Author: bzspony1949

We've been full time RVers since 2015 and have been fortunate enough to have seen all 50 states (we flew to Hawaii and alaska) and stayed in each at least one week! It's been an awesome adventure but we've decided to park our fifth wheel in Yuma Arizona, mostly because its warm year round! By staying put in one place we can now do other travel both in the USA and abroad.

Savannah, Georgia

While our rig was being repaired (Finally fixed the slide issue!) we went to Savannah for a few days and stayed in a VRBO. We have no pics of that, it wasn’t anything picture-worthy , but lots of pics of this beautiful city!
As I said before, our apartment was nothing to write home about but this was Forsyth Park right across the street. Everything was within walking distance which was good since finding parking for Big Blue was nearly impossible!
We took a Hop On-Hop Off trolley/bus tour of Savannah. Along the way these folks in costume would hop aboard to give us entertaining spiels about various characters in Savannah’s history.

We saw many of these old colonial traditional homes; very well kept and preserved.

We loved all these streets lined on both sides with Live Oak trees; so named because unlike most trees, as soon as they drop their leaves they sprout new ones right away!
Some of the many beautiful displays of Spring flowers. The Azaleas were especially abundant and thriving here!

From the original layout of the city, they have always had these 24 squares around . All different and all beautiful. Each had some sort of monument or statue commemorating one of their historical figures.

We loved this building with it’s tower.
A few buildings had these ornate cast iron downspouts. Our bus driver/guide called them dolphins but we think they’re just fish; still cool!

 

Some of the homes and bridges also had this ornate iron work.
An original pharmacy from back then.
And there was a film crew in town filming Gemini Man with Will Smith; all we saw was the police cars blocking the street and the movie set trailers.
We also saw the Old Savannah Cotton Exchange. Now it’s occupied by various shops, businesses, restaurants and hotels but keeps it’s historic charm.

These bridges were used back then for the assessors could inspect loads of cotton for sale so they could assess it’s value.
The cobblestones here were stones the original merchants had in the holds of their ships as ballast when they came to America. Once they arrived they would offload them and load up whatever treasures they would buy to take back.
While in Savannah we had to of course take a riverboat cruise!
Very authentic looking paddlewheel, until you notice a few things. Here, the paddlewheel isn’t touching the water.
And then there were four of these huge diesel exhaust pipes!
And the original smoke stacks now houses life jackets! Oh well, that’s progress; still cool though!
A view back towards the Cotton Exchange from the boat.
A closeup of that gilded clock tower reveals the clocks apparently no long are functional. At least they could have matched the time on the clocks for those that are OCD!

The interior was beautiful as well!
One of the free river ferry boats.
A view of the suspension bridge nearby. Impressive piece of engineering!

Nearby construction; they’re tearing down an old power plant to make way for new construction.
One of the many massive freighters and tankers that visit this bustling port of entry. This one has a ramp out the fantail where they can drive vehicles on and off.
Here’s a steam shovel, I mean excavator (sorry Reeve!) coming off. It gives you a sense of the size of this massive ship!
Wood chips for paper production I assume.
This is a statue in the park along the Savannah River of a woman who always greeted all the ships arriving by waving a white flag; she is legendary. Legend has it that she met and fell in love with a sailor who promised to return for her when he left. She did this for over 40 years!
Some of our locals to greet the passing boats!
Down the river a ways was Fort Jackson.; a restored 19th century fort built in 1808, used in the War of 1812 and used by the Confederates during the Civil war.
Every time this riverboat passes they treat the passengers to a firing of the cannon!

Winter in Florida (After the Orlando and Cuba Adventures!)

larry and penny’s memorial park & campground

While staying at Larry and Penny’s Memorial Park campground there were wonderful hiking and biking trails leaving right from the park; no need to drive anywhere!.
From the park it followed the path in the previous picture past this beautiful lake (with the obligatory lawyer signs about dangers of alligators of course!)
This path went about 9 miles towards Biscayne Bay along this channel; beautiful!
With lots of wildlife along the way including these cute Iguanas! Lots of them!

everglades national park

 

This amphitheater area was completely wiped out; much rebuilding to do. The campground was also closed for renovations.

