2 New States - South Carolina and Georgia!

South Carolina

The only other time I've been to South Carolina was when Tom came home from the Middle East during Desert Storm back in the early 90's.  There were seven of us in a mini-van (Mom, Sue, Eric, Donna, Judy, Amy and me).  We drove straight through (16 hours) to be there when his plane landed.  It was quite an emotional experience; we sat in bleachers and there was a welcome home ceremony.  Then all the Marines were dismissed and the crowd was let onto the field to find their soldier.  My favorite memory is of Amy yelling "Tom, Tom Merkes" and a marine tapping her on the shoulder asking if he could help her - it was Tom!  She flew into his arms screaming.  Great memories.

Amy, Mom, Tom, Eric and Mary

Ok, that's enough for the trip down memory lane.  We arrived in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Wednesday, December 13th and stayed a month.  We stayed at Briarcliff RV Park which backs up to the Intra-Coastal Waterway.  It was also a very short walk out the back gate to "Barefoot Landing" a very touristy outdoor mall with a great Sweet Shoppe which we visited quite often (and not just for the free samples).

We've never been to this area before and weren't sure what to expect.  December/January are not necessarily the best months to visit Myrtle Beach. It's too cold for most snow birds (no sitting by the pool).  There are many golf courses, t-shirt shops, miniature golf courses and water parks.  The shops were open, everything else was pretty much shut down for the season.  There were lots of restaurants and we were only a one mile easy walk to the ocean, that was nice.

Sunset at Myrtle Beach, this was on our first night.

Pier at Myrtle Beach State Park

There are two state parks close to Myrtle Beach:  Myrtle Beach State Park and Hunting Island State Park.  We visited both and liked Myrtle Beach State Park best.  They have a special during the winter and we could have stayed a month there for a reasonable price, maybe next time.  Both parks were right on the ocean and the campgrounds were just a short walk away.

A beautiful day to be at the beach - those are horses behind me!

All of the above pictures were taken in December when the weather was still decent.  By the first week of January I was glad I had grabbed my winter coat from our storage locker - it was cold!  Temperatures with the wind chill were in the teens and there was talk of snow. We did get a dusting of snow but the big deal was the ice.  People were advised to stay off the streets because it was dangerous to drive.  We even had frozen pipes one night but once the sun came out everything thawed.   I miss Arizona!  

There is a theater attached to the Barefoot Landing, the Alabama Theater and a Patsy Cline Show was on the schedule for January 12th and 13th.  Since I love Patsy Cline we walked over to buy tickets for the Friday Night show.  While I was buying tickets, Marty was talking to a "Time-Share" representative who offered him a $100.00 American Express Card, a $25.00 gift card to a local restaurant and a $20.00 gift card to the theater's gift shop;  all this for only 2 hours of our time.  Marty told her no and we left to walk back to the rig.  When he told me about it I thought it would be worth it for all the goodies.  We went back the next day and signed up and then went to the presentation and stayed strong and did not buy anything.  Our sales associate was a young man (23) who was still in college and interning for this company, he was very nice and low pressure.  His boss did come by a few times to talk to us too but we got out of there with just our freebies!

At the theater to see Patsy!

Before the show on Friday night we walked over to the Greg Norman Restaurant to use our $25.00 gift certificate.  Dinner was delicious and pricey and we forgot to give them the certificate (we ended up giving it to the woman in our park's office and she was thrilled).  After dinner we walked over to the theater for the performance - it was amazing!  Gail Bliss was the singer and she puts on quite a show.  It started out as a radio play and told Patsy's life story - very well done.

On our last day in Myrtle Beach we saw this guy hanging out at the Mall

We left North Myrtle Beach on Sunday, 1/14/18 and drove south to Hollywood, SC (right outside of Charleston.  We arrived there around 2:00, set up and then drove around looking for someplace to eat.  We found the "Kozy Korner" a hole-in-the-wall soul food restaurant with delicious food. They even had lemon cake!

After dinner we took a drive to the "Visitor Center" which turned out to be another promotional place for vacations.  For just one hour of our time we could get free tickets to Fort Sumter, a carriage ride through Charleston and a Plantation Tour - a savings of at least $80.00.  I think we've found a new career!

We drove into Charleston on Monday, sat through the presentation, grabbed our free tickets and headed over to Charleston's City Market to catch our carriage ride.  The ride was a great way to acclimate ourselves to the city and to see what else we wanted to do.

