2/23/13
   Woke up at the  Charleston RV Park to a torrential downpour!  Poor Jerry had to connect the Casita to the car and disconnect the electrical, water, etc.  I held the umbrella and did my jobs of  making sure everything is safe in the trailer and have all my navigational equipment in the passenger seat.  We left early, about 8:30 and headed west on Hwy 78 toward Atlanta.  We decided to take the highway as opposed to the interstate.  It was easy and wonderful.  The rain continued and Jerry had to dodge huge puddles in the road now and then.  The homes ranged from tumble down shacks to beautiful plantation looking homes with manicured yards.
     Walterboro was very sweet and we drove down the highway past brick homes and wooden Victorian ones.  Churches everywhere.  "If you don't climb the mountain you can't see the view", "God is good all the time".  As we slowed down in towns we could hear the bells ringing.  Sign, "boiled p-nutz" hand painted on a sign leaned against a mailbox... Denmark another small town 37 degrees at 10AM.  Bare trees and pines with smaller trees in between that look like dogwoods.   They have dried pinkish colored leaves still hanging on them.  I wonder if they are dogwoods.  They have a dogwood festival here. Lots of bird nests in the bare trees.  Agriculture, looks like cotton and corn is grown here.  Brown stubble now. Listening and laughing to "car talk".
     Called Aunt Jerry in LA to thank her for our Passport America membership.  We have saved a lot of money with her kind gift!  We had a wonderful talk comparing notes on our travels.
     As we headed west the terrain began to change to slightly rolling hills and taller trees with large outcroppings of stone
    The rain started to slow down by Augusta as we switched to the interstate (I 20).  Saw a bunch of daffodils near Madison that really reminded me of Riverbend.  Got to Atlanta a bit early so we got off I 20 just west of town and took the 78 through Lithia Springs, douglasville and Villa Rica.  We found a flea market in a storage place.  Jerry needed a nap so he slept while I shopped...Many of the storage units were open and folks were selling out of them!  It worked really well.  We have been noticing that the cemeteries are covered in flowers and I found out they are silk and are sold for about $25 for a very nice bouquet.

  Just not what we do in the west I guess. There were several stalls that sold these.  I found a beautiful, youngish lady selling soy candles and soap out of a double sized one.  She says she does a pretty good business and just loves doing it.  Now I want to make soap and candles!!!  I bought a light scarf (it's cold here!) and a bar of soap (she puts a loofa sponge in each!).
   Back on the road and hungry so in Douglasville we started to see restaurants and pulled over next to the railroad tracks.  Walked across the road and found the "Gumbeaux" with a long line in front.  Jerry had to ask and we found out that it is the best restaurant in Atlanta!  (and we are 40 min. from Atlanta!) They explained that the line was because it was just opening and they do not take reservations.  We were told it would be worth the wait and it was!  We split the shrimp and grits (that everyone in South Carolina said we must try) and it was wonderful!  Jerry is not a grits guy(or polenta for that matter) so I got all I wanted.  It was made with three cheeses and ummm ummm good!
     We arrived at Sandy's house just past Villa Rica and talked and talked!  I met Sandy in 1995 in Dallas at an orthopedic convention.  She was a surgical nurse.  I visited in 1999 for the Atlanta Convention and we have seen each other in San Francisco, New Orleans, and San Jose.  She and her husband visited us a few years ago in Salyer.  Her sweet husband Bill died in 2005.  Sandy drove out to the north coast (she understands us!) a couple of years ago and we three plus my friend Laurie Garrison had a great road trip to Seattle for a conference.  Sandy and Laurie attended and Jerry and I played around the San Juan Islands.  Laurie's husband picked her up for the ride home and Jerry, Sandy and I went to Victoria, B.C.!  We had a wonderful time and became even closer!
   
2/24/13 Sunday
    We went out for breakfast at Sandy's favorite breakfast place, The Trading Post.  Everywhere we go everybody knows her.  After breakfast we did her Starbucks run.  There they even knew what she wanted!
Jerry needed to see Bill so we stopped by the cemetery   It is a beautiful place.  


The grass is all brown and it has became a source of joking between Sandy and Jerry.  The grass all looks dead and Sandy says it is dormant Bermuda grass.  Jerry doesn't buy it!  He says it's all dead!  We even went to a golf course and the grass is brown except the greens.  We drove around Atlanta and went to the Oakland Cemetery where Sandy's great grand parents are buried just across from Margaret Mitchell who wrote Gone with the wind.

                                                    
                                                                Sandy's great grandparents

Margaret Mitchell on the left

Monuments to the confederate dead.  The lion is from 1894.  His head is resting on the confederate flag.

                                                    
                                                               My favorite fountain of all time.

 A peaceful beautiful place...Sandy drove us all around Atlanta and the surrounding areas.  So many beautiful buildings and homes.

The capitol of Georgia

     Back to Sandy's and we walked her yard.  She lives in a brick ranch style house on a country road.  The railroad track is just across the street.

