St. Augustine, FL

We arrived at St. Augustine on May 7th and had dinner at this great restaurant on St. Augustine Beach.  Friends had introduced us to it about 3 or 4 years ago.  The food was a good as we remembered at Mango Mango's.

Great Restaurant

We started our day at the St. Augustine Distillery taking a tour and ending sipping on a Florida Mule, similar to a Moscow Mule, a vodka and ginger drink.

T & Glo sipping a Florida Mule

They were having a the Romanza Festival of the Arts and we got to enjoy music in the park and see a parade through old town St. Augustine. We visited the City Gate and then visited a winery for a tour and a little wine tasting.

Music in the Park

Romanza Festival Parade

Angie @ City Gate

Sebastian Winery

Angie and I took T "home" and went back for an evening of Opera. What an wonderful ending to an awesome day!

Savannah, GA

Having been to Savannah many times in the past, we did something a little different this time around.

We visited The Railroad Museum.  T loved it!

T riding Hand Car

T & Glo enjoying the ride

Angie boarding the train

The Georgia State Railroad Museum is believed to be the largest and most complete Antebellum railroad repair facility still in existence in the world!
This National Historic Landmark site, formerly named the Roundhouse Railroad Museum, is the oldest and largest existing nineteenth-century railroad operations complex in the nation. Construction began in 1850. Thirteen of the original structures remain today. The Central of Georgia Railway handled freight, passengers, maintenance, and manufacturing at this single location.

After touring the Railroad museum, we dined at the Crystal Beer  Parlor, which was way off the beaten path.  We walked and walked and walked and were rewarded with a great meal and excellent beer.

The Crystal Beer Parlor opened in the early 1900's as The Gerken Family Grocery Store.  It was the first American eating establishment to serve alcohol after the repeal of Prohibition (Probably because the booze was already on the premises!)

T & Glo enjoying a drink at the bar

T, Angie & Glo @ Crystal Beer Parlor

Angie posed with Johnny Mercer

Angie & Johnny Mercer,
founder of Capital Records and Savannah native

Beaufort, SC

What a beautiful town!

Beaufort just celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2011. Explored by the Spanish, the French and the English, Beaufort has a rich history, beautiful antebellum homes, scenic views and friendly local charm. 

Many famous movies have been filmed here. To name just a few you'll recognize.

• The Great Santini
• The Big Chill
• Forest Gump
• Prince of Tides
• Something To Talk About

Beautiful antebellum homes.

Angie in front of Edward Barnell Geddes Dowling House

John Archibald Johnson House (1850)

1st African Bapstist Church (1885) 

Angel Oak
in front of the Edgar Fripp House (1853)

Arizona, Wedding, Charleston

April 9th, we flew to Arizona for a couple of weeks.  We enjoyed visiting friends and getting the annual doctors appointments out of the way.

I planned a quick "happy hour" for the brunch club and I was thrilled that everyone was able to make it.  I am so blessed to have friends who care enough to come out whenever I happen to come into town.

While there Cleo, T & I visited the Musical Instrument Museum.  It was amazing!  We were there 4 hours and didn't see it all. Though there are other musical instrument museums in the world, this one is the only one in the world that has displays for music from all over the world.  There were instruments I'd never heard of.  There is an area where you can play the instruments.  I had fun with the drums, though I don't remember what part of the world they were from.

Cleo & T

Glo & drums

Also while there, we had the opportunity to see our daughter-in-law, Kelly, compete in an NPC Bikini Competition in Mesa, AZ.  Kelly was awesome and she placed in the top 4 in two events.

Even more fun was spending a day with Sammy at the Build a Bear Workshop.  We didn't spoil her at all.

We got back to Florence/Darlington April 23rd, and hitched up the rig and headed to Charleston for my nephew, Daniel's, wedding.  He was married in the Citadel Chapel.  It was a beautiful wedding.  Unfortunately it was raining, but no matter Daniel and Rachel are married and we all had a wonderful time at the reception.

We stayed at the Charleston AFB RV Park.  My friend Angie flew in on Sunday and we spent the next 9 days touring Charleston.  I've been asked many times over the past 3 years, "Of all the places you've visited, what is your favorite place?"  Now I know.  Charleston, SC.  I've been there more times than I can count.  I've walked the historic district every time I've been there and yet I love it each and every time.  Angie had never been to Charleston so it was extra special for her.  We went on a harbor tour and though the sights were beautiful, it was windy and cold. I've posted several pictures of what we saw on the tour.

Glo & Angie , just before boarding the Harbor Tour

Ravenel Bridge- the 3rd longest cable stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere
approximately 3 1/2 miles.

Fort Sumter-
First shots of civil war were fired here.

St. Michael’s Church is the oldest church edifice in the City of Charleston, standing on the site of the first Anglican Church built south of Virginia. In the 1680’s a small wooden church, the first in the new town of Charles Town, was built on this spot for the families of the Church of England, and named St. Philip’s. By 1727, the town had grown too large for the small church and a more spacious one was built of brick on Church Street, later destroyed by fire in 1835.

