Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center

Hi All - We have been in Melbourne Beach, Florida, south of Cape Canaveral. We spent Thursday at Kennedy Space Center and it was a great experience and most likely a highlight of my trip. We went back on Friday and watched the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis. The picture on the right is all I could catch on film, just the speck in the upper right hand corner, the TV footage was better and it was much better in person! All throughout our visits, they broadcast outside all the conversation with the shuttle. What a thrill nonetheless! We so wish we could witness a launch, but with only 5 more, it will not be likely.

We also visited the US Astronaut Hall of Fame and I felt brave enough to do the 4G F16 simulator, although I predicted no appetite for dinner, I still managed!

We hung out at the beach pool today and the boys went fishing on the river side (Indian River)of the park where we are staying. Tomorrow is Todd's birthday and enjoying the sun is on the menu along with a little cake later on.

Talk with y'all later!

St. Augustine & Daytona Beach, Florida

Hi All - we are now in Daytona, Florida after 3 days in St. Augustine, America's oldest city.
Todd and Dillon are at the Daytona Speedway, doing all the things you do at the 'Daytona 500 Experience', however there are no races until January. The beach here is amazing and you can drive on the beach, I just spent an hour walking, not driving along the waves and surf. Now I am here with Damian at the library. Happy Thanksgiving is all you here now and the grocery store I just stopped at seemed quite busy. Most stores including grocery shut down for the holiday. Of course my oven is not nearly large enough to roast a whole turkey, but we will have turkey and all the trimmings, just because.
Our days in St. Augustine were a big history lesson. We did drink from the famed Fountain of Youth that brought Juan Ponce de Leon to la Florida in 1513. He did live until he was 61, double the average age in Spain. We enjoyed our time riding the trolley and we did get locked up in the Old Jail, we were pardoned by Sherrif Charles Perry so we could leave. We had heard wonderful things about St. Augustine and it was all true, a very great place to visit. We actually stayed Saturday night to hear the live music and see the light up for Christmas, over 2 million lights.
We met a couple from Shelburne, NS yesterday, they live on Dock Street, and keep a fifth wheel in Ocala, FL and drive their truck with a camper on it to Florida every winter. They were heading to their time share in Daytona. The interesting thing was they lived in Ladysmith until several years ago, when they did a trip just like ours, decided to move back to Nova Scotia and do the snowbird thing. They have friends flying into Orlando on Friday. Ruth, The wife knew a girl I used to hang around with in high school, small world.
Take care everyone and Happy American Thanksgiving!

Jacksonville, Florida!

We entered Florida yesterday afternoon! We will be in the Sunshine State until after Nicole & Jordan leave Orlando International on January 7th. Jacksonville is a large city with beaches on the east side. Today is overcast, so much for the sunshine part today, so the boys will get some school work done. Damian and I are in a beautiful Starbucks on Nautica Drive in Northwest JAX.
They are very friendly and the baristas mom has been to Seattle and Victoria, so he knew where we are from, most people don't really know and if you say Vancouver Island, they think Vancouver, although most know that is where the Olympics will be. They also have both a Jacksonville City mug AND a Florida mug, city mugs have been hard to come by, so I will but both, although I think I need to give Nicole some things to take home as we are running out of room. (Nicole - bring an extra suitcase!)
We have to plan for Thanksgiving weekend here as RV parks get busier and we wing it all the time, never knowing from one day to the next where we will stay. Apparently, Black Friday, which I have ever only heard about on the news, is huge and I do not want to be out shopping that day, or driving, or anything. The partners at this store have to be here at 3:30am to open early, most stores open early with specials, deals and otherwise irresistable sales. I think Boxing Day shopping is the closest we might have.
Take care everyone!

Savannah, Georgia

This home is in Charleston, SC and has a wrought iron fence that has primitive barbs on the top to keep out any revolting slaves or unwanted people and is one of the few remaining like it. The house is still in the same family as it was during the civil war.

