Florence and Alice and Stan and Magnolia

Florence and Alice and Stan and Magnolia
Trip Journal #8            Sept 29 & 30, 2018

Florence – as in Hurricane

As we drove south and east towards North Carolina, we are especially aware that on September 14, Hurricane Florence had just hit this part of NC … 15 days ago. 

Trees were down all along the highways and as we drove through little towns, we witnessed the sad accumulations of people’s possessions humbly arranged on their front yards. Winds took out the trees and roofs and floods spoiled their basements and first floors. This picture is in New Bern, NC.

Alice and Stan

Jacksonville, North Carolina’s claim to fame is Dan’s sister and brother-in-law, Alice and Stan. Eight years since we have seen Alice and they welcome us as though we had just been there last month. 

They also lost three of their seven oaks to the hurricane – the last three. The previous four were lost to prior earthquakes. 

Magnolia

However, most impervious is the magnificent Magnolia tree that graces their front yard and has withstood all attempts to annihilate it.

Family

Visiting family you’ve known for over 60 years brings out the pictures. Dan has seven brothers and sisters. This picture is of six of them with blind grandma and a couple older cousins. Alice is the petite girl in the far left of the picture.

Alice’s Restaurant

First, you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (apologies to Arlo Guthrie); second, have you ever read the lyrics to that crazy song? Third, Alice, Dan’s sister in this story makes a great Italian Dinner and an awesome Breakfast. Fourth: Such great hosts ... feeds us and fixes our RV. Brilliant! Fifth, our dinner out at Texas Roadhouse!

Thank You and a Shout Out and We love you, Alice and Stan 

💞 

Feedin’ and Fixin’

Earlier in the week, our pump/macerator had gone out and we had ordered one to be sent to their house. It arrived the day we arrived and now Dan has a job crawling under our Coyote to replace it. First, he had to purchase ramps to lift the Roadtrek; second, he had to crawl under there; BUT guess what? He still could not fit. Fifth, Stan (our hero) volunteered to try and he could fit. Moreover, he is experienced in auto repair and he saved our bacon. 

Dan of course helped wherever he could handing him tools and encouraging his efforts.

A museum only open to the privileged few ... Coca-Cola! In Alice's sun-room. 

Next ... heading deeper south: Charleston and Savannah.

Virginia: Jamestown, Yorktown, a Concert and a Swamp.

Trip report #7                         Sept 28-29, 2018

Jamestown, Virginia

         On December 6, 1606, the journey to Virginia began on three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America  at Chesapeake Bay to start a settlement. On May 13, they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, naming it after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent, successful English settlement in North America. These pictures are from the museum, which includes replicas of the Powhatan Pocahontas’ village and the three ships that brought the colonists. We were surprised how small they were. Dan visits with one of the sailors.

The Jamestown Visitor Center exhibits are well done and the surrounding reenactments, interpreters, and replicas are informative. However, the actual historic site is a mile or two further on from the visitor center, but just a few building foundations and a church tower remain.

Incidentally, John Smith did not marry Pocahontas. Peace, for a while, existed between the Powhatan Indians and the English, brought about by the conversion and marriage of Pocahontas (kidnapped by the English in 1613) and John Rolfe in 1614. (Always learning something new).

Yorktown, Virginia

Yorktown is just a few miles across the peninsula from Jamestown. If you’ll recall on my commentary of our visit to Pennsylvania; in Philadelphia we relived the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776… the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  Now here we are five years later in 1781 in Yorktown. At Yorktown, in the fall of 1781, General George Washington, with allied American and French forces, besieged General Charles Lord Cornwallis’s British army.  On October 19, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the war and ensuring independence.  The pictures are of the army encampment and from the museum. Notice the woman working the cannon. They do museums very well here. Wish I could bring my history students here … lesson done.

Newport News Park

The campground was lovely, nearly empty and provided easy access to Jamestown and Yorktown.  Located in Newport News, Virginia, the park is the largest park in the system of municipal parks maintained by the Newport News Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. At 8,065 acres, it is one of largest city-run parks in the United States of which 143 acres are set aside for camping.

Concert on the Riverfront.

Yorktown has concerts on the Riverwalk Landing and luckily, we were there that Saturday night. Classical Jazz Big Band music along with a spectacular sunset brought a wonderful end to the day and to these beautiful cities. Note in the picture, the Coleman Bridge over the York River at the right.

Dismal Swamp Canal

The next morning we leave Virginia heading south along highway 17 and parallel the Dismal Swamp Canal. This is one of the scenic byways we found in that National Geographic Scenic Byways book.  It’s called the Tidewater Byway.

