Welcome to our wanderings.
1) On the road Sunday January 18, 2009
We were in parts of 7 states today. MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD and WV.
We left Waltham, MA about 9 AM in the midst of a snow storm. Is it any wonder we wanted to get to a warmer place? Speeds on the I-90 were reduced to 40 MPH. We pressed on and around New Jersey the pavement started to dry.
(A note about the "Garden State Parkway" - the posted speed limit is 55. We went 55. Apparently the posted speed limit is merely a suggestion or a joke to confuse tourists. 70 seemed to be the median speed with several even exceeding that. This local behavior did not carry over to other NJ roads, just the GSP.)
Pennsylvania was snowy again, but nothing like Boston. By the time we crossed into Maryland and then West Virginia, it was beginning to warm up. We stayed at the Days INN in Martinsburg, WV for the night. It is located (just) off I-81 at exit 13. Tomorrow - on to North Carolina!
2) Charlotte, NC. January 19, 2009.
Today was "interesting". We started from Martinsburg, WV on our way south to North Carolina. About an hour into the trip the car started running rough and Rose said "what's this flashing light?". The check engine light was flashing!
We pulled off of the I-81 in a place called Woodstock, VA. At the exit were 4 gas and convience stores. We pulled into one and shut down. I went in and asked where I might have to go to find a Ford dealer. The answer came back as "take a right out of the parking lot, a left at the light and a short way down the road on your left".
Meanwhile it is snowing nearly as hard as it was when we left Boston! So right, left and down the road we find Muhlenberg Ford. As we pull into the parking lot it dawns on me that this is MLK weekend and the sickening dread that the place is probably closed came over me.
Well they were not only open, they took the car in about 15 minutes later. About an hour later the word is the problem was a bad ignition coil and spark plug. Another hour and we are back on the road with all 6 cylinders working. By this time the snow had stopped and we saw the sun!
We pulled into Charlotte around 6 PM and ate at Sonny's Bar-B-Q. It turned out that Judy, our waitress, is a transplant from Boston and we shared stories about Boston and snow.
All in all it was a good day, and we will be off to Savannah Georgia tomorrow.
3) Savannah GA. January 20, 2009
Charlotte gave us a wintery send off. Never did get the car washed. It still has the mud and salt from Boston and the trip down. Back on to the Interstate with Tom Tom providing heading and speed verification we head "south" toward Georgia. At some point around Columbia SC the landscape started to change. The land became flatter and the trees became draped with "spanish moss". The Pine trees have v_e_r_y l_o_n_g needles.
Off the I-77 onto SR-26 it reminded me of Rt. 6 on the 'Cape as we moved on toward Savannah. In the distance we spot the top of a bridge! Gotta be the bridge over the Savannah River. The goal is close.
Over the bridge is the "Welcome Center" so we pull in to get local info before we get to the hotel. We are on the edge of the historic district. After checking in we walked back to the welcome center and took a Trolley tour of the area. Tomorrow we will do that again with the ON-OFF option as we get up close to the sights.
Back in the hotel we decide to brave the Savannah roads and traffic and drive to a restaurant. We had chosen The Pirates’ House in the historic district because it had off street parking. Nice place, Bill had Southern Fried Catfish (Fish 'N Chips with a southern accent). Rose chose 3 appetizers (Garden Salad, Crab chowder and a Crab cake). Over all good food at a reasonable price.
Tomorrow we plan on doing a Hop on Hop off continuation of the trolley tour and eat lunch at Paula Deen’s Lady and Sons.
We are in Savannah and it is bitter cold. It is as uncomfortable as it was at home!
Today it was back on the Old Town Trolley Tour to revisit places we saw in the passing yesterday. Before we started the trolley tour, we went to 102 West Congress St. to reserve a lunch time spot at The Lady and Sons.
Our first stop was Forsyth Park where we saw the fountain and a lot of Spanish moss . Next was Colonial Park Cemetery which had an interesting usage during the Great Unpleasantness. It seems that the Union Army used it as a camp ground. Now, put a group of bored soldiers and sandstone together and the results are not pretty. It seems that the troops rearranged and relabeled most of the gravestones. Many were removed and used as floors for the tents. After the occupation was over, the locals tried to restore the stones to their proper places. Those that could not be returned were placed along one wall of the cemetery where they still stand.
