3-18-10 SE Coast Trip Day 6

Off to see Ft. Sumter, where the Civil War officially started, when those fire-breathing South Carolinians (first to secede!) reduced Sumter's wall to rubble in order to force the Feds off the island. We hopped in the car and told Samantha (our Garmin GPS director) to take us to Ft. Sumter. Off we went but the path got curiouser and curiouser until we wound up in a neighborhood that backed onto the water. Samantha said "Proceed to end of street and continue off-road". Really! So we looked at a map and found the place where the boats leave for Ft. Sumter.

When we finally got to the right place, we took a boat out to the site - passed the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier in the process - open for tours. We spent an hour at the Fort; lots to see and read about; interesting to see the rifled shells still stuck on the inside of the walls from the North bombardment after the South took and held the fort for years. Lots of interesting action took place in Charleston harbor, with lots of unique iron clad ships on both sides, submarines, floating mines, torpedoes and blockade runners. A great place to visit. AND it was a pretty nice day.

We got back, had lunch and then went back downtown to see the Battery section of old town. Very nice restored old homes - reminded me a lot of Alexandria but the houses were bigger and more Southern. Ate in place called Sermet's - another yummy meal. Walked around the newer town and then back to Mt. Pleasant. Bid adieu to Charleston. I really liked and if you ever get the chance to go, DO IT.

3-17-10 SE Coast Trip Day 5

Before leaving Hilton Head, we tried to get to the only real lighthouse on the island, a Civil War era metal frame structure that is inland somewhat. But the way is blocked by gates, private drives and gold courses. Screw Hilton Head!

We left for the north, driving through Beaufort (in SC, it's pronounced Bufurt, as opposed to Bowfort as it is in NC). We drove to the visitor center, got a map and then drove around the old home area. It was drizzly and grey but the houses were still nice to look at. Then on to Charleston.

We first went to the Visitor Center to get maps and ideas of what to see. The weather had not improved - had gotten greyer and more threatening in fact. We walked to the French Quarter and looked at the period houses and parks - all very nice but it started raining. We kept going since this WAS vacation after all. We stopped to eat at what turned out to be a pretty famous place - Jestine's Kitchen. Specialized in good down home Southern cooking. I had fried chicken like my Grandmother used to make. Mmmmm Good. We were just glad we got there early and did not wind up like the 30 people outside in the rain under the awning.

We stayed in Mt. Pleasant, just over the river from Charleston. Charleston is a very nice town.

3-16-10 SE Coast Trip Day 4

Judgement day - we pay the piper for our resort stay. Our timeshare sales pitch was at 9am. It was supposed to last for 90 min and instead lasted for 3 hrs. I had not heard about being offered Marriott points in lieu of using the timeshare, so that was new and enough to keep me intrigued. The guy wrapped up his pitch and rose to leave saying, "Well I'll let you two talk it over" and Sue says "No need. We aren't going to buy today." And except for some whining, that was that.

We spent the rest of the day walking for a short while on another wildlife preserve, Pinkney Island. We saw more alligators but not much else. We then went for a 90 min boat ride (small motor boat, just 6 people) to see oysters on the bank of the channels, birds and dolphins. I got some pictures. My camera is so slow I got a ton of pictures of circular ripples on the water where the dolphin had just been! In one case a sea bird came down and landed right over the dolphin and was "helping" him feed - he followed the dolphin around for several minutes and we could actually anticipate where the dolphin would surface by watching the bird. That was neat.

Dinner was at an expensive so-so sea food place - not impressed! Back to resort for last night in luxury.

3-15-10 SE Coast Trip Day 3

We got up late today - nice to sleep in. We first took a walk on the beach - good weather, cool so we could still wear a coat, not too windy. Found some little birds that liked to stand on one leg. We decided to find some outdoor activity so we went to the Sea Pines Forest Refuge on the South end of the island. It is really one big bog, filled with trees in standing water. No bugs, no smell. Lots of boardwalks. Some dry land to walk on. It was not hot, just about right. We saw lots of big turtles in the ponds. We found ourselves walking along a road by a lake and saw an alligator sunning himself not 20 feet away. That was a surprise - we saw several more, of various sizes, some in people's back yards, and all were so sleepy they might as well have been plastic models. Not that I tried to see how awake they were. I thought I had read they can move fast when they want to.

After that, we went to explore the commercial settlement by the marina on that endof the island. There's a lighthouse there, but it was put up in the 70s to get boat owners to dock in the marina. That one doesn't count! Food's expensive. that night we barbequed steaks using the outdoor grills the Marriott resort had. We hadn't had any home barbeque in a long time - it was good.

3-14-10 South East coast Trip Day 2

We drove on to Savannah, figuring to see the town and then head back up to Hilton Head. We got to Savannah about 11 and went directly to the Visitor's Center to catch a tour. Figured that was the best way to get an idea of what the whole city (at least the oldtown) looks like. It was just 90 minutes, a small bus ride. Savannah reminded me of pictures I have seen of New Orleans. The residential old town is fixed up and renovated, "sort of". Shades of seediness in the corners. The weather was not too bad, no rain, just cloudy. After leaving the tour, we walked around, through the many old parks in the city and by the historic homes. A few pictures are here.

