We got out of Savannah and spent the night at a KOA near Charleston the next day we walked the town of Charleston and saw everything. While we heard good things about this town it didn't live up to how we felt about Savannah. We saw buildings from the 1600s and there were plaques that told us all about the history around the town which was cool but the place didn't have the charm Savannah did. Tons of Civil War relics and the mosquitoes here suck big time. They are tiny and tons of them leaving a bunch of tiny bites on you all over the place.
Here is the actual fountain
the kids can play in it:)
Old houses from the Rainbow district
that is the historic section not
a gay enclave
The next day we headed on over to Ft. Sumter. This is where the Civil War began. It was great to hear the history and to see the awesome artifacts from the war. 150 years ago feels like eons yet it truly wasn't that long ago. To think that we have history from 2000 years ago is amazing. There are a ton of statues and memorials in this town that relate to the Civil War as well as the Revolution.
from circa 1680
Anna has been loving the Wisteria
A big awesome surprise that happened was that my cousin, Daniel, and his wife, Laura, happened to be in Charleston for a wedding! The day after Ft. Sumter we met up and walked the town. Since Anna and I had walked the town already we kinda gave them a guided tour of all the highlights we thought were worth revisiting. We had delicious sandwiches at Firehouse then Anna, Daniel, and Laura decided to sneak up to a guest floor at a historic hotel. They asked the cleaning ladies if they could look at the rooms and they obliged. I guess they got a kick out of that while I just kinda hung at the park across the street enjoying the view :)
On the boat to Ft. Sumter
Inside this was used to kill people!
Inner courtyard of the fort
Some of the wreckage from war
After they snuck some sweet tea (complimentary for guests) they headed out and we parted ways. Laura was busy with wedding stuff so we hoped to see them again soon. Friday we met up with Daniel at a pub had some pub food and drinks and then said good bye this would be the last we saw of them we planned on heading to Columbia after seeing Sucker Punch the movie.
State Capital building in Columbia
We went to a place that has a full restaurant and bar at the theatre but since we had just ate we declined any food or drink and enjoyed the movie. I heard a criticism of the movie that it was basically eye candy with no story. I would basically agree with that criticism. The visuals were amazing, from the maker of 300 and The Watchmen. This was his first movie where he wasn't going off of a graphic novel or anything so he wrote it and I guess it showed in that the different fantasies and visuals seemed not to link up to the overall narrative very well. I liked it for the most part but wouldn't recommend it unless you have a blueray player and surround sound in your home to rent.
During the Civil War they were "Brick Batting" this statue, whatever
that means, and as a result Washington's
cane got knocked off
So far Columbia has been pretty basic of a town. It has been raining pretty hard but the times when it has let up we walked the capital. The town has a Sacramento feeling to it in the sense that there doesn't seem to have too much going on but there is probably some good times to be had if you knew what to look for. We have been keeping it low key to save money and pace ourselves so we don't throw ourselves into the snow or super cold. It is actually decently cold now which is a first after being in Florida for so long.
Well enjoy the pics. We plan on going to Myrtle Beach then North... Peace
Relic from the Cold War.
This was on the Senate building
Crazy looking statue that commemorated the Women of the Confederacy
they had a bunch of drugs they used to sell
in the 1800s weird
Seems like once a week blog posts have become the norm for me. Let me know if I need to step up my game and post more. I feel like this is a decent pattern for now and there are probably a majority of people with enough free time on Sundays to read my sometimes lengthy blog posts.
One of the Touristy historic streets of St. Augustine
Oldest wooden school
A mill
After Disney World we slept and were too exhausted to go to church the following day. We started slow and headed downtown where we went to the pub that we had been to before and got the brunch there. I got the traditional Irish breakfast and it was very good. Sausage, beans, eggs, potatoes. Everything was great and I had a Mimosa to go with it, I know that is girly but they are hella good and I am not going to apologize for the :). We made our way back to the coast where we traveled to Titusville. We thought maybe this would be a stopping point but the town was super small and there just was nothing there at all. We headed up A1A to see what we would run into. The drive was fantastic. Unlike PCH on the west coast, A1A is a very easy drive that brought us by some fantastic looking houses and wasn't right up against the ocean.