By 1751, St. Philip’s had again proved too small for the increasing population, and another church as authorized by the General Assembly of the Province, to be built on the old site and to be known as St. Michael’s. The cornerstone was laid in 1752 and in 1761 the church was opened for services. Except for the addition of the sacristy in 1883 on the southeast corner, the structure of the building has been little changed.

Angie & Glo having fun outside Page's Okra Grill, Mount Pleasant, SC

View while dining at Fleet Landing, Charleston, SC

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist- Built 1850

Hyman's Seafood

Tour around Charleston SC

Homes around The Battery

Homes around The Battery

On our last day in Charleston we toured Boone Hall, "America's most photographed plantation."  It was an amazing finish to a wonderful week in the Charleston area.

In 1743, the son of Major John Boone planted live oak trees, arranging them in two evenly spaced rows. This spectacular approach to his home symbolizes southern heritage and will take root in your memory for many years to come. It would take two centuries for the massive, moss-draped branches to meet overhead, forming today's natural corridor and a scene that NBC 

Boone Hall

Butterfly in The Garden

Angie & Glo - The Avenue of Oaks

Slave Quarters

One of the most interesting things about our visit to Boone Hall was the "Gullah Girl's" talk.  She taught us a bit about the Gullah history and traditions.

Glo & Angie with "The Gullah Girl"- Mary

Touring in and around Columbia SC

We left Myrtle Beach and headed to Darlington March 23. We parked our rig in Lisa’s front yard and while there, I became Lisa’s personal chef, having dinner ready when she got home each day. She, of course loved it and I loved cooking and getting a chance to be somewhat creative.

Darlington is well known for the "Darlington 500" Raceway, but it is a quaint little town, with an old town square and a beautiful mural that dipicts what the town looked like back in the day.

Mural in old Darlington

Being the coffee lovers that we are, T and I set out to find a neat little coffee shop. The Clay Pot in Florence was perfect. Locals came and went and I had a chance to visit with a few of them. There is a great Farmers Market in Florence and it's open everyday. They have quite a variety of items and best of all I could buy some boiled peanuts. For those of you who are uninformed, boiled peanuts are a southern delight. You take green peanuts put them in a pot of water add salt and boil until soft. Wonderful things that we always look forward to having when in the south.

April 3, we headed over to Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. We grew up in South Carolina and have been to Columbia, or through it, more times than we can count. Amazingly we had never visited the State House. We camped at Wetson Army Recreation Center, a part of Fort Jackson and drove into Columbia to see the State House. We were duly impressed. We've seen a few state houses in our travels and this one is a cut above. The building itself is 107 years old, with the largest monolith columns in the US. After 3 months of rain and cold spring was finally in the air.

State House (107 years old)

Gardens around the capital

Liberty Bell Replica

After leaving the State House we went to visit the Riverbanks Zoo, which is ranked number 4 in the nation. There are so many animals there.  If you've never been, you should go.  We got caught in traffic on the Interstate and spent 1 1/2 hours waiting in traffic to get to the park. Though the wait was long and hot, we thoroughly enjoyed the zoo, especially T.  He has always been a sucker for the petting zoo. He can be such a curmudgeon sometimes, but if you get him in a zoo or near a pet store he turns to mush.

T petting a llama

T feeding parrot

Saturday we went to Congaree National Park, the only National Park in South Carolina. We asked ourselves why we had not heard of it. When we got there and learned about the history of the park, we felt a little less out of it. Congaree became a National Monument in1976, long after we left home in 1967. It became a National Park in 2003. That morning we got up to rain, but the weather promised to clear so we headed out and we were so glad we did. Congaree It is the largest underbrush area in the southeast. We packed water and food. I was hoping to get T to at least walk the short 2 1/2 mile Boardwalk trail. The Gods were looking out for me. T not only walked the B
oardwalk trail he also walked the Wetson trail. We walked a total of 6 1/2 miles! It was awesome. T didn't complain at all. He actually enjoyed it.

Molly enjoyed the walk too, though she got tired after about 4 miles, so she got to ride for part of the hike.

cyprus knees

Did you know that Cyprus trees have knees?  Take a look at those stump looking things in the picture.  Those are cyprus knees and have been used to make all kinds of things from lamps to chairs.

Holding hands. Even after 47 years of marriage and 3 1/2 years living together in a 5th wheel trailer (400 sq ft), we still hold hands, once in awhile. 

After Congaree we drove to Fort Jackson to see how it had changed. T was inducted into the Air Force there 48 years ago in April. The old induction center was torned down and replaced with a very modern structure. A little sad for T.  He does hate change so.  We didn't get to see much of Columbia because of the time stuck in the line to het into the zoo. No matter we had a wonderful time.