'Passion of Christ'.

Although Ponce de Leon attempted a settlement in 1521, the natives drove them away. The French founded Fort Caroline in 1564 as a haven for the Huguenots, but it did not last. It was the settlement in 1565, San Agustin, which is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the U.S.

The gates to St. Augustine (settled as San Augustin). The walls extended out to the oldest masonry fort in the U.S.,

Castille de San Marcos. Built by the Spanish in 1672, the fort was renamed Fort St. Mark during the 20 year British occupation from 1763-1784. When Florida became an official U.S. territory in 1821 it was renamed to Fort Marion. In 1942 the original name was restored by Congress.

The fort was built of 'coquina' or small shells. Coquina is ancient shells which have bonded to form a type of stone similar to limestone. It can be quarried like any other hard stone. There are several quarries you can visit nearby.

We were lucky enough to be at Castille de San Marcos during a reenactment. The fort was staffed by British reenactors and they staged demonstrations throughout the day, including the firing of the old cannons.

Cannons were fired form on top of the fort walls as well as down below, just outside the entrance to the fort.

North of St. Augustine about 40 miles is a monument representing the stone marker placed at the mouth of the St. John River by French navigator Jean Ribault. Jean Ribault placed the marker claiming Florida for the country of France. The French and the Spanish then battled to see who would settle Florida and it was the Spanish who won after Jean Ribault was killed at the Mantanzas massacre.

Across the St. John's River on Fort George Island is the Kingsley Plantation. Originally established under British rule, this 1000 acre plantation had several owners, but Zephaniah Kingsley and his family held it the longest, over 25 years. Zephaniah Kingsley was once a slave trader, but eventually bought this plantation, along with several others in the area. His was a polygamus and multiracial family, as he married, and eventually freed, one of his slaves, Anna. They had 3 children. He was said to also have relationships with three other African women who were considered co-wives.

I was fascinated by this man's history. Historians say although he was a slave trader and slave holder, he was dedicated to his multiracial family and encouraged his slaves to buy their freedom. When Florida Territorial Council passed a law forbidding interracial marriages and the inheritance of property or holding of property by free blacks or multiracial persons, Kingsley sent his wives, children and a few slaves to Haiti. He started a new plantation in Haiti and sold the Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island to a cousin. There is more, but I guess you will just have to visit the place yourself to find out the rest.

The Ribault Club opened in 1928 as a supper and dance club, designed to be an exclusive playground for the wealthy and socially prominent men of America. Even though prominent men such as Nelson Rockefeller and Winston Churchill were known to come here, the club was hit hard with the stock market crash of 1929. From the 1930s-1989 the club changed hands several times. In 1989 the state of Florida bought the property and it is now a state park.

South of St. Augustine is Fort Mantanzas. It is located on an island and the only way to get there is by boat, but the National Park boat wasn't working. So from across the river we took pictures. Fort Mantanzas was built in 1740 as a rearguard to St. Augustine. It was from this area which George Oglethorpe blocked the inlet and laid seige to St. Augustine for 39 days. He eventually gave up and left.

Further south of Hwy A1A you come to Flagler Beach.

Jekyll Island, GA

2012-01-05T15:01:00.004-06:00

Jekyll Island is known as the one time playground for the rich and famous. Today, it has the usual tourists looking for good beaches and a great vacation place.

We found some locals doing some 'shrimping'.

An individual can use their own nets and take 40 lbs a day in shrimp.

They walk with the net between them, dragging it along the bottom. I really wasn't interesting in shrimping myself, I just wanted the shrimp that was in their cooler.

Until 1954, when the causeway was completed, the island was only accessible by boat. Today, the dock still remains for private boat, but also has a restaurant and snack bar.

The Jekyll Island Clubhouse and Hotel operated from 1888-1942 as a private club with a maximum of 100 members. Initially 53 members bought into the club for $600 each. It truly was a getaway for the rich and famous of the times. Some of the more esteemed members built their own homes on the island.

The Crane Cottage was the largest and most extravagent home on the island when it was built.

Faith Chapel, built in 1904, has stained glass from Tiffany.

The Chicota Cottage, owned by Edwin Gould. The members of the club would bring their families to the island for hunting and recreation. Mr. Gould built another building, called the 'casino', which housed a bowling alley, an indoor tennis court and indoor shooting range among other items.

But prior to the island becoming a getaway for the rich and famous, it was settled by William Horton as a military post in the 1730s when Oglethorpe was settling Georgia. This home was built from Tabby, the building material made from limestone and shells.
St. Simon's Island is another barrier island off the coast of Georgia.

At one time the town of Frederika and Fort Frederika existed on the island. The town was surrounded by a moat and a palisaided wall. Not much is left today except for the outline of where the buildings and roads existed.

Some parts of the fort are still standing.

The St. Simon Island Lighthouse.

Downtown Savannah

2012-01-05T10:40:00.005-06:00

Savannah and the colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe on a charter from the King of England. Savannah is known as the "hostess city of the South" and is considered the first planned city of the U.S.

This handwrought weathervane came from the 12th century Church of Cranham, Essex, England, where James Oglethorpe is buried.

There are still many cobblestone streets throughout the downtown area, dating back to the cities beginnings. The cobblestones were used as ballast on arriving ships. Upon arrival the stones would be removed and the holds filled with cargo from the New World, to be taken back to England. The stones were then used to build roads and walls.

The Port of Savannah was once known for it crop of King Cotton. This is the Savannah Cotton Exchange, located on the waterfront. Completed in 1887 when Savannah was ranked first in the shipment of cotton, the port shipped over 2 billion bales of cotton a year. Eli Whitney, who came to Savannah as a school teacher, and his invention of the cotton gin made cotton the most valuable crop for America back in the late 1800s.

Christ Church, the Mother Church of England, was the first established church in Savannah in 1733. A notable rector was Rev. John Wesley, 1736-1737.

Although the original charter for the city and the first 114 founders were all tradesmen and their families, strong in the faith of the Church of England, it was discovered the city needed more skills and people. Although this was officially against the charter, Jews, and German Lutherans as well as other people were encouraged to bring their skills to this city. As such, Savannah is the home to many early churches.

The Lutheran Church of the Ascension was founded in 1741 by the Germans from Salzberg.

Savannah has been the location for many movies, including Forest Gump. This is the location of the park bench where Forest was sitting with his box of chocolates. The bench has been moved to a museum.

The museum was closing so we didn't get to go in, but found we could see the bench and Forest's suitcase from the hallway.

First Baptist Church of Savannah is the oldest original church building still standing, dating from 1833. The other churches, although established in the mid 1700s, have been rebuilt or remodeled over the years.

Trinity Methodist Church, Mother Church of Methodism, is the oldest Methodist church in Savannah. The cornerstone of the building was laid in 1848 and completed in 1850.

Savannah boasts the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade and celebration in the U.S., only New York City being larger. The first celebration was held in 1813 by the Hiberian Society, a group so Irish Protestants.

Juliette Gordon Low was born in Savannah, but is best known for her founding of the Girl Scouts. This building was the first headquarters for the organization.

The Candler Oak is estimated to be 270 years old and 50 feet high.

Real estate in Savannah has bottomed out just as in other areas around the country. This 10,000 sq ft house has been marked down from $3.5M to $1.5M. Doesn't it make you want to run out and buy several!

I think they are having a hard time selling this place.

The Pirate's House, today a popular restaurant, was once a well known hangout for sailors and as rumor has it, pirates. It is also associated with Robert Louis Stevenson and his famous book, "Treasure Island". Built in 1754, many people believe the building is haunted.

I enjoyed the story about why many of the homes have staircases going up each side. Our guide reminded us that back when these homes were built, women were not allowed to show their ankles. Since the first floor of most homes were built up to avoid possible flooding, they had high stairs. Women were to go up one side and the men the other, thus avoiding the possiblity the men would accidently (or on purpose) look at the women's ankles when they hiked their skirts going up the steps. Wouldn't those people be scandalized by our dress today?

Even though it was Thanksgiving, the Christmas decorations were already up all over town.

We did go downtown on Saturday night for the boat light parade. Decorated and lite up boats of all sizes and shapes paraded up and down the harbor.

Some were quite elaborate, while others were pretty simple.

Savannah, GA

2012-01-03T08:34:00.008-06:00

We made it to Savannah in time for Thanksgiving. Parked out behind Keller's Flea Market, we had a covered pavillion for our Thanksgiving feast. I cooked the turkey and stuffing and everyone else provided the rest of the meal.

Our banquet table.

Enjoying the meal.

While in the area we visited several forts. But on the way we stopped to have lunch.

Someone recommended The Crab Shack.

It also has an alligator lagoon. These are real.

Oh No, I think one got loose. (Just kidding, it's stuffed)

We weren't in our bare feet, but they served us anyway.

They said there are approximately 11 cats which they feed everyday.

The Tybee Island Lighthouse. Although this lighthouse is the 3rd edition, built in 1773, the original Tybee Lighthouse, built in 1736, was one of the first public structures in Georgia. It is still operational today.

Across the street from the lighthouse is Fort Screven, built in 1898. It saw continuous use through the Spanish-American War and both World Wars. It was primarily a coastal artillery fort, it was also used a school for deep sea diving.

Tybee Island is best known for its beaches.

Fort Pulaski is located on Cockspur Island, across from Tybee Island.

It is most known for the place the Union Army first tested the rifled cannon in 1862. The rifled cannon could shoot with more force and rendered the exisiting brick forts obsolete. Here are some of the shell marks still left in the remaining walls. But much of the wall was breached completely and has since been rebuilt. The fort was built in 1833 by a young lieutenent not long out of West Point, Lieutenent Robert E. Lee.

Fort James Jackson, restored as it looked when built in 1808, served until 1905.