The fort at St. Augustine that is where the moat was
too just no water now. pretty sick
imagine laying siege on that?
yea i can't either
This is where they kept their balls warm...
their cannon balls you sickos
We rolled into St. Augustine and planned on going to a popular coffee joint there. Parking wasn't easy to find and we were fiending for some wifi and some down time so we headed just a bit south to a starbucks. We didn't do much the first day and just got our bearings. When we drove through the historic district the city seemed to have tons of character so we were excited to see the first successful European settlement in the new world. We stayed at a Walmart that according to my app I have on my phone didn't allow camping there but when we rolled into the parking lot it had about 8 RVs in there already parked for the night. We decided to risk it and had no problems.
Me trying to kick down the door
of the oldest building
St. Augustine's Lighthouse
We got going the next day and found a free parking space that required just a bit of walking to get to the historic part. As we walked we drove by a guy who embodies the moniker, "Rainbow Person" He was looking like a hippy straight out of 1969. He was walking down the street with his small dog and had a drum that he would make some beats with as he meandered around. We parked and started walking to the places of interest and he happened to be going down the same street as us. He noticed us and stopped and waited. We introduced ourselves, his name is Bo and his dogs name is Merlin. We walked and talked for awhile and we just asked if he was a local and if he knew good places to go. He said that when he becomes an old man he will live in St. Augustine but now it is just a place he enjoys to visit. Gave us a couple suggestions and we were off.
Yarrrrr in in Amelie Island
Anna took this probably 5 feet away
after she did this about 5 ppl walked over and
did the same. She is such a trend setter
Shipping and what not
We walked the streets of St. Augustine and it was an amazing feeling. In California you will rarely if ever see a building that is from 1850 or older and here we had homes from the early 1800s. The streets were very touristy which took away from the experience some but nothing to ruin our fun. We found that the fort was the most awe inspiring. For the time it was built I am sure it was basically impenitrable. Everything that looked the most interesting to see, such as the oldest wooden schoolroom in America cost money so while we were able to see the things we did not get to have a tour. After a long meander around the town we walked to the coffee shop we had planned on going to the day before. Lo and behold we saw Bo there hanging out so we got our coffee and grabbed a slice of Key Lime Pie since we hadn't yet here in Florida and sat by him. We talked of our travels and it turned out he is a traveler as well. He is originally from Ohio and heads down south during the winter. He is a true traveler on account of it looked like he had a small bag and that was it. He told us of "Festivuls" to check out. These gatherings were just where a bunch of rainbow children get together and hang. He likely thought we were those types mainly because of my massive beard and our VW. Those gatherings sound good and all but I would imagine a lot of drug use goes on there.
We ended the day at the beach and just kept it lazy in general.
We headed North to Jacksonville up A1A yet again. We rolled into town saw a movie cuz that was what we were in the mood for and then did some laundry. We spent the night there and then started driving through the town the next day. Jacksonville seemed pretty lame and there was nothing there that looked attractive to go see or walk around. We made an executive decision just to keep on keepin' on to Georgia! We passed the boarder and then found an RV camp site to shower up and get some R & R. This one was great. It was the cheapest we ever stayed at the grounds were beautiful and in the morning they had a free Waffle Breakfast. We headed on to Brunswick after that hey it was March 17th! St. Paddy's day. We planned on getting into trouble.
The barracks of Ft. Frederica
this is about 280 years old
This is the candlestick makers house
Our first stop was to go to St. Simon's Island where there was supposed to be a lot of history and a Fort there. It was beautiful and seemed like a pretty rich area. We rolled into Fort Frederica and got the tour. The price was reasonable and the history was amazing. The reason Georgia is here is because of this nobleman Oglethorpe. He went to settle here and he built the fort because to the south of them was the Spanish and they were disputing the boundaries. Well a famous battle called the Battle of Bloody Marsh happened on this island so we learned all about it and battle is what kept the Spanish from fighting for anymore land up any farther north of St. Augustine. Oglethorpe even led a party to try and fight the fort down in St. Augustine which was a huge failure which isn't surprising to me.
Beautiful spanish moss
The park had the original town Frederica there uncovered. It was the foundations of a bunch of houses that were there in the early to mid 1700s. The historians had found a town map that laid out all the properties and who they belonged to so it was great seeing all these unique foundation plans of these buildling then seeing a sign that described the people that lived there what they did and any interesting things that went on. One of the most amazing things was that John Wesley used to have a church in the town. They met in a storehouse that held supplies for the town. Needless to say Wesley is a prominent figure in the surrounding area with lots of Methodist churches about. It was great to see the history there, something you can never see in California because European settlement just wasn't happening out there yet.