The boardwalk continued out to the coast where it’s supposed to loop back. Notice all the barren trees?
Unfortunately Mother Nature didn’t think it should; blocked off from storm damage!
We doubled back and went around the other way; same thing!
This walkway made from Trex® was no match for the hurricanes fury! Instead of breaking and splintering like wood, it just succumbed by twisting and bending from the force of the storm surge!
But the wildlife remains!

hillsborough state park

This was a nice park that was very close to our campground in Thonotosassa.
This tree was hollow inside but still growing!
I took this shot by pointing my camera up inside the tree with the flash on to show that it truly was hollow!

Stuff grows just about anywhere and everywhere!

As you can see, a beautiful path; although not well marked, we got lost a few times!
Very tropical and jungle-like, don’t you think?

visiting my sister and joe in naples

We went to visit them just before Christmas at their home in Naples. Their home miraculously survived the hurricane with little damage but they said many trees in the area were uprooted and destroyed along with some structures.
The view from their Lanai.
At the entrance to their neighborhood there are these beautiful bronze horses!

our time in the tampa area

Bok Tower Gardens was beautiful! This bell tower has 60 bells ranging from 16 pounds to nearly 12 tons! It is the focal point and they have daily Carillon (bell) concerts; such a beautiful sound!

These iron gates by the tower were interesting too!

 

The layout of the property.

Mr. Bok’s reasoning for opening up this property to the community!
This hand laid patio at the visitors center was amazing! Each flat stone was laid on edge in this mesmerizing pattern!

 

The courtyard of the visitors center.

There was this beautiful Pinewood estate mansion on the property as well to explore. It’s a 1930’s 20 room estate; each room was a different style of architecture and design by request of the original owner, Charles Buck; very interesting!
his office
One of the sitting rooms.
And the main living room
The master bedroom.
With Mr. Buck’s Rum and cigars of course!

thonotosassa (northeast of tampa)

Our campground was an okay place, nothing noteworthy, other than these two local residents. They run the park! So much so that they put bronze ones at the entrance!

visiting friends and family while in thonotosassa

Barb and Zach came and stayed in Clearwater while we were in the area. We went over a few times to visit and enjoy the beach with them.
Zach just chillin’ at the beach soaking up rays!
Even their cat Mimi seemed to like the beach from the safety of her cat carriage !
The view from their condo.
The shockingly white sandy beaches of Florida!

Barb enjoying(?) the chilly water!

A passing sailboat.
Claude and Hope came out to the area for their annual trek to see the Phillies Spring training. We took this Manatee dolphin tour with them. We saw plenty of Dolphin but unfortunately no Manatee.
Harbor fun- boat names!
The captain has a good sense of humor!
A Coast Guard buoy tender.

On our way out!
Can you see these two chasing us?

Old Glory!
Harbor residents.
Some pretty pricey homes and boats along the shores down here!

This mangrove island is a bird sanctuary (and it smelled like it has been for quite awhile !
The boys.
After a lovely lunch!
We met my sister Anne and her husband Joe at a halfway point one last time before we left Florida at Hurricane Charley’s in Punta Gorda for lunch.
Some leftover hurricane memorabilia?

goodbye florida! on to new adventures!

 

Varadero and the Solymar Resort

As you can see this was a huge all-inclusive resort. I’ve marked where our suites are. They were top floor overlooking the pool with an ocean view.
Both units were beautiful, but we ended up with this end unit with a huge balcony.

Nice deck.
A smaller balcony next to our bed overlooking the pool; there were two of them.
A spacious bath with his and her sinks, a jacuzzi tub, shower, walk-in closet and a separate area with toilet and bidet. There was also a second half bath off the great room.

Our view of the resort grounds.

And the ocean.
Our deck from out on the roof looking back. Yes, that’s my Bucanero beer!
The lobby was equally beautiful with these enormous vines hanging down!

More close-ups of the grounds.

One of the numerous bars available.
And of course, the white sandy beach!

We did venture into town for some shopping and sightseeing. We took this carriage for our return trip to the resort.

On our trip back we suffered a “flat tire”; the rubber slipped off the steel rim and our driver had to stop and re-attach it.

But alas, our vacation is over, back to the grind 😎

Goodbye, Cuba. Until next time! We would love to return and see even more of this fascinating, beautiful country !