That's an Amtrak train!

 Jerry and I are so used to trains we sleep great.  Chinese for dinner at a place with more choices than we have ever seen!

2/25/13  Monday
     We walked the mall with Sandy and her sister-in-law, Vickie.  We did 2 miles!  Then IHOP for breakfast and then Starbucks!  These southern girls know how to do it!  We next went to Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta and found the brick Sandy had bought us back in 1996!

  I had visited it in 1999 but Jerry hadn't seen it.  It was so cold and windy!  We chose the Atlanta aquarium over the Coke museum and boy are we glad we did!  It is the largest aquarium in the world!!  We had a great time!!  and took a million videos!  We did have an opportunity to swim in the huge tank with the whale sharks but it was $300 each! sooo we'll save and do it next time.  They guarantee we will see whale sharks and  manta rays!!!

 This is the statue of the fellow who invented coke.  Note Sandy's drink of choice!

 We  were spellbound by the largest tank in the world!

First we walked through a tunnel and then.....

The 2nd largest viewing window in the world!  That is a 27 foot Whale Shark in front of Jerry and there were 4 of them in there!

Sorry it's so blurry...

 The baluga whales aren't very photogenic because they are soo white!

 Poison frogs.  So brightly colored we didn't believe they were real until they moved.  I have video!

     For an early dinner we went to "Six Feet Under" a pub and cafe right across from the cemetery!  It was great and we met an Atlanta Roller Derby girl!  Kristi is a non skating official for the Humboldt Roller Derby!

2/26/13
     A day off, just sittin" around catching up on stuff....

 Sweet Sandy's sweet cats

   For weeks I had been trying to catch up with a friend I made at St. Joseph's in Eureka.  She was a Physician's assistant  for the heart surgeon for over a year.  She left for other great adventures just before I retired.  I knew she was from the south so somewhere in Alabama I called her to see if we could meet.  We tried Tampa and Chareston but had finally settled on Atlanta so she could see her brother who lives here.  Sandy, Jerry and I met Jodi at the Gumbeaux Restaurant in Douglasville, just down the road from Sandy.  Neither of the local girls had been there but Jerry and I had on Friday night!!  The ladies hadn't met but you'd never know it.  Medicine is a great friend maker!  We had a wonderful time and I think Sandy and Jodi each made a new friend.  Poor Jerry never got a word in edgewise!

     We talked for hours and got home at 10:30!!  The latest on the trip!

2/22/13 Friday
 Woke up and headed back into Savanah on Thursday 2/21.  The days are starting to mush together.  I still haven't figured out a way to make this a little less complicated date wise unless I do it every day and that would not be very relaxing for me...and it's all about me, you know!
   

So many jet trails around here!  I get excited about one in Eureka!

Leaving our campground

We got a bit of a late start.. so when we got to the visitor center parking lot where we parked our rig we sat in the Casita and made our lunch!  Then hopped on the free bus that took us all around town.  We hopped off at the water again.

 Back in Savanah on the waterfront.  The Olympic torch statue.  They held the yachting events here in 1996 when the Olympics were in Atlanta

 The famous waving girl statue.  Apparently she was the lighthouse keeper's daughter and made a vow to wave to every ship until her sweetheart returned.

 Another amazing yacht!  The Hyperion.  It was built in 1998 and is so tall it clears the Golden Gate by only 30 feet.  It is owned by the fellow who founded Netscape and Silicon Graphics. Everything inside is run with high tech touch screens.  There are only 3 larger sloops.  It cost $30 million to build! (all found with google!)

 The free ferry.  It took about 20 min to go across and come back, but wonderful views!

 The city from across the Savanah River at a convention center.

The gold dome is City Hall!  We aren't in Eureka anymore!!

 The Riverwalk

I haven't looked this one up but it caught my eye!  The computer must be getting tired!  I can't make the underlining go away.....

     We hopped back on the bus and it took us to our rig.  We then had one more thing to see so drug it though the city.  Jerry is amazing!

 Forsyth Park.  Savanah has a park every few blocks.  It was all designed when it was built.  This is the largest and has this fountain.  Soo beautiful.  We couldn't find a parking place so Jerry (with the Casita "monkey on his back" ) circled the park while I jumped out and ran to see and take pictures.  I told him "just keep turning left and you will come back to me!"  I had to stop a bit of traffic to be able to jump back in!

 Around the bottom are swans and "fanciful mermen" I thought of the Riverbend guys!

     After that wild escapade we decided to head north on the 95 toward Charleston South Carolina and "my new home" .  We found an RVpark about 12 miles from Charleston on highway 17 in Hollywood SC and unbeknownst to Jerry it was a perfect distance to Kiawah Island where the HGTV Dream Home is located!  Yes indeed while searching the net I happened upon a website that said that a local charity was giving tours for only $20 on the very days we would be in Charleston!!!  

Lake Aire RV park and campground.  Weird duck walking around...