All three of these forts were built to provide security for Savannah's harbor.

Another interesting place nearby was the Wormsloe Plantation.

These pillars were built at the gate of the plantation.

You then travel down a tree lined road for almost a mile before coming to the plantation itself. The original plantation buildings were built in 1736 out of Tabby, by one of Georgia's colonial founders, Noble Jones. Tabby, a mixture of limestone and shells, was a common building material in the 18th century on the east coast.

This is all that is left of the original buildings. It was a fortress home, 1.5 stories with 5 rooms, walled with bastions on the corner. In 1828, Noble's grandson, U.S. Senator George Jones, built a new, more elaborate home on the property. The original fortress home was left to decay.

Another type of home built during this time was called, wattle and daub, was also used.

It consisted of a woven lattice of wooden strips which are then daubed with mud or mud and limestone. This form of construction has been used for over 6000 years and again is becoming popular as a low impact, sustainable building technique.

Across the river from Savannah, actually located in South Carolina, is the Savannah Wildlife Refuge. In what used to be rice patties from a long ago plantation, is now a popular spot with birds and alligators.

This cistern is about all that is left of the servants quarters who farmed the rice patties.

My next blog will be on downtown Savannah.

Charleston, SC and its forts

2011-11-28T18:33:00.008-06:00

There are actually a number of forts in the area and we visited most of them. Some are just a few ruins and some are reconstructed and a few were used until after WWII and are in pretty good shape. So here are a few highlights.

This Anglican Church was erected in 1717 in old historic Dorchester and burnt during the revolutionary war.

These are the ruins of Fort Dorchester, built in 1757, taken by the British in 1780 and taken back by the Patriots in Dec. 1781. The town of Dorchester was originally laid out in 1697 as a market town for a congregationalist community. The town declined following the revolution and was eventually abandoned.

South of town is Folly Beach, which was so fogged in, we couldn't hardly see the water from the fishing pier and the county park was closed due to damage from the recent hurricane. But the city park was open, so we stopped there to eat our picnic lunch (a Subway sandwich). We found these delightful frogs to have lunch with.

I think this one was secretly coveting my sub sandwich.

Here is the fogged in beach.

But just out of town was the location of Fort Lamar. There is nothing left now but a few signs and some trails describing the fort and the part it played in the Civil War. It was established to protect one of the riverways into Charleston. The confederates succesfully stopped a union advance into Charleston in 1862.

Fort Johnson was located nearby on the coast, at the front of Charleston harbor. It was one of several forts with the purpose of protecting Charleston's harbor. But Fort Johnson was the site where the first shot was fired in April 1861 by the confederates, against Fort Sumter, held by the union. It was the shot which started the Civil War.

Standing on the harbor shore at Fort Johnson looking across to Fort Sumter.

Ft. Moultrie is located on Sullivan Island on the north side of Charleston Harbor. Ft. Moultrie was a major sea coast defense from 1776-1947. Yes, it actually played a part in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican American War, the Spanish American War, the Civil War, WWI and WWII. It was modified and rebuilt several times, but the major walls and much of the fort is over 200 years old.

Across the street was this church, which was built in the 1800s. Sullivan Island was important in the era of slavery. This is where thousands of african slaves were brought to America and here on the island they went through a 3 week quarantine before being taken to the slave auctions in Charleston.

I love the south, you have palm trees and live oaks. Palm trees mean warm weather, yeah....

This was part of WWII harbor observation post. Underneath was the underground headquarters of the Navy's Harbor Entrance Control Post and the Army's Harbor Defense Command Post. With technological advances it was determined the base was obsolete and was closed following WWII.

The Yorktown Aircraft Carrier is on display in Charleston Harbor.

Built in 1810, Pinkney Castle is located in the harbor. It has been a holding place for slaves coming into Charleston for auction, and it was a prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. It is only accessible by boat, but is open to the public for picnicing only, the ruins are not open.

Fort Sumter is only available by boat. The tour of the fort by the National Park service includes an 1 1/2 hour narrated harbor tour. This is where the Civil War started. The union held this fort and the confederates wanted it back. The union wouldn't surrender. The confederates seiged the fort and wouldn't allow provisions to be provided. In April 1862 the confederates finally fired on the fort and the next day the union soldiers surrendered. It was held throughout the rest of the war by the confederate army, even surviving a 22 month long seige by union forces, the longest seige in all history.

This battery, Battery Huger, inside Fort Sumter, was built in the late 1898 for the Spanish American War. It never saw use.

A gun like, this 10 in morter, fired the first shot from Fort Johnson onto Fort Sumter in April 1861, starting the Civil War.

Some guns fired a much larger projectile. Max could even get his head in this one.

Some of the walls in Fort Sumter still have the projectiles which were fired into the fort by the union army during its 22 month seige.

Looking at downtown Charleston from the harbor.

The U.S. Customs House from the harbor. It is still in use today.

Charleston, SC

2011-11-27T18:44:00.006-06:00

Charleston was one of the prettiest southern towns I've seen. It truly shows the elegance of a time gone by with its old, southern style homes. And then there is the Port of Savannah, which even today, is still the 4th busiest port in the U.S. but early in its history, it was a critical factor in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. It will take me several blogs to share all that I explored in Charleston.

But I will start with the Oyster Roast at the Elks Lodge.

We arrived just in time to attend the annual oyster roast. Here are the bags of fresh oysters, ready to be steamed for the roast.

Here they are getting ready to put the steaming baskets in the steamer.

And here we are helping ourselves to our first basket of steamed oysters. They have this down pat. Notice the holes in the tables? There is a trash can underneath for your oyster shells (oyster shells are always recycled). You get your bucket, find an empty spot along the table and start shucking those oysters.

I had only had fried oysters before this, and I think I like these.

Max even had his share. Between the three of us, Max, Tom and myself, we finished off 3 buckets of oysters. Sounds like a lot, but I watched many there finish off 3 buckets all by themselves. They also had fish stew and hotdogs (which I was told you had to eat with chili). We had lots of fun and felt like we really got to participate in a 'local' activity.

The Angel Tree is located just south of town. It is estimated to be 300-400 years old, although legend says it is over 1500 years old. Live Oaks only live to be approximately 500 years old, and this tree can trace its history back to the 1700s. That's me standing underneath. Yes, it really is that large.

We also visited the only tea plantation in America. Notice how far it is to the some of the next closest tea plantation.

This is a tea plant. We got to take a tour of the tea processing plant, although it was on the weekend and it wasn't operating. Did you know the only difference between green tea, oolong tea and regular tea is the amount of time the tea is oxidized? I learned a lot about tea.

This is a tea harvester. The tea plant looks like a hedge and is dormant during the fall and winter. It starts growing in the spring and can be harvested every 10-14 days. The harvester simply goes over the top and cuts off all the new shoots, then the leaves are separated and the leaves are taken in for processing.

The holidays are near and the Festival of Lights was already going. It is 3 miles of displays with over 2 million lights.

I liked Santa on the motorcycle.

And I also liked this church. Needless to say, there were many, many more, but if you want to see them, you just need to go to Charleston.

Myrtle Beach, SC

2011-11-22T18:42:00.004-06:00

Our stay in Myrtle Beach was a relaxing one. No real sightseeing, just some beach time and fun. One of our fun outings was going to Wonderworks. I had seen Wonderworks in Orlando, but had no clue of what it was. Four of us went and had a blast. For those who have never heard of Wonderworks, it's a combination of hands on, interactive science museum along with a fun house.

This was harder than it looks. You have to pedal to made yourself go, and if you pedal enough you will go completely around. I added a movie at the end of the blog. I think I went around at least 3 times.

This was like your old fashion parlor tricks. It was supposed to be mind control. They placed a band around your head with wires attached. There was a ball (like a ping pong ball) in the center of the table. Whoever could relax the most would push the ball to the other person.

Up on the wall was a monitor showing what was supposed to be your brain wave activity. Believe it or not, I won.

But this rope challange was by far my favorite. Of course, the people you are seeing is not any of the 4 of us. We were all up there together, about 20-30 feet off the floor. You moved from platform to platform over a series of ropes, and planks. You were harnessed and couldn't really fall to the floor, but you could have fallen and dangled in the harness (although I never saw anyone do this). It was challenging, especially if you had any fear of heights. There were little kids and seniors like us, all up there taking the rope challenge.

This is only a few of the fun things. We played laser tag, rode in a roller coaster simulator (you even got to create your own ride), looked at ourselves in the trick mirrors and challenged ourselves with animated games.

But we also had some beach time. This was a nice little bar and grill on the beach. Since the busy season is over, it was quiet and not crowded.

I also got front shocks put on the motorhome and it drives so much better. Now to get the rear shocks put on in Florida.

Wilmington, NC

2011-11-18T15:26:00.004-06:00

We took a trolley tour of downtown historic Wilmington.

Now full of retail shops, this was once a warehouse at the port of Wilmington.

There are supposed to be over 100 pre-civil war homes in the area. This was once the governors mansion.

The church in the background has an unusual adornment on top of its steeple.

Instead of a cross, this church has a rooster.

Across the harbor was the battleship, USS North Carolina.

We got to the trolley about 5 minutes after it left, so we had to wait almost an hour for the next one. But right next door was a little restaurant and it was $2 Tuesdays. So we had $2 tacos and beer while we were waiting.

I'm not sure of the point Max was trying to make with this picture. Maybe how much more 'cool' my car is than the 1957 T-bird?

Ft. Fisher sits just south of town at the start of the harbor. It was an earthen fort built up for harbor defense during the Civil War. Until the end of the war it allowed blockade runners to stock and provision the Confederate Army. Some believe when this fort fell in early 1865, it was the beginning of the end for the Confederate Army. Nothing much is left but some reconstructed earthworks and some signs and a memorial statue.

