This Leg covers SE USA - New Orleans, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nashville
New Orleans
Note: You can double click on the pictures to make them larger.
The Leg 3 journey to SE USA started with an 11 hour journey to meet Tobe and Kassy coming from Houston. Ultimately, we were both headed to Disney in Orlando. Kassy's Mom, Elaine, had Tobe and Kassy's 3 boys in Florida, so after New Orleans they would meet her and pick up the boys.
We both targeted arrival for around 4 PM and interesting enough came close. However, it took Tobe about an hour to drive the last 5 blocks and to find a parking place after he dropped off Kassy at the Marriott by Bourbon street - our home for the night.
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| We opted to share a room since we didn't anticipate using it much prior to the next day when we'd head for Florida |
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| Tobe and Kassy have a grin after I announced that I forgot pj's. The shape they were in later - would not have noticed. |
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| Lesa, Tobe and Kassy on Bourbon Street |
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| Add Dan, Subtract Lesa |
One of the foundations of Pat O'Brien's is the fountain on fire. Probably as many pictures taken here as of the Statue of Liberty. However, many phones, cameras and people go missing in New Orleans, so my point can not be proven.
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| Working the Hurricanes II |
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| Working the Hurricanes |
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| The fountain |
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| Lesa holding in my stomach! |
After Pat O'Briens, it was a stroll down Bourbon street, stopping at some of the more famous places - CATS (Karaoke Bar), Independence Hall (Very old Jazz Bar), and about every 30-50 feet, we'd duck in to get another Roadie to drink.
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| Independence Hall Band waving as we took their picture |
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| Kassy needed a couple more |
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| Cats is a famous Karaoke bar |
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| Lesa had to tell New Orleans that it was my retirement. |
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| Blow up of the wall hanging on Pic to the left |
At CATS, I had to go on stage and do a line dance with a bunch of older and not so sweet looking women....camera must have been broken then.
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| You can stop most anywhere and get a drink...we did. |
Eventually made our way down Bourbon Street to another very famous place. Tobe and Kass had to get a souvenir for the 3 boys....they got an alligator foot necklace. I think Lesa may have bought a voodoo doll. Every now and then when I make her mad, I feel a pain in my lower back.
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| It's actually quite a creepy place to go into. |
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| They have something to cure every ailment |
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| Kassy jumping |
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| Pretty close! |
.....By now it was getting onto 10PM and we decided some food might be in order....Had dinner at a generic restaurant...don't even recall the food - I do know that I had a weird egg dish. Restaurant was on second floor, so we had a nice overlook. Kassy did notice the Psychics in the square (you can see them in the pic below). She had to talk to him...about what - only she knows. Tobe and I did and over/under for $40 on what the cost was. I was more psychic than he was....over.
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| Quite a number of fortune tellers, tarot card readers, etc. in the Square |
Dessert was at Café Dumond where you must eat a warm Beignets or two. We did...had a couple left over that Tobe donated to a homeless person.
Came time to stroll back up Boubon. We stopped at a Transvestite Show...why - I have no clue. We only stayed about 30 minutes. Weird stuff.
From there, we had 2 more stops. A piano bar where we spent a couple hours...it was a lot of fun...people singing their hearts out - including us.
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| Kassy was very excited for whatever this song was. |
We stopped briefly at another bar where the band was basically focused on Metallica, Guns and Roses and the like. Lesa and I stayed around for a beer and called it a night.
Tobe and Kass eventually drug in a bit later. Lesa and I got up the next morning to head for Pensacola to see Lesa's cousin Gloria and her spouse Betty.
Kassy was up when we left, but Tobe was a no-show in getting up until noon....they were headed towards Orlando. We were to meet them there and they'd have the boys. Kassy drove most of the way - Tobe could not.
Pensacola, Florida
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| Betty, Gloria, Lesa, Gloria's pickup in the background. |
We spent the first hour just chewing the fat (conversing) and getting to know Gloria and Betty's loves in life - Coco and Mango. Really sweet dogs that just want to cuddle and please you. Coco seemed to like me better while Mango stuck with Lesa. When we awoke on Monday morning at their house, 2 small dogs bounded into our bed and were just overjoyed to see us. There is NOTHING like the happiness of a dog!
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| Mango |
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| Coco |
Gloria and Betty had waited for us for lunch so we drove to Pensacola Beach for a meal at a beach restaurant. Food was excellent, but we were introduced to the drink of Pensacola - Bushwacker. That drink should be illegal - it's like a creamy chocolate pina colada.
Like I said, the restaurant was on the beach...this whole area was restaurants on the beach - very fun area. Really pretty beach.