Around the corner from the cemetery is a police station. Even the police cars have been restored.
By now it is lunch time! So back on the trolley to the W. Congress street stop we go. Since this is Paula Deen territory we looked for a photo op . Because of the unusually cold weather, The Lady and Sons was serving lunch on the third floor instead of the street level. It is much warmer when the doors don’t open to the outside. Rose ordered the Chicken Pot Pie , and Bill ordered the Crab Cake , both were excellent choices
Back on the trolley we head for the river front. Here we saw pelican , took pictures of the new cable stay bridge mentioned earlier and saw the statue of the “waving girl” . Between the temperature and just plain fatigue we decided to call it a day.
We still needed to put the effort into finding a place to get the car washed. The historic district of Savannah is not a hotbed of automotive support. The desk clerk told us of a car wash “not too far” out of town. Just outside of Savannah is about as rural as it gets. After wondering if we would ever find civilization again, we came to the shopping district that had been described. Being rural, about half of the places were closed at 6 PM, including the car wash. But as luck would have it there was a DIY car wash next door. Apparently people do live around here. We found a Wal-Mart in the shopping center also! After getting a light supper, we returned to our motel, put our feet up, watched a little TV and will soon head to bed. Tomorrow, on to Charleston.
4) Charleston, SC.
Thursday, January 22, 2009.
Unbelievably it is no longer snowing! The sun was shining as we left Savannah and headed for Charleston. We arrived without any problem and found our hotel - right in the middle of the historic district. It was too early to register but they let us park our car. The first thing we found was a Dunkin Donuts! So, of course that was our first stop!
Then we headed to the visitor center and picked up lots of information (and maps) and spent the next few hours walking the Charleston "Museum Mile". The Charleston Museum was right across the street with a large replica of the Hunley out in front.
We kept walking and saw many interesting buildings, shops, etc. One of the most interesting looking was the Circular Congregational Church that was organized in 1681. Another really interesting looking building was The Confederate Museum and we plan to go back and visit another day. Underneath it and going back for several blocks is the Old City Market, kind of a flea market and small independent vendors all rolled into one place. A number of them selling the handmade sweetgrass baskets in many sizes and shapes. Definitely worth another visit!
Many of the buildings have wonderful and inviting patios as you can see in this photo of a Meeting Street Bed & Breakfast.
After checking into our hotel we headed out for dinner and went to Sticky Fingers when we found that it was only a few doors from our hotel. It was recommended by our son, who had been to Charleston several years ago. Very good barbecue!
Tomorrow we will do the tourist thing and head to Fort Sumter. Being a bit of a Civil War buff, I think it will be a good trip. And, tomorrow evening, we will spend some time with a friend from college and her husband who live in Charleston.
Friday, January 23, 2009
We went out to Fort Sumter today. Interesting place- "a stabilized ruin". The trip takes 1/2 hour and you have 1 hour at the site. Other than being an historic site it is remarkably un-interesting. We have seen far larger and better preserved forts in Maine and Massachusetts. Of course, they were never in a battle where Sumter was 3/4 destroyed during seiges.
On the way out we saw dolphins and pelicans. Pelicans are interesting as I realized that they fly close to the water to take advantage of ground effect, thus minimizing effort.
After lunch we walked down Meeting St. as far as Broad St. The corner of Broad and Meeting Sts. is called "the four corners of the law." Buildings on each corner represent local (City Hall), state (Charleston County Courthouse), federal (Federal Court) and religious (St. Michael's Episcopal church) law.
Rose had contacted a college chum now living in Charleston and we had dinner with them tonight. They live in a beautiful 1870's house just at the edge of the historic district. Good food, good conversation, funny stories and a few suggestions on places to investigate further.
We have no lack of things to pack into the next 2 days.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
We started today with breakfast at a little restaurant called Café Café (117 Meeting Street) and then set out to see the CSS Hunley. It was very interesting and somewhat amazing to learn that this was the first submarine to successfully destroy a ship. The Hunley was human powered as seen in this mockup.