At the Ft. Fisher State Recreation Area we found how they rescue you at the beach. They have taken a stretcher and modified it with the large tires for manuvering on the sand.

Wilmington was noteworthy for me only because I had to get a wheel alignment, 2 new tires and arrangements for new shocks at the next town. I did learn something though, it can be very expensive to drive with bad shocks.

Columbia, Plymouth, Washington and New Bern, NC

2011-11-15T18:35:00.007-06:00

Continuing my story of leaving the Outer Banks, by the time we crossed Roanoke and got back on the mainland, the rain had stopped, the sun was out and I got to see some great fall colors.

The colors were great as we traveled through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

We spent the night in the parking lot of a seafood market. It was a commercial/retail establishment with a large parking lot. Just like staying at Walmart, it wasn't cheap, even if it was free. We bought fresh shrimp and scallops, had some for dinner, then bought some more in the morning before we left. Notice the tall poll? It was a wind generator and we had to listen to it whine all night long. For the first hour I thought it was a siren and was wondering what kind of accident had happened.

Down the road was the town of Plymouth. We stopped there for breakfast and the owners of the restaurant suggested we take a drive through their historic downtown. Located on the Roanoke River, they even have a light house. Evidently this was once a busy port and there was even some naval action here during the civil war. In April 1864 one of the last major Confederate victories occurred here in Plymouth. Held by the U.S., the Confederates brought in one of their ironclad ships, the Albermarle, sunk the U.S. gunboat, the Southfield, precipitating the fall of the U.S. to the Confederates. The Confederates took over 2500

prisoners, cannons, horses and over 5000 small arms.

We left Plymouth and headed south to Washington, NC.

The downtown area had decorated crabs.

And more crabs.....

There wasn't a lot in this town, so we looked in the GPS for the local attractions.

Yes, it is a restaurant, but it is also listed as an attraction. Check it out on your GPS. Of course we did eat lunch there. Had the small plate (just $7), split the plate between Max and I, and still took half the pulled pork and most of the coleslaw home for a second meal. Great pulled pork, but neither of us liked their sauce.

Down the road to New Bern, where we spent the night.

Built in 1767 by Royal Governor William Tryon, it was once considered one of the finest buildings in America. The main building burnt in 1798. 130 years later it was reconstructed using the same plans used to build the original. Now it is open to the public.

The mascot for the city is the bear.

They are located all over the downtown area, in the parks and near the convention center.

The city logo.

This is only a few of the over 17 bears I took pictures of.

This bear was located at the farmers market. I guess this is farmer bear.

But I imagine New Bern is known best for being the birthplace of Pepsi. This is the location of the pharmacy, owned by Caleb Bradham. Originally known as 'Brad's Drink', he created Pepsi in 1898.

Leaving the Outer Banks

2011-11-11T21:07:00.003-06:00

There are no pictures, this is simply my adventure of the day I left Avon, on the Outer Banks.

The plan was simple, drive down to Cape Hatteras and board the free ferry to Ocrocoke Island. Spend the afternoon sightseeing and get in line for the first toll ferry to Cedar Point in the morning. Well, the best laid plans....

First, it was pouring rain and very windy the day we left. Max and I got our RVs on the free ferry and headed towards Ocrocoke Island. When we arrived at Ocrocoke Island we found the toll ferry to Cedar Point had been shut down due to high winds and seas and wasn't expected to be back in operation for a couple of days. No problem we thought, just wait it out on Ocrocoke and take the next toll ferry available in a couple of days.

But that didn't happen. First we were told we could not park and sleep in our RVs while we waited, we would need to go to 1 of the 2 RV parks still open on the island. But when we got to the first park it was standing in water, and the other park wasn't much better. So we headed the 12 miles back across the island to the free ferry back to Cape Hatteras.

It was 4pm, I didn't get to really visit Ocrocoke, the wild horses were undercover because of the rain, and I wasn't going to get to take the ferry over to Cedar Point. I had been driving in the wind and rain since 10:30 am, I was tired and I still had several more hours before I would be off the Outer Banks. But luckily nothing else of interest happened and by 7pm we were parked in Plymouth, NC. So much for simple plans......But I do love adventures and this day was definately an adventure.

Outer Banks

2011-11-11T19:46:00.006-06:00

On the way to Cape Hatteras we got to stop at Kitty Hawk, the place where Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane.

They have a sculpture made to the exact dimensions of the Wright Brothers plane which they flew on Dec 17, 1903.

These 4 stones represent the 4 flight from Dec 17, 1903. The first flight was just 12 seconds and went only 120 ft. But their final flight of the day (they crashed the plane) was still only 59 seconds and 852 feet. These were the first succesful, sustained powered flights and history was made.

It was quite windy most of the time we were down on the cape. This is where the eye of Hurricane Irene hit earlier this year.

These were some of the roughest seas I've seen on the Atlantic coast. They were like this every day we were there.

This temporary bridge had been open only 12 days when we crossed it on our way south on the outer banks. It took them about six weeks to open this highway following the hurricane. Before the hurricane there was no need for a bridge, but the hurricane created a new inlet when it rearranged the shore.

We saw lots of storm damage such as this broken concrete which had been a road.

We did have the opportunity to have a hot dog roast on the beach, even though it was quite windy.

Only 3 of us were willing to brave the wind and cool weather, Tom, Max and myself. You can see the rough seas in the background.

Max got caught in a wave while taking Fancy on the beach.

But a few minutes later so did I.

There was a fishing tournament going on. Lots of surf fisherman were out on the beach but we never saw anyone catching anything.

We did do more than just go to the beach, we went down to Cape Hatteras Point.

The ring of blocks show where the original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was located. Notice how close it is to the water. In 1870 it sat over 1500 feet away from high tide, but over the years the beach kept getting closer and closer until it threatened to wash away the lighthouse.

The current location of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. Since the 1930s several attempts have been made to stop the erosion, but none were successful. It was determined in the 1980s to move the lighthouse after requesting advise from the Academy of Sciences. It was determined that moving the lighthouse was the best choice, but it would be a monumental job to move this 4,400 ton, 200 foot high lighthouse the recommended 2900 feet.

Contracts were awarded to International Chimney Company and Expert House Movers. There were many pictures and even video showing how they jacked up the lighthouse then placed it on rollers and roll beams to be moved. They started on June 17 and moving it along 5 feet at a time, placed it on its new location on July 9, 1999. Automatic sensors monitored every inch of the move.

We saw this funny silver cylindrical thing that looked like a space ship, and stopped to check it out. I don't know who was more scared, me or the alien.

This U.S. Weather Bureau Station was built in 1901 and was 1 of only 7 built specifically for weather observation. It served as a weather station until 1946.

At the tip of the cape, next to the ferry over to Ocracoke Island, was this small museum. It had been recommended so we stopped in to see. Glad we did, it had one of the best exhibits on pirates I have ever seen. The history of pirating, dating back to 3000 B.C., all the way to some info on current day pirates which operate mainly off the coast of Africa. Cape Hatteras is proud of their part in the history of Blackbeard. His favorite anchorage was Ocrocoke Inlet and after his pardon in June 1718, he settled in nearby Bath and some say married a local girl. But shortly he went back to pirating and found his end later that year in November 1718.

We also took a trip back up to Roanoke Island, site of mysterious disappearance of the Lost Colony in 1587.

I loved this picture at the visitor center. Notice the serpent out in the ocean. It looks like it is going after one of the ships. And the island of Roanoke is behind the barrier islands. Even with all the searching over the past 300 years and all the archeological evidence, they still do not know what happened to the appx 115 colonists left behind when the ship sailed to England for supplies in 1587. When Governor John White returned in 1590 (he was delayed in England due to war), the colony was deserted with no real indication as to what happened. In that colony was the first American born child, Virginia Dare.

Bodie Island lighthouse. The visitor center was damaged in the hurricane and is not open. You can see some damage to the lighthouse as well.

I think Fancy would like to become a beach tramp. She loves to chase the birds on the beach and especially likes to mess with the dead horseshoe crabs.

Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown and Ft. Monroe

2011-11-08T07:39:00.008-06:00

We headed towards Hampton, north across the Chesapeake Bay, to visit Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. But right in Hampton was Ft. Monroe, so we headed there first.

Ft. Monroe is the largest stone fort in the U.S. It was started in 1819, but wasn't finished until 1834. Robert E. Lee, later General of the Confederate Army, was one of the engineers who helped build Ft. Monroe.

Although Ft. Monroe sits at the end of Cape Comfort, surrounded by water on three sides, the fort was built inland a ways with a moat all the way around the fort. A busy port and supporting businesses and residences built up outside the fort in the 1800s. As you can see, the moat still exists.

This is one of the locations where Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, was held captive following the end of the Civil War. Another famous person who served at Ft. Monroe was Edgar Allen Poe. It is said his famous epic 'The Raven' was written based on his stay at Ft. Monroe. Ft. Monroe is also said to be haunted and TV shows have even come here to try and prove the ghosts really exist. Underneath the stone walls or casement, there is now a wonderful museum. I would recommend everyone visit Ft. Monroe

The current base commanders home. Until last year the base was an active army base. But recently the army reorganized and the base faced closure. The property was given back to the state of Virginia, who gave it to the city of Hampton. Although the base is no longer active, most of the housing is still occupied by military familes from surrounding areas. Some families are awaiting their loved ones to return from overseas. But by next year the military should be moved out and the city plans on making this affordable housing. There is also a move to take some of the old buildings inside the stone fort and making a high school.
More of the housing located outside the stone fort on Ft. Monroe. In the background is a large building which used to be a hotel, then the military used it for offices. It has recently been updated and remodeled into senior housing. I was told it cost $3000 a month for an apartment.

