SNOW?!!? A week
before Thanksgiving and we got 4 inches of the stuff! Sparkling white, beautiful snow!
Would it still be around for the grand start of our Winter 2015
Venture?? Would it cause a delay? NO – Thankfully, or sadly, the gorgeous
glittering wonderland in our back yard was back to drab green and dull brown by
Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving, as
usual was held at Dave and Staci’s home and our family Christmas was on the
Sunday following. Last year, Jean and
her family and Dave and his family met us at the perfect facility – Nazareth
Hall in Grand Rapids Ohio (See Previous Florida Blog!) but this year we met at
LaRoe’s Restaurant in historic downtown Grand Rapids. Not a very extensive buffet but it was still good to get this
part of our families together before we left for the winter again!
This year’s route south was the same as last but without all
the wheel bearing problems. Going thru
Columbus Ohio, H smelled something hot and for a moment got nervous but as it
turned out – it was hot brakes from a semi truck and not our wheels. The rain that we started out with when we
left Michigan was still with us when we parked for our first night out at
Paintsville Lake State Park in Kentucky.
Bud and Carol parked in the spot we had last year and we parked right
across the little campground loop road.
The memory of all the ups and downs of US 23 must have faded from our
minds, but we prevailed and crossed Tennessee, Virginia and entered the bad
roads of North Carolina, thru Asheville and down to Strausberg where we parked
in the mud at Cunningham’s RV Park for the next night.
In Virginia, H made an executive decision and turned off the
highway to stop and see Natural Tunnel State Park. After a short winding narrow road we reached the dome of the
small state park and got out for a well-deserved chance to stretch our cramped
legs. While H and I had been to this
amazing little park a long time ago, B&C had not and seemed amazed at the
view from the top of the gorge – looking down into the gargantuan mouth of the
train tunnel below. On our last visit,
H and I rode the ski lift down into the valley to stroll into that mammoth
opening in the mountainside. Before we
climbed back into our vehicles, C and I climbed aboard a festive looking bright
green steam train engine that had been in the park since 1996 and pretended to
wave to imaginary well-wishers.
In Savannah Georgia, we parked for 2 nights in Skidaway
Island State Park. It was easy to park
our collective wagon train since all the campsites were large half circle pull
thru’s. We had all been to this
historic town before so we just enjoyed refreshing our memories and strolled in
and out most of the intimate little shops that are still nestled below the
shops on the main road level. Then, poor
Bud had to follow H’s directions as he tried to steer around the small green
parks that were hidden among the city’s quaint antique homes.
From Savannah to Jacksonville Florida, our route detoured
out onto A1A and Amelia Island to stroll the busy holiday decorated streets of
Fernandina. As in Savannah, it was cold
and windy near the waterfront but as we walked and shopped further inland we
were able to get a bit warmer. Of
course, I had on my eclectic collection of patches jacket and several folks stopped
to ask or comment about it. One
shopkeeper lady was so impressed with my jacket that she even handed me a
circular white patch with the Fernandina Lighthouse on it with instructions
that I should affix it to a hat since there was no more room on my jacket!
Finally arriving in Jacksonville we fought our way thru all
the cross-town traffic to park for 2 nights in Abbey Hanna Park &
Campground. The following day’s choice
of exploration was lunch at Singletons Seafood in Mayport before heading
farther down A1A to St Augustine. H
felt the cheapest place to park was the parking lot for the Castillo de San
Marcos Fort since at 5pm the parking there would be free AND it was close to
Old Town. Out on the lawn of the fort
were 3 sets of costumed soldiers – Old Spanish, English Red Coats and Old
Floridian. As we shivered in the cold
wind, they proceeded to demonstrate how they loaded and then shoot several
rounds with their temperamental muskets.
As long as we were there at the fort, and had our Eagle Passports, we
chose to tour the big stone structure once more. In and out of the small cave-like rooms we went, and then up the
wide steps to the 4 diamond shaped bastions with the wide protected walkways
still lined with large black cannons.
We did our own walking tour of old town, took a hot chocolate break,
toured the interesting museum of dug out canoes in the restored Government
House. The nice ladies there even let
us sit for a while, out of the wind, in their little courtyard. We tried our best to wait till dusk for the
lighting of the trees in the park at the end of old town but the cold got the
best of us and we voted to head for home.
In the warmth of the car, we enjoyed the Christmas lights on A1A
instead!
