http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Chiefy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Chiefy en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:42:17 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:42:17 +0000 Well a little bit has gone on since the last update. We went up to New Hampshire and parked. I had a buddy up there that was also an early retireee from American but I had never met him. We visited a bit and he took us up to Portsmouth for some jazz and a drink. Marilyn and I also made it all the way into Maine for some lobster. Maine is a lot like Washington state really. Green and raining mo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-424134.html Here we are in New York City. It so happens that we had two of the nicest weather days possible. Even though it is mid July the temperatures were in the low 80's with almost no humidity at all. We are parked up in Newburgh NY and so we took the train into the city each day. Near here is the West Point Military School. It is one of those cities where public transportation is the way to go beca http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-419402.html After leaving the D.C. area we went straight north to Gettysburg. This battlefield is always worth a visit for me and a guided tour by a ranger is worth a little extra money. Marilyn did it on horseback the first day and joined myself and John on the tour on the second day. What is it about women and horses My mind is reeling with theories and I'm not sure I should talk about them here. There is http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Pennsylvania/Gettysburg/blog-417752.html Today Marilyn stayed at the coach and so I had to go solo into D.C. Consequently my pictures don't have a familiar face in them. I don't like that but not much choice when I am taking the pictures myself. I did my usual fast paced touring that many people would not like. I do keep up a pace and I like it that way because I'm just not the kind of guy that needs to stare at something for 20 minutes http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-416122.html A guy could spend a lot of time in Virginia. We moved over to the east yesterday to a different park. It is very nice. We are about 30 miles from Washington DC to the northeast near Annapolis. But yesterday I went solo down to Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville which are just to the north of Richmond. These were both pivotal battles during the Civil War. Fredericksburg was a devastating Union los http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Fredericksburg/blog-415077.html Okay so the next day we went down to Mt. Vernon to see George Washington's house. We also saw Marilyns' brother Bob but he wasn't at Mt. Vernon he was at his own house. If you haven't been here it is a necessary visit. Georges' not Bobs' sorry Bob. George had it right because he built right on a ridge that looks out on the Potomac River. What a view. It was an 8000 acre estate at one time and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/George-Washington-Nat-Forest/blog-414782.html It is very difficult to get through Virginia. There is so much history here as well as government stuff. Anyway the RV park we are at right now is only a few miles from the Bull Run Battlefield. It was the first big battle of the Civil War fought in the summer of 1861. Everyone thought the war would be over in a month. Civilians from nearby towns even took carriage rides with blankets and picnic http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Manassas/blog-414616.html Today was a pretty bitchin' day for sure. We went out to see Monticello. It is a beautiful spot and house. It took 40 years to build because Jefferson kept changing his mind. Especially after trips to France which influenced both his architecture and favorite cuisine. Most everything is intact here as it has been spared battles and severe weather. He did die pretty deeply debt so the home was sold http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Charlottesville/Monticello/blog-413916.html oops it looks like I did my blog entries a little out of order. Before we went to Appomattox we went to the Yorktown battle field. This was significant because it was more or less the final battle of the Revolutionary Warand Cornwalis had to surrender to Washington. The earthworks here are still very well defined. In a nutshell Washington out maneuvered Cornwalis and Clinton but there were other http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/blog-413173.html Today we drove two and a half hours west bound to Appomattox Courthouse Virginia. This is where Lee surrendered to Grant to end the Civil War and reunite the country. I have always wanted to go there. It happened on April 9th of 1865. General Lee was down to about 25000 men and they were tired and hungry and out of supplies. Grant kept after him and would not let up. He finally got an offer of su http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/blog-413164.html Alright now class let's talk about the founding of Jamestown in 1607. Okay that's good enough. This and Williamsburg are worth a a visit if you like history and all but they are both a bit commercialized. There are a few original buildings but mostly they are reproductions and that is okay but I prefer to see and original if at all possible. One has to keep in mind that things weren't built to l http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Williamsburg/blog-412806.html Good morning from Charleston. Yesterday we went out to Fort Sumter. It is a great tour and although I did it once before it was worth it again. It is very interesting to see where the first shot of the Civil War was fired. After that we went over to market street. It is old and charming and we had lunch and then walked through the open air market. This structure dates back as well and was used as http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Charleston/blog-411412.html Hot and humid is what we have here again. We are driving north but it isn't helping. We are in Charleston and went to town today. Another beautiful and historic city. It also dates back a ways. Even more than Savannah by about 90 years. We were at a plantation today that dates back to the late 1600's. It is called Magnolia. It was a rice plantation of about 2000 acres in it's day. It was and still http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Charleston/blog-410937.html Well now Savannah is the kind of place it would be easy to settle at if you were looking to do that. Old quaint historic atmosphere and culture that you never tire of at all. The way America still ought to be. Naturally the first thing to see is the Forrest Gump Bench. Yes that movie along with about 100 others was filmed right here. For some reason they took the bench away after filming. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Georgia/Savannah/blog-410602.html We went into town again this morning before heading for Savannah GA. We just had to do the Fountain of Youth no matter how hokey it might be. First we had a nice breakfast at an authentic french crepe place. It was very good. Then we went over to the fountain. See the pictures. It really isn't a fountain as much as a well these days. The water is a bit sulpherish but drinkable. Supposedly J http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/St-Augustine/blog-409951.html My apologies but it is once again time for each and every one of you to start enduring the travel blog again. After 4 months in the Tampa area we finally left and are in St. Augustine FL. It's claim to fame is being the oldest city in the U.S. originally settled in 1565 give or take. It was a three and a half hour drive up here from Tampa and it is on the east coast just south of Jacksonville http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/St-Augustine/blog-409601.html Here are pictures of the Coral Castle. It was built by a guy named Ed Leedskalnin. Ed was one hell of an engineer and a bit of a scientist. He came here from Latvia and ended up settling in Homestead Florida not far from Miami. He built this place from coral all by himself. These coral blocks weighed tons. Nobody knows exactly how he did it. He was motivated by a girl of course. He called her Sw http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/blog-388309.html We left the Tampa area on a 6 day trip to Key West. Neither of us had ever been out there. It is getting kind of warm and sticky in this part of the world about now. First we drove the motorhome to Fort Lauderdale as a base of operations and there were a few things to do in this area. Then from here we drove the pick up truck out to Key West. We could have taken the motor home the entire way but http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Keys/Key-West/blog-387996.html We are getting numerous emails wondering if we are okay since there has been no entry in the travel blog of late. We are aokay. If we are just playing tennis it doesn't seem necessary to update but we did do something a little extra lately. Day before yesterday we went to the Body Works exhibit which happens to be here right now. I put up a few pictures. It is hard to believe these are a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Tampa/blog-385597.html Yesterday was Mote Aquarium day for us. As luck would have it Marilyn's sister Pat and brother in law were in the area for a business conference. Her and her husband Jim who is just a peach of a guy were in the Fort Myers area and so meeting in Sarasota was about in the middle as well as being the location of this attraction. I know everybody thinks of Florida as nice and toasty all the time but http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Sarasota/blog-378451.html