Another bit of history for Cape Comfort. In the early to mid 1600s, this area was a port where slavers brought in new slaves from Africa. During the Civil War Ft. Monroe was occupied by the Union and this area was considered a safe-haven for escaping slaves. During the Civil War and immediately following there was a thriving black community, including schools to teach the recently freed slaves how to read and write.

The next day it was raining, but we decided to get out anyway. We headed toward Yorktown, where British Commander Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington. This was one of the last major battles of the Revolutionary War.

The memorial sits on top of the hill in Yorktown, overlooking the York River and the battlefields nearby. George Washington, along with French Leader Rochambeau, Washington's aide, Lafayette, and about 15000 troops, confronted the British. French Naval Captain De Grasse was instrumental in blockading the harbor, keeping Cornwallis from receiving more British aide and supplies.

The Nelson house withstood the shelling of the Revolutionary War as well as the burning of the Civil War.

There are several cannonballs imbedded in the side of the house.

The Moore house, located outside of town, is where the officers came to meet face-to-face to discuss the British surrender terms.

The next day was bright and clear, but cold. Just the day to visit Williamsburg and Jamestown.

The governor's mansion in Williamsburg. This is the place where George Washington met his future wife, Martha.

Bruxton Parish Church has been in operation continuously since 1715. It is one of the oldest Episcipal churches in the U.S.

It was only about 45 degrees. Even Fancy had her coat on.

As you walked around Historic Williamsburg you got a glimpse of what it might have been like back in the 1700s. Historic Williamsburg was the brainchild of John D. Rockefeller Jr. He wanted to restore, recreate and preserve our history and our past.

We ran across this unusual instrument. It is played by winding the handle on the end. It turns a wheel across the strings. But even though it is a stringed instrument, it has the sound of bagpipes. Very pretty. I recorded it, but the file is very large. If I can get it reduced, I'll post it in another blog.

The capital building restored. Williamsburg was the first capital of Virginia. It was later moved to richmond after the Revolutionary War.

The College of William and Mary is located is Williamsburg. Except for Harvard, it is the oldest college in America, founded in 1693, chartered by King William and Queen Mary.

The original college building, built in 1693, is now the college president's office.

After wandering through Historic Williamsburg, we decided to head towards Jamestown.

The restored church is built upon the foundations of the the first church of Jamestown, built in 1617. 104 men and boys landed at Jamestown in 1607. Over the next few years more settlers came, but between Indian problems and lack of food and disease, only about 60 of the 600 who came to Jamestown survived. By 1610 though, the settlement stabilized and eventually became a thriving port throughout the 1600s. In the late 1600s the settlement of Williamsburg became more important and was the eventual demise of Jamestown. By the early 1700s the town was no more, and only a few plantations remained.

Although this looks like the ruins of old foundations, they are actually reconstructed ruins. The original ruins were discovered and verified and studied by archeologists, then covered up again for preservation. Then these reconstructed ruins were built on the exact sites of the original ruins. (did you get all that? I'm not sure I did)

The Ambler Plantation. I don't know if these are again, reconstructed ruins or the original ruins. But this plantation house really wasn't all that large, not like the plantation houses you see in the movies.

These deer were wandering around the area. They not only were not afraid of us, but they weren't even afraid of Fancy.

Well, enough history for a while, now its off the the beach again. Outer Banks here we come.

Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Norfolk, VA

2011-10-31T20:12:00.006-05:00

We arrived at the Portsmouth Moose Lodge, where they have a pool.

I don't think they have used this pool in a long, long time.

At the lookout for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel, Fancy tried to make friends with this little crab. No, she didn't get her nose pinched and Max was able to convince the little crab it would be better off next to the shore and not up in the parking lot.

Norfolk Naval Base is the largest naval base in the world with over 54,000 personnel. They give tours and even allowed a few pictures.

Two aircraft carriers were in port, the USS Eisenhower and the USS Enterprise. Several other ships were also in port as well. Five of the 12 aircraft carriers call Norfolk Naval Base their home.

They also had quite a contingent of helicopters based here as well.

The Navy's version of the Airborne Warning and Control aircraft.

This home is base housing for one of the many generals assigned to this base. It is one of many buildings built in the early 1900s a world's fair held at this site.

In old downtown Norfolk you will find some interesting architecture, like this old church.

But this is not a church anymore, but a restaurant, where we had a wonderful lunch. It was once an abbey, hence the name Freemason Abbey Restaurant.

Norfolk is also home to the largest naval shipyard in the world. Here are two supply ships under retrofit.

In Old Portsmouth the streets are lined with older homes like this. Most have now been turned into apartments and condos. Portsmouth has a history in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Most of these homes actually date from the 1830s or newer since much of the town was burnt to the ground during the Revolutionary War.

You can't come to this area without visiting Virginia Beach. It was quiet and most things were closed since the season is over.

This former Life Saving Station now sits in the middle of high rise hotels and condo's on the boardwalk in Virginia Beach.

Neptune stands tall on the boardwalk.

One of the most prestegious hotels in Virginia Beach.

At the end of the point, on Fort Story which is an active base, is Cape Henry lighthouse, built in 1792.

It has now been replaced with this lighthouse, located across the street.

Memorial to Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse, captain of the French Fleet which stopped the English Fleet from rescuing British General Cornwallis. This allowed American General George Washington to defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown, effectively ending the American Revolution.

Memorial for all the colonists who first stepped foot on American soil in 1607. They landed first at Cape Henry before settling at Jamestown.

Assateague Island National Seashore, MD

2011-10-23T10:42:00.005-05:00

I feel as if I have been going non-stop for the last few months, and when I look at all the places I've been and all I've done, I realize, I have. So I'm off for a few days of relaxation at the beach.

Assateague National Seashore is on Maryland's eastern shore, just south of Ocean City. They have both oceanside and bayside campgrounds. We are on the oceanside, with only a sand dune between me and the Atlantic Ocean.

Fancy really likes this place. She gets to walk on the beach every morning.

Assateague is known for its wild horses. They are totally wild and wander everywhere.

Even through the campgrounds.

This young foal is only a few weeks old.

They also have a small deer, called a Sitka Deer.

There are great bike trails throughout the park.

We did go into Ocean City one day just to check out the boardwalk.

About half the stores are closed for the season, as are most of the hotels and condo's. Even the beaches are empty.

But we did see some great sand art. I liked this one. It's so true.

We also took a trip down to the southern part of the barrier island, to Chincoteague. This is Misty. 'Misty of Chincoteague Island' is a book, based on a true story, about a foal from one of the wild horses. There are actually 2 herds of horses on the barrier island. The wild horses are on the northern end and are owned by the park service. The horses on the south end are owned by the Fire Department and they are rounded up, swam across the bay, and then selected horses are auctioned. It is a fund raiser and has been going on for close to 100 years. The horses on the southern end are not really wild, they are kept on the island, but are watched over and fenced in, not allowed to totally run wild like those on the north end. The horse swim is held the last week of July every year and they saw thousands of people attend this event.

Here are some of the horses down at Chincoteague. There are 2 stories about where the horses came from. One is that the settlers put their horses on the islands to avoid taxes. But the most popular and romantic story is that they are survivors of a spanish galleon which went down off the island many years ago. The park service says DNA shows the first story is more true, but most people still like the 2nd story better.

There were wind warnings out this day and the waves were angry. But that didn't stop the surfers and the kite boarders.

The lighthouse on Chincoteague. It is now several miles inland, but when it was built over 150 years ago it was on the shore. Being a barrier island, it is constantly being reshaped by the wind, waves and storms.

As we were leaving we spotted this bald eagle sitting in the marsh.

Did you know NASA has a facility on the eastern shore of Maryland? Neither did we until we drove by.

NASA Wallops Flight Facility has the distinction of being the most active of all NASA's launch ranges. They have conducted over 15,000 rocket missions since 1945. The visitor center wasn't real big, but it had some interesting exhibits. Many of the launch missions have to do with weather satellites.

A few more days just relaxing on the beach and then I'll be ready to start heading south, down the eastern coast towards Florida.

Fort McHenry and Baltimore

2011-10-21T19:49:00.004-05:00

Ft. McHenry sits on a point of land where 2 rivers meet near Baltimore. It is also where a battle took place during the War of 1812 and a young American lawyer, Francis Scott Key, watched the British bombard the fort with shells for 24 hours. As the day dawned and he saw the flag still flying above the fort, he wrote the Star Spangled Banner, which over 100 years later became the country's national anthem.

At the visitor center they have a short film about the battle and at the end of the film, while the Star Spangled Banner is playing they raise the screen and there outside the large plate glass window, flies our flag. It was very moving.

Another view of the fort and the flag.

The guns pointed out into the harbor, protecting the fort and Baltimore. The cannons at the fort could only fire about 1 1/2 miles, and the British knew this and stayed just out of range at about 2 miles out. But they had the means to fire their guns into the fort. But the Americans never gave up and never surrendered. After 24 hours the British knew they could not take the fort. It was a stalemate and another turning of the tide for the the Americans.

We saw this wicked storm cloud while we were there.

The old part of Baltimore is known as Fells Point. It is now a very touristy place with lots of small shops, art galleries and of course restaurants. The streets are still cobblestone and brick and the buildings have been shored up to keep from falling down.

You can even take a trip on a pirate ship.

This is the old pier building. Now most of it is closed off to the public. The police have a substation in one end. It was the location for much of a TV series which ran from 1993-1999.

The story was police show about a fictional Baltimore Homicide Unit. The show ran on NBC, won lots of awards and was succeeded by a TV movie. Funny, but I don't even remember the show.

Washington, D.C.

