Getting Out Of Harms Way

This morning we will be heading out of Charleston,South Carolina as Hurricane Sandy approaches. We will be somewhere in the vicinity of Talahassee, Florida this evening, then we plan on staying just north of New Orleans for a couple of days. When we came through Louisiana in 2008, New Orleans was being evacuated due to Hurricane Ike.
We've been in Charleston since Monday. The weathers been warm and humid. We took a bus tour of the city, and a boat tour of the harbor. Wednesday was spent on the golf course, where it became obvious that laying off golf does not improve ones game. We've only played a few times since starting this trip, which will be 8 weeks ago tomorrow. Yesterday we drove down to Savanah, Georgia for the day. We took a Trolley Tour there. Neat old city. We could spend a lot more time around here, but our goal is to be in Austin, Texas next Friday. We eliminated our planned stop in Asheville to make more time for Charleston/Savanah. In retrospect, we probably stayed about a week too long in Maine. It would have been nice to have more time between here and Austin.
When we leave Austin, we are going to head to Alamagordo, New Mexico on the way to Apache Junction. We don't expect that this route will be much different than I-10 to El Paso, but it's worth a try.

Taking The Bus Tour

Fort Sumter From The Tour Boat

One Of The Town Squares In Savannah

Joyce;s Chocolate Soda At Leopold's in Savannah

Time to move on, and I'll post some pictures this evening.   Ernie

Heading South

We spent a few  days in Amish Country in the Gettysburg area of Pennsylvania, followed by a couple days in Maryland near Washington DC. We're now getting ready to head south to Williamsburg, Virginia for the next 4 days.
The amount of history in this area is phenomenal. Houses and buildings that date back to the 1700's, Civil War battlefields all around, and sites where President Lincoln made speeches. We could easily stay here for a month, and still not take it all in. We will have to come back to this area again, and spend more time. The Northern U.S. and the New England area have been better than anticipated. It's so different from the Northwest.
We spent a couple of days at Gettysburg touring the battlefield and to take in the visitor center. We also checked out some of the surounding communities. Then we moved closer to Washington DC to visit our old Seattle neighbors, the Boyers in DC. They are on a year long sailing adventure, and will soon be heading to the Bahama's. We visited the Department of Engraving to watch money being printed, then went to the Holocaust Museum. DC is another place that we need to come back to. So much to see.
The weather should be warming back up to the mid 70's as we begin heading south to Williamsburg, Virginia. From there we'll be headed to Ashville, North Carolina. Then it will be Charleston, South Carolina followed by Savanah, Georgia. By the 1st of November we'll be heading West toward Arizona.
Meanwhile, the house is progressing nicely back home, and we're anxious to see it in December.

Washington Monument

Aboar the "Anything Go's" with the Boyers

Gettysburg Battlefield

Robert E. Lee Memorial

Culture Clash

What a life;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Ernie

Leaving New England

Yesterday we left Maine and began heading Southwest toward Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The plan is to stay 3 nights there to take in the history of the area.
We ended up staying in Wells, Maine for 12 nights. We took the commuter train into Boston on Monday. Then we took the subway out to the JFK Library. We were a little dissapointed in the library. It wasn't nearly as interesting as the LBJ or the Reagan  libraries. After the Library we took the subway downtown and had lunch at Cheers. The TV show was filmed in Hollywood, but looked like the real bar.
We drove in to Boston earlier in our stay and took the Fenway Park tour. $28 to park the car was just like home. It is the 100th anniversary of the park. Reminded me of old Sick's Stadium with the columns blocking the views from some of the seats.
This past weekend we drove out to the very tip of Cape Cod. We learned that this is where the US Coast Guard got it's start. The weather cooperated most of the day. It's been cool and wet about half of the time here. But looking ahead, it's 70's and 80's once we get into Virginia and continue heading south, then west to Arizona.
The Fall colors have been less than anticipated. Maybe it's been a bad year.


Fenway Park (obviously)

The Ladies with a unique sign in Maine

The Colors (again obviously)

Mayflower Recreation

Us at Cheers

Heading Down The Road

 Getting ready to head out, so I'll add some pictures tonight.    Ernie