Yamasee was a very gentle horse

The City Market was very much like the French Market in New Orleans only smaller (maybe because it was January?).   After walking through, we strolled through Old Charleston to the waterfront and walked a bit more.  Charleston is a beautiful city and very walkable although the sidewalks were often cobblestone and you did have to watch your step.

Tuesday was our day to visit Fort Sumter.  Fort Sumter is where the Civil War started which I assumed everyone knew but after talking to a few of my family members discovered that there seems to be a lot of napping during American History classes.  Fort Sumter is on an island and during the winter there are only two boat trips a day to take you there.  Before you get on the boat you walk through a visitor center/museum which gives an overview of the history of the area, then it's on to the boat and a 1/2 hour narrated ride to the Fort. Here's a link to the Fort Sumter website:   https://www.nps.gov/fosu/index.htm
  

Note the date - exactly four years apart





When we arrived on the island we were met by Ranger Scott who gave a very informative talk about the history of the Fort.  Fort Sumter was built because these was a gap between Fort Johnson and Fort Moultrie and enemy ships knew that cannons could only reach so far and if they went right in between those two forts they could reach Charleston Harbor unharmed.

My favorite fact learned was that Abner Doubleday was second in command there and we all know what he went on to do -right?? 

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter Cannon

When we got back on land we found a deli for dinner and used our free American Express card to pay for it so we had a great time in Charleston for free.

Magnolia Plantataion House

On Wednesday we visited Magnolia Plantation.  Here is some information from their website:  

Thomas Drayton and his wife Ann arrived from Barbados to the new English colony of Charles Towne and established Magnolia Plantation along the Ashley River in 1676. Thomas and Ann were the first in a direct line of Magnolia family ownership that has lasted more than 300 years and continues to this day. 

 
We took a guided walking tour of a small portion of the former rice plantation (it's 500 acres total and was a lot larger pre-Civil War).  After taking a guided walking tour,  we hopped on the "nature train" (tram) for a more extensive, wilder tour - we even saw an alligator.  Once our train tour was over it was time to take the house tour,  we got to see every room.  This is a beautiful plantation and all three of our tour guides were very knowledgeable.

Camellia Flowers

The White Bridge

Bamboo Garden

The Plantation was the last of our three free tickets and it was well worth sitting through the one hour presentation to get them.  We would have done Fort Sumter with or without free tickets but probably not the carriage ride or plantation tour.
 

Our last touristy stop in South Carolina was a visit to the Angel Oak.  The Angel Oak tree is believed to be between 300-400 years old and is 65 feet high with a circumference of 25.5.  The largest limb has a circumference of 11.25 feet and is 89 feet long!  

Angel Oak tree

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Georgia On My Mind

We left South Carolina on Thursday, January 18th and headed south to Skidaway State Park near Savannah.  It was an easy short drive and we were there by 12:30.  Check in wasn't until 1:00 so we walked around a bit and then registered.  This is a very popular Georgia State Park and pretty pricey for a state park - $42.00 per night.  We did have water and electric and, best of all, CABLE!   The sites here are very nice - all pull throughs and very large.  There were lots of hiking trails and just walking the campground was nice.  After spending over a month in private parks it was nice to be in nature.  Cable and nature - yes, life is good.  

Birthplace of Juliet Gordon Low, now a Girl Scout Museum

We drove into Savannah on Friday.  Our first stop was the Visitor's Center to pick up some maps and information.  Savannah is also a very walkable city and that's what we did, walked all over.  We stopped at the Colonial Cemetery which had headstones dating back to the 1700's.  From there we walked over to the Birthplace of Juliet Low, unfortunately it was closed during January for maintenance. The riverfront was a short walk from there so we headed over to check out the shops and find a place for lunch.  Then we walked over to Savannah's City Market where we picked up some sweet treats (lemon cookies - yum!) and headed back to the truck.  

These "historic steps" down to the waterfront were pretty steep!

Savannah's waterfront along the Savannah River

The weather in Georgia was pretty nice; we spent Saturday and Sunday at the campground doing a little hiking and a lot of relaxing.  We also took a drive over to Fort McAllister State Park (only 30 miles away) to see if we wanted to spend some time there. 
 