2011-10-21T10:44:00.007-05:00

I spent two days visiting the highlights of Washington, D.C. It was 20 years ago when I last spent 2 weeks in D.C. for a class, and although I saw most of these sights then, it was good to see them again. And, it was different because of all the security now. But I was able to arrange a private tour of the capital through Senator Inhofe's office, Senator from Oklahoma, my home state.

Union Station, just a few blocks from the capital building and the mall.

Looking at the capital from halfway down the mall. We were there on Saturday when it was quite busy with all the protesters, plus they were getting ready for the dedication of the Martin Luther King memorial on Sunday.

Looking at the Washington Monument across the WWII Memorial.

The stage where the protestors were speaking.

The Smithsonian Visitor Center.

Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Thomas Jefferson's Memorial.

John Paul Jones' Memorial.

Korean War Memorial. By the time we got to Arlington National Cemetary it was closed, so we did not get to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Robert E. Lee's home.

The front of the Russell Senate Building, where the offices of Senator Inhofe are located.

Our own tour of the capital, led by one of Senator Inhofe's aides.

Walking through the tunnel which connects the senate office building to the capital. We only walked part way, then took a train the rest of the way.

Looking up at the rotunda in the capital.

Statue of Sequoya. Each state gets to place two statues in the capital. This is one of the statues for the state of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma's second statue is Will Rogers. He stands in front of the House of Representatives.

Although this looks like sculpture around the walls, it is actually painting. Even in person and up close it is hard to tell it is not sculpture, it is so good.

We also had Senate Gallery passes and was able to hear Senator John McCain address the Senate on the republican's job bill.

Looking at the Capital from the front.

Max standing on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building.

Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building.

Inside the Library of Congress, looking into the reading room. Not everyone could access this room, you had to apply for a special card first. But the rest of the building was open to the public and was mostly museum.

The Hope Diamond, on display at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

One of the displays of gold at the Natural History Museum.

The green looking rock is Amazonite or Microline. This was found in Florissant, Colorado. I used to live at the base of Crystal Peak in Lake George, Colorado, where there was at one time a Amazonite mine. It is a pretty rock, similar to turquoise, but much softer. Because it is so soft it does not tumble or polish well and is hard to cut, therefore, it doesn't make a good mineral for jewelry.

The Archives of the United States. This is where the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are located.

I could have gone back several more times and spent a day in each of the Smithsonian museums, but it's getting colder and I need to start heading south.

Mount Vernon-Washington's Home

2011-10-20T16:59:00.005-05:00

Mount Vernon is located west of Washington, D.C. and was the home of George Washington.

This is the front of the home, or where the road would have brought horseman and carriages. The home was one of several properties George Washington's father owned and farmed, and eventually, George inherited the property. When he got the farm it was only 1 story and neither the west or the east wings had been added. He and Martha moved there after their wedding in 1759. George Washington considered this his home until his death in 1799. All of the additions to the house were added while he and Martha were living there. It took about 20 years because he kept getting interrupted by things such as commanding the army for the Revolutionary War and then being elected as president.

This is the back of the home which faces the Potomoc River. Notice the big porch.

Max decided to walk along with George, Martha and her 2 children.

I even got to listen to Martha reminisce about times gone by.

One of George's carriages. Pretty fancy for the times.

George and Martha both are buried on the property.

George also owned several other farms nearby and even a distillery and a grist mill. George really considered himself a farmer and even patented several of his inventions for modernizing the farming industry. He was considered quite an inventor and entrepeneur.

See how the water runs under the building? George placed the water wheel inside instead of outside. This kept the wooden wheel from weathering and needing to be replaced as often.

Here is the large water wheel inside the grist mill. The original mill, except for some of the rock walls, was destroyed years ago, but the mill has been restored to what it would have been in the late 1700s.

And it is a working mill and you can even purchase ground corn in the visitor center.

In the 1790s, a new farm manager convinced George Washington he had the perfect setup for a distillery. The whiskey which was made back then was nothing like you have today. It was not aged, never stored in charred oak barrels, and was not colored. It was clear, fermented grains which had been distilled several times. Then it was kegged and sold immediately.

Here are the barrels they would have used to ferment the grains. Most whiskey made during that time would have been primarily rye grain, with a little corn.

To get the fermented liquid over to the still they used these buckets with long handles. It weighs about 20 pounds without anything in it. I don't think I could have filled it with liquid and moved it.

The stove was next to the still. The fermented liquid was put into the large pot sitting on top of the brick stove/oven. As it cooked the steam traveled through the barrel in coils of copper tubing. Cooler water was run through the barrel around the coils causing the steam to condense and drip out of the copper tubing at the back of the barrel into another holding barrel. This process was usually repeated several times to bring the alcohol content up to the 80-90 proof needed.

They made whiskey for 3 weeks each year. It is made just like they would have made it back in the 1790s. It is sold out before it is completely bottled.

Annapolis and the Naval Academy

2011-10-19T08:08:00.007-05:00

I wanted to visit the U.S. Naval Academy. I missed Westpoint, but have visited the Air Force Academy many times. Luckily I have a military I.D. and was able to get an on-base pass for parking. Otherwise, people visiting have to park outside the base and walk in to the visitor center. The Naval Academy is a 4-year university which educates and commissions officers for both the Navy and Marine Corps.

This is Dahlgren Hall, named for Rear Admiral John Dahlgren, was built in 1803. Over the years it has served many functions, some of which were an armory, host for commissioning ceremonies and an ice skating rink.

The Wright Brothers built the B-1 Flyer for the U.S. Naval Academy. It was delivered and assembled at the Naval Academy in 1911, where it was first flown by Lt. John Rodgers on 7 Sep 1911. The original flyer is in the Smithsonian, and this is an exact replica. The original was housed here for many years before being placed in the Smithsonian.

The scaled model of a 3 masted ship is hanging in Dahgren Hall.

Dahlgren Hall is now used as a basketball court, has a restaurant and can be used for other activities as needed.

This statue is a memorial to those who serve beneath the seas.

This is the Superintendent's quarters. Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed here and because of his wheelchair, they modified the lower floor to provide a bedroom and bath which was accessible to him.

The Naval Chapel.

Inside the Chapel.

Underneath the chapel is the crypt of John Paul Jones. He was removed from an unmarked grave in France and moved to this location over 100 years after his death in 1792. John Paul Jones was commanding the ship when he was given the first salute to the Stars and Stripes by a foreign power, back in the revolutionary war. He took the war to England and attacked their ships in their own waters. He is best known for his statement of 'I have not yet begun to fight', after his ship had been fired upon and was burning and the English asked if he was ready to surrender. He continued to fight and ultimately won the battle.

Bancroft Hall and the Parade Ground. Bancroft Hall has administrative offices, dorms and some classrooms, as well as a large ballroom. Because of the rain they cancelled the noonday parade. Parade formations are usually held daily prior to meals.

At the Naval Academy Museum they had lots of artifacts which were carved from whalebone by prisoners of war. Here is an example of some dice.

The French POWs also carved scale models of ships. Some of these models are over 300 years old.

Do you know why bathrooms in the Navy are called 'heads'? Years ago, when you were traveling at sea, there were no bathrooms as we know today. They would create seats at the front or head of the ship where you could sit. These seats were over the water, so everything dropped directly into the sea. It became common to say you needed to go to the 'head', whenever someone was going to the bathroom.

The is a wonderful example of a scaled ship carved out of bone.

This is one of over 100 models, built during the 17th and 18th century. This is the largest display of ship models, open to the public, in the U.S.

Hanover and Gettysburg

2011-10-16T10:52:00.008-05:00

I stayed in Hanover, PA, when visiting Gettysburg and found out Hanover had its own part in the battle at Gettysburg.
St. Matthews Lutheran Church was organized in 1743, but the current church, dated from 1922, is the 5th on this site. It has an Austin Organ, which was placed in 1925, and is the 8th largest pipe organ in America and is valued at $1.5 million.

Don't know anything about this building, except it seems to be getting some restoration.

The big thing in this area seems to be the 'weiner hot lunch'. What gives? It seemed as if every other corner had a 'weiner hot lunch' diner.

The battle of Hanover occured on June 30, just prior to action in Gettysburg. Confederate General Stuart and his calvary attacked the rear of the Union calvary here in the morning and controlled the town throughout much of the day. But by the evening, Union Brig. Gen. Kilpatrick had taken back the town.

Soldiers National Cemetary at Gettysburg. It was in this cemetary that President Lincoln gave his famous "Gettysburg Address". I heard a ranger talk about where the President actually stood while giving the speech, and he showed us, but it is located on the civilian side of the cemetary. There are multiple signs indicating President Lincoln was 'here' when he gave the speech, but the ranger said some of these signs have been moved by construction crews over the years and some were wrong when they were placed. There are no signs to indicate where he actually stood, so you need to listen to the ranger talk at the cemetary to get the 'real scoop'.

The field behind the cars was the site of the first day of battle, July 1, 1863. The confederate's were considered to be the winners of the day.

Just south of the previous battlefield was the location of Gen. Lee's headquarters. It is now a visitor center and gift shop.

Part of the battle was on Seminary Ridge. Since 1832 this has been the site of a Lutheran Seminary.

Much of the second day's battle took place here at Little Round Top and Devils Den. The Union held the high ground on Little Round Top, but the Confederate's were creeping up on them from below at Devils Den. They almost made it since the Union didn't have many scouts watching down below. But one man, Gen. Gouverneur Warren, spotted the Confederate's and rallied the Union troops. Even though Union troops held the hill and many consider this a Union victory, the Union troops had more casualties and they lost much ground, so others consider this battle of the 2nd day a draw.

This farm was standing in this same location during the Civil War. There are 3 separate farms, all of which were there during the Civil War, that have some of the buildings still standing.

