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Published: December 5th 2007
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Magellan Assisted Motor Home Trip - NY to FL via Fancy Gap, VA; Charleston, NC; St. Augustine, FL
Eats and Surprises on the Road to Florida
Hi guys, The big surprises were eating amazing breakfast crepes and admiring magnolia wreaths and swags at Charleston’s wonderful farmer’s market, joining in at a charity chili cook off to benefit the Charleston animal shelter, sharing tasty shrimp & grits on the upper deck of the Charleston Crab Shack, being dazzled by some 600 lighted holiday displays at James Island County Park where we were staying, discovering Gallery Chuma, featuring a major Gullah artist, and watching lighted boat parade preparations before we actually joined in the boat parade on a pontoon boat.
Here we are on our third winter trip from Ballston Lake, NY to warmer climes. We followed an alternate route and took a 30 mile scenic side trip north on Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap, VA - stayed at a nice KOA. The Blue Ride Parkway is amazing - can hardly imagine how lovely it must be in the spring with the blooming of huge wild rhododendrons that rim both sides of the roadway. The road is narrow and
hilly but The Schooner - and Wes - accommodated it well. The road was a WPA project started by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937 and not totally completed until 1987. The vistas are exceptional.
We rolled into James Island County Park outside of Charleston and found ourselves surrounded by 600 lighted and splendid holiday displays. We have stayed in this great park before; but not at Christmas time when the light show has thousands of cars loaded with families enjoying the spectacle. It’s a real gem. Shuttle service into Charleston ($7. round trip) is a bargain! Once in Charleston, Carta passes ($4 fee gives "seniors" like us all day unlimited trolley / bus pass) really makes getting around easy.
Charleston is a holiday delight - we enjoyed the hundreds of white lighted trees in the center of town at Marion Park, a lighted boat parade (which we were lucky enough to join), and fireworks. We visited the aquarium, military museum, and the aircraft carrier Yorktown and a destroyer similar too the one Wes was on in the Navy at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. We bought a wonderful sweet grass basket by Gullah artist, Leola Wright
and got introduced to Gullah painter, Jonathan Green at Gallery Chuma. The gallery was quite special with Green’s work and fanciful hand made hats designed by Chuma’s sister. The Gibbs Museum has wonderful art from Charleston’s history, including a drawing of southern ladies swooning on the rooftops of Charleston as they watched the firing on Fort Sumter. It was a bit disappointing that the Gibbs permanent collection of Gullah paintings was in storage because of an interesting, if a bit puzzling, installation of photography and video clips by New York artist Lorna Simpson. One section - to do with various hair styles from the back - was a humorous take on the ultimate “bad hair day.” A video installation about 31 cays in the life of an “every woman” type character had its weird allure.
We made a detour to Edisto Beach on the way from Charleston to St, Augustine. Wild and nicely unimproved; met a coupe from Maine who are there for three weeks. That would be a stretch for us - think you’ve got to love fishing to do that! We seem to like being close to towns and cities.
Foodies forever, here’s the rundown re:
great eats on the first leg of the trip - Charleston Crab Shack in the Market in Charlestown; we ate upstairs on a roof deck. People we met at the campground mentioned how good Shrimp & Grits are - so we had some and they are delish - the other entrée was Champagne battered Mahi Mahi on cheesy smashed potatoes. The Saturday Farmer’s Market was awesome, all sorts of fresh produce, meat and local crafts. We had been directed to the Crepe stand and were so happy to know about these treats. Other choices spanned the globe and the region - Gullah Creole and Gumbo; Greek gyros, fresh made mini donuts, and shrimp caught that morning. The Chili party was wonderful - a $30 donation got you all the tastes of scores of chili concoctions. There was a band, a silent auction, and all the beer & wine one would want. It was fun to spend part of a Saturday afternoon doing what the locals were doing. At St. Augustine we enjoyed dinner at the Reef, which is across Route A1A from the North Beach RV Camp Ground - more seafood ahi tuna for me and macadamia nut encrusted grouper
for Wes. On our last night in St. Augustine, before heading out for Fort DeSoto State Park, we walked to Cap’s on the Tolamata River (inner coastal) side of the RV Park where I had mussels and crab cakes and Wes had Grouper again and started off with a thick bowl of Gumbo. Delish!
We are traveling with a GPS contraption and finding it very amusing and practical. The Magellan is especially wonderfu when it warns the driver that he or she will be exiting LEFT in 2 miles. Love that lane change heads up!
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Bill Connors
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Happy Travels
Hi Wes and Joanne, glad to see you’re enjoying more travels. The photos are great too! It’s nice to read of the sights, sounds and tastes from your many stops along the way. Thanks for keeping us posted and sharing the fun. We really liked the photos with the frog... very nice. Enjoy!