 

Our Cuba Adventure with the Hoffman’s

We started our adventure in Old Havana, the older section of downtown Havana. Most of the buildings were from 1930’s or older. Our apartment was refurbished over a 2 year period. Not much to look at on the outside but really nice inside. It was all of this corner building except for the first floor. They are planning to someday turn that into a coffee shop or something similar.
You entered through the ground floor up this narrow stairwell. Very long stairs since the ceilings in this building are about 16-18 feet!  Notice the red string? That is how you unlatch the front door for visitors so you don’t have to go down to do so!
The second floor entrance hall. You can see our dining table in the living room towards the back of this picture.
A very nice living/dining room with old bentwood rocking chars and floor to ceiling wood shuttered doors that open out to a wrap around balcony overlooking the street below.

It had a nice kitchen with a fridge and induction cooktop. We only used the fridge and coffee maker. The fridge had a bottle of rum and 4 large water bottles, all included! The funny part is we ventured out to find beer and the closest store only had Miller Lite! NO Cuban beer to be found!
At the back of the hallway was this rather narrow spiral staircase for access to the rooftop deck with sunroom. Halfway up the staircase there was a landing that gave access to a small room with a very nice Samsung washing machine! The guys who did the remodel said they had to hoist it up there before the staircase went in!
The deck was pretty nice with palm trees and a sunroom. There was also another deck above the sunroom with a couple of Adirondack chairs.

Part of our view. Notice the steel I-beam structure? That’s how they hoist anything up into the apartment; bringing anything up that narrow stairwell would be near impossible!
This is Steve greeting the gardener who came every other day to tend to the plants on the roof.
A view down the street in our “hood”. Lots of cool old cars everywhere!
Laundry day!
The auto shop across the street. They re-paved our street during our visit. No barriers or signs, just don’t get run over by the equipment!
It’s obviously been an auto repair shop for a very long time!

Every morning and evening these street vendors would come around selling their wares. Mostly either some form of bread or onions.
The bread guy. Ever wonder how the people on the third floor get their products from these vendors?
A long rope with a basket on the end works just fine! Apparently it takes a committee of 3 or more to accomplish this task!

On one of our days there Yordin, the owner/manager of the apartment we rented, arranged a car tour of Havana for us. Guess what our chariot was? Yes, a 1958 Ford Fairlane convertible, bright pink! On closer inspection though it didn’t start life out as a convertible. He took a two door coupe and cut the top off! Like magic, he has a convertible; just hope it doesn’t rain, there’s no top under that boot!

It even has the original steering wheel. That’s unusual here, most cars have newer ones from a Toyota or something!
And the original Ford V8 with 2 barrel carb; also unusual; many of these cars have different engines, like Russian diesels from trucks!
Touring along the Malecon, the boulevard that ran along the ocean and it’s adjoining wide sidewalk.

Along our way we saw many beautiful old cars. They are privately owned and mostly used as taxis.

And a few odd ones, like this old Triumph.
Touring this old fort, so much history here! From way before Castro and the revolution!

Steve posing with one of the many statues.
Along with a bird!
When I could get pictures of the old cars with no modern cars around, I just had to convert them to black & white! Makes it look like your there back in time doesn’t it?

We got to see Castro’s personal tank from the revolution!
With whitewalls?!?

This fort is from the time the Spanish ruled here, the early to mid 1800’s

The view of downtown Havana from the fort. They are across the bay from each other. There is a tunnel built by the French between 1957 and 1958.
Back to the Malecon in Havana via the tunnel.

Cruising the Malecon and downtown Havana
Our guide took us to the Hotel National of Cuba, built in 1930. You can just feel the history in this place!
Their signature drink, the Mojito!
They make them by the dozens!
The cigar and brandy bar outside on the patio.

The main lobby.

More history of the glory days!

An interesting painting in their lobby. Depending on the angle you view it, you see 3 different paintings!

And of course Fidel.
And Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

More guests arriving.
After drinks at Hotel Nacional Cuba,  more sightseeing. Here’s the Capitol building; it’s undergoing a major renovation as you can see.
There were other forms of transportation besides the classic car taxis.

Back in Havana the next day, we visited the oldest Cigar factory in Cuba. The actual factory here in Downtown closed several years ago, but they still have 2 other factories on the island still producing cigars.

There are some streets blocked from vehicles where you can walk and shop and eat. They apparently have lots of leftover cannons and cannon balls to use for this purpose!

We stopped in this bar for a little refreshment, very cool old wood bar!
And entertainment!
notice the stand-up electric bass?
A rather odd old picture!
Deana shopping, Steve waiting.

We came across this guy feeding the street cats.

