45a and 45b Linda Lane!

The sites are large, the amentities include meals and the happy hour is fabulous.

Wednesday we loaded up the homes on wheels and headed out to Ocracoke Island.  To get to the island we have to board a ferry for a 2 1/2 hour ride across the inland waterway.  The ferry leaves at 4:30 so the plan was to get the RV’s on the ferry, crack a bottle of wine open some snacks and have a relaxing ride!  Sounds great and then someone always has to mess with my plans.  We arrive at the ferry dock and the first sign we see says “no restrooms on the ferry”  how does that work?  Hopefully we can get to our rig cause if I drink a bottle of wine there is going to be a need.  Next we see a sign that says “no alcoholic beverages allowed on the ferry”  Seriously!  Maybe we can just sit in our RV and that won’t count!!!

A close fit!

We are on one side of the center of the ferry and the other rig is on the other side!  It’s tight but we could get out!  Duke had to stay inside.  We decided to take seats in the ferry lobby and just enjoy the ride.  It is a pretty long ride, it was raining off and on and their isn’t much to see but we managed to pass the time just talking!  The guys went down and took naps.

That's our ferry in the background

Our campsite is right on the ocean.  After a morning walk on the beach we headed to town.  Ocracoke is a very small island where life is slow and town is dotted with little boutique stores and lots of island charm.  They don’t give things away out here!  Pat and I tried and just couldn’t find anything we had to have.

The island has some ponies that no one knows how they really got here but now they are penned up and protected from the vehicles that cruise around on their turf.  The National Park Service protects them and keeps them where the public can still see them today.

Ponies

The island ponies are suppose to look different than other horses, they have less vertibra’s and ribs.  I really couldn’t see the difference but they were fun to watch grazing there in the rain not paying any attention to the 10 or so humans peaking thru the fence taking pictures!

We will say good bye to Ocracoke and it’s interesting culture tomorrow and head north towards Kill Devil.  I am hoping the weather improves and the mosquitos will be gone!  Wish us luck.

They arrived really late on Thursday evening so Friday was spent getting pedicures and hanging out with Grandpa.  Saturday we had a cook out with the cousins.  It was fun to see them all together.  The boys tried to play a game of baseball and then the thunder came!  It was raining so hard and within a very short time the yard was flooded.  Everyone retreated to Carol’s house and a game of Charades with the cousins pitted against the friends provided everyone with some side splitting laughter!

Sunday, our little family of four met some old friends of mine for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then headed for Wilmington and the beach!  It was a cold, cloudy day and the wind was blowing enough that it felt like being sand blasted so we didn’t linger on the beach.  It was a long day of driving but we found a great hotel right on the beach and had a wonderful sunset.  Monday morning we had lunch on the patio and sat facing the ocean for a bit before heading to Historic Wilmington for some site seeing.

Wrightsville Beach

Wilmington is not as grand as Savannah or Charleston and a bit run down on the waterfront but we did get to see some interesting architecture and ride a horse drawn trolley car!

North Carolina is a state where you have to go to a special store (ABC) to purchase liquor.  You can buy beer and wine in the market but for anything better you have to make a special trip to the ABC store.  So when we were driving along in Wilmington and we see this

Drive thru Beer store!

Unbelievable!  You can’t buy alcohol just anywhere but you can drive thru and pick up a six pack!  And, they bring it right to your car just Jack n the Box!

Amy flew to New Jersey Monday evening and Stephanie flew home on Tuesday.  It was great to see them, I just wish it was longer.

Saturday evening we got to go to a Pig Pickin’ celebration for Adam & Christin (Carol’s youngest) It was a great party.  Here in the south they don’t just have a bridal shower and a bachelor party, they have multiply showers.  This one was a household shower.  They got lots of fun stuff, a wheelbarrow and cooking supplies complete with recipes and ingredients!  These kids (23 years old) are buying their first home before they get married.  Get this people from CA!  A 1500 sq. foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on two acres brand new (it’s being built to order!)  $150K.  That is not the down payment, that’s the cost!!!!

Sunday I got to connect with an old friend from childhood.  She lives in Raleigh and we met for lunch!  I love this living on the road and getting to reconnect with people that I have lost touch with.

Stay tuned, we will be here until May 16th.

Now back to the traditional.  I wanted to see a plantation with the beautiful home, fabulous gardens, etc.  Well in South Carolina the plantation homes are much more like farm houses because the lady of the house wasn’t living out in the swamp!  The beautiful homes are in town along the battery.  We visited Boone Hall Plantation where we learned about plantation living and the lives of the slaves.

Driveway lined with giant oaks

The grand estate

Boone Hall Plantation is a working plantation today.  The home was built in the 1930′s to replicate some of the grandeur of the civil war times.

Slave cabins

Theses cabins were along the entrance drive to the plantation home.  At Boone Hall Plantation the cabins of the slaves that had a trade, bricklayer, craftsmen etc. were housed out front so that their skills could be advertised to the community.  Tours are not usually my thing but I am becoming a convert.  I’m aware of slavery and the effect it had on the people but when you take these tours it makes it so much more powerful.  There was a wonderful lady that presented Gullah history.  That was powerful!  I had never even heard of Gullah or Geechee (their language).  Did you know the song “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” was the slaves way of telling each other that someone was going to escape through the underground railroad soon!  Yep, they had their own language so they could communicate and the owners would not understand.

Tours about old furniture and history just does not interest a 4 year old!

After learning about plantation life we headed downtown where the homes are grand and no signs of slavery here although the slaves ran these homes also.

The veranda’s and patios are huge.  Most have outdoor fans.  There are blocks of these homes, all near the river.  Very few are open for tours because they are just homes today, residents live here in this historic district, have jobs, children and fancy cars!

