Savann-aaahhhh!

Today we toured Savannah and had a wonderful time.  We took an Olde Towne Trolley tour which is a hop-on hop-off bus.  The drivers were very informative.  We never realized that Savannah is such a beautiful and historic city.  The beauty and charm of the squares and the homes around them are entrancing.  Every square has a statue, monument or fountain.  And the homes have wrought iron fences and balconies.

When it was time for lunch we headed to Paula Deen's restaurant,  The Lady and Sons, hoping that we might be able to eat there.  To our surprise, we were able to be seated, although it was on the third floor.  Never the less, we enjoyed the Sunday buffet.  Dessert was fantastic, peach cobbler and ooey, gooey butter cake!

After the tour we drove out to Tybee island and the lighthouse.  

By the time we were done with all of that we were done!  So, here we are calling it a day.  Tomorrow we are on the road again heading for Florida.  We hope to be in Clearwater Beach on Tuesday.

More tomorrow.  

Foda Foodies

This blog is for the (foda) foodies out there.

Last evening we went to Beaufort, South Carolina for dinner at Gilligan's.  It was a very nice little seafood restaurant out on the swamp.  A family of raccoon was playing in the trees right in front of us. Guess they're the greeters.

We tried fried green tomatoes and fried pork skins that were really good.  And the hush puppies were so good they'd "Make you wanna slap yo mama!" per the young woman at the desk in the hotel. She was right.  Look out mama!  The shrimp was also delicious, caught locally and fresh.

Tonight we are in Savannah, Georgia.  We found a restaurant called Sisters of the New South specializing in real southern cooking and meals.  We made a reservation and took off to find the place.  When we got there we were a little surprised.  It was like a "fast food joint" where you ordered cafeteria style.  but the food was great.  Think McDonald's does meatloaf, fried chicken, and liver and onions.  Would you like okra with your meatloaf?  How about some key lime cake?  We chose red and white velvet cake.  Saving it for later.

Tomorrow we are going to do a trolley tour of Savannah and maybe even have a bite to eat at Paula Deen's place.  We're searching for peach pie or pecan pie.  I'm pretty sure we'll find it somewhere here.

More tomorrow.

Peanuts and Peaches

Yesterday we drove from Alexandria, Virginia to Washington, North Carolina.  We visited the Outer Banks and Kitty Hawk, with the Wright brothers memorial.  There was a very interesting presentation by a park ranger describing the Wright brothers efforts leading to their historic flight.

Today we drove to Charleston, South Carolina where we hoped to stop for the night.  Oops! this weekend is The Taste of Charleston, a Southern Living event.  Evidently everyone from North and South Carolina and maybe Georgia comes attends because we couldn't find a room.  So, we drove on to Yemasee, South Carolina and found a room.

Along our route today we saw many roadside places where we could get peanuts or peaches.  We'll probably stop somewhere for some boiled peanuts and maybe a piece of peach pie.

Tomorrow we will head for Savannah, Georgia.  More then.

More then.

A Little Loopy

We didn't make it to the night tour last night but we did go on the bus tour today.  It was the Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour.  There are three different loops that take you to or near almost all of the sites in Washington.  A lot of them require walking closer to the monuments.  We opted to ride the bus and took our photos from there.  Of course, we had to ride the Red Loop and then the Yellow Loop to get to the Blue Loop.  They don't all start and stop from the same location.  And then we had to ride the Red Loop back to the Yellow Loop to get to the Metrorail to get back to our hotel.  So, we are all a bit Loopy tonight.  

Here are some pictures. 

The Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool

World War II Memorial

Georgetown

FBI Building 

Ford's Theater

The Capitol Building

The Old Post Office

The Jefferson Memorial

The White House and South Lawn

Tomorrow we are going to continue heading south.  Not sure where we'll end up but I know we'll have fun. 

More then.

Just a Little Crabby

Today we drove through or into four states, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.  We are now in Alexandria,Virginia and are going out for a tour of the memorials lit up for the night.  Hopefully I will have some awesome photos of the monuments to post tomorrow.

On our way here we drove through Annapolis, Maryland and the US Naval Academy.  Here are some pictures.

 
We couldn't pass up some of the Maryland crab so we stopped just outside of Washington in Bowie, Maryland at Jerry's Seafood and had lunch.  Pretty good crab and seafood.  Their claim to fame is "The Crab Bomb."  It's an 11 ounce crab cake.  None of us were brave enough to try it but we had a great meal of crab dishes instead.

Well, we are off for our night time tour soon.  Tomorrow we are going to do a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city going to more of the attractions.  Maybe even a river cruise.  If I don't get to post tomorrow I'll be back on Thursday.  More then.

Jersey Night

Yesterday we took the ferry from Point Orient, Long Is land to New London, Connecticut and then drove to Rhode Island to visit the last of the New York relatives.  It was a beautiful day and a very nice trip.