Savannah was getting ready for the St. Patrick's Day blowout. Lots of tourists, many college age, all wearing tons of "Green Bling" - beads, necklaces, hats, shirts. The fountains were green. Savannah is very proud of its St. Patty's day parade and party.

After seeing the city we drove out to Tybee Island to see the light house. Then we stopped by Fort Pulaski, the scene of a civil war siege by the North. After the North took the fort, they rebuilt the walls but the cannon ball impacts are still visible - in fact the cannon ball is still in the wall. It was a very neat place.





We then headed to Hilton Head. We got there after dark. The villa was very nice - two Bdrms, two Jacuzzis, two bath, nice kitchen. We could really get used to this.

3-13-10 South East Coast Trip Day 1

Our first big expedition! And right after we got back from out west; but that was a work trip. Saturday morning was rainy. The downtown of Alexandria was flooding and the Potomac was even with the walkways down by our house. We drove by to take a look and some pictures before we left for our trip.

The plan is to drive south to use our three night stay at the Marriott resort on Hilton Head. We want to see Savannah GA, Hilton Head, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and maybe Wilmington NC. So today we started by driving to Florence SC, a good stopping place for the night. On the way, we made our first encounter with cooking trending to Southern - we got lunch at a BoJangles - a place we had never heard of before but we thought it might be good to try. Well, it was good, but not good for you. Lots of that wonderful fat stuff - I had a blueberry fried muffin - well, it was not quite fried but had some much grease that it might as well have been fired. Yummy - I scarfed it right up! But the guilt!

The drive down was pretty boring - the road is flanked almost the whole way by stands of pine trees. It appeared there were clear cuts behind the trees. The trees often have standing water bogs at their roots. The billboards are funny - they will clear out a swatch of trees at an angle to the road to let the billboard be seen from the road as you drive by - or - they will put the billboard on a huge pole above the top of the trees, and these are tall trees. Looks like it's meant for one to read the billboards on the opposite side of the road.



For dinner in Florence we thought we would go to what looked to be a local place, after having gone to Mass at 5 in a small Church close to the hotel. Again, the cooking was not what we were used to. And the sweet tea - Argggg. Everything is sweet. So, we need to be careful about eating.

The town is pretty, the folks are friendly. And while reading about Florence, I discover that it was bombed in 1958 with the BIG ONE. That's right, the AF dropped an A-bomb on little old Florence - without the nuke stuff fortunately - but 200 pounds of High Explosive went off and somebody lost his house! The things you find out when you look. Savannah was the beneficiary of an A-bomb also it turns out. They were dropping like flies. After the Florence affair, the AF changed its policies and required the crews to lock the bombs into the plane, so the plane had to come down to have the bomb come down. The crews had been jettisoning the bombs if they got into trouble.

3-5-10 A Week In the Mountains

Sue and I headed back to Albuquerque on Friday 3/5. We spent the weekend at Amanda's house with the grand-dogs. Amanda was gone with Sal until Sunday afternoon. I left for Colorado Springs on Tuesday afternoon. I had a two day meeting there. Sue stayed in Albuquerque, had a good visit and, it turned out, got a lot done for her job since she could do more classified work. Gotta love it when a plan comes together.

On this trip, I got the feeling that returning to Albuquerque will not be so traumatic. I think we will have enough time in DC to see a lot of there and the rest of the east coast. While the public transport system is pathetic compared to DC's and there is not a whole lot to do, I think I will be able to slip back into the nest. Sue is most assuredly ready to come back - she is starting to get lonely staying home and working from the house. We had dinner with our Church dinner group while we there - Thanks for setting that up MaryAnn. It was good to see them. Having friends like that makes all the difference.

3-4-10 Two evening events

This week we went to to evening events downtown. On Tuesday 3/2 Sue came down at 4pm and we took the Metro to Foggy Bottom and then walked to the National Geographic Society building. We got in early to the Terra Cotta Warriors show there so we got a bit more than an hour to tour the show. That was fine. Lots of history, pictures, paintings and models explaining the layout of the warrior find in China. There were 12 of the original figures there. It's amazing and unknown as to how these folks even created such huge clay figures and fired them. The detail on the statues is very high, even to the soles of the boots/shoes they wear. Two 1/2 scale models of chariots and carriages that were found.

We went back to Alexandria and had dinner at Landini Bros - very very good Italian food.

Then on Thursday 3/4 Sue came down at 5 and we walked uptown to find a restaurant north of the Mall. We decided to go to Rosa Mexicana across from the Verizon Center. Not you New Mexican sort of food. Very different set of tastes. It was good but I started to feel after I ate like I had an alien inside me. Never had any really bad effects, just heaviness. Probably won't go back there. It was packed anyway for a Capitols game that night.

We walked back to the Smithsonian Ripley Center to listen to a talk about the Hajj. It was pretty lame. We are doing these evening talks as part of the Smithsonian Resident program here, that gives us price breaks on the talks. Except for one, they have been pretty unimpressive if not bad. This last one suffered from lack of planning and effort. So maybe we will dial back on going to these things. One take away from the talk is the persistence of the practices at the Hajj for 1400 years. Also that this is a pilgrimage to a holy site founded by Abraham, not Muhammad.