City Hall!

And of course they have the churches that line the skyline with their steeples

And a park dedicated to George Washington, in Washington Park

Towards the end of our day of touring I got a surprise call from our old neighbor, Barb  who was in Charleston visiting her sister!  Wow, we were planning to leave that evening so we loaded the rig up, figured out where there would be a large parking lot and had her and her sister over for tea!!!

Charleston Bay

The ride out to the Fort takes about 30 minutes and the afternoon was perfect.  It is so cool to be able to stand outside on the boat and not freeze!  There were hundreds of sailboats in the bay.  This group of about 60 boats seemed to be in some sort of race or event.  We were very close and could see the sailors riding on the edge of the boats propelling the boats in the direction of the buoys.  In the background is the The Cooper River Bridge which opened in 2005 and is the longest North American cable stay bridge.  The Cooper River is named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury and chief Lord Proprietor of the Carolina Colony who arrived here from England in the1600′s! I’m thinking he is my ancestor!!

Fort Sumter

A Canon

Many flags flown here

Fort Sumter was where the civil war began however the fort was built for the war or because of the war of 1812.  It was also rebuilt for coastal protection during WWI and WWII.  The only battle it saw was the civil war.  It is now a National Monument in a beautiful setting.

Tomorrow we see downtown Charleston and some Plantations!!!

Steam Train that you could ride

Roundhouse

They did have a couple of executive cars they were restoring and we got to tour.  They were pretty nice inside and bigger than my RV!

The other thing Paul found fascinating was the process of making taffy!  He won’t eat it but he stood there for 30 minutes watching the guys make it and then the process of getting it into the bin across the room!

Pulling the candy into the machine

Before it gets to this spot it has to be stretched on the arms, color added, flavor added and then it is ready to lay on these rollers and stretch until it reaches the point the candy maker can feed it in where it is cut, wrapped and put onto the conveyor belt for its ride to its final destination in the store before we can buy it!

Look closely, it is riding along in a tray above the sign!

After traveling about 40 feet along overhead conveyors the candy drops into the funnel that feeds it into the bin where you pick it up

And now you buy $15 worth because you can’t live without it in the cute container they provide for you!  Candy in a souvenir tin!  Genius!

After dinner we walked for about an hour down on the river front and to the city market area before taking a tour in a horse drawn carriage!

The next morning we returned to the area to take a  90 minute riding tour and learn some history of the area.  After  we walked around town to really get a look at all the architecture and the squares we saw.   I love looking at the homes and wondering about the people who lived there when they were built.   Paul loves to learn about the civil war which they really do not love to talk about here in the south!  We must have walked 5 miles, so much for the on/off priveledges of our tour bus!  It is definitely a town where you want to walk and see as much as you can.  There are lots of tours you can take but I enjoy just walking the streets, looking up at the buildings, ducking into a boutique, and then there is the drinks!  In Savannah you can order a drink to go and no one cares!

City Hall at night from the harbor

If these walls could talk! I wonder what history would be revealed?

Jones Street, where a house here goes for in the Millions!!

The Waving Girl

The Waving Girl Statue stands at the beginning of the riverwalk in Savannah.  I thought the story was facinating;  she would greet every incoming and outgoing ship into the harbor from her home on an island on the Savannah River before Savannah.  The sculpture was erected in 1971 and was created by  Felix De Weldon the famous sculptor who did the WWII Marine Corps War Memorial of five U.S. Marines and one sailor raising the flag of the United States on Iwo Jima!

Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church

Inside, this church commands you to stop and reflect for a bit!  The bigness of this place is overwhelming.  We visited for a moment and then returned to the streets to explore some more.

Gravestones attached to the wall

We were told two stories on our tours about these stones so we had to get a closer look for ourselves.  First, our carriage driver said the union soldiers destroyed the headstones and changed information on them and moved them around so they had room to set up camp (or something like that!).  Then our bus driver said Union horses trampled them and when the soldiers left families returned to the cemetery and didn’t know where there loved ones were so they picked up the stones and attached them to the wall.  There were hundreds of them.  The cemetery was not very crowded as they quit using it in fear they would dig up a grave.

Savannah is a beautiful city and the southern hospitality is something everyone should experience.  Yes ma’am!

Home Sweet Home (Kmart parking lot Orlando Florida!)

Our last day in Orlando I spotted these birds high up on the streetlamps just watching life go by, or guarding their home from the other birds in the area!

Paul has promised that we will return to Florida for a winter now that we have been here.  I can’t wait to come back and spend several months exploring the gulf coast and at least a week with MICKEY MOUSE!!!

We are having a great time catching up with their travels and a bit of site seeing in the area.  Yesterday Connie and I went to Indian Shores for lunch and to enjoy the waters of the Gulf, while Paul saw some dealers and Charles oversaw the service work being done.  I am still so amazed that I never knew that these beaches were so wonderful.  We had lunch at a great little local spot recommended by Connie’s saleman, The Kooky Coconut.  Definitely a dive but they made an amazing Cuban Sandwich.  This place was about a 1/2 block from the beach so after lunch on their patio we walked the beach.

Walking on the beach is a new experience every time.  Because the water is so warm everyone, young and old are wading in the waters.

There is going to be sand somewhere until he is 40

Spending time relaxing on the beach has reminded me that no matter how old you are  listening to the waves pound the sand is just good for the sole.  It is hard to find someone not smiling when you are on the beach.  The only bummer here is we have not found a beach that allows Duke to also enjoy the sand and surf.

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE

PS.  Monday morning there was no pain!  So I think we will try it again.  Kayaking was pretty relaxing and so quiet out on the water