After lunch, Gloria and Betty took us for a tour of the city. Check out this historical sign and the picture below. A mass was said on this site on the Feast of the Assumption in August, 1559.
Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels. Almost any week during the summer, if they do not have a show away from the base, you can sit on the beach and watch them practice.
Most large cities have an adopted animal that the city and local businesses replicate in a statue and then the various companies and organizations adopt one of the statues and paint it appropriately....I've seen horses, cows and pigs. Pensacola does pelicans. There are over 30 of these spread across the city...kind of cool whenever you see one.
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| These painted pelicans represent the Armed Services.....there are many more. |
Gloria and Betty also introduced us to McGuires - an Irish restaurant and Pub. Inside the restaurant, there is over $1 million hanging in the form of $1 bills from walls and ceilings. Food is good, too, we only went in to look, but there was a constant line of folks waiting to get in.
We also toured downtown Pensacola which has first class theater for plays and a downtown retail shopping area...the little stores people like to go in as tourists. Every kind of restaurant you can imagine on both the beach and downtown.
Most of the houses in the area, given Pensacola has had some horrendous hurricane experiences, are built on stilts so water can rush under the house and not over the house.
They also shared their wedding album. They were very recently finally able to get married in New Hampshire. Lesa and I could not be happier for them.
Of course, the next morning after Coco and Mango greeted us with a doggy kiss and welcome, Gloria and Betty made us a delicious breakfast to get us on our way to Orlando.
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| Almond French Toast |
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| Eggs and bacon, too. |
Like I said, Pensacola is a very clean, gorgeous beach city. Most likely a Reiff family reunion in the future and we'll be working on those California Portuguese cousins.
Disney in Orlando
After Pensacola we headed to the place where all winner's go - Disneyworld in Orlando Florida. We used our Hilton Timeshare to get a 2 bedroom suite at the Parc Soleil Resort for Monday leaving the next Friday. We met back up with Tobe and Kassy who had picked up from Kassy's Mom (lives in So. Florida) the 3 boys - Austin, Robby and Paul. In case you forgot who they are:
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| Tobe, Robby (Bobber), Austin (Aceman), Kassy and Paul (Pickle) |
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| Nice walking path around an adjacent lake |
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| Water slide is under the green dome and enters pool via the hole between the 2 towers |
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| Lots of time spent in Pac Soleil pool - usually seeing how far we could toss the boys. |
After arrival on Monday, we played in the pool until dark. Not having enough water play yet, our first stop the next morning was Blizzard Beach....the Disney waterpark. Tobe and I took Austin and Robby to Blizzard Beach while Lesa, Kassy and Paul went to Downtown Disney.
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| Aceman and Bobber not happy to have to stop for a picture on the way in to Blizzard Beach |
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| Robby ready to go on Teamboat Springs |
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| Austin |
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| The Toboggan ride |
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| Summit Plummet starts at the very top and is basically a 70 mph plunge on a 500 ft slide. |
The first night was all about planning the day at Disneyworld. The Fast Path system allows you 3 Fast Path (no or at least shorter lines) rides per ticket. Editorial** - In the past you bought an entry ticket and you could buy a separate Fast Path ticket that allowed you to go Fast Path on all rides. Apparently, socialism has hit Disney and Fast Path is no longer for the people that can afford an extra $100 Fast Path ticket - everyone gets 3 fast path rides and you can not buy extras. Anyway, you have to plan your day out and you wait in a lot of lines now.
Day 2 was Disney World. It was all the boys could do to stay in their car seats all the way there. We had 3 modes of transportation to get to the park.
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| A Disney sign was spotted and caused considerable excitement |
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| Now we are in the train from the parking lot to the MonoRail. We parked in the "Hero's" lot |
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| Getting close now - Mono |
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| We'll be there in 2 minutes |
Voila! Disneyworld finally.
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| Kassy took this picture without getting any of the other 4 million people in the background. I would have said impossible. |
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| Grandpa and Pickle |
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| Ava (Portuguese "Grandma") and Pickle |
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| Kassy and Robby |
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| Grandpa, Ava, Robby and Paul on Magic Carpet |
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| Tobe and Austin on Log Ride |
There was also a small water park that had a variety of sources of water squirting onto the kids.....they loved it.
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| Austin with his shoes on the wrong feet trying to bust through a chained gate |
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| Pickle Paul the Hulk |
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| Bobber showing the girls his manly chest |
Many times, since we had different types of rides we had to use, we'd find "wait time".....even those moments were fun!
We left Disney around 5PM (got there when it opened). Went back to the hotel pool for awhile. The next day we went to Disney Downtown....a conglomeration of restaurants, bars, retail stores and play areas.