We enjoyed a horse drawn buggy tour of the city and learned alot about the history of Charleston, especially the high society and wealth that was here before the war. They re-enact the seccession from the union and are proud to have been the first out and the last back in the union. I definitely admire how they resented all the taxes the British imposed and fought against it, however, wealth on the backs of slaves is too much. There have been places in both Charleston and Savannah where slaves were traded, bought and sold.

Savannah - charming little city, easy to drive, the historic part was laid out in a grid pattern with large area of public parks, squares, 24 of them, of which 20 now remain. Built up on a bluff, it is still flat, but the front built on the Savannah River is low and drops down a hundred feet to River Street and is cobblestoned and has quaint shops and riverboat tours. They say Savannah is the most haunted city as it was built on burial grounds. It is Georgia's first city and was once the 4th largest in the USA. It is now a busy commercial container port, home to 120,000 people.

We ate at Pirate House, a real pirate inn and bar where the scallywags used to stay and cause trouble. It too is haunted and is also where Robert Louis Stevenson was insipred to write Treasure Island. We had a tour and saw how they 'shanghai'd' young lads into service with the merchant ships, as the pirates had a long line of applicants they rarely needed to kidnap someone into service. For the food network lovers, Paula Deen is from here and I went to her store near the city market, I tried to get the boys to eat there, but I was out-voted for the Pirate House. Todd and I did a wine tasting and the reds are so light and are served chilled, because the goal is to refresh and cool you off. Very different, yet good.

The island we are staying on, Tybee Island is east of Savannah by about 15 miles and has the nearest beaches. We are heading out today and should be in Florida either today or tomorrow as Jacksonville is only a few hours away.

Take care! (Ya'll!)

Ida...wind and rain!

This picture is of the boys at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This is on the Outer Banks of NC.

We are now in Charleston, SC. We arrived last night and this afternoon we are heading the the historic downtown area. We left Myrtle Beach after staying an extra day, it was too stormy to travel. Rain, rain and more rain and wind. We got the tail end of Hurricane Ida, mostly rain and wind. They were giving flood warnings all along Virginia, the Outer Banks of NC and Myrtle Beach area. Despite being parked 20 seconds from the beach, there was a large sand dune separating us and we were in no danger of a flood. It rained so much that the roadways were literally a lake/ river. We stayed for Wednesday and then left Thursday afternoon, and drove to Charleston, only a few hours away. This has been the first time we were 'stuck' inside a bit and a good book is a suitable refuge for the storm. It was amazing to see the change in weather so quickly. It is still overcast here, but no rain and a bit of wind, cooler temperatures for sure.

The boys have spent some time catching up on their school work, Dillon has some tests coming up and Damian is just catching up! I feel like I am doing both grades 8 and 9 all over again! And of course in History class, which I thoroughly enjoy!

Take care everyone - I see the Christmas decorations out in the stores and am secretly very happy not to have to do all the shopping and participate in the busy-ness of the season. Take care not too over do it this season!

Tabitha

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Beach, sand, flip flops, sun (tan/burn), surf, waves, sandcastles, 78 degrees F, shells, sunscreen, Lakewood RV Park, Broadway on the Beach, fireworks, relax.

We are here! It is almost summer-like and not like fall/winter anymore! We have booked 4 nights at an oceanfront site and we are chillin by the beach! I know we are not quite in Florida, but this is very nice!It is not very busy here apparently compared to summer, which we like, but it is wonderful.

Since we left Virginia Beach, and on the way here, we stopped in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and stopped at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. This entire region is called the Outer Banks and when you look at the map, you can see why. Somebody came up with OBX as a short term and you see it on the license plates and bumper stickers. Lots of sandy beaches. We then drove south through Rodanthe and we stopped at mile 30 for Dillon to fish on the beach. Seems like everyone there is a fisherman/ angler and the front or back of their trucks have rod holders, as the rods for sea fishing are much too long to put inside. We caught the first of 2 ferries that night to Ocracoke Island (40 minutes and free) and camped at the next ferry which we caught to Cedar Island, NC the next morning. The next day was quite a bit of driving off the ferry by 10am after a 2 1/2 hour ride(and a bargain at $45 for a 41-61ft, we are 42 ft in length), all the way to where we are now. We leave here on wednesday and will head to Charleston and Hilton Head Island/ Beaufort.

