Last night we walked to a local place that was recommended by the people at the front desk called Local on 17. The walk was quite interesting as there were no sidewalks. We had to be careful while walking on the grass that we did not step on any red ant hills. We also had to cross a busy highway - 2 lanes of traffic on each side of an esplanade and no crosswalk. We made it across by judging the times at the lights, but we did have to hustle. The restaurant itself was quite nice. It is a local steak and seafood restaurant. Dave had surf and turf with shrimp and I had a petite filet. It was very good, but Dave inherited 3/4 of my filet which wasn't as petite as I thought it was going to be. The ambiance was great. The piano player also sang and had a lovely bass voice. The waitress was a doll and even called us an Uber on her phone (I paid her for it) as we were afraid to walk back to the hotel in the dark (red ant hills and heavy traffic at night).
The town of Richmond Hill was built by Henry Ford. While vacationing in the area with his wife in the 1920's, he decided that this place would make a great site for another Ford plant. He built the plant, houses for the workers, as well as a school and a church. The workers were paid $5 a day which is a great wage since Dave's father was an engineer in the 1930's and was making $15 per week!
We left this morning at 8. The temp was 58 degrees and foggy, which fairly quickly turned to an annoying drizzle. We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center for our free cup of fresh orange juice. We finally got sunshine an hour west of Jacksonville.
Notes: 1) I forgot to mention yesterday that South Carolina needs to spend some money on their highways. I-95 was full of not exactly pot holes, but aberrations in the pavement that jolted the car a bit - very annoying. 2) Georgia has no mile markers! The only way to tell how far you have come is to pay attention to the exit numbers.
**Important note to self: Never again take the Route 301 connector between I-10 and I-75!!! It runs through every little podunk town in northern Florida and its loaded with traffic lights. I don't care how far out of the way you have to drive on I-10 to get to I-75 - it would be worth it.
As we were driving south on I-75, we saw a several mile long line of cars on the other side, It looked like they were all trying to get off at the Tarpon Springs exit. I don't know what was going on there, but obviously a lot of people wanted to attend.
We arrived at 3:45 with a temp of 86 degrees although at some point in central Florida we saw a temp of 91 degrees. We have unloaded the car and put everything away. We will go out shortly to have dinner and pick up a few groceries. I took some pics of the house we are staying at and will try to get them on the blog later tonight.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
2/22/19 Richmond Hill, Georgia
Last night we walked to Wegman's (an upscale grocery store) and ate at their cafe. It was very good! Dave had a burger with herbed spiced and sliced oven baked red potatoes, while I had a lovely grilled chicken and guacamole sandwich with fresh green beans. The waitress/cook was a trained chef who got tired of the hassle of working for fine restaurants and loves the food quality and great treatment of employees by Wegman's.
When we went to breakfast, Dave noticed that the eggs they offered had cheese in them. Being lactose-intolerant, he asked the kitchen worker if it was possible to get some plain scrambled eggs. She very kindly made him some and brought not one, but two plates of them to the table. A woman stopped by the table and said he should hide them before everyone ordered them. We offered her a plate of them and she was excited to accept as she also is lactose-intolerant. We chatted with them for a bit. They are also headed to Florida from Canada.
We got on the road at 7:15 this morning. It was 44 degrees and raining. We hit a bit of traffic as we neared Richmond so took the beltway around. The rain stayed with us until we got to within 70 miles of the South Carolina border. The temp was up to 50 at this point. There was a lot of water from lower Virginia until we crossed into Georgia. They had a heavy rain in this area earlier in the week and all of the rivers were running quite fast and were muddy. Any low area such as the ditches next to the highway were also filled with water. We had lunch at a Chick-fil-A in Lumberton, NC. They make a great chicken Cobb salad with lime avocado dressing - yum.
Notes: 1) we passed a number of Vermont cars on the highway - so many that we are wondering if there is anyone left in the state. 2) we also passed a large number of campers heading south. Seems at bit late to be heading there for any kind of extended stay.
Alex texted this afternoon to say that it was 34 and snowing heavily in Tucson. That is quite unusual for both the temperature and the snow!
We switched drivers every 2 hours and had a lovely ride down. The sun came out in South Carolina and except for a very brief shower (5-10 minutes), stayed out the rest of the trip. We arrived here in Richmond Hill, Georgia at 4:15 and it is 88 degrees!!! Time to change into shorts!