  We pulled in just before dark.  As Jerry was taking the garbage and exploring he found some folks sitting around a campfire and we talked to them and they told us things not to miss in Charleston.  They also mentioned it was supposed to rain tomorrow!  We tried to watch some TV with the internet but it buffered so much we gave up and went to sleep!

 2/22/13

     Pouring down rain by the time we started out. Got new windshield wipers.  Amazing how that helps one see better!

   As we headed down to Kiawah (pronounced Kee-wah in these parts) Island I happened to find ANOTHER interesting spot to check out.  The Angel Tree!  And Google came to the rescue again!

The Angel Tree is a Southern live oak on Johns Island.  It is estimated to be 1500 years old and is 66.5 feet tall, is 28 feet in circumference and from tip to tip it's longest branch is 187 feet long. It is thought to be among the oldest living things in the USA.  Mr. and Mrs. Angel used to own this estate but local folklore told stories of ghosts of former slaves that would appear as angels around the tree.

 The tree was stunning! and so huge.  Many branches hit the ground and appeared to be growing from there.

 A very interesting lady offered to take our picture.  As soon as she saw us she started telling us of an interesting artist who takes pictures of nude people with famous or interesting trees.  She said he had done one with this tree.  She then went on to say he lives up where the redwoods are....Humboldt county we asked?  Yes she said!  We said of course he is from there...so are we.  We were all amazed.  She went on to say his art is online at treespiritproject.org  and so it is.  Check it out if you dare!

   We had to go through a checkpoint to get into the residential area of Kiawah Island.  Just like at a state park, they even wore uniforms! (We need that in Riverbend!  Forget the locked gate, we need guards!) We told them what we were doing and they gave us directions to a parking lot at a nature center where we bought our tickets.  We then stood here in the pouring rain to wait for the shuttle.  We were not alone...Other folks thought they we going to see their house!  and said they would let me visit!  

 The big moment has arrived!

 Better than the virtual tour!

 Phyllis, let's make this!

Jerry's favorite part!  How'd they do that?  They wouldn't let us out on the deck because they were worried we would get the floor wet.  We all were bummed.  We had to wear surgical booties as it was!  We did notice there were no gutters and the garage walls were not solid.  They were built with slats and screen.  When we asked about that Marie, a young lady docent told us it was due to the possibility of flooding.  Hmmmm

It does come fully equipt!

 It was pretty amazing to be there!  One couple told us that they had researched it and no one who has won a house has been able to afford to live there due to taxes so that is why they are giving $500,000 dollars with it.  They figured they would just take the car and the money and run when they win!  Seems like they should just build more reasonable houses!

   We talked with Marie the docent about where to eat around here(Jerry is so good at that!).  Turns out she has been to Eureka, applied at Humboldt and wasn't accepted and has eaten at the Lost Coast Brewery!  She told us to go to JB's smokehouse on the way to Charleston.  She appologised for the paper plates etc, but said it was the best and she was right!

This is the front door!  It was an all you can eat buffet.  Maybe we are foodies!  It was the best everything I have ever had.  Fried chicken, Pulled pork with 4 differnt kinds of bar-b-q sauce in squirt bottles on the table (with checkered plastic table cloths), greens,  an okra and tomato thing, pork stew, hush puppies, beans, black eyed peas and pudding x 3 for dessert.  They even had a salad bar but who wants that when you can have all the other stuff!

   On to Charleston!  Followed 17 on into the city and found the water (always the first order of business!)   Charleston is on a peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers.  Their riverfront is called The Battery. It is at the point of the peninsula and was where the city was defended in both the Revolutionary was ( Fort Moultrie) and the Civil War (Fort Sumter)

 As you can see it was still pretty cold but not raining so we walked at a good pace (to walk off our lunch in hopes to eat again this trip!)

 We came upon white Point Garden park with several statues and monuments.

 and a very cute fountain.  see her little foot?

This is Fort Sumter  way off in the distance in the middle of the confluence of the rivers.  It looked really cold out there so we stuck to shore!

 The homes and buildings were spectacular!

 Narrow alleys between houses

 Called Rainbow Row because of the different colors

 The Bible Belt has a LOT of churches!

Looking for a restroom we stumbled upon Charleston Place.  A very ritzy hotel with high end shops.  Amazing and the bathroom was beautiful, too!  The restroom downstairs was being renovated so we had to climb the spiral staircase to the send floor!  Jerry kept wondering how they hung the huge chandelier!

 This area was the inspiration for the book and play "Porgy and Bess"

a planted fountain!  Hmmmm

    We never did eat dinner, Wanted to try the other places Marie told us about but we're too full.  We'll just have to try shrimp and grits somewhere else!  I can't believe it!  I am caught up again!  Jerry has been asleep for about 3 hours, I can hear a light rain outside, and we are off to Atlanta tomorrow to visit our friend Sandy Mclendon you may have heard us talk about.  She went with us on a road trip to Seattle and Victoria BC a couple of years ago.  Dad just loved her and her sweet southern charm.  She has quite an itinerary planned!