Civil War City of Churches and Palm Trees

This was our first visit to Charleston, and we expected it to be much like Savannah.  In many ways it is--lots of antebellum influence and seacoast terrain--but there is much more nostalgia for Civil War events here, whereas Savannah's focus seems to be on colonial history.  It's not surprising that Charleston identifies so strongly with the Civil War given that Fort Sumter is in its harbor and the opening shots of the war were fired there on April 12, 1861.  We've seen several forts in our travels, and they all look very much the same.  Fort Sumter's history gives it more relevance so we took a tour, hopping on a ferry to transport us there.

The bombardment that this fort endured throughout the war is impressive.  It's no longer the multi-tiered fortress that it was before the war, having weathered an estimated 7 million pounds of metal hurled at it.  It's a wonder that there's anything left at all.

One of the most-listed attractions in Charleston is the Arthur J. Ravenel Jr. Bridge.  It's the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America.  If the weather had been a tad warmer, we would have walked the 2.5 miles across it.

Near the bridge, the USS Yorktown is docked.  We've seen aircraft carriers, and HeM served on one during his days in the Navy, so we passed on touring this one, settling with taking a picture.

We took a bus tour of the historical district.  The streets are narrow and many of the houses tightly packed.  A style called "single house" is very prominent--houses of this style are one-room wide, very similar to shotgun houses in Louisiana.  In the more affluent areas, the houses are huge with the old servant quarters in the back.  The city is FULL of churches--not surprising its nickname is Holy City.  Much of Charleston is at or near sea level, giving the area its "lowcountry" moniker--hurricanes have caused a lot of damage in the past, and will again most likely.  Palm trees line many of the streets.  It's an interesting city, but we found traffic and parking to be difficult most of the time.

This was the last stop we made with our traveling companions.  Both motorhomes left Charleston together heading up IH26.  At the junction of IH26 and IH95, with an exchange of air horn blasts, our paths parted.  B&B are heading back to Texas, and we are continuing our trek northward.  We'll miss their company.  Our next stop is near Asheville, NC.  Looking at the weather forecast, we are putting ourselves in more winter weather.  It should be short-lived (we hope!), and we'll stay put for a month this time, giving spring a chance to really get established before we go any further north.

From Palm Trees to Pine Trees

We've moved out of the tropics now, seeing more Southern pine trees along with lots of live oaks covered in Spanish moss.  The Savannah, Georgia park where we stayed was full of these trees--so much so that we had to use our carry-out satellite dish, finding a little window in the canopy above.  The live oak trees showered us with their leaves, often sounding like rain.  It was a very pleasant setting except for the fact that the pad for Roamin was mainly dirt and sand.  We were very glad that for the most part, the weather was dry while we were there.

We had been to Savannah several years ago, but this was B&B's first visit.  On our first visit, we had taken the trolley tour through the city and enjoyed it.  We took it again.  The historical district is really charming with its old homes, the many squares, and the Spanish moss.

It's pleasant to walk along the riverfront where there are lots of restaurants and, of course, shopping opportunities.  We enjoyed lunch overlooking the Savannah River.

We took a couple of day trips around Savannah.  One was to Tybee Island, and one was to Hilton Head.  Other than more southern scenery and ocean views, not too much to report.  We did enjoy the pleasant weather.  Maybe winter is over?

We were in Savannah a few days before St. Patrick's Day.  This is a huge celebration for Savannah, many businesses closing on that day so their employees can participate in the festivities.  All the fountains had already been colored green in preparation.  We were told that their St. Patrick's Day parade is the second largest in the nation--we're guessing that the largest is in New York.  We wouldn't have minded seeing the parade, but we didn't plan well--we left the day before.  Oh well, we probably wouldn't have enjoyed the crowds anyway--but after a couple of green beers, who knows?  On to Charleston. 

Last Stop in Florida

Our stay in Jacksonville was 5 days, 4 of which were either raining or cold or both.   The park where we stayed was probably not bad in dry weather, but given that that was not the condition at the time we were there, we found ourselves surrounded by standing water and mud everywhere.  Thankfully, it stopped raining for a couple of days so we could get out and see a few things.

B&B have relatives in St. Augustine that were anxious to show us their city, and had set aside a day to give the four of us their private tour.  Looking at the weather forecast, we chose the least inclement day and made the drive there.  St. Augustine is indeed picturesque, and the city capitalizes on its history.  Here are some of the highlights of our walk through the city.