This is considered the 'high water mark'. The field out front was the bloodiest and occurred on the third day. The Union troops were dug in behind the rock wall for almost a mile long. The Confederates were coming out from the trees on the other side, attempting to overrun the Union troops. For hours both sides shot cannon on each other and the Confederates made it to the rock wall (hence the 'high water mark'), but they could not take the wall. At the end of the battle, the Confederates had lost and many saw this as a major turning point in the Civil War.

We watched these people take a Gettysburg Segway tour. Looks like fun.

You could also rent these little 3 wheel electric cars too.

In town on the square was the Gettysburg Hotel. Pres. Eisenhower stayed here many times, bringing his staff and entertaining dignataries during his two terms and in August 1959, during a working vacation, the hotel became his office.

The David Wills House, where President Lincoln stayed when he came to Gettysburg.

Max was trying to see what Abe was reading.

And then, of course, I had to check it out too.

Yes, another 'hot weiner' diner. We did eat here and it was good.

The James Getty Hotel, built in 1803, provided lodging and entertainment for travelers. It is still a hotel today, over 200 years later.

Another old inn and tavern. In 1775 this was the tavern of Samuel Gettys. Today it is the Brafferion Inn Bed and Breakfast.

Amish Country and Hopewell Furnace

2011-10-16T09:14:00.002-05:00

Anthracite, or coal, was big in this area, but not until the 1800s. Before that, any forges and furnaces used wood, burned down to charcoal.

Hopewell Furnace, in operation by 1772, was one of America's earliest ironworks. They produced canons, furnaces, pig iron which was sold to blacksmith's, plus they also made iron products such as cookware.

The house built by Mark Bird, founder of the Hopewell Furnace. It not only housed his family, but guests and some of his key employees and their families. A small town built up around the furnace to support the work. Mark Bird even built tenant houses for his workers. At one time there was a store, church, farm and gardens to support the community.

Pig Iron was made here and sold to other forges or blacksmith's elsewhere.

A canon forged here at Hopewell, used during the Revolutionary War.

A furnace made around 1775.

Furnaces made in the 1820s-1840s. After the Revolutionary War, Mark Bird lost the furnce and his farm and it wasn't used again until the early 1800s. It's most productive period was from the 1820s-1840s. At that time anthracite started to be used for iron production and charcoal forges weren't in as much demand. Hopewell Furnace did put in an anthracite furnace, but it was never production. Hopewell Furnace closed down completely by 1883.

Poole Forge was another early ironworks site. This home was built in the 1700s. The furnace itself no longer exists.

A typical Amish Farm in Pennsylvania. Unlike most Amish farms in other states, the farmhouses might be blue, beige, or other colors, instead of the white you usually see.

Like most other areas where the Amish have settled, they have to contend with more modern technology, such as sharing the road with the auto.

New Holland, the town, is right in the heart of Amish country, yet it is also the headquarters for New Holland and Case machinery.

Some of the local towns have names which are unusual today. In the same area are also the towns of Bird In Hand, Blue Ball and Paradise.

Surprisingly to me, I saw many of the Amish barns drying tobacco. I did not realize it was such a substantial crop for the Amish. But according to some literature about the Amish and Mennonites in this area, more than 50% of their income is from non-farm businesses. Much of the non-farm income now is centered around the tourist trade.

Other things near Philly

2011-10-14T08:44:00.006-05:00

There was lots of other things to do in the area as well. We traveled out to Valley Forge, we found out how to twist pretzels, and we toured the oldest, continuously operated brewery in America.

This was Washington's headquarters while his army camped at Valley Forge for the winter. There were no battles at Valley Forge, but it still played an important part of history, since it kept an eye on the British, who controlled Philadelphia.

The museum at Valley Forge was one of the best I have seen for the Revolutionary War. It had a timeline of all the major events which occurred during the 8 years. It was interesting to see how many of those places I have visited this summer.

These were the log cabins built for their winter encampment. Twelve men lived in each of these cabins. The men built their own cabins, including cutting down the trees for the logs. Some cabins were built in just a few days, but by the end of the month their were over 1000 of these cabins dotting the countryside in and around Valley Forge.

We also visited Sturgis Preztel Factory in Lititz, PA. He opened the first pretzel factory in America. His innovation of baking the pretzels a second time to make them crisp, gave them a longer life, and they could be shipped to further locations than soft pretzels. Although today they have a separate, modern facility, they maintain the original so they can show you how it was done.

Pretzel bakers even have their own coat of arms.

Now that is one big pretzel I'm standing next to.

The original brick ovens. They are no longer allowed to be used since there are living quarters above on the 2nd floor. There were living quarters above 150 years ago too, but they didn't have the fire marshall and fire codes to follow. Only hand made soft pretzels are made at this facility, and they are baked in an electric oven.

Everyone on the tour got a piece of dough. We would then roll in out like a long, fat piece of spaghetti.

Then they showed us how to twist the dough into the pretzel shape.

And everyone got a certificate too. Back when all pretzels were hand made, a pretzel twister was one of the highest paying jobs around, and he could twist 40 pretzels per minute.

They eventually went to this automated machine, but even then, someone had to constantly watch it, because dough would get caught in the machinery and it would have to be stopped and cleaned out before it could be started again.

At one time they had about 20 of these machines and they could put out thousands of pretzels a day. Today, pretzels are fully automated using a die cut system, and now thousands of pretzels per minute can be produced.

This is Linden Hall, the oldest girls resident school in the U.S., founded in 1746 by the Moravian Church. It is still in operation today.

The Moravian Church on the grounds of Linden Hall.

We also traveled to Pottsville, PA, where the oldest brewery in America is located. Along the street are some of the oldest homes in the area, dating to the 1830s. Pottsville was once known for all of its anthricite mines. It made many men very rich and these large mansions show off their wealth.

I especially liked this old home. I felt like it ought to be in a haunted house movie.

I loved these life like murals on the side of the brewery.

See the Ice Cream sign on the side of the building? During prohibition, although they were allowed to make a Porter, which had a high enough alcohol content it was considered medicinal, they started making ice cream as their main cash retail item until prohibition was over.

They like to tell the story that on the day prohibition was repealed there was a wagon load of beer on its way to the White House as a thank you. Think about that one. (Remember, beer takes about a month to produce)

Yuengling Brewery, founded by David G. Yuengling, has been operating continuously on this site since 1831. They still brew beer here, but because they cannot expand in this location, they have built a newer, larger brewery outside of town. Also, in recent years they obtained the Schultz Brewery in Tampa, FL, and now produce Yuengling beer in Florida as well. They are still considered a small brewery and only ship to selected states. Surprisingly most New England states still do not get Yuengling, while most of the coastal states between PA and FL do.

Philadelphia

2011-10-13T07:54:00.004-05:00

I stayed outside of Philadelphia in a community called Coatesville. It was a short drive to catch the train into Philly, arriving downtown at the Reading Terminal.

Across the street, indoors, was the Reading Market. Everything from produce markets, meat markets, cheese markets, and any type of prepared food you could think of, along with a few retail shops. We had an early lunch here before heading out to see historic Philadelphia.

The old state prison. We wanted to come back and take the night tour (they say it is haunted), but we never did make it. Now I have something to come back for.

Old Germantown. Early immigrants from Germany settled here, just outside of what was then Philadelphia. They brought with them their unique architecture too. Now the area is well inside the Philly metro area.

But what I really wanted to see was the historic part of Philadelphia. The place where our Constitution was created, one of the key places in our founding history. This is Independence Hall, the first U.S. Capital. Where the Continental Congress convened and war was declared against Britain. Where Washington served as the first president.

And the Liberty Bell. It is now housed inside a controlled environment, but it still stands as an icon for our freedom.

Benjamin Franklin Square. Where Benjamin Franklin lived and worked for most of his life. Although his printing shop is a reproduction (it was actually located several blocks away), the buildings themselves are from the 1700s. In addition to his own house, he owned several other homes which he rented out. The visitor center here was under renovation, but the printers shop was open, as was the working post office. Since I have a National Parks Passport book, and I get it stamped at all the National sites I visit, I purchased a regular postage stamp, placed it in my passport book and had the post office cancel it with their Benjamin Franklin cancellation stamp.

The Betsy Ross house.

Elfrath's Alley, one of the early neighborhoods in Philly, dating back to 1736. These homes are still being lived in today.

The Philadelphia Mint. Since this was the capital, when congress, in 1792, authorized the minting of coins, the first mint was built here in Philly. But this is not the original location, but the 3rd, completed in 1969. All denominations of coins are minted here, but when it first minted coins in the late 1700s, in addition to the coins we use today, they minted $10, $5, $2.50, half-dime and half-cent coins as well.

And of course we had to come to the place where the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich began, Pat's Steakhouse. This is where Pat and his brother Harry Olivieri, back in 1930, introduced the steak sandwich, which has now become a classic across America. Did you know the standard cheese used today in their Philly Cheesesteak is Cheese Whiz?

Just 2 blocks away lies the 9th Street Italian Market. An open air market which is held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You can find meats and vegetables of all kinds, along with every type of fish you could want. Sort of reminds me of Pike Street Market in Seattle.

You can even buy your own live poultry too.

But you can't go to Philly without visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Now I didn't go inside, I'm not a fan of art museums myself, but this staircase was made famous in a movie, which many now consider a classic. Do you know which one I mean? Yes, Rocky, with Sylvester Stallone.

These are the stairs he ran up every day when he was getting into shape. So of course I had to too. There I am at the top of the stairs with my arms held high over my head, just like Rocky.

Down at the street is Rocky's statue, with Max posing in front.

South NJ and Delaware

2011-10-12T18:11:00.007-05:00

Leaving Westwood, I headed down to the Jersey Shore, around Point Pleasant. A friend, Bob McCourt, said there was some good Irish music and dancing going on at Eddie's. But the music didn't start until later, so in the afternoon we walked along the Boardwalk.