I don't know where we will have dinner tonight, but again we will try to find someplace within walking distance.
When we went to breakfast, Dave noticed that the eggs they offered had cheese in them. Being lactose-intolerant, he asked the kitchen worker if it was possible to get some plain scrambled eggs. She very kindly made him some and brought not one, but two plates of them to the table. A woman stopped by the table and said he should hide them before everyone ordered them. We offered her a plate of them and she was excited to accept as she also is lactose-intolerant. We chatted with them for a bit. They are also headed to Florida from Canada.
We got on the road at 7:15 this morning. It was 44 degrees and raining. We hit a bit of traffic as we neared Richmond so took the beltway around. The rain stayed with us until we got to within 70 miles of the South Carolina border. The temp was up to 50 at this point. There was a lot of water from lower Virginia until we crossed into Georgia. They had a heavy rain in this area earlier in the week and all of the rivers were running quite fast and were muddy. Any low area such as the ditches next to the highway were also filled with water. We had lunch at a Chick-fil-A in Lumberton, NC. They make a great chicken Cobb salad with lime avocado dressing - yum.
Notes: 1) we passed a number of Vermont cars on the highway - so many that we are wondering if there is anyone left in the state. 2) we also passed a large number of campers heading south. Seems at bit late to be heading there for any kind of extended stay.
Alex texted this afternoon to say that it was 34 and snowing heavily in Tucson. That is quite unusual for both the temperature and the snow!
We switched drivers every 2 hours and had a lovely ride down. The sun came out in South Carolina and except for a very brief shower (5-10 minutes), stayed out the rest of the trip. We arrived here in Richmond Hill, Georgia at 4:15 and it is 88 degrees!!! Time to change into shorts!
I don't know where we will have dinner tonight, but again we will try to find someplace within walking distance.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
2/21/19 Fredericksburg, Virginia
We usually leave between 1 and 3 AM when heading south on I-95 to avoid traffic, but because of the sleet storm, we waited longer than we would have liked. We got up at 3, showered, packed the car, and then watched the news at 4 to check for icy road conditions and/or traffic snarls. Since the temp was 34 and it was drizzling and didn't seem to be icing on the roads, we took off at 4:20. It was a dark and dreary drive. The traffic build up was between Fairfield and Greenwich. It is a good thing that Dave filled the windshield washer reservoir yesterday as we really needed it. We went across the Tappan Zee Bridge (this is the new bridge and it is quite pretty) and got onto the Garden State Parkway. The traffic was fairly heavy until we got pass Newark. The trees in New York and upper New Jersey were covered in ice and I was hoping for the sun to come out - it would have been a beautiful sight! For some reason, New Jersey is a major problem for us. This time the problem happened as we segued from the Garden State to the Jersey Turnpike. We got shunted off onto the surface streets of Elizabeth, NJ. We had a wonderful, although lengthy tour of the city before finally getting to the NJ Turnpike. We stopped at a rest stop for a late breakfast at 8:30. The sun finally came out midway down the pike. We have had some snow along the sides of the roads all the way to Virginia. I imagine that most of it will be gone by morning as our high temp today was 51.
Note: Thank you Connecticut for having a law about cleaning your car off when it snows. Most of the cars from NY and NJ were shedding snow like dandruff.
We got the to hotel early this afternoon and Dave went down for a nap. We decided to skip lunch and will go out for an early dinner - somewhere close by where we can walk! Tomorrow we will leave at a more reasonable time and stop in Georgia. We use to do just one overnight on the way to Florida, but this is so much more civilized. There probably won't be any pics until we get to our final destination - Cape Coral.
Note: Thank you Connecticut for having a law about cleaning your car off when it snows. Most of the cars from NY and NJ were shedding snow like dandruff.
We got the to hotel early this afternoon and Dave went down for a nap. We decided to skip lunch and will go out for an early dinner - somewhere close by where we can walk! Tomorrow we will leave at a more reasonable time and stop in Georgia. We use to do just one overnight on the way to Florida, but this is so much more civilized. There probably won't be any pics until we get to our final destination - Cape Coral.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
London 1/2/19
We were in our rooms just waiting for the gang to all gather for today's adventure and suddenly the fire alarm went off. We were all diverted to the stairways (the staff did an excellent job of posting people at critical junctures to get everyone out) and then led out of the building and into a side alley. As we walked down the stairs, I could smell burnt toast so I assume it was a kitchen fire. We stood outside for 15-20 minutes until the firemen came and proclaimed the building safe to enter. I felt bad for people on the 12th floor (we are on the 3rd) and also for people who were in the spa or pool as they had to exit in either robes or towels and it was a bit on the chilly side this morning.