If you peer into the still, mirrored waters of the Dismal Swamp Canal, you may see a brief glimpse of the historic Waterway’s colorful past.  Indians, Civil War Soldiers and runaway freedom seekers each have their own story to share. The vast Dismal Swamp, once covering over a million acres, is still a large, complex, beautiful natural area with many reasons to visit. The Dismal Swamp State Park and Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge are home to one of the largest Black Bear populations on the East Coast, subtropical birds, butterflies, bobcats and white-tailed deer. It runs through southern Virginia and northern North Carolina. It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, opened in 1805. It is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, an inland route, which parallels the east coast.



We stopped at the visitor center and walked part of the swamp boardwalks.

Next:  Charleston – Plantations and more history.

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Chesapeake – Maryland and Virginia                                            September 25-27, 2018

Report #6

As mentioned in the last blog, Chesapeake Bay captured my attention when I read Michener’s book “Chesapeake” about 30 years ago. His remarkable descriptions were captivating; the multiple waterways, the history of the discoveries of this region; Maryland’s founding and subsequent history; the wildlife and lush foliage …. He described that when the Canada Geese flew over the area there were so many that the sky turned dark. Clearly, I did not expect to see that particular phenomena, however, the existence of that much water and all the foliage and environment called to us.

Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center 

Upon crossing the Bay Bridge at the northern end of the Chesapeake, we headed to the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center … of course. This picture shows the road driving to the center … and when we got there, we discovered that this was low tide.

We grabbed our trekking poles and headed into the peninsular forest and enjoyed the humidity (certainly) and the peaty, marshy tracks. 

After a couple hours, it dawned on us that if that road was low tide coming in, we might be in trouble getting out. It was a little intimidating .... compare it to the first picture coming in.

This is the road not a river; Dan was not ecstatic driving it; but we made it. In this picture, you will see what it was like; the water was about 6 to 8 inches deep. 

St Michaels

Settled in the late 1700’s this little village retains much of the charm of colonial times, with large brick churches and restored homes, and modest artist shops. It was a busy ship-building center in the early 1800s. It is a little touristy but no fast food places or tacky gift shops. A little walk around found us at Awful Arthur’s restaurant and we had the best French Dip sandwich and Fish and Chips. 

The history here also claims Frederick Douglas. The picture summarizes this well. 

Moreover, we found a lion. 

Two states claim the waterways of the Chesapeake ... Maryland and Virginia. As we drove down the eastern side of the Bay, we ventured into Virginia. 

Interesting side note: settled by Catholics fleeing the persecution of papists by England … Maryland named their state for the mother of Jesus. And to counterbalance that ...  English colonists identified Virginia for their virgin queen Elizabeth I.

A side note: Another guide we are using to discover this part of the country is “National Geographic’s Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways”. The third guide is the AAA tour books and maps. 

    

Assateague Island

Lined with barrier islands the eastern coast of the country offers  with their own charm. This one called to us from the all three guides we were following. Camping right on the beach, we found ourselves arriving after dark, and were not sure which way was which. After we were settled, we looked out the window and discovered the moon rising. The sky overcast, the first picture captured the moon on the horizon just before it disappeared up into the clouds. The second picture taken the next morning at sunrise revealed the beach and the mysterious shapes seen in the first picture. A walk up there completed the display with the Atlantic Ocean! Hi Dan.

We stayed three days and hiked, biked, and visited with the wild horses, their friends the egrets, the ocean and a mushroom growing in the sand. That particular item revealed exactly how humid it all is. 

...

Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Not to be confused with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, this series of engineering marvels rivaled out pleasure of the first bridge. It is a series of bridge-tunnel-bridge-tunnel-bridge that spanned and dove into the Virginia end of the southern bay where it flows into the ocean. Each of the two tunnels is a little over a mile long and the entire distance is 17.6 miles plunging and leaping across the water.

And next we travel to the year 1607.

Baltimore and D.C.

Baltimore & Washington D.C.

Trip Report #5                                                                          September 22-24, 2018

Baltimore: Poe and Polish

Poland in Baltimore

     Our travels to D.C. from Philly included a stop in Baltimore to visit Edgar Allan Poe. This was our only intended stop, however as we drove into downtown, we noticed multiple temporary signs touting pierogies at Holy Rosary. Well … it is lunchtime, we love pierogies and Holy Rosary is the name of our parish church at home in Colorado. We arrived at the beginning of the church’s annual Polish Festival. Another surprising connection is that right next door is a school – Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. Cristo Rey High Schools are a series of private schools across the nation with a unique mission … locate in an inner city, serve students in the lower economic strata, and provide them with entry level jobs once a week, in companies partnered with the school, to help pay for their tuition. The connection? Our daughter Wendy heads the English Department at Cristo Rey De La Salle North Catholic in Portland Oregon. (If you are intrigued, check them at their website online.)