We liked what we saw at Fort McAllister so on Monday morning we packed up and headed south.  This campground has a wonderful winter special of only $16.00 per night - what a deal!  We had water/electric but, sadly, no cable.  
 

This was the view behind our campsite (past the trees) at Fort McAllister SP

This park was smaller than Skidaway but I liked it better.  It's located on the Ogeechee river and they had canoe and kayak rentals.  It was a little too chilly for us (maybe next time).  We walked every day and discovered that if we walked the causeway to the office/museum and back it was almost 4 miles.  

There were two trails in the park but the longer, 3 mile, trail was closed (because of hurricane damage?).  Since that trail was closed we asked a ranger for recommendations and she referred us to the nature trail in nearby Richmond Hills.  What a wonderful trail, it was a three mile loop partially paved and very serene and scenic.  It also was on the Ogeechee River.  

On Saturday we took a ranger-led hike to learn about local edible plants.  Ranger Scott walked us around the fort and pointed out what would be edible if we were ever stranded in the wilds of Georgia. After the hike we strolled around the fort on our own and learned some of its history.  


Here is some more Civil War history for those who were napping in American History class (this information is from the Park's website):  

 

Located south of Savannah on the banks of the Ogeechee River, this scenic park showcases the best-preserved earthwork fortification of the Confederacy. The earthworks were attacked seven times by Union ironclads but did not fall until 1864—ending General William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea.”

Magazine built right into the hill.

We left Fort McAllister State Park on Monday, January 29th and headed south, 71 miles, to Brunswick, Georgia.  We are staying at a private campground, Golden Isles RV Park, which has a great monthly rate and is close enough to the coast for some interesting sightseeing.  We are staying here for all of February because we couldn't find a campground in Flordia until March 1st.

RV Junkyard

When we got here they sent us to a site that was very tight.  We would have been touching our neighbors awning and it would have been very difficult to get in (and out).  So I went back to the office and asked for a different site - she gave me #143.  I checked it out before getting Marty and it was underwater!  Once again I went back to the office and this time the woman came with me to find a satisfactory site.  We are all settled in at site #57 and we're at the end of the row so it's all good. 


There are no extra amenities in this park and quite a few of the campers have been here a while.  There is a walking path behind us and it's a short walk to the Winn Dixie so we can get our five miles a day in (walking the path 2-3 times).

Southeast Georgia and northeast Florida have many islands off the coast.  We've visited Jeykll and St. Simon in Georgia and Amelia Island in Florida.  They're all beautiful, it's always nice to see the ocean and we've been really lucky with the weather.  

Walking the beach at Jekyll Island in Georgia

St. Simon Island Lighthouse

Avenue of the Oaks, St. Simon Island

 

While on St. Simon Island we picked up a map at the Visitor's Center and went looking for "Tree Spirits".

From The Golden Isles Tourist Information Website:

What Is the Tree Spirit Mythology?

In the 1980's, artist Keith Jennings decided to make his mark on St. Simons Island, carving about 20 faces from the island's famous oak trees. Each unique face is hand-carved, taking the artist between two and four days to complete.

Legend has it, the images immortalize the countless sailors who lost their lives at sea aboard the mighty sailing ships that were once made from St. Simons Island oak. Their sad, sorrowful expressions seem to reflect the grieving appearance of the trees themselves with their drooping branches and moss.

But if you look a little closer, you can see that there are more than just sailors amongst these tree faces. Artist Keith Jennings attributes the artwork to the spirit of the tree. He carefully carves the faces from the wood, but his artwork simply reveals each tree's soul. The trees really do all of the work.

Found two, only 18 more to go

Mermaid Tree Spirit

 
Our current location of Brunswick, Georgia is only an hour away from Jacksonville, Florida so we've been there a few times for shopping (Costco) and an RV Show.  We walked through lots of rv's; every kind from Motor Homes to Class B's.  Our fifth wheel still fits our needs the best but who knows what the future holds. 

When we leave here on March 1st we'll head further south into Florida ending up in Miami.  The Cubs are opening against the Marlins and we're going to be there!!  Go Cubs!!

October, November and December 2017

Coast to Coast

We left Forks, Washington on Monday, September 25th and after a long stop in the Midwest we made it to our current site in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Wednesday, December 13th.  We traveled through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin before finally reaching Illinois on Monday, October 9th.  We left Illinois on Sunday, November 27th and made our way to South Carolina.  It's been a very busy three months!