Getting my Paddy's on
wangs and Guinees
Celebratin in Savannah now
We got into Brunswick and found a shopping center that had a Starbucks a Pub and a burger joint. This was perfect for everything we needed for the rest of the day. We hung at Starbucks a long while then got some food then headed to the Pub to celebrate St. Paddy's day. At the Pub it was packed but we eventually found a spot by the bar and ordered our drinks. We started talking to this old couple next to us and the lady was starting to get sloppy drunk and it ended up being hilarious. As we nommed on all you can eat hot wings and I was having my Guiness she started getting silly. The husband was just along for the ride and was just as hilarious but a little more subdued. Well we laughed and joked and talked about travels the rest of the night. The lady used to live in Alameda and had experienced an earthquake so she was convinced California was falling off the earth and that the forest was continually burning. She said she worked at the Walmart Subway and would be there in the morning and to come by the next morning. We did just that and she hooked us up on some breakfast sandwiches that had us paying $1.07 for a decent breakfast. Onward to Savannah. My mom had called that day and said Savannah was supposed to be amazing and beautiful we were looking forward to it.
Streets of Savannah
Savannah has the second largest St. Paddy's day celebration in the world and the Paddy's day spirit was still going strong the friday following the official day. There was lots of people walking the streets sporting their green and getting stupid. The whole town was laid out beautifully and every building looked to be from the 1830s. The river walk was where all the things happening were going on. Live music and tons of people whoopin and hollering. It would have been nice to have another day of celebration but we just couldnt swing the cost. We enjoyed the scenery and were absolutely captivated by the sites the history and the people. It seemed to have a bohemian feel to it and every single park and big house had some plaque on it where a famous event from either the Civil War or the Revolutionary War happened. We have spent the last 3 days here and thoroughly enjoyed it. If we were to get stuck in this town I would not be disappointed. Of course we haven't experiences the humidity which I hear is the worst though.
the most recent grave here is from 1850 wow
Live music I was scared this old rocker would fall and break a hip
I have been feeling sick ever since the Pub in Brunswick so I am fighting that off right now. We are keeping it easy today which is Sunday. We went to church and it was a really big one. We didn't meet anyone which is ok we didn't expect to just hoped to. The plan is to go to Tybee Island which is directly east of Savannah. The weather is getting warmer and we feel confident that we can pace ourselves as we go north and not have to worry about the snow. Both Anna and I are incredibly homesick but we know this is a trip of a lifetime. We will do our best to enjoy ourselves and just look forward to the things we love about Sacramento. Peaces and kisses.
Buildings that are on the river walk
Law enforcement is much more lax during St. Paddy's day
Anna really liked this house and I think its great too
Green fountain!
The biggest Art and Design school is scattered all over Savannah
I see this at a the beginning of a bunch
of movies!
Very big blog this go round. Sorry that I didn't keep on top of this more than I have. As a result I have a blog that is jammed back full of major stopping points on our journey. Shall we dive in? .. We shall
Maander with Monastery in background
Impressions of Miami are, international, bright colors, really busy, scooters, huge amounts of luxury/super cars, beach, nudity, sex, youth, and partying. I hope to dive into these things all but if not a few highlights and an observation while I was amidst these Miamians.
This is the Keys
Peacocking... This is what Miami is all about. What is Peacocking you say? Well when a man or woman wants to attract someone, usually of the opposite sex, they may engage in peacocking. The people of Miami take this to extremes. If they are wearing shirts they are bright colors and their shades are of a fluorescent color. Everyone is in shorts or in bikinis. Tons of people have their very expensive cars, seriously I have never seen so many Bentley's, Lamghorinis, or Ferrari's. In a sense these are the "bros" of Southern Florida. Everyone is desperate to be noticed and they are all trying to exude sex appeal, youth, and money. While I was entranced by all of the goings on, especially all the women walking around not gonna lie, I did not feel I was apart of this scene at all. I felt myself feeling defensive, like I didn't want to be apart of them. I would like to think it is because I am much more enlightened than them, or that I have realized much more important things. The reality is I cannot compete in this scene that is South Beach Miami. I do not have the ability to procure all the money to drive these cars and I don't have the six pack abs and unfortunately, I no longer am capable of exuding the youth. Now I am not sad that I cannot be part of this scene. I do understand the superficiality and destructive hedonism that is this culture. I am glad I am not like them but to say I do not want to be like them would be denying myself my true feelings. I feel like the top 1 or 2% in this society are enjoying themselves while the rest are desperately pretending and feeling a huge vacuum as they clamour for this fleeting attention.