We finally were able to regroup and then rode the tube for one stop and bought tickets on the National Rail to go to Hampton Court. This palace was built by Cardinal Woolsey for himself, but Henry VIII liked it so the cardinal wisely gave it to him (otherwise he might have lost his head). The castle has been added to over the years and is quite massive. It has 510,00 square feet and is on 60 acres - most of them gardens. We visited Henry's rooms first. There were tapestries from the 1500's on the walls. The bed had many thin mattresses piled on it.
The fireplaces were huge!
We walked into the courtyard and there was an ornate fountain that flowed with wine.
We then toured his kitchens, which employed over 200 people. As you can see the fireplaces were even more enormous in this area. I like rule #2.
We also went into William III's rooms - more modern than Henry VIII's, but still not modern by any means.
The top pic is of a ceiling in the entryway and the second is exactly what you are imagining - but lined with velvet - fit for a king!
We took a quick tour through the gardens.
I imagine they are even more lovely in the Spring. I thought the second picture was of bird's nests in the tree, but we were told that it is mistletoe. Apparently it is like an air plant and just attaches itself to any available tree. I like that windows were cut into to hedge so you can look at the orchard. We also saw the oldest grape vine in the world. It was planted in 1768 and still produces grapes. It was massive and some of the tendrils were over 200 feet long.
We walked across the street to have a late lunch at The Muted Swan and then took the train back to London. It is almost 6 PM and I think we will skip going out to dinner and just have a snack as I am still full from lunch. We have packed our bags as we will leave the hotel early tomorrow morning and should arrive home in the afternoon.
It has been a wonderul trip and we are delighted that we could accompany the band here.
We finally were able to regroup and then rode the tube for one stop and bought tickets on the National Rail to go to Hampton Court. This palace was built by Cardinal Woolsey for himself, but Henry VIII liked it so the cardinal wisely gave it to him (otherwise he might have lost his head). The castle has been added to over the years and is quite massive. It has 510,00 square feet and is on 60 acres - most of them gardens. We visited Henry's rooms first. There were tapestries from the 1500's on the walls. The bed had many thin mattresses piled on it.
The fireplaces were huge!
We walked into the courtyard and there was an ornate fountain that flowed with wine.
We then toured his kitchens, which employed over 200 people. As you can see the fireplaces were even more enormous in this area. I like rule #2.
The top pic is of a ceiling in the entryway and the second is exactly what you are imagining - but lined with velvet - fit for a king!
We took a quick tour through the gardens.
I imagine they are even more lovely in the Spring. I thought the second picture was of bird's nests in the tree, but we were told that it is mistletoe. Apparently it is like an air plant and just attaches itself to any available tree. I like that windows were cut into to hedge so you can look at the orchard. We also saw the oldest grape vine in the world. It was planted in 1768 and still produces grapes. It was massive and some of the tendrils were over 200 feet long.
We walked across the street to have a late lunch at The Muted Swan and then took the train back to London. It is almost 6 PM and I think we will skip going out to dinner and just have a snack as I am still full from lunch. We have packed our bags as we will leave the hotel early tomorrow morning and should arrive home in the afternoon.
It has been a wonderul trip and we are delighted that we could accompany the band here.
London 1/1/19
Today was parade day! We took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and then walked down to the grandstands. What an ingenious idea - the grandstands were truck trailers which opened up and were complete with fairly comfortable plastic seats with an awning! We got to watch the parade in style!
Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the Fitch band as I was taking video of them and don't know how to upload a video onto the blog. Dave took stills of the band on the cell phone, but again I don't know how to upload from the phone to the blog - something else to learn for next time. The band, however did an awesome job - made us proud!
The parade was quite interesting. There were floats for all of London's boroughs and John and Maura Casey who were sitting in front of us got to judge the floats. The winner receives 10,000 pounds to give to their favorite charity. The floats were quite interesting and sometimes elaborate.
But there were other oddities, such as the Donkey Breeders association and other groups that danced their way down the parade route.
