Charleston, South Carolina

Moving up the coast, on Rt. 17, from Savannah to Charleston we camped at James Island County Park – which I had read about many times.  And yes, it would be the pride of any county to have such a beautiful facility.  Lakes for fishing & crabbing; a splash zone and swimming pools for the family; miles of hiking/biking trails and it’s jewel – a campground with spacious sites, full hookups and free wi-fi! 

Fort Sumter – where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.  This fort took terrible punishment over 2 years of continuous siege during the Civil War but the Confederates held out and only surrendered when Sherman marched into Charleston.

Ft. Sumter is accessible only by boat. We had a narrated tour of the harbor on our trip out to the fort.  Much of the fort has been restored and is now a National Park. 

Charleston Crab House

Don and I enjoyed a marvelous meal here – plus,it overlooks the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway. 

As we left Charleston, we drove over the new Revenel Bridge – isn’t it just amazing? 

Charleston – the best of the old and the new!

Savannah, GA

This is a continuation of touring Savannah. My favorite photo typifies Savannah and was taken at the Visitor’s Center at Wormsloe. 

 

Noble Jones came to Georgia with James Oglethorpe and was one of the original settles in 1733.  He built Wormsloe and raised his family here.

This is the long, long entrance drive – lined with LIVE OAKS, that leads to the ruins.

We were lucky to join a guided

tour of the Wormsloe plantation – we learned that the house was made of “tabby” – mainly crushed oyster shells.  Here is a photo of our guide.

 

 

 

                    Historic Bonaventure Cemetery – featured in the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.    It’s spooky moss covered trees whoosh over the tombstones.                    

There are large “family” plots – outlined with stones – and both Jews and Christians are buried here. Again, the azalea were the highlight.

And Finally – here’s Don feasting on oysters out on Tybee Island, GA.  We really enjoyed visiting Savannah!

Savannah, GA

We camped for 10 days at Skidaway Island State Park and it was wonderful. Huge sites, electric and water and wi-fi at the Camp Office.  Paved interior road, quiet nights and close enough to downtown made it a perfect stop.

Fort Pulaski was a favorite and educational place to tour.  It is in the shape of a pentagon and is surrounded by a moat and has drawbridges.  It is very well preserved.

 

The spiral, stone staircases in the fort were one of my favorite features.

Here you can see the wonderful arches and the cannon tracks in the bricks. Amazing design.

Azaleas were in full bloom during our visit to Savannah and taking photos was my delight.

Perry, GA, FMCA Rally

We had a beautiful parking space in the Handicapped area at the Perry Fairgrounds.

 

There were no hookups and so I would say that we were “dry camping” , but 3 days of rain left it anything but “dry”.  This is the road in back of our motor home:

BUT – the sun came out and we enjoyed the Rally – especially the seminars!  Here’s Don deciding which one to attend.

We saw several friends from NY that had been wintering in Florida – we’re all heading slowly home.

This is a picture of our local fruit/vegetable market across from the Don/Wes Flea market. We find local and Mexican produce - all at more than reasonable prices. On this day we bought fresh pineapple and cabbage.
Across the border in Progreso, Mexico, this young man is guarding against drugs and violence. He is a member of the Mexican Federal troops and was glad to show off his machine gun. He lives in poor conditions - in a tent - right in back of this post. In the background is the bridge to the USA.
Below is a photo of Beth and Don taken on the International bridge as we walked across the Rio Grande River into Mexico.

In the photo above - is Don's brick that is part of the Veterans Memorial Park in McAllen, TX. It is a park that memorializes all wars and has a wonderful Korean war memorial. We are very proud of his contribution!

Here's Don - enjoying the sun and breezes on South Padre Island.
Above, is the Causeway/Bridge from Port Isabel to South Padre Island. It is over 2 miles long.
Don took the above photo - another beautiful sunset at Alamo Palms.
This will about wrap it up for our time here in Alamo, Texas. We've been here almost 4 months and the weather has been wonderful, windy and warm.

Kites on South Padre Island

Last Saturday, Jan. 3st 2009, Frank & Dixie - Don and I drove to South Padre Island to watch the kites. I couldn't believe the crowd! There were all types of colorful kites and it was amazing to watch the "trick" ones seemingly "dance" in the air.


If you click on the photo it will enlarge. Then use the "back" arrow.
The weather was perfect and at noon we went to the west end of SPI - where we used to camp at the County Park. Dirty Al's is a restaurant that has fabulous fried shrimp. We had to wait for 1/2 an hour for a seat, but bided our time by having a beer on the deck.
Since I'm not in any of the photos - here's one of me taken in the motor home using Don's new Canon Pocket size camera. That's it for this blog!

Don's 80th Birthday

January 23, 2009 - Don's 80th Birthday and we're here in Alamo Palms RV Park in Alamo, TX. We started the big day by going to What-a-Burger for breakfast (as usual) and they had just decorated with big, orange balloons! Sandy, the waitress, presented Don with a Happy Birthday box containing a big Cinnamon Bun. Then she gathered the staff and they sang "Happy Birthday" and the whole restaurant sang, cheered and clapped.

Sitting outside the motorhome and having a glass of wine was a great way to spend the afternoon.







We had a special steak dinner at the Santa Fe Restaurant in downtown McAllen. Dixie & Frank helped us celebrate.




There was a "triple" Birthday celebration on Sunday evening in our Tampico Hall for Frank, Wayne Stukenholtz and Don. Joyce Stukenholtz arranged for our park band to entertain and she baked NINE cakes! There were about 40 people - Don sure celebrated his 80th!!