We couldn’t leave Havana without going to the Floridita, the bar Earnest Hemmingway used to frequent often.
Their signature drink on the right, a daiquiri
And a bronze statue of Hemmingway at the bar.
Which of course everyone needs their picture with!
And a giant daiquiri at the front door!
Along our way we came across this “statue”.

Who moved when you least expected it!

On our last night in Havana Yordin made us reservations at one of his favorite restaurants, La Guardia. Great food and superb rooftop sunset views!
It was upstairs in this old building that used to be a very exclusive hotel back in the day.

So considerate, don’t you think?
The restrooms were different. Individual unisex enclosed stalls with this community sink!
Their rooftop deck and the spiral stairs to the upper deck.

This seat was kind of cool, a picture frame!
And the view from the second upper deck was awesome! That’s the capital building in the distance.
Other parties enjoying the sunset!

on to varadero……..

 

Kennedy Space Center and Boggy Creek Airboat Ride

kennedy space center and cape canaveral tour

Our friends Steve and Mary Bergman came to Kissimmee to visit from Colorado. We did this fascinating tour of the Kennedy Space Center which included a bus tour of Cape Canaveral
Great quote by a great man.
The different rockets used during the space program.
Steve and Mary posing in front of the Atlantis Booster rockets for the space shuttle. It’s enormous! The two brackets you see on the fuel tank are where the shuttle attaches.
Jan and me in front of the Atlantis booster.

A mural of the Space Station

The control room where they launched the Apollo from. We sat through a re-creation of the day they launched the Apollo moon landing. Pretty cool and realistic!

A graphic showing the vast difference in size of the Saturn V to the space shuttle, the Statue of Liberty and the other previous rockets used early on in the space race.
The second stage rocket  engines of the Saturn V.
Stage 3 of the Saturn V. It wasn’t possible to get the whole thing in one picture even with my wide angle lens!
The moon rover, referred to as the”Off World Off Road Vehicle”!

The actual Apollo 10 capsule; notice it still has the burn markings from re-entry!
The underside showing the extreme heat it withstood during re-entry. Amazing!
This is the final destination for the Space Shuttle Atlantis!

Their space walking uniform.
They also had a Hubble Telescope there; it was also put into orbit using the Space Shuttle
Plaques for all 33 space missions

They had a very nice display of all the shuttles and a tribute to the two that were lost along with their crews; the Challenger and the Columbia. I don’t think anyone will forget either!

The funeral procession for the Challenger’s 7  Astronauts.
The Shuttle Launch pad
Another launch pad. Notice the huge towers? They are lightning rod towers to keep any possible lightning strikes on the rocket!
The building that houses the shuttle prior to launch. The tallest single story building in the world!
The platform that transports the shuttle from the building to the launch pad. It has 2 tracks on each corner for a total of 8. It traverses the 4 miles (I think) in about 8 or 9 hours! This thing has been in service for 50 years, built in 1965! It is getting refurbished for the Mars Program.
This is one link of one tack; it weighs about 1000lbs.
The crushed and compacted rock bed ( it’s 7 feet deep !)  that the transport uses. They recently refurbished to in preparation for the Mars Program; the next step in space exploration!

 

Space X and Boing are both big participants and have facilities here.
Even NASA has gators! They put fences around the launching areas with sides that curve out so the gators can’t climb them!
Some parting shots as we left at the end of our visit. I thought this shot of the NASA logo with the moon in the background was fitting!
Looks cool with the colored lighting!

boggy creek airboat tour

While Steve and Mary were here we also took this airboat tour, lots of fun!

They had their own petting zoo! NOT!!

One of their boats coming in called “Gator Transportator”, cute!
And off we go! Smile Steve! (Oh yea, he is!) Notice the “Life Vests Under Seat” sign? I think they would be use less; the water is only a couple of feet deep plus there’s alligators!

Our first sighting; he was shy.

Snapping turtle
A big boy!
Kind of like an iceberg; mostly submerged, except this will kill you and eat you!
Here’s lookin’ at ya!
Love the Spanish moss on the trees!

These cattle didn’t seem too concerned about their hungry neighbors!

We saw this perfect beautiful shell just sitting on top of the sea grass! Something in my head said, “Don’t reach for it!”
And this is why!
Nice reflection!
Heading back in; the 1 hour flew by, so much to see!
They had a local indian on site to show and explain how their forefathers lived, hunted and survived in this swampy land.
A stone spearhead
A gator skin; I guess that was his last meal in his jaws!