There was even a group that walked the 2.2 mile route on stilts:
The members of the Fitch chorus and orchestra were in charge of holding the London phone box balloon:
We had a marvelous time. We fought our way through the crowdsto the nearest tube station and finally got back to the hotel close to 4PM. We had a bite of "linner" (combination of lunch and dinner) and went back to our room to warm up. My ears and fingers were quite chilled even though they were protected. We were going to go out for a walk, but ended up staying in as it took quite a while to shake the chill.
Tomorrow we will go to Hampton Court with Amy's family. The groups are going on the Harry Potter walk and the Rock and Roll walk.
Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the Fitch band as I was taking video of them and don't know how to upload a video onto the blog. Dave took stills of the band on the cell phone, but again I don't know how to upload from the phone to the blog - something else to learn for next time. The band, however did an awesome job - made us proud!
The parade was quite interesting. There were floats for all of London's boroughs and John and Maura Casey who were sitting in front of us got to judge the floats. The winner receives 10,000 pounds to give to their favorite charity. The floats were quite interesting and sometimes elaborate.
But there were other oddities, such as the Donkey Breeders association and other groups that danced their way down the parade route.
There was even a group that walked the 2.2 mile route on stilts:
Tomorrow we will go to Hampton Court with Amy's family. The groups are going on the Harry Potter walk and the Rock and Roll walk.
Monday, December 31, 2018
London 12/31/18
Happy New Year! The group went off by bus to Oxford and Windsor, but since Dave and I had been there before, we opted to stay here. We went to the Museum of London, which is a museum that starts at prehistory and moves you from room to room until you get to modern times - a very interesting way to portray the city through time.
The top pic is of an ancient bison skull and some early stone points.
This next set is of Roman London (Londinium). The last shot is of a piece of roman wall and column outside the museum.
Next is Renaissance London with a piece of sculpture of Neptune. The bottom photo is of an early book made with wax pages so a stylus could engrave the words on it - very cool.
The great fire exhibit was very interesting. It was amazing how fast and fierce the fire spread. The bottom shot is of the first petrol powered taxi cab in London - it is in remarkably great shape.
We stopped in a pub for lunch. I had a cheese toastie, but it was so enormous I ended up giving 3/4 of it away to young fellow who was sitting next to us with his friends. He thanked me and said his "mum calls me her human dust bin". We had a chuckle at that.
Those are Dave's fingers hovering over my sandwich.
We made our way back to the hotel by tube and I saw a great ad on the wall for furniture.
After Dave's nap, we took a walk down by the river. I had intended to walk across, but the bridges were all blocked off so we walked along instead. It was crazy busy. Keep in mind that it was only 4 PM and there were already thousands of people lining up along the embankment to get in position for the fireworks that are not going off until midnight!
I got a great shot of Big Ben with a lion from the bridge in the foreground. Unfortunately, the tower is under construction so is covered in scaffolding. Did you know that Big Ben is not the name of the tower or the clock, but of the bell? It was made by the same company that made the Liberty Bell and it also cracked the first time is was struck. It was repaired, but has a distinctive odd sound because of how it was repaired. It has been silent for quite a while, but will peal out the new year tonight at midnight. The next picture is one of the fireworks barges. They are already set up in the river. There were a number of buskers out and I caught a pic of one of them blowing giant bubbles to the delight of the children trying to catch and pop them.
We made our was back and are now waiting for dinner, which doesn't start until 7:30 tonight. Afterwards there will be a party in the hotel for the kids with pizza and soda. Tomorrow is the day of the parade. I am excited for the kids. They will be #6 in line so we will see them early.
We stopped in a pub for lunch. I had a cheese toastie, but it was so enormous I ended up giving 3/4 of it away to young fellow who was sitting next to us with his friends. He thanked me and said his "mum calls me her human dust bin". We had a chuckle at that.
Those are Dave's fingers hovering over my sandwich.
We made our way back to the hotel by tube and I saw a great ad on the wall for furniture.
After Dave's nap, we took a walk down by the river. I had intended to walk across, but the bridges were all blocked off so we walked along instead. It was crazy busy. Keep in mind that it was only 4 PM and there were already thousands of people lining up along the embankment to get in position for the fireworks that are not going off until midnight!