Long Island sound Ferry

Point Orient Lighthouse

New London, Connecticut

Today we left Long Island and drove through Staten Island and then through New Jersey.  the leaves are changing and the parkways are really getting pretty.

We continued on and drove through Atlantic City and down the coast of New Jersey.  Tonight we are in Millville, New Jersey and hope to get to Washington, DC tomorrow.

More then. 

Family Ties

Today we went to Westchester County to the cemetery and found the graves of some of John and Mary's relatives.  Unfortunately, the computers were down-what are the odds?-and Mary wasn't able to find out the names of all of the relatives buried in the plot.  But we did find another relative in the National Cemetery on Long Island.

I know this might sound odd to some of you, but when these are the only blood relatives of your mother's that you've found, it's a BIG deal.  Mary has done so much research and it is so rewarding to find someone from your family, no matter how distant.  I know that their mother would be just amazed to find anyone from her family and would be very proud of Mary and her persistence.

Tonight we met the living relatives.  They welcomed us to their home for supper.  We had a great time talking with them and finding out more about them and life on Long Island.

Tomorrow we are heading for Rhode Island to visit the other son.  We are taking the ferry so I hope the weather is nice and we can enjoy the trip.

(I am intentionally not using names because I don't like putting anyone's name on the internet without their consent.)  

More tomorrow.

Plastic Jesus Has Been Laid Off

We made it to Long Island!  And, the driving wasn't nearly as bad as the people we talked to last night made it seem.

Those of you who are of my generation (65-ish) understand what I mean when I refer to plastic Jesus.  For those of you who do not, allow me to explain.

When we were children, all cars that were driven by Catholics, and perhaps other religious affiliations, had a small ivory, red and gold plastic Jesus that stood on the dashboard  attached by a magnet.  Jesus was supposed to guide us safely on our journey.

Now, I am not impugning the plastic Jesus in any way, but like so many others, He has been replaced.  I think it may have been due to the fact that his job was outsourced related  to the use of non-metallic dashboards.

Anyway, we made our trip with the help of St. Google and his disciples, GPS and i-Pad.  Unlike the plastic Jesus, this one talked to us and gave us turn by turn directions.  And, I am fairly certain that if we told a law enforcement officer that the computer told us to go the wrong way they'd believe that way before they'd believe Jesus told us to do it!   We zipped along the New Jersey Turnpike, the George Washington and Throg's Neck bridges and the Long Island Expressway with not so much as a horn honking.

We are now safely and comfortably situated in our hotel in Hauppauge, Long Island.  In a few minutes we are heading for the hotel pool and sauna.  Ahhh!

Tomorrow we are heading off to the cemetery.  Yes, the cemetery.  We're going to look up the grave sites of some of the relatives that Mary has found and maybe even discover some more.

So, more tomorrow.  Tonight it's Words with Friends and Candy Crush Saga!

Not the Lead Dog

Driving Interstate 80 could serve as an excellent example of the saying "If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes."

Our nation's over the road truckers must all travel I-80 at some point in their careers.  In fact, I'm pretty sure they're all driving it this week!  We've never seen so many semi-trucks on a highway before yesterday and today.  At one point, in 20 minutes,. I counted 185 big rigs travelling on the opposite side of the highway.  They're everywhere!!

We mostly travelled across Pennsylvania today.  By noon we were in the western edge of the state and visited Volant, a small Amish community.  We saw a few Amish farms and some of the men harvesting in one field.  Lunch was at a small restaurant, the Neshannock Creek Inn Restaurant.  There were several little shops and we checked out a few of them.

 I never realized that Pennsylvania was so beautiful.  We drove along the edge of a couple of state forests and the southern edge of the Poconos.  The trees are starting to show their fall colors all along the winding hills and valleys.  These photos don't do the scenery justice but it was the best I could do in this effort of Moving Vehicle Photography.

Tonight was are in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  We are just to the west of New Jersey.  Tomorrow we hope to make it to Long Island.  Emphasis on the HOPE.  Someone at the restaurant tonight told us that the drive through THE city could be brutal.  Cross your fingers and look for another blog entry tomorrow.

Until then, I HOPE!!

Here We Go Again!

We're on the road again, heading for New York and then on to Florida.  John's sister Mary is with us this time.  We are going to visit relatives of their mother in New York,.  Mary has put a lot of time and work into finding relatives of their mother who was adopted after riding the Orphan Train.

Departure was at 7:00am.  We drove 571 miles and ended our day here in Toledo, Ohio.  I think we did a pretty respectable job, traveling through five states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  Whew!  Makes my butt hurt just thinking about all those miles in the "saddle!"

On our drive through Indiana we went right past South Bend so we took a small detour and drove onto the Notre Dame campus.  It's really a pretty place.  I have some photos but am having trouble getting them into the blog.  I know, what else is new?  I'll try to have it figured out tomorrow.

In the morning we are on our way to Pennsylvania.  We hope to visit a little bit in an Amish village or two.

More tomorrow, pictures included.