On the way back we stopped at the visitor Center and picked out a Sweetgrass Basket handmade by a young artist named Corey. We learned a bit about how they are made and how much time each one takes. They are truly works of art.
After lunch, in spite of the rain, we walked, and walked, and walked some more. The buildings are amazing, huge and very beautiful. Because of an earthquake in the 1800’s, many have “earthquake bolts” inserted through the brick to keep the house from falling down during an earthquake.
Dinner tonight was at 82 Queen Street. It was recommended by our friends last night as well as by our son. The food was very good and the atmosphere very pleasant.
Sunday January 25, 2009
Today is our last day in beautiful historic Charleston. Here is Bill as he finished yesterdays blog before we started out on another walking tour. We explored the original parts of the city. When first built, it was walled as a means of protection. Many of the buildings date from the 1700's and the streets are sometimes very narrow. On a section of East Bay St. there are a number of houses painted in a rainbow of colors, giving it the name “Rainbow Row.” These houses were built between 1723 and 1740.
On Church street we found Catfish Row. This was a tenement section where the residents sold vegetables from their windows. Gershwin's “Porgy and Bess” is based on a book about this area.
Well, by the time we finished, our feet hurt, and we were hungry and cold. So, off we went to the only Dunkin Donuts we knew about and warmed up with a hot coffee and a bagel. A photo on the wall is of an original DD taken in Quincy, MA sometime in the 1950's. Who would have guessed we would come all this way and find a photo from Massachusetts?
Tomorrow we start our return to snow country. Here's hoping the weather is dry and sunny!
5) The trip home.
Monday, January 26, 2009
We were on the road at 8:30 AM, filled the car with gas and headed North. The weather was dry and pleasant for the entire day! A rare treat! This was a pretty uneventful day, in fact, the most pleasant driving day of our trip. We arrived in Palmyra, VA about 5:00 PM and spent the rest of the evening visiting another college friend and her husband (and their dog, Lucy.)
Tuesday, January 26, 2009
Well, the good weather was just a teaser. This morning we awoke to icy roads and our hosts encouraging us to remain with them for another day. We waited until about 10 AM and decided to start out even though it was still precipitating a kind of sleety mixture. After scraping the car yet again, we headed out. Once on the interstate (I-64), the roads were clear and soon the rain/sleet/snow ended and we had no problems the rest of the day. We reached our friends in Emmaus, PA about 4:30 PM and again had a most enjoyable evening and good night’s sleep before our final day on the road. The weather reports predicted a bad storm and discouraged folks from driving anywhere in the morning. We decided to sleep and take a wait and see approach on the morrow.
Wednesday, January 27, 2009
Again, we awoke to snow and icy roads and offers to stay for another day. We decided to start out after clearing the car of snow and ice yet again. The local TV station was hard up for news and found Bill cleaning off the car. He was interviewed and we have been told that he made the news Wednesday evening. The roads were a mess by the time we got started as it was raining by then and everything was turning to an icy, slushy mix. We were “behind” and/or south of the main storm and had pouring rain for the entire trip. It was certainly the most unpleasant driving day of the whole trip.
Driving through Connecticut we experienced the worst drivers of the trip. I thought New Jersey drivers on the GSP were bad, but Connecticut drivers beat them hands down. Speed limits? Poor driving conditions? Not at all taken into consideration by these fools. The result was more spinouts and wrecks in Connecticut than anywhere else along our route. Obviously there is a lack of interest in traffic enforcement there.
There was one humorous moment in Connecticut when we pulled into a service area. Two men were changing a flat tire on a pickup truck. As I looked over a seagull landed on the roof to supervise. Just funny, that is all.
As we got closer to Boston, there was more and more snow on the sides of the roads and on the fields, etc. Fortunately, the roads in Massachusetts were not in too bad a condition. About 6 PM we pulled on to our street and blessedly found that the driveway had been cleared and we could get off the street. Everything was icy because the temperature had fallen by then and all that rain had frozen!
It is good to be back home, even though winter continues its relentless hold on the area. It makes those colder than expected temperatures in Savannah and Charleston seem warm in comparison.