Pacific Ocean - LaPush, Washington 
(September)

Atlantic Ocean - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (December)

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WASHINGTON

We spent our first night on the road in Ellensburg, WA at the same park we stayed at last year - Yakima River Park.  We got one night at 1/2 price with our Passport America membership so we only spent 17.50 for the night.  We had dinner at Fire and Smoke  Barbeque which was as good as any we had in Texas and then went for some ice cream at Winegar's which was recommended to us by friends we met last winter in Mesa - thanks Rick and Beth!  If you are ever in Ellensburg, Washington you have to stop for ice cream here, it was delicious!



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IDAHO

 From Ellensburg we drove to Couer d'Alene, Idaho (9/26 & 9/27).   We've driven through this area the past two years but have never had a chance to stop.  The city is on Lake Couer d'Alene which is a 30 mile long beautiful lake.  We were there when the weather was sunny and in the 70's, you can't beat that.  Our campground, Tamarack RV Park, was in the middle of a neighborhood and the sites were tight but the location was very convenient.  Once we were set up we drove downtown to the Visitor's Center, picked up some information and then walked next door to the Museum of North Idaho.  It was a nice museum, with interesting information on the history of the area and they had a very large gift shop with some fun souvenirs.


On Wednesday (9/27) we took a day trip to Lake Pend Oreille.  During World War II, the south end of this lake was the second largest naval ground in the world.  The lake is still used by the Navy's Acoustic Research Department to test large-scale submarine prototypes.  The training station is now Farragut State Park and includes a museum detailing the history of the submarine training.  Unfortunately for us it's only open from Memorial day through Labor Day.  We thought it was pretty interesting that there was submarine training in Idaho during World War II and really were looking forward to learning more.  This part of Idaho is beautiful and well worth another visit. 

  
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 MONTANA

From Idaho we continued traveling east and made it to Essex, Montana which is at the southern end of Glacier National Park.  We arrived on Thursday (9/28) and could only stay 2 nights because they were closing for the season on Saturday.  We knew taking the northern route back to the midwest was going to be iffy; the weather was fine (so far) but finding parks in October is proving to be a little challenging.  We spent Friday exploring Glacier NP, mostly in the car but we did take a hike to a waterfall.  The "Going to the Sun" road was only open to Logan's Pass so that's as far as we went.

Jackson Glacier

In 1850 there were approximately 150 glaciers in the park.  Scientists have predicted that by 2030 many(if not all) of the glaciers will be gone. 

St. Mary's Waterfall

St. Mary's Waterfall

As far as we could go, the road was closed past this point

Burnt trees in Glacier N.P.

East Glacier Park

On Saturday morning we traveled Highway 2 east to the tiny town of Glasgow, Montana.  We stayed one night at the Shady Rest Campground; the temperatures were dropping and snow was in the forecast so it was time to get out of Montana.


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NORTH DAKOTA

We stayed at our first State Park in a long time on Sunday (10/1) - The Little Missouri State Park near Kildeer, Norh Dakota.  Once we turned off the highway, it was quite a drive, the 3 mile road into the park was dirt and it was raining - not a good combination!  Our rig was covered in mud - YUK.  Once we were set-up, Marty hosed it off (in the cold rain).  We were the only ones staying at the park and our big window looked out over the ND Badlands, pretty nice.

YIKES!!

The reason we chose to stay at this park was because it's near Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We visited TR National Park back in 2008 and really liked it so we decided to spend a full day sightseeing here.  On Monday we visited both the North Unit and the South Unit - lots of driving but it was a beautiful day and we saw lots of bison and prairie dogs and the colors were pretty nice too.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Badlands Overlook

Theodore Roosevelt NP Wind Canyon Trail

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We were back on the road Tuesday morning (10/3) and got on I-94 to make some time.  We needed to be in Chicago by October 9th because I had tickets for the Cubs on October 10th.  We drove about 325 miles and stayed at a Wal-Mart in Fargo, North Dakota on Tuesday night and then drove all the way across Minnesota and into Wisconsin on Wednesday (10/4) where we found a US Army of Corps of Engineers Park (Eau Galle Dam and Reservoir) in Spring Valley.  We really like COE parks, they're always near water and usually very scenic and this was no exception.  Next year, when we're 62, we'll even get to stay in them for 1/2 price!