He’s demonstrating the blow dart!
Time for some Gator for lunch!

Legoland with Reeve & Family

At the entrance, Reeve couldn’t wait to get inside! He’s REALLY into Legos and especially anything Legos Star Wars related!
Reeve meeting the Lego R2D2
An AT-AT battleground
Amazing detail in all of the displays!
Laura is as much or more so into Star Wars and Legos!
Starship Enterprise (I think!)

We did pry Reeve away from the Star Wars exhibits; he and Laura and I did the Lego Safari ride, fun!

I was in a separate car behind them. It was on rails so I could take pictures and let it self guide!
Reeve also got to drive himself on the electric Lego cars.
I on the other hand didn’t quite fit; but it was a FORD!
Speaking of Fords, they had a 1964 1/2 Mustang Coupe made entirely of 194,900 Legos!
It took the team 1200 hours to complete! It’s 15 feet long, 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall.

At the entrance of the Imagination where they let the kids (and adults) build stuff with Legos. Yes, thats Einstein in Legos!
Bryce & Reeve building cars to race against each other

The Luxor; part of the city of Las Vegas exhibit.
The Hollywood Bowl; complete with full orchestra and an audience!
Daytona NASCAR Speedway, complete with spectators and RVs in the infield!

And a NASA exhibit with a Lego Space Shuttle launch!
Reeve in the Lego star with his “friends”!
Branpa and his bench buddy!

Florida with the Grandkids!

On Jan’s birthday we all met at Medieval Times in Kissimmee, just up the road from our campground. Luckily Rich and Aneka’s time in Kissimmee overlapped by a day with Bryce, Laura and Reeve’s time here so we could do this birthday celebration for Jan!

Our guy was the black and white stripes.
Cheering him on!
So fun to have everyone together! Jan’s best birthday ever!
Our guy tried to throw the flower to Aneka but his aim was off, bummer!

animal kingdom

We visited Animal Kingdom 3 times; once with Rich and Aneka, once with Bryce, Laura and Reeve and once by our selves after everyone had left. We had fun all three times!

We did the Kilimanjaro Safari ride each time; you never get tired of it because you’ll see different animals each time!

Beautiful exotic birds everywhere.
And crocodiles; we learned that Florida is one of the few places that has both alligators and crocodiles!
And of course giraffes
Flamingos.
A beautiful lioness enjoying the sun!
Monkeys monkeying around!
Lunchtime with Aneka and Rich.
They even had a “bicycle shop”.
A Roseate Spoonbill (according to Google!)
One of their many Hippos with a friendly bird on his back.
Enjoying watching Reeve take in all the animal sightings!
He loved the fish tank!

 

A very handsome gorilla!
White Rhinos.

Lunchtime at the Rainforest Cafe.
Playtime; burning up energy!

Bryce, Laura and Reeve rode on the Dinosaur ride; kind of like Dumbo but with cute dinosaurs!

This is called The Tree of Life; it is one of our favorites. So many animal and other critters carved into it! You see something new each time you visit it. There are over 300 animals carved in it!

One for you, Joni!

epcot

Rich and Aneka really enjoyed this park!
They especially enjoyed the countries.
One for you Barb and Zach!
GranJan and Aneka.
Aneka and her new friend!

Holding the ball!
Rich and my favorite; Germany!
Aneka and Branpa with our new friend!
Aneka modeling!

The ball at night, pretty lighting!
Bryce, Reeve and Laura in front of the ball; waiting in line for the ride.

In front of a Mexican Pyramid.
Reeve meeting one of his favorite characters from Frozen (I’m not sure which one she is)
Reeve always has the best view! In front of the Chinese exhibit.
Reeve was enamored with the large train display
They had a really detailed train layout!
Now in Italy with Reeve and his giant Mickey Pretzel.

And we’re off again!
Japanese drummers

Reeve loved them!
Lunchtime at the Japanese Hibachi Grill.

Mickey Mouse!
Our chef was very entertaining!
Reeve and daddy!
On to meet Crush from Nemo!
Mine, mine, mine, mine!
Crush was entertaining. He answered questions from the kids. Amazing how they can do that!