Anna and I spent our first day in Miami in the North Beach part. We woke up and we met a gentleman named Alex who had a Eurovan, basically a more modern version of what we have. We made a connection because of the similar cars and we were both travelers. We were from Sacramento while he was from Chicago. He wanted to spend the day together and we were all for it but we had to take care of some business before hitting the beach. We did laundry then went across the street to this fast food joint that was Cuban called Pollo Tropical. Oh man was it so good. I had the grilled chicken with rice and beans and all the sauces you can get with it were so good. We ended up going there again before we left the area we liked that place so much.
Monastery walls
Before heading to the beach where we would meet Alex we went to a monastery that was imported in from Spain. the monastery was made in the 12th century! It was a beautiful building and it felt very old. It was going to be imported to Hearst's Castle but once it made it to Florida it had to be quarantined because of some disease breakout from it's origin and they burnt all the organic stuff it was packed in and they forgot to label the 30,000 bricks! Well due to the depression Hearst couldn't afford to bring it over to the west and figure it all out. It stayed in the east and in 1952 someone finally assembled it all. The statues were great not as refined as in some of the Missions we have seen but that is to be expected. We saw a girl getting her quincenera photos there too, however, Anna was too embarrassed to sneak a pic of her.
We went to the beach in North Miami named Halover and waited for Alex to make his way to the beach as well. We had some mis communication and he ended up at the far side of the beach from us which was too far for him to walk realistically and he wanted to be by the nude beach I suppose :). The beach was beautiful and the water was warm. We got some rays and played in the water it was a great rest of the day.
Hallway
We woke from our slumber at a nearby Walmart and decided that today we would discover what South Beach is all about. We meandered down A1A and got into the heart of Miami Beach. People everywhere loud noises and just a sensory overload. I felt like I was seeing characatures walk by. Stereotypes like two super muscular men holding hands, girls who looked like they had every conceivable plastic surgery done to them, and scooters weaving in and out of the cars. Taxis everywhere and just a sea of people. It was impossible to find parking and trying to find parking completely stressed Anna and I out. I almost hit another car when I cut them off and that was one of the things that just made Anna and I at each others throats. Before I had even walked around South Beach I was disenchanted with it because of the situation. We said eff it and lets go to north beach and if it is not too far to walk we will walk down there and check it out. We found a really great spot to park up there after probably an hour of bouncing around in South Beach. We headed to the beach with our supplies which included a platter of shrimp we got from Walmart :).
At the beach we were able to finally relax. This is where we noticed that the tops on girls were optional. Now don't think it was every girl. Out of all the people we saw, and there was a lot, there were probably 4 girls that were walking around without a top. You may think this was quite the coup by me being able to sneak a peek however in this context it was not very sexual. They weren't trying to be sexy and I wasn't taking it as sexy. None of the girls really had that much boobage to show off anyways :) Anna joked about going topless and I called her on her bluff by telling her to do it. I did warn her that she would probably break peoples' necks if she did because of all the bouncing they would have to endure looking at her goods :) It truly is a different culture down in Miami. This is a very international locale and I heard so many different languages being spoken while we were there.
Streets of Miami Beach
not the busiest in the
pic
Once we got enough sun we packed up and started walking down to the very busy part of South Beach. It is a street where they have a ton of restaurants and hotels then a park then the beach. This is where it is all going on. People trying to be seen and to be at the coolest places. I think I would have recognized some celebrities if I was more in tune with the NFL and NBA. I saw a lot of black guys in Lambos or Range Rovers with entourages that I assume they likely came into that money by way of sports. Is that racist of me? Well after walking for awhile we were overwhelmed and ready to head back to Maander and call it a day. We went to a 24 hour fitness south of Miami Beach which was in a busy part as well which had us stressed out again. The day ended with us exhausted and I just felt done with the whole experience.