See the girls in sweatshirts? It was cold and these guys were out there surfing. Most didn't even have wet suits on. Brrrrrrrr

The tourist season is over and most things are shut down and locked up tight until next year. It looks really bleak, doesn't it?

We drove from Point Pleasant, thru Mannasquan, and north to Sea Girt, looking at the shops along the boardwalks, the mansions and old hotels from the turn of the century or before located along the seashore, and the vacations rentals which are so very busy during the tourist season.

But in the evening we headed to Eddie's, a true Irish Pub. Here is Bob, along with his friends, who play their Irish music every week. At the end of this blog is a video of an Irish dance. You can tell the participants know this dance well.

The next day it was on to Somers Point, Egg Harbor, NJ, just south of Atlantic City. It rained all the way down, although you can see it had stopped and the sun was shining when I got there. But there was so much rain, it was standing in the parking lot. I wasn't sure I wanted to drive in, but found it wasn't mud or sand, but crushed seashells.

Some places it was over my ankles, but you can see my feet were covered, so the water had to be at least 3-5 inches deep. But it drained quickly and by next morning, most of the standing water was gone.

I was having some problems with my refrigerator and water pump, so I left the next morning for Dover, as I could get hookups down there. It turned out my problem was because of all rain, some controls got wet. Once they had a chance to dry out, I was fine. But I was headed to Dover anyway for the NASCAR race. But I had a chance to do some sightseeing in historic Dover, the capital of Delaware.

This building, built in 1792, stands on the site where in 1722, the original State House, a small building about 25 feet square. It was here in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was read to the people for the first time. State House was the capitol building until the new Legislative Hall was completed in 1933.

Old Christ Church, founded in 1703, this building was completed in 1734. It is still in use today.

Legislative Hall, state capitol building of Delaware, was completed in 1933. It was a weekend and was closed. Unfortunately I was gone on Monday and did not get to go inside.

At the Elks Lodge they were having an 'end of the season pig roast'. She has already pulled the pork off one of the pigs and is starting to pull the meat off the 2nd.

We even had Elvis for entertainment. Lots of food, beer and entertainment. What else could you ask for?

Dover Raceway, the Monster Mile.

Now this is the way to go. Riding your cooler to the race.

It was cold, never got above 53 degrees all day. And it looked like it was going to rain any minute. But the rain never came and the race was run.

Looks like someone was having a little trouble out there on the track. Luckily no serious accidents occurred in this race.

New York City-Part 3

2011-10-06T18:37:00.009-05:00

With all the extra security because of the UN General Assembly, I was surprised they let us into the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. We did have to pass through screening before entering the building, but that was to be expected.

The original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was built on 5th Avenue on the site where now stands the Empire State Building. Owned by the Astor's, it was built to the specifications of George Boldt, the first proprietor of the hotel. George Boldt was the builder of Boldt Castle on Hart Island in the St. Lawrence Seaway, which I visited earlier this summer. This current Waldorf-Astoria was built in 1931 at 301 Park Ave.

Inside was full of diplomats, many in their native dress, others in formal wear, but all were surrounded by bodyguards and security. In the center of the room is the famous clock, commissioned from Goldsmith's of London for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

St. Patrick's Cathedral. A very gothic looking building in the heart of Manhattan.

The San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy in Manhattan's lower end. It was mostly food vendors and even a carnival. There was a parade, which I understand lasted only about 10 minutes. I missed it because I had walked over a couple of streets into Chinatown.

The Shrine of San Gennaro. During the festival many people stop and place money on the shrine.

Space is at a premium on Manhattan. They have come up with a great way for parking cars in a tight spot. Just stack them. I never did get to see how they get the cars up and down though.

My daughter-in-law's parents now live in Battery Park and they graciously invited me to spend the night with them. This is Jim and Nancy somewhere in lower Manhattan. I really liked the arch.

Down at the South Seaport, one of the older areas of the city.

Another unusual sculpture. It's a series of mushrooms. I wonder if Alice lives here?

In front of Federal Hall. It was closed, so I did not get to visit this National Park site. Many of the buildings on Wall Street are barracaded because of the protesters.

The view from Jim and Nancy's apartment looking across the Hudson River to New Jersey.

They have a corner apartment so they also get to look down on the 9/11 Memorial.

As we left Sunday morning to head uptown, we watched many U.S. Naval Academy students participating in a memorial run. The run was for a firefighter who lost his life rescuring people from the Battery Tunnel following 9/11. Many other participants were survivors of 9/11 and/or rescuers. Those lined up on the side are fireman and police in uniform.

The Lutheran Chuch in uptown Manhattan. Until 1995 it was a Catholic Church. It is quite run down and needs lots of repairs. I think there were only about 30 people in church that morning.

A statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Square, just outside of Central Park.

Belvedere Castle in Central Park. Belvedere Tower was erected in 1869 as a lookout.

I know this is the bridge which has been seen in many movies, usually in a chase scene. This bridge is located in Central Park.

Radio City Music Hall. I saw Zarkhana, a Cirque de Solieu presentation.

The end of the show.

And this is the Westwood Elks Lodge, our gracious hosts during our stay.

New York City-Part 2

2011-10-03T19:45:00.006-05:00

Of course, since I had never really visited NYC before, I wanted to see all the 'touristy' things.

For 30 years this sculpture stood in front of the World Trade Center, but was damaged in the destruction of September 11, 2001. It now resides in Battery Park where it is an icon of hope and indestructible spirit of this country.

The Immigrants, located in Battery Park. Dedicated to all people who came to America through Castle Clinton and Ellis Island.

Castle Clinton, built in 1811 as one of the 5 forts built to defend New York Harbor. It is now a National Historic Site and the entrance for the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

Standing in front of the Statue of Liberty.

I got to climb up in the pedestal of the statue. Only 3000 tickets a day are given for the pedestal, and only 300 per day for the crown. To get tickets to climb up into the crown requires reservations at least 3-4 months in advance. Looking down from the Statue of Liberty onto Ellis Island, where thousands of immigrants landed on their way to America.

In Brooklyn I saw this arch and thought I was back in Rome. This was located in the plaza in front of the public library.

The main doors of the Brooklyn Public Library. Very impressive.

This is the back side of the Brooklyn Public Library.

From Brooklyn we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. This group of people were walking and being filmed as we were crossing. Asking what it was all about we were told it was to inform people about global warming and how we are destroying the earth. Makes all kind of sense. Couldn't you see that from the way these people were dressed?

They were doing a lot of work on the bridge. I mean, it's only 128 years old.

Looking down over the pedestrian walkway onto the cars below. Looks like the girders there are a little rusty. I'm glad they were doing the repairs. The bridge is 128 years old and was an engineering feat of its time. Just stringing the miles and miles of cables alone was amazing back in 1880.

Another landmark is Penn Station. Although we arrived almost every day in Penn Station on the NJ Transit train, most of the local subways and commuter trains arrive underground. But in my wanderings, I did find the old lobby for the original train station. It reminded me of the grand and glorious train stations I remember as a child traveling on the Santa Fe Railroad with my parents.

Another place I just had to visit was the Empire State Building. There it is in the middle of the background. Sorry about the cloudy picture, but it was foggy and muggy like this the entire time I was in NYC.

As we got close to the top I found King Kong is still hanging around. Somehow he just doesn't look so big as in the pictures.

Looking down from the top onto the city below. Up in the top of the picture you can see some of Central Park. They say on a clear day you can see for 70 miles, but today we were lucky to see across the Hudson River.

Now, wouldn't you like to be working up 100 stories, no safety lines, riviting bolts, straddling a steel beam?

And as much as I like to hike, walk and climb, I have no desire to join this race.

This is the NYC Public Library. I think I like Brooklyn's better.

And Grand Central Station. I just loved wandering around inside its large waiting areas. There are shopping of all kinds and food venders galore inside. It really lives up to its name, it was Grand. (Sorry, but I didn't get any pictures inside, they were all too dark or too blurry)

New York City-Part 1

2011-10-03T14:24:00.006-05:00

A small group of WINs stayed at the Westwood Elks Lodge in N.J., for the purpose of going into NYC and sightseeing. We were only a few blocks from the train station.

We would stop in the historic downtown Westwood and grab coffee and a bagel for our ride on the train into Manhattan.

The first 2 days we did a Greyline Tour Hop On/Hop Off double decker bus tour. As you can see, our first morning was a little wet.

I love it when old buildings are reused instead of torn down. Here, this older building has been converted to a CVS Pharmacy.

When I had dinner in NYC 10 year ago, I ate at Carnegie's Deli. Well, it was just as good as I remember it. This was their corned beef sandwich. Everyone else took half home, but I ate the whole thing.

I could post hundreds of pictures of the neat buildings and architecture I saw, but I won't. But I am posting one little picture which shows just a smidgen of the intricate, delicate decorative work on many of the older NYC buildings.

This is the courthouse. Most courthouses have Lady Liberty on top and she is blindfolded, signifying 'blind justice'. Well, this Lady Liberty doesn't have a blindfold. I wonder what that means?

Inside St. Paul's Chapel, a part of Trinity Church, was this poster from Oklahoma. St. Paul's sits across from where the twin towers sat and the church became a staging place for many of the rescuers. I thought it very touching to see the Oklahoma poster, since they understand after experiencing the OKC bombing.

We got to see first hand some of the protesters and their march on Wall Street. They are protesting about corporations, yet many of the protesters have probably never had a job, most looked like they might still be in college.

The Trinity Root. The debris from the twin towers knocked over a sycamore tree, which had stood for over a century in the churchyard of St. Paul's Chapel. Sculpter Steve Tobin envisioned this bronze statue to signify our connectiveness and our strength. The sculpture sits in the front of Trinity Chapel.