We are in the full southern drawl, southern hospitality, everyone is quite friendly, southern food, the boys want to try some grits and all the fish you can buy is warm water, not cold water as I am used to cooking. The RV parks/ resorts are huge with Lakewood with about 1000 sites, and they have activities, cookouts, smores, security and even church! Todd is realizing just how much he says 'eh?', as we are more conscious of our own speech peculiarities, since we are so different now.

Take care everyone and I'll get some more pictures on here soon! For now here is one from NYC(Brooklyn Bridge at night).

Virginia Beach, VA

Hi everyone!

We have been in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for the last 4 days and hanging out while the boys catch up on some school work. They have been planted at the Great Neck Public Library, using the internet to get their work done. We went for almost a week with no internet and no school done except for 1 1/2 hours in New Haven. We are spending this afternoon at the beach, which is amazing and almost 3 miles long! It is a resort oceanfront area with Atlantic Avenue lined with hotels, restaurants, and souvenier shops. I would definitely love to come here in the summer, apparently most tourists are from Washington and NYC. I got a haircut at a trendy shop on 31st which I like very much, although I feel like I have cheated on my beloved Christina, who has done my hair for so long. The other cool thing here in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel.
It is 17 1/2 miles long, has 2 tunnels a mile long each, with a manmade island at each entrance and exit underwater, totalling 4. The bridge was built in 1964 and replaced a 2 hour ferry ride, it allows the ships to pass (Norfolk has a large naval base and air force base). Now that is what we could use on the island! Better than just a bridge! Oh and that reminds me, I know habituation takes at least 21 days, so if you live by a train, say after 3 weeks, it should not bother you so much, well here, the roar of the F18 fighter jets is persistent and pervasive. I don't think I could ever get used to it! it is louder than thunder and more frequent, they fly all the time it would seem!

Since New Haven...so much Boston, New York City and Washington, DC!!!

Yes - we have seen and done so much in the last week or so!

Boston tour of the city, Plymouth, where the Mayflower landed, New York City where we visited the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, Battery Park, Ground Zero, Broadway, saw the Empire State building , the Chrysler building, hung out at Times Square during the Yankees game, ate in Chinatown, and walked a long way! We took the water taxi the first day and the subway the next day. We were in an RV park in Liberty Harbor, so the New Jersaysubway took us to 33rd St, and we transfered to the NY subway up to 81st. Cool to think you are underneath the Hudson River! The water taxi was great and went right from the RV park to Wall Street. We walked so much that all of us had very sore feet!

We spent one day at Ellis Island and Liberty Island, touring the Statue of Liberty, whose actual name as I learned is 'Liberty Enlightening the World' We were the only ones waiting at the Ranger point, so we got a private tour, just the 4 of us! I learned a lot about the statue and I have learned that Americans love their monuments, especially those depicting liberty and freedom.

Yesterday we toured Washington, and saw all the must see spots - the White House, (including a mototcade which kept us on the curb and traffic stopped for over 15 minutes. The motorcade was returning to the White House and was heavily armed and consisted of at least 10 vehicles, the caboose being an ambulance. We took video, and I may have to figure out how to post it.)

the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, Korean War Memorial, Smithsonian, Capitol Hill, The Potomac River, I am sure I have missed things. Very cool to be all the places you have only seen on TV and in the news!

Right now, we are in Virginia Beach, sitting in a Starbucks, feels a bit like work days, but then again not quite! I have to get a few groceries, then cook dinner. Damian is doing school and Dillon is in the RV with Todd doing the same. Todd is watching a football game as there are quite a few channels where we are now.

Take care everyone and Happy Birthday to my Mom!