Before the road to Key West
they had a bridge for trains to
Key West
Now to Key West, the southernmost part of the continental US which is an island.... OK. The trip down there is pretty long. About 120 miles from Homestead, the city furthest south on the mainland, to the island of Key West. We drove and drove and went across all these bridges. As soon as we hit water it was some of the most beautiful scenery we have seen on our trip. The water was such a light and lovely blue and the islands were green with white beaches. This is where Captain Jack Sparrow calls home. There were many people fishing and lots of boats all over. Every island on the trek has its own personality. Some spots are more for local business and others are more touristy. As I acclimated I got a sense that the locals had kind of a hick feeling to them and they had just happened to live in a place that became very touristy. They were like, "Oh, dang, I should try and make money off these people" so they have these hooky attempts at trying to attract people to whatever restaurant or scuba place or what have you. We made it down to Key West and walked around Duvall St. which is the main drag there. We made it to the southern most tip of the US with the marker. We walked around and saw the house used by presidents as a vacation home and where Kennedy stayed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was cool had a little Miami feeling but with the volume turned down a couple notches. Instead of spending a good sum to spend the night in Key West we drove back at night and stayed in Homestead.
Can you see Cuba its out there!
No US south of here
Dessert we had in Key West called:
Better than Sex
(It wasn't)
Alex met up with us in Homestead and we talked about our experiences in Key West. He wanted to head down but he was worried about costs and he wanted to spend a couple days down there. I told him what I observed and everything and he hemmed and hawed as we got ready for the day. We had the intention of spending some time with Alex when we first met but now we were planning on going to the everglades then north and he still was going to keep his home base as Miami area. Without saying it we both understood we wouldn't be seeing each other again and we said good bye and we were on our ways.
It is official
Made it baby
and got a sticker :)
We heard of bad weather for the day and we figured if it was bad we would just drive around the Everglades and look and if it was alright then we wold possibly go on this bike ride. The Everglades is essential a massive swamp that everyone thinks of when they think of Florida. Instead of a delta like in Cali the water just leaks out of Lake Okeechobee and creates a huge wetlands. Essentially it is a shallow river that is 50 miles wide leading to the ocean. This is where the Alligators as well as a lot of birds, all kinds of wildlife. It was really interesting and I was glad we went. We couldn't afford an air boat ride which looked like a ton of fun but the bike ride we took was great/hard. We headed out on a 15 mile bike ride that went through the Everglades that brought us right next to Alligators. We were warned of potential rain and we understood that when we left. I put my phone in my backpack thinking it would be safe. Well it began to pour down rain when we were 6 miles into the ride and ... just watch the movie clip. My phone didn't make it and the next day I had to fork out a lot of $$$ to get going again. Good thing I have an iPhone 4 now! bad is I am much poorer now because of it.
She is having fun little did she know...
So um...
You think a storm is coming?
Yea thats real
Yea it was like 15ft away
After taking care of business (spending a ton of $). We headed to north made it back to Melbourne to spend the night and saw a movie. We saw Red Riding Hood and I cringed through most of the movie. Horrible dialogue and I suggest to all of you skip it.
We planned on going to Disney World! Being in Florida and not going there must be some kind of crime so we decided we would carve out the money necessary to enjoy a day at the Happiest place on earth. After spending the night in Melbourne we headed to Orlando. Disney World opens at 8am so we wanted to get there by then so after all was said and done we left at about 8:30am... wait what? Yea we can not get up early anymore :) we rolled into the park at about 10:30am and got going. The day was non stop going on rides. The park was so much fun and the 80 dollar per person price tag was worth it reflecting on it. I splurged and got a burger with fries with all the fixings. I nom nommed and we were on our way. Then I saw a guy munching on a turkey leg. Wow that looked amazing I want a turkey leg. I had to have it so about 1 hour after having a very good sized lunch I was chowing on a turkey leg. Do I regret it? Yes I do!
I will try and let the pictures tell most of the story from here. We probably sat down 3 times at most, we went on every ride we wanted to go on. The electrical parade was great, the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory was great, Space Mountain was 10x better than I remembered. Lots of great times and Anna and I didn't get mad at each other really the whole day. It was a good time and we were completely beat. We ended the day at a Denny's
We just rolled into St. Augustine now, the first successful settlement in North America. We have already driven through the historic district and I look forward to checking it out tomorrow. We will be out of Florida finally here in the next couple days and I can't wait to make it all the way up the East Coast.