Inside Trinity Chapel, where scenes from National Treasure were filmed.

The Wall Street Bull. Normally you can get up close and touch the statue, but because of the protestors and the threats against wall street, the police had it barricaded.

A concrete playgound in the concrete jungle of NYC. This was a playgound outside a daycare. The ground is covered with recycled tire material.

So many of the residents of NYC have no vehicle, but use public transportation and walk, so instead of the large supermarkets like out west, they have small markets like this, every couple of blocks. Remember, you only buy as much as you can carry home.

I spotted this small, white wooden house, built on top of the remains of an older brick building. Note all the buildings surrounding the white house are also brick. It was the only wooden building in the entire area.

Notice the arch between the buildings. I thought it might be a walking bridge, but later found out it was only for structural support.

The Naked Cowboy really does wander in Times Square. What is really a pair of swimming trunks, is made to look like men's underwear. He wants to make sure you know who he is, so he painted his name on his trunks.

On 7th Avenue, looking towards Times Square, at night. Traffic was exceptionally bad because the U.N. General Assembly had started and many of the streets were barricaded and traffic was being rerouted. It turned out to be to our advantage, since the tour bus had to take us on roads not normally on the tour route. We got to see areas of NYC we probably would never have seen otherwise.

Looking across the Brooklyn Bridge with Manhattan in the background.

There were strange pieces of sculpture all over the city, most with no explanation. I have no idea what these were supposed to be, but they were in Battery Park.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Tunnel Authority Building. Does this look familiar? It's in a scene from Men In Black.

I have more pictures of my trip to NYC, but this is enough for one blog. More later.

Groton, CT area

2011-10-02T20:25:00.005-05:00

Traveling down from Cape Cod, I stopped at Newport, R.I., home of the rich and famous.

This is the Cliff Walk, a National Recreation Trail along a National Historic District, through 64 private residences over 3.5 miles.

An example of just one of the homes along the walk.

In town I spotted this building and found it was the first U.S. Naval Academy, from 1861-1865. It is now the Newport Elks Lodge.

Groton, CT, is home of one of the largest U.S. Navy submarine bases and the home of the U.S.S. Nautilus. The Nautilus was commissioned in 1954 and was the first nuclear powered submarine.

It is also the base for the U.S. Coast Guard's tall ship, the U.S.S. Eagle. Groton is the home of the Coast Guard Academy and the ship is used for training. When it is in dock, it is open to the public so we got to tour the ship.

South of Groton is the town of Mystic. The highway bridge over the harbor has a drawbridge which is raised on the hour, 40 minutes past the hour during the daytime. The bridge was built in 1922 and is opened appx. 2200 times per year.

In the mid 1800s, the 6 miles of Mystic River was lined with ship yards. In the early 1900s ship building was replaced by textile mills and other manufacturing. Mystic Seaport, founded in 1929, is dedicated collecting, preserving and exhibiting the artifacts and skills related to maritime history.

Fort Griswold, built in 1775, was the site some call the 'massacare at Ft. Griswold'. Troops under the command of former American General Benedict Arnold, led the fleet which appeared at the mouth of the Thames River. In 1781 the British troops attacked Ft. Griswold and some say even after the American's surrendered, the British continued to attack.

In 1775 the first of 3 forts was built on this site. Ft. Trumbull looks across the harbor at the mouth of the Thames River in New London to Ft. Griswold in Groton, CT.

We found an operating cider mill and since it is apple harvesting time, got to see the cider being pressed. The mill has been in operation since 1881.

The chopped and mashed apples are layered between sheets of canvas cloth. They were pressing only 4 layers deep, but can press as many as 10 layers.

When pressed the juice runs out and into a trough, which then flows into a steel tank where it waits to be bottled. Fresh cider has to be refrigerated and will last only about six weeks.

More Cape Cod and area-New Bedford and Canal Bike Ride

2011-09-17T08:04:00.005-05:00

Our goal when we left in the morning was Newport, R.I. But we got sidetracked along the way and never made it. Instead, we spent the day visiting New Bedford and the surrounding area. It was only by chance we stopped in New Bedford anyway. We headed downtown just to see what the local Elks Lodge was like and noticed a National Park sign.

Once a bank, now this building is the home of the visitor center. New Bedford was considered the whaling capital for many years. There were hundreds of whaling ships who called New Bedford home. And whaling brought industry, such as candle making and oil for lighting from the whale oil and corsets from whale baleen.

An interesting fact: The light emmitted from a candle burning spermaceti oil (from the head of the Sperm Whale), was so pure, it was used to calibrate the Standard International Candle, a unit of light intensity applied when incandescent light bulbs were introduced.
The oldest continuously operated Customs House, since 1836. It was designed by the same man who designed the Washington Monument.

Seaman's Bethel, made famous by Herman Melville, author of 'Moby Dick'.

Originally the pulpit did not look like the prow of a ship, but after the movie 'Moby Dick' came out and the movie had a pulpit like this, the pulpit was rebuilt in the 1960s to look like the movie.

This street, looking down at the harbor in New Bedford, looks much the same as in pictures from almost 200 years ago.

This romanesque looking building, built in 1831, once had people seeing double. It housed two banks, the Merchants Bank for the elite, and the Mechanics Bank for the local shop keepers and tradesman.

I don't think this looks much like the original Mayflower at all.

Captain Robert E. Lee drew up plans for this fort in the 1840s to protect Clark's Point. It replaced an earlier earthworks fort known as Fort Tabor. It continued to have artillery in some form to protect the harbor through WWII.

We stopped at a fish market.

And got to see them processing the catch.

On the other side of the bay was Fort Phoenix. All that is left now is some rock walls. For display they have placed a number of canon. They even have one canon dated in the 1700s which was used in the Revolutionary War.

This hurricane break was built in the 1960s and now New Bedford Harbor has a reputation as a hurricane safe harbor. The break is 9100 feet long, 20 feet above sea level and has two 440-ton gates. It is the largest man made stone structure on the east coast.

This gothic style church is common throughout the New England area.

The railroad bridge across the Cape Cod Canal. There is a 7 mile bike path on both sides of the canal. We had a beautiful bike trip, although the winds came up and we had to bike back against a head wind the entire 7 miles. Tiring......

The canal was built originally in the early 1900s by a private firm across the neck of land which connected Cape Cod to the mainland Massachusetts. It saved ships 62 miles on the rough Atlantic seas on their way to Boston. But the canal was small and the owners charged for its use and it never did go over well. In the 1930s the Corps of Engineers bought the canal, widened it and made it free. It is now part of the Atlantic Coast Seaway.

Suprisingly, Miles Standish, of the original Mayflower and Plymouth Colony, had the idea for a canal back in 1623, but it wasn't until 1909 when the first canal was engineering.

A large tanker of some sort being pulled by a smaller tug. Notice the tanker ship has no engines and must be towed.

Another Herring Run along the canal.

Old and new windmills.

More Cape Cod and area-Plymouth and Martha's Vineyard

2011-09-15T15:21:00.006-05:00

We took the scenic route from Wareham to Plymouth. At one point we arrived at the Manomet Historic District. (funny thing, no one there could tell us why it was a historic district)

It was high on a cliff, overlooking the Atlantic. There were many large beach houses and paths in the cliffs leading down to the shore and boats moored out in the ocean. Not much beach for swimming though.

We thought this was going to be a restaurant and I went in looking for some information about the area. But it was a fish market and no, they had no idea why the area was a historic district. But I did see the largest lobster I've seen so far, 6 lb. Up in Maine most lobsters were 1- 1 1/2 lb, but around here you don't see many less than 2-3 lb.

In Plymouth Max found a statue of his 8th great grandfather.

This is supposed to be the rock the pilgrams stepped onto when they arrived in Plymouth. But they didn't 'discover' this rock until 100 years later. And they say the rock was 3 times as large as it is now. I don't know about you, but I think they are pulling my leg here.

A full size replica of the Mayflower. Can you imagine sailing from England for 3 months with 120 other people on a boat this size? Don't think I care too, thank you.

Considered the first church in Plymouth because in 1620 the settlers gathered here for services. This building is the 5th built on this site, and was completed in 1847.

This church next door, is also considered the Pilgrams Church. It was established in 1801 after the Unitarian conflict with the original church.

Max is now standing beside his 8th great grandfathers grave.

Built in 1754 by Edward Winslow, since 1941 has been the headquarters of the Society for the Descendents of the Mayflower. I told Max he should go sign up.

The Jenny Grist Mill is the oldest continuously operating mill in America, since 1636.

But this is supposed to be the oldest continuously lived in house in America, built in 1640.

And finally on our way home we spotted cranberry bogs. It is harvest time. Some harvesting has already started, but most will start in a few weeks and go through October. Tom V. and Nancy W. got to see a field get flooded and harvested. We had no such luck.

But zooming in with the camera you can actually see the little red cranberries waiting for the harvest.

Another day we headed off to the ferry for Martha's Vineyard. There were a lot of other people who had the same idea as we did. I imagine there were at least 100 bikes on the ferry.

In Edgartown Max found his namesake sailboat.

And we saw this interesting vehicle driving by. Is it a bike or is it a car?

I like this, ice cream and skinny fat sandwiches, and they were all in the same shop.

Another Whaling Church. A United Methodist Church, 1787. They had just had a wedding and the building was not open to the public.

The boat building shop of Manuel Swartz Roberts, 1881-1963. He built catboats, beach boats and fishing boats. It is now an artists gallery.

I never saw 'Jaws', but this is supposed to be the beach where it was filmed.

Maybe Max shouldn't get out there too far or 'Jaws' just might get him.

This kite boarder and sail boarder don't seem to be too concerned about 'Jaws'.

It was a fun day, but we are all tired and ready for the trip home.