Everyone spoke Polish; the people were super friendly; the food was homemade; we had grilled kielbasa, pirogues. The dessert, kremowka papieska  is amazing (translated “Polish Papal Cream Cake” because John Paul II mentioned he loved it.) … we had two each. The live music featured polkas and the people were dancing.

The church, Holy Rosary, built in 1928 and was stunning inside and out. It is also designated as the Divine Mercy Shrine. Serendipity transpires here … a great example of being open to the unexpected in our travels!

Edgar Allan Poe

We did get to see Poe’s house. Poe, a storyteller and poet who lived from 1809 to 1849 ... who dared to dream dreams no man ever dreamed before.

The house and the neighborhood is very peculiar ... as fitted this man. Set in a subsidized housing project with no tourist parking except curbside. Interesting that the blocks of housing all resembled the Poe house, using the same style and bricks. Nevertheless, worth visiting if you are a Poe fan  … which we are.

Washington D.C.

There are no campsites for an RV, even our small one, in D.C. or even near it. We stayed in a KOA 28 miles north of the city that offered a shuttle out to the National Mall on Sunday.

This was our third visit, in our lives, to D.C. Therefore, we determine to visit those sites we had not seen before. We did purchase the two-day trolley tours around the city. The narrations are such fun and the hop-on, hop-off service is so convenient.

The first thing we did was go to Union Station. Union Station proves to be our center. That first day, we discovered a food court downstairs with reasonable prices (two words not normally found in D.C.). There are dozens of restaurants and food counters in there. We even had some iconic pretzels.

Arlington Cemetery

Then we hopped on the trolley touring the city listening to the fascinating descriptions of everything we pass and making notes as to what to see the next day. The tour includes a swing out to Arlington Cemetery across the Potomac River into Virginia. We never even imagined the size of this place! There are 20 stops on the tour in the cemetery alone. Six hundred acres of rolling hills with the resting place of over 400,000 service members and their families as well as JFK and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier … both of which we stopped visited.

The first military burial was in 1864. They estimate the last burial will be around 2030, with no more space left. Interestingly, this was the original property of confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee married Mary Custis who was the great-granddaughter of George Washington. The home and property belonged to the Custis family. As they decided to side with the South they vacated the property at the beginning of the Civil war, as it was so close to Maryland and the North. Pictures here include JFK’s eternal flame at his grave site; the hills of the cemetery; the grave of the Unknown Soldier with the changing of the guard; and yes, it rained all day.

Lincoln Memorial

We then went to the Lincoln Memorial.

Afterward, on the trolley again and enjoyed the continuing tour, enjoying the entertaining chatter of the narrator with background information about the sites we went by. Then home on the campground shuttle to recuperate for the next day. And yes, it rained all day.

The next day we drove into D.C. and parked at Union Station, which has an entrance for buses, taxis and RVs on H Street. Therefore, with our Coyote safely stowed, we continue exploring.


We had a personal list of what to see. However, we only caught half of those on the list, even though we stayed until 8:00 p.m. These pictures reveal the highlights.

A tour of the Capital Building, which houses the Senate and the House of Representatives. 
The tour guide has a Master’s Degree in American History … most knowledgeable and a good speaker. One of the original painting in the rotunda is of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In the previous blog, in the city of Philadelphia, I posted a picture of that room in Independence Hall.

The entire building reflect Roman architecture influences as well as does the art. Rome was the first culture to have a republic form of government.

In the rotunda dome ceiling, the various Roman gods. See G. Washington in center ring with lavender robe on his knees.

The original Senate Hall, now too small for 100 senators and
aides. Used for ceremonial stuff and photos.

A question for you. Why is the statue of the pioneers of women's suffrage unfinished ... as intended.










The Library of Congress
You can get there through an underground tunnel without going through security again. This is our most favorite building … easily the most beautiful ... with marble on walls and ceilings, precious wood, and splendid floor tiles.

Library of Congress Research and Reading room.

A walk through the Botanic Gardens ... Genuinely an oasis and quiet place within such a busy city.




A visit to the Hirschhorn Museum. This is an amusing place of contemporary art and culture, every artisan trying to tell his/her story. 

Finally dinner at a quaint diner in Union Station … Johnny Rocket’s.



Chesapeake Bay
A fan of Michener, I read his book “Chesapeake” many years ago and resolved to go there. We are on our way next.

Enormous, massive, engineering marvel bridges are not a common feature found in Colorado, so we are fascinated when we cross them here in the east. There are two such riveting bridges in the Chesapeake Bay Area. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge near the north end of the bay east of D.C. and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel south … near where the bay empties into the Atlantic.
Leaving D.C., we crossed the first one here – the Bay Bridge. Bridging the bay for a staggering 4.3 miles it is a double span, curving bridge that opened in 1952. Certainly left an impression on us.

Next ... the Atlantic Ocean.