Reeve loved the fish tanks too.

disney hollywood

Their Christmas tree.
The Star Wars exhibit was the main attraction.
Again, Reeve gets the best view….
…For the Stormtroopers!
And Darth Vader.
Chewbacca and Princess Rey.
A very large At-At walker!
After the kids left Jan and I went back to see the Indiana Jones show. It was pretty cool; they showed you how they do a lot of the special effects on the movie!
The infamous giant rolling boulder!
Which apparently is not all that heavy; two skinny stage hands pushing it back uphill!
The film crew filming the flipping and exploding army truck.
Cut… putting out the fire!
More action with the good guys getting away!

magic kingdom

Reeve in his box seat (daddy’s shoulders)for the downtown parade!

EVERYBODY’S favorite ride.. It’s a Small World After All. Come on, sing along! Stuck in your head now?!?

On to the Jungle Cruise and Tom Sawyer Island.
I didn’t point this sign out to Reeve!

And the finale for the day, Dumbo!

AND DONE!!

South Carolina & Georgia- On Our Way to Florida

In South Carolina we stopped for 3 nights at Santee Lakes Campground in Santee, SC! First because of the obvious connection to home and secondly it was our 21st Anniversary! This picture looks better than it was!
We were the elite of the campground we think; most of it looked like this. BUT, it was Santee Lakes, east coast!
Fall was upon them
They had this pier to enjoy the best part of their campground- the sunsets!
We took drinks out the evening of our anniversary to celebrate and saw some great sunset views!

 

While there we did do a hike in Santee State Park
We loved the Spanish moss on many of the trees; beautiful along with the fall colors!
And, since we’re getting farther south, the lawyer signs everywhere (don’t forget to read the FINE print)!
A beautiful fall day, around 73 degrees!
Some Tortugas and fall color reflections!

Interesting growth on this fallen tree
Cool rickety bridge! We traversed it twice and lived to tell about it!
Cool Geckos!

on to kings bay submarine base campground, georgia

Being a Naval base there are limited opportunities to take “legal” pictures; here’s one near the entrance.
This Submarine in the grass was kind of cool!

Our campsite was awesome; we’ll plan on returning here sometime.
Our view and Happy Hour spot for the 3 days.
And, of course, the obligatory lawyer signs!
An egret drying his wings.
Pretty fall color reflections on the water!

They even had this covered fishing pier for the campers enjoyment!

on to our winter home(for this year)-sunny florida

 

North Carolina Adventures

raleigh and the surrounding area

Our first 3 days in North Carolina we stayed in a pretty nice campground. The rest of our stay we stayed in a motel in Raleigh while getting some needed repairs done on our trailer.
Our friends Jorge and Kathy came to visit us while there. (Kathy’s taking this picture)
We also went to their condo for a dinner; great fun!
Jorge and Kathy were excited about our tower kit and bought one; we experimented with a tower for our dinner there.
If you’re interested, you can find the kits on our website, http://www.funeasygourmet.com
Our creation, a simple side salad.
The finished product.
On Kathy’s recommendation, we visited William B. Umstead State Park for some gorgeous fall hiking. Very nice mostly paved trails!

We also found this beach park; Falls Lake State Park. Beautiful and hardly another person there on such a nice day! The advantages of retirement; go mid-week!
The only other person we saw was flying his drone around.

Some odd patterns in the sand; we think formed by seaweed or snails?

the outer banks including kitty hawk, nags head and cape hatteras

Since it was mid-week and our friends were busy at work we decided to take a couple of days to go check out the Outer Banks. I hadn’t been there since I was about 12!

The first place we visited was Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers made their historic first flights.
The monument erected on top of Big Kill Devil Hill that they used to do their non-powered glider flights. It was just sand back then so they had quite a struggle getting the plane back to the top for each test flight.

From up there you can see where they did the 4 historic flights. Just think, this was November of 1903 and we’ve progressed from this to manned space flights in the 1960s!
Their flight path and markers for each successive flight; notice the rail they put down to get started!

Marker #1
Marker #2
Marker #3
And Marker #4 for their 4th and most successful flight.
It’s kind of fitting; they put the local airport, First Flight Airport, right adjacent to this historic sight. It must be pretty cool to fly in and see this site!
Some military helicopters buzzing the field too!
This was a very cool bronze sculpture that was donated and dedicated by the state of North Carolina in 2003 commemorating the centennial of their achievement.

They even included a statue of the photographer who took the photos of the occasion!
Wilbur Wright at the controls.
Orville Wright cheering his brother on!
Local Coast Guards that volunteered to help the wright Brothers in their historic flight.