The Old Spanish Trail roadway, built in the early 1900's, began in St. Augustine and ended in San Diego, CA.  A monument is erected at the site of the Zero Milestone.  The roadway ran along what became US90 in the east and US80 in the west, and was a precursor to Interstate 10.

St. Augustine was a walled city, and its gateway is still standing.

As expected, many of the buildings in the city have a Spanish influence in their architecture.  In the late 1800's, a very wealthy gentleman by the name of Henry Flagler commissioned the construction of the luxury Ponce de Leon Hotel.  In 1968 a liberal arts college was established in St. Augustine, and the hotel became part of it, now housing assembly rooms and student dining hall.  The college was named Flagler College.  There is extensive original Tiffany glass windows in some of the rooms, but we weren't able to get into any of them that day.

A couple of Spanish tall ship replicas are currently visiting ports of call along the Atlantic, and one of them was in St. Augustine.  El Galeon is a 1:1 replica of the ships used in days of Magellan and Ponce de Leon.

The remains of Castillo de San Marcos is now part of the National Park Service, and is a popular attraction.  On weekends, cannons are fired by park personnel and volunteers, all dressed in period uniforms and shouting orders in Castilian Spanish.

The day before we left Jacksonville, the sun came out and the temperatures warmed to a pleasant 70 degrees.  We took a brief outing into downtown Jacksonville and had lunch at The Landing along the banks of the St. Johns River.  It was nice to be out in the warmth and sunshine again!

This was our last stop in Florida.  We'll make a short move to Savannah, Georgia next.

Into the Warmth and Back Again

We finally found that desired warm weather when we moved into Central Florida, and even more so in Southern Florida.  In all, we spent 36 days around and south of the Orlando area, and were mostly oblivious to the terrible cold, snow, and ice the rest of the nation was dealing with.  Our apologies.  We have to be honest, though, and say that the remorse is not all that hard to live with.  Again, our apologies.

Of the 36 days, we spent almost 3 weeks in central Florida near Kissimmee and briefly in the Tampa area.  We weren't interested in the usual attractions like Disneyworld, but did want to see the Kennedy Space Center.

We have many fond memories of the achievements from the Apollo space program, most especially the moon landing.  We took the general tour of the space center. We saw the vehicle assembly building, one of the launch pads, and transport vehicle used between the assembly and launch pad.

The tour bus stopped at the building that exhibits the sequence of Apollo missions and houses a Saturn V rocket (it's huge!).

Back at the main visitor center, a building honors the shuttle program, and houses Atlantis.  It's cargo bay is much larger up close than it appears in videos.

After the Orlando-Tampa stops, we moved even further south to Naples.  Our 2-week stay there was really lovely.  The weather so warm, shorts and air conditioning were the order of the day everyday.  The park was very comfortable, and was in an urban setting with several shops and restaurants within easy walking distance.

We had several items on our 'to see' list.  The first one was Key West.  We debated driving (6 hours each way) and spending the night, or taking a ferry out of Naples (3 hours each way) and making it a day trip.  The ferry option won.  It left Marco Island early in the morning.

We arrived in Key West in time for an early lunch.

We took a walk around the town, passing by Hemingway's house and stopping by the southernmost point in the continental US.

After some souvenir shopping and a leisurely cocktail at a sidewalk café, it was time to reboard the ferry.  The sun set on our return trip.

The second item on our sightseeing list was to ride an airboat in the Everglades.

The ride was fun, but the wildlife sightings were less than expected.  We did see one alligator and several raccoons.

Our RV route did not include the Miami area, but we did want to visit there.  We packed a small bag and drove the car to South Beach.  We rendezvoused with HeM's brother and sister-in-law who were there at the time, escaping the Ohio weather.  After lunch and short walk on the beach, we all drove to Hollywood,  just north of Miami, where we had hotel rooms.  The hotel was within a block of the boardwalk and beach there.  Very pleasant.

We left Naples and drove to the Atlantic coast of Florida.  Our stop was in Fort Pierce for 3 days.  We didn't expect to find much to do there, hence the short stay, but we did run across the Navy Seal Museum.  We spent an afternoon going through it.

The museum also houses the actual vessel from which Navy Seals rescued Captain Phillips when held by modern-day pirates.

So now our allotted time in the warm regions of Florida has ended, and we've moved north.  We'll be in the Jacksonville area for a few days before moving even further north.  We were greeted with rainy 40-50 degree weather as a welcome back to winter.  We could say that we were feeling guilty about not suffering with the rest of the nation, but who would we be kidding?