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Kinsley with Great Aunt Mary

Our next stop was only 200 miles away in LaCrosse, Wisconsin  Our niece, Elizabeth, is a sophomore at University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and we like visiting her.  We found a nice county park (Veterans Memorial) last year and decided to stay there again - four nights this time (10/5 - 10/8).  We had a nice dinner with Liz on Friday and then went back to see her on Sunday where we got to meet her boyfriend, Alec, and also see our great-niece Kinsley.

Kinsley and Aunt Elizabeth

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 ILLINOIS - YAY!!

We arrived in Illinois on Monday, October 9th.  We pulled into General RV to have solar panels installed on our rig.  We need them because we are going to spend the summer of 2018 in Maine volunteering at a Logging Museum and there is no electricity there.  They do have generators available but we want to supplement with solar.  We stayed in the rig the first night and then packed up our stuff and headed over to Judy and Don's for the week. We sure are lucky to have family that lets us stay at their home when we need.  Best of all, there is now a queen size bed (rather than the double we used to sleep on).  They sure make it nice for us!

We always enjoy being back in Chicago in October.  I usually get to at least one Cubs Game and Marty likes to visit his musician friends at Beatles Camp which is held the second weekend of October.  We catch up with lots of family and friends and it's so nice to see everyone. 

All five sisters, one sister-in-law and brother Joe 

All five sisters and brother Tom

Holding my newest great-niece, Grace Catherine with her very proud big sister, Sarah, standing guard

Leaving Palatine, IL on 11/10 and heading NORTH to Illinois Beach SP

We stayed at three different campgrounds in Illinois.  The first one, Paul Woolf, closed on 10/31.  The second one, Camp Reinberg in Palatine only allows stays of 10 days.  Our third one, Illinois Beach State Park stays open until 12/31 and that's where we were until 11/27.  If you are wondering why we stayed in Illinois so long (and it did get pretty cold), it was because I took a week-long side trip to Paris with my sister Sue and niece Sarah!  I got back on 11/25 and we were on the road again on Sunday 11/27.  I had a wonderful time in Paris and Marty got to spend Thanksgiving with his sister and some of her grandchildren so everyone was happy.

Thanksgiving - Marty, Hope, Emily, Chris, and Amie

Here are a few pictures of my European Vacation (if you want to see more they're on Facebook):

Along one of the many canals in Amsterdam

Eiffel Tower

Dutch Door in Amsterdam

Belgian Waffles in Brussels

When we got back to Chicago I got to meet my newest great-nephew (not so new anymore, he's 9 months old in this picture)

Katie and Ethan

   

Oh, No!

We had a slight incident with our rig going into Illinois Beach SP.  There are two units at this park, the south unit is where the campground is located.  Unfortunately, the GPS had us go into the north unit and we hit some very low branches which destroyed the A/C cover on our roof.  It's never a good feeling to see pieces from your rig on the road.  Luckily there was no damage to our air conditioner and our brand new (and very expensive) solar panels.  We found a RV dealer nearby, ordered a new cover and Marty installed it. 





We left Zion (Illinois Beach SP) on Sunday, 11/26.  It was the end of the Thanksgiving weekend so traffic was pretty heavy and we only made it as far as the north side of Indianapolis.  We stayed overnight at Wal-Mart and got an early start on Monday.  I was not feeling well and was very happy to arrive at our next destination of Heiskell, TN (near Knoxville).  Marty ended up with the same bug that I had so we planned on a week here before continuing east to South Carolina. 

Sad times, but comforting to be with family and friends

On Saturday (12/3), we received the sad news that Marty's nephew had passed away.  He was 44 years old so it was quite a shock to everyone.  We made arrangements to leave our rig at the park we were in and headed back to Chicago.  It was a nine hour drive and much easier without the rig.  We stayed up there for a week (thanks again Judy and Don) before making our way back to Tennessee on Sunday, 12/10. 






 We decided to have a do-nothing Monday so we left Tennessee on Tuesday and arrived in our current location of North Myrtle Beach on Wednesday (12/13).  We will be here until January 13th and then it's further south for us. 

We have no definite plans (or reservations) but I just learned that the Cubs are opening their season in Miami this year so guess where we'll be on March 29th?