Wow, have not written on this since May! The best of good intentions....
Of course, anyone who knows me well knows that I could not go to Florida without visiting Mickey. We spent 4 days in Disney World with Military passes; a great bargin. Fritz stayed at the Kennels there since we knew we would be at the park from the time it opened until the time it closed. Vince was chosen as Veteran of the Day in the Magic Kingdom and got to help retire the colors at 5pm and carry the flag in the parade. It was quite an honor for him, and a day he will never forget. Four days is definately not enough time, but we made the most of it. Our Passort America camping membership really came in handy too, as we only paid $15 a night at an RV park in Kissimee.
After Disney World we stayed at Patrick Air Force Base just south of Cape Canaveral. The base campground is on the western side of the island and our site backed right up to the waters edge. We were able to watch dolphins herding fish in the morning while having our coffee on the shore. The Viet Nam Vets brought one of the traveling walls to a park while we were there. Vince had a good time there talking with other vets, and especially old "Coasties"! This is the third time we have seen one of the traveling walls, always a very emotional time, but this time we knew that we would soon be seeing the Wall in Washington DC. They also had a great tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11.
.jpg)
While in the area we thought we would tour Cape Canaveral until we saw the prices. It was $70 a person to see the museums; Disney World was actually cheaper. Oh well, we just took the Wildlife tour instead!
Baby alligators in the wild; glad we didn't meet mama!
Next stop was Jacksonville where we stayed at a Moose Lodge. We were just in time for the Shrimp Festival on Amelia Island!
Low Country Boiled Shrimp - delicious!
We also spent a day in St Augustine; toured Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fortification in the US, the St Augustine Lighthouse, and the Pirate Museum, arrrgh!
The lighthouse had a museum with exhibits from the Coast Guard on the East Coast during World War II.
Great museum; interactive displays, fantastic artifacts, a audio Disney experience, but no picture taking inside.
As we headed north, we decided another visit to Savannah was in order as we love the area! Another stay at the Elks Lodge, it is very close to downtown and in a very quite neighborhood. We decided to wander around the squares of the city that we had missed on the first visit.
Forsythe Park is the biggest of the squares and beautiful!
This is the William Chandler Hospital. Built 1803 as a seamen's hospital and a poor house, it also housed Union prisoners during the Civil War. It is very run down and a little scary looking, but may be refurbished by Savannah College of Art and Design. They have restored many of the buildings in town as projects, and have done wonderful jobs.
We spent a day on Skidaway Island. Skidaway Island State Park has beautiful hiking trails out to the wetlands.
We met this cute turtle while exploring the park!
Wormsloe Estate was founded by one of the first English settlers to Georgia. The drive up to where the original house was is lined with 400 live oaks that were planted to honor the birth of a son in the early 1800s. Quite impressive! The original home is in ruins, but there are several miles of hiking trails to explore the beautiful grounds.
Charleston, South Carolina was our next stop. We took the ferry boat out to Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor.
These dolphins greeted the boat at the fort.
Shells are still embedded in the walls.
We also visited Patriots Point, a Naval & Maritime Museum.
The USS Laffey is a WWII Destroyer. The first one was sunk at the Battle of Guadalcanal and this one was commissioned in 1944. While touring this I realized that my father was probably on one just like it as he was in the Sea Bees and at Guadalcanal.
The USS Clamagore, a WWII submarine that spent its time on the east coast, was closed for refurbishing. We were able to tour the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. This ship received the Presidential Unit Citation for its action in WWII and was featured in movies "The Fighting Lady" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" It is huge! We only took 3 of the 6 tours that were available on it and were exhausted after climbing up and down all the hatches!
We arrived at Andrews Air Force Base just in time for their air show!
The Blue Angles always put on an amazing show!!
Our first visit in Washington DC was the Holocaust Museum. A very sobering place to visit. There are people who are survivors of the camps there to talk about their experiences, sign their books and serve as guides. Everyone that goes to DC needs to go thru this museum and honor those who died.
This is part of the Wall of Remembrance made by children.
Many people that we talked to in the city asked us how we were enjoying our stay and what we had seen so far. When we said that we had been to the Holocaust Museum, we were surprised by how many of the locals had never been. It is a free museum and a day well spent!
We rode the Metro into the city and it was pretty easy to get around once we figured out where we wanted to go and which stop to get off at.
The Lincoln Memorial is breathtaking up close and brought tears to my eyes!
The Washington Monument is still closed because of the earthquake damage and the reflecting pool was being refurbished, but the sights were still awe inspiring.
The Viet Nam Wall is a very emotional spot! We both have names of people we know on the wall so spent some quiet time there reflecting on the sacrifices they made.
World War II Memorial.
There are sides for both the Pacific and Atlantic theatres.
We saw this sign on a door on the Metro. I guess Storm Troopers cannot use the center doors on the train!
Each Smithsonian Institute Museum needs a day to go thru. Again, these are free museums and are amazing!
George Reeves Superman costume.
The Ruby Slippers.
Archie Bunkers chair.
These were in the Museum of American History.
Well for some reason I can't put anymore pics on this blog, so I will have to stop here. I guess this will be a two part blog!
As you can tell, we had a wonderful time on the east coast; although after we leave an area we always realize how much we missed and wonder when we can go back!
Stay tuned for part 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment