Savannah, Georgia

Now we are quite southern and found a small RV park near the city and now it is warm and humid...not sure we would want to be here in the summer.
There are many majestic Live Oaks  which are massive and whose limbs reach far out in all directions.

Live oaks are different from the English oaks we know. The leaves are a shiny oval  and they remain green year round but shed their leaved  1/3 at a time. They provide much needed shade for the homes in this very warm part of the world. The historic downtown of Savannah is under the canopy of these old trees.

                                 Spanish moss hangs down form many of the trees.

Paula Dean and sons store and restaurant. we had lunch here very southern style food and very good, Fran is a fan of collard greens Tony ,not so much. Instead of bread brought to your table they bring a fresh pancake and a scone.

Happy Hour at the end of the day and checking on mail from home

A picture I just like

Charleston, South Carolina

We found a great  RV park not far from downtown Charleston so were able to take several trips in to see this wonderful city where the Civil war had its start with the first shot fired at Fort Sumter.
We noticed there is still some animosity towards the "north" after all of these years.
We also found out that a quite famous general during the civil war, named Christopher Gadsden, designed the flag flown during the civil war...."don"t tread on me"  it is still flown today.
My brother is Christopher Gadsden and as he has 2 sons and 4 grandsons.the name , which is not as common in Canada as in this part of the world, will live on..of course we got flags for all.

  

The cemetery at St Phillips one of many Gadsdens

 

  

 This is a spectacular bridge we were able to ride our bikes over it..it has a bike and pedestrian lane separate from  vehicular traffic.

                               

One of the gracious Charlston  homes.

Charleston harbor

The market downtown

Downtown residential home

OH, Fran does like to photograph houses

One of many beautiful churches.

Virginia beach and Myrtle beach

When we left DC we went to the coast of North Carolina Virginia beach. apparently very popular in the summer, but quite deserted when we were there.. the beautiful beach was lined with high rise hotels  but a nice boardwalk. We had a good bike ride there and spent a couple of days in the area. The Oceana naval airbase is here so lots of jets seen and heard overhead

                         
                                 sometimes we need a rest

                          


We  made a stop in Raleigh North Caroline for some bike repairs at REI then on to Myrtle beach South Carolina/ We stayed in a beautiful state park right on the ocean here.
Myrtle beach is another huge tourist area...notes form our stay there......

Not far south of the border between NorthCarolina. also called the grand strand.
We stayed at the State park which is right on the Atlantic. Long beach of pale sand and camping sites in the trees...complete with copper head snakes, of which thankfully we did not see.
It has a long pier out to sea from which long lines of fisherman cast their lines, catching mostly 'spot'fish and even an eel.
We finally feel warm again as the temperature was in the 70s during our stay.
the tourist area must run over 20 miles along the ocean and cluttered with high rise hotels and endless souvenir/ beach wear shops. when we say shops they are gigantic ,gaudy palaces with 10 foot high crabs, sharks, pirate and more sported out front. many places closed for the season or out of business. It must be a frantic place in the summer. We have decided we have never seen so many restaurants in one place especially pancake and waffle establishments. All you can eat breakfasts, all you can eat seafood buffets by the dozen.
North Myrtle beach has several 'grand ol opry' style theaters which apparently are very good.
We spent one day exploring Merrells Inlet just south which is a fishing/tourist area...there is a great boardwalk along the salt marsh area. We were lucky to find a 'locals'restaurant for lunch....new rule of thumb, Choose a restaurant with the cars lined up outside.. It was southern style home cooking buffet of food we don't see at home......black eyed peas, pigin peas, collard greens,fried flounder, fried chicken,mashed squash, mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy and more it was a very homey unassuming place friendly people, southern drawl and all. We did not need dinner that day!

We had some good bike rides with the girls in the parkland along the ocean.I was able to walk them on the beach every day as it was off season.

                    there were many jelly fish on the beach

Washington DC

Here we are near Daytona beach  Florida at 80 degrees and we have yet to write about Washington and south.
We have had 2 weeks to stay in one place. We have been reading and relaxing in the warm sunshine.

We so enjoyed our visit to DC and wish we had planned a longer stay there.

Capital Building

DC is a beautiful and historic city. We did a bus tour of the city so saw of the important buildings, including the White House of course. The Smithsonian has several museums in the city. we went to the space museum and American Indian museum. One would need a few weeks to check out the rest.

                                                     Obelisk completed in 1884   555+ feet tall
                                                     commemorated US president George Washington

                                                 

                                                     Lincoln Memorial

                                               
                                                      Canadian Embassy DC

                                                       
                                           Air and Space Museum  Smithsonian

                                            Amelia Earhart

                                          Lunar Module  

                                             

                                           Space station

We seem to be lacking in pictures of DC  sometimes we get caught up in what we are seeing and miss taking pictures// we will have to return again!

New York Oct 23

We stayed in a RV park in Jersey city  set in a marina and across the bay from Manhattan. Tony got us through the freeway maze early on a Sunday morning....a freeway system we have not seen before in our travels!

                                   
                                                    Times Square  crowded.... we needed lots of help to figure out the subway and find our way through the city.. we found the people of new York helpful and friendly.
We took a bus tour around Manhattan, we could not believe how close the buildings are  and tall!  
The city is still very much affected by 911...one can tell by what you read and how people speak about it.

Walking around ground 0 makes one realize how terrible it must have been..  the tall tower in the background is  the new tower under construction  over half again yet to be built.

           This is what remains from the world display in front of the twin towers. It is now part of a memorial to 911

                                             There is a heavy police presence in he city  especially  in the financial district.

                                                WE went to the top of the  Rockefeller  tower at night...

                                        The statue of Liberty... we could see it in part from our RV park.




                             We had a tour of NBC studios got insight on how shows are produced...saw the set for Saturday night live and the set for sportscasts... blue screens are used a lot.
We went to a broadway musical which was great.

WE did a LOT of walking.

we took the subway to Coney Island   a cold day.

                                             


                                            The day before we left Oct 30 IT SNOWED!!!

                                           The following day the sun came out, we scraped off the snow and headed for Washington DC.