That first evening we stayed at a really nice beach front hotel, The Seaside Inn. Just over the dune we had this ocean view. No pictures of the Inn, but this view was awesome!
In looking through visitors guides we came across this Wild Horse Humvee Tour and decided we would do it. I’m really glad we did, we had no idea that there were wild horses out here!       Apparently they are descendants of the horses the Spanish brought over back in the 1520’s. When the ships ran aground in the famous “Graveyard of the Atlantic” as this coast is called, they lightened their load to get free by off loading these wild Spanish Mustangs. That was almost 500 years ago! The herd is now down to a managed size, one at each end of this string of islands. One at the southern end on Ocracoke Island and the one we visited on the extreme northern end near Corolla.
Our transportation for this adventure, a custom built 13 passenger Humvee.
A little horse humor! I know a few people who could use this doormat!
At the end of the island you go through the gate at the barrier dunes and the road continues on the beach! It’s the only “road” down to where the horses live and the beach homes that are now there. The residents are just accustomed to living with these four legged friends!

Our guide pointed this house out; it’s red & green and it’s called the Christmas House, The guy who lives there sometimes even dresses up as Santa (during the appropriate season we assume!)

Notice the tree stumps? The ocean has moved about 250 feet closer to shore over the last few centuries!
Most of these are vacation rental homes; our guide says there is one that has 26 bedrooms! Many of them have carports underneath and during periods of extreme heat or inclement weather the horses have been seen using them for shelter !

The fence line that keeps the horses on their 180 acre preserve,

Back at the shop.
Until we did this tour we couldn’t figure out why these beautifully painted horses were all over the Outer Banks; now we know!
Their vehicle for larger groups! This would make a great desert camper!
We stopped at a convenience store after our tour; apparently you can get just about anything here!
The weather started turning towards the end of the day as we got on the ferry back to Hatteras Island.

On the ferry
We visited two lighthouses here. This one is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. If you Google it you’ll discover it was moved 2900′ inland in 1999 because of the threat of beach erosion sine it was originally built in 1870. Fascinating story if you’re interested!
Some of the original foundation stones are still here.

The other lighthouse we visited was the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Notice it’s stripes are horizontal rather than spiraled like the Hatteras Lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Time in Virginia

We stayed at this FamCamp, Kings Creek RV Campground, while visiting Williamsburg and the surrounding area. It’s on the Yorktown Annex/Naval Weapons Station so obviously I no pictures other than this! A nice campground with lots of space.
We visited the Mariners Museum in Newport News, not far from our campground.
A beautiful carved Eagle figurehead.

Another Figurehead carving.
The Freshnell lens from the Cape Charles lighthouse.
They had this cool play area for the kids that was shaped as a pirate chip.

Some parts of the Monitor, a Civil War submarine, are being painstakingly cleaned and restored as much as possible for future display in the museum. As you might recall from school, it was sunk in the James River by the Merrimack.
Some large parts recovered from the wreckage in a bath to dissolve slowly the ravages of their time under water.
They even recovered the huge main turret!

yorktown revolutionary battlefield

We visited the Yorktown Battlefield area where the revolutionarys battled the British

I noticed the groove where the cannon would fire and wondered if it was cut that way or they just let the shots carve their own path!
Amazing that they have saved these bunkers just as they were during the conflict!

This is the Moore House where Washington and Cornwall signed the papers ending the Revolutionary war and giving the United States it’s freedom from British rule.

jamestown settlement

I never realized until this visit that Jamestown is on an island!

The foundation still exists for the original Jamestown Statehouse.
They built the Visitors Center over some of the original foundations to protect and display them via some see through floors, pretty cool!

They had a tribe member who is  a descendant of the Paspahegh Indian tribe who lived there when the settlers landed to give us insight into how they lived before and after the settlers came; very interesting.
After our visit to Jamestown we went to nearby Riverwalk to have lunch by the river.

After lunch we decided to take the ferry over to Surry.

Looks a little off course to me!

Being greeted by some locals!

taking the 17 mile chesapeake bay bridge-tunnel

On another day we decided to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It’s 17 miles long with two 1 mile long tunnels under the bay; quite the engineering marvel!

After crossing we found a little seafood restaurant on the bay, beautiful, and we were practically the only ones there!
You can barely see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel on the horizon in this shot.