I got a great shot of Big Ben with a lion from the bridge in the foreground. Unfortunately, the tower is under construction so is covered in scaffolding. Did you know that Big Ben is not the name of the tower or the clock, but of the bell? It was made by the same company that made the Liberty Bell and it also cracked the first time is was struck. It was repaired, but has a distinctive odd sound because of how it was repaired. It has been silent for quite a while, but will peal out the new year tonight at midnight. The next picture is one of the fireworks barges. They are already set up in the river. There were a number of buskers out and I caught a pic of one of them blowing giant bubbles to the delight of the children trying to catch and pop them.
We made our was back and are now waiting for dinner, which doesn't start until 7:30 tonight. Afterwards there will be a party in the hotel for the kids with pizza and soda. Tomorrow is the day of the parade. I am excited for the kids. They will be #6 in line so we will see them early.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
London 12/30/18
Today we took a lovely boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich. We had a guide on the boat who explained a number of items of interest along the way. I got a different photo of the London Eye. We sailed under the Tower Bridge and passed by the old dock area where goods were brought in by ship from all over the world. I took a picture of the Cutty Sark, a wool clipper that traveled from Australia in the 1850-60's. This area was heavily bombed during WWII so while some of the docks are still there, many areas were turned into housing (about a 15 minutes commute to central London by light rail).
We traveled at a more leisurely pace and arrive at Greenwich in 45 minutes. While it was a cloudy day, it was not raining so we enjoyed the day. We walked up the King's Steps - where royalty from other countries would walk up to some lovely homes to stay the night before traveling the next day to London. We poked our heads into a lovely chapel which was featured in "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
We then walked through a large park where the equestrian part of the 2012 Olympics was held and then continued up a long steep hill to reach the Royal Observatory. This is the site of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian. We stood with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western to have our pictures taken.
The museum was quite interesting and featured some of the first marine clocks and instruments of navigation. There was also a 24-hour clock that was quite interesting.
After touring the observatory we boarded coach busses to return to the Tower of London. Dave and I split off from the group so that he could have a nap (we also have been to the Tower a couple of times on previous trips). The Tower was the site of many imprisonments and beheadings, including two of Henry VIII's wives. On our way to the tube station, we passed the ruins of a Roman gatehouse associated with the Roman wall which enclosed one square mile of the city.
When Dave was rested we took the tube to the British Museum to see the Sutton Hoo exhibit. This was a 7th century burial hoard including a wonderful helmet. There were many jeweled and gold items found in the hoard. The amazing thing was that the burial place was in a room built on a ship and buried under a mound of earth. By the time it was discovered in the late 1930's, the wooden ship was gone, but the imprint of it was found in the surrounding soil with the treasure scattered about under where the room was located. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the room so did not get any pictures inside the museum. We stopped for dinner on the way back and are now just chilling until time for bed. Amy and family will come back to the hotel later and we will see them at breakfast tomorrow.
We traveled at a more leisurely pace and arrive at Greenwich in 45 minutes. While it was a cloudy day, it was not raining so we enjoyed the day. We walked up the King's Steps - where royalty from other countries would walk up to some lovely homes to stay the night before traveling the next day to London. We poked our heads into a lovely chapel which was featured in "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
We then walked through a large park where the equestrian part of the 2012 Olympics was held and then continued up a long steep hill to reach the Royal Observatory. This is the site of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian. We stood with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western to have our pictures taken.
The museum was quite interesting and featured some of the first marine clocks and instruments of navigation. There was also a 24-hour clock that was quite interesting.
After touring the observatory we boarded coach busses to return to the Tower of London. Dave and I split off from the group so that he could have a nap (we also have been to the Tower a couple of times on previous trips). The Tower was the site of many imprisonments and beheadings, including two of Henry VIII's wives. On our way to the tube station, we passed the ruins of a Roman gatehouse associated with the Roman wall which enclosed one square mile of the city.
When Dave was rested we took the tube to the British Museum to see the Sutton Hoo exhibit. This was a 7th century burial hoard including a wonderful helmet. There were many jeweled and gold items found in the hoard. The amazing thing was that the burial place was in a room built on a ship and buried under a mound of earth. By the time it was discovered in the late 1930's, the wooden ship was gone, but the imprint of it was found in the surrounding soil with the treasure scattered about under where the room was located. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the room so did not get any pictures inside the museum. We stopped for dinner on the way back and are now just chilling until time for bed. Amy and family will come back to the hotel later and we will see them at breakfast tomorrow.
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