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| Disney Downtown |
The boys had ice cream, played with lego's for an hour, had Starbucks while it rained, and shopped for souvenirs. It's actually a pretty enjoyable place.
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| Starbucks put the negative image of a real-time photo on a TV. The boys could use their finger to trace themselves. |
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| Getting a snack |
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| ...and eating it |
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| Spent a lot of time getting a souvenir - ended up with a Buzz Lightyear Doll (Paul), Woody Puppet (Austin) and a mean looking robot doll - Zorb (Robby)...nothing for Tobe or Kassy |
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| Paul did not like this large Hulk....he also hated a large witch in the candy store |
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| This serpent is all lego's and the size of a very large boat. |
After Disney Downtown, you guessed it, back to the pool for one last dip....it rained again for awhile, so the resort sponsored a Bingo game that the boys did for a little bit. It is kind of discouraging though when your bingo numbers are not getting called...so Bingo did not last long.
The next morning we all packed up. Lesa and I were off to South Florida via Venice Beach/Marco Island and Tobe and Kass and Boys were heading to Kassy's Mom, Elaine, in Lighthouse Point. We'd see them one more time in about 3 days when we stopped in Lighthouse Point to see Elaine.
South Florida
From the map, you can see four basic stops in the South Florida part of the trip.
- Venice Beach - a golf stop
- Marco Island - A friend and ex-coworker at BNY Mellon resides there
- Lighthouse Point - Elaine, Kassy's Mom, lives there
- Cape Canaveral - See rockets
Upon leaving Disney on Friday, we had to go 3-4 hours to get to Venice Beach where we had a tee-time scheduled at 2 PM. We should have known when we got there that we might be in trouble.
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| We were met by a lot of these - small version of turkey buzzard |
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| Had expected to be met by this |
Then it rained like cats and dogs and we were unable to golf. We ended up going to the hotel gym for a quick workout and then found a great spot for dinner. Captain Eddie's was only a few blocks from the hotel. It's not only a seafood restaurant, but also a seafood market. Lesa had Hogfish...that was first. I had Flounder. We started with a couple drinks and 18 raw oysters. Food was awesome - even though it was not listed as a Drive-in, Diner or Dive.
The Venice Beach area looks nice, but given the rain we could not explore much.
Marco Island
Upon leaving Venice Beach, it was raining even harder....flooding actually. We had about an hour drive to Marco Island. When I was with BNY Mellon, I worked with a gentleman named Charlie Erker. At the time Charlie lived in northern Chicago. A few years ago he moved to Marco Island and was sincere when he said "if you ever get down this way....". I had never met Charlie's wife, Holly, but now we feel like we are kinfolk....great folks.
Fortunately for us, our arrival was 2 days after he returned from visiting his daughter in Maine and 2 days prior to shutting the house down for a couple months while he goes to his other house in upper Wisconsin. With all that going on, he and Holly still welcomed us with open arms.
As we approached Marco Island ( it is an island) from the mainland, you very quickly figure out that it's a pretty unique place....not just streets, but canals and streets. Houses are all very nice and well kept.
Charlie is a man of 1000 toys. A 20 foot Whaler boat sitting in his canal, 2 cars and 3 motorcycles in his garage. Whenever he goes out, he has to decide whether to go by canal or street. We had intended to take a nice boat ride/dinner, but with the rain, we stayed in. Holly cooked up an incredible dinner with crab cakes, corn on the cob and Balsamic tomatoes.
During the afternoon, Charlie (also retired now) and I caught up on all the ex-workers, bad managers, good managers, politics, etc....things old guys talk about. We also met Roxie, Lary and Lucy.
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| Roxie |
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| Lary, Lucy was hiding, but looks just like Lary |
Roxie, Lary and Lucy were looking forward to the gazillion hour drive to Wisconsin.
Holly leads a movie club at Marco Island. We got onto the subject of wine and she said we just had to watch this movie called Somm.
Somm is a film / documentary as four sommeliers attempt to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. It was a great movie and you feel the pain and joy of those guys. We also discussed another wine movie, Bottle Shock, that Lesa and I had seen. Had to do with the story of the early days of California wine making featuring the now infamous, blind Paris wine tasting of 1976 that has come to be known as "Judgment of Paris". It highlights a winery, Chateau Montelena, that was first ever to beat the French wines. Holly surprised us at dinner when she pulled out this:
The next morning we hit a nice breakfast spot on the island and were joined by Charlie and Holly's friends - Earl (retired Federal Judge) and Cecelia Witten. In the small world department, Earl's son who worked for CH Robinson (like my son Tim), was just changing jobs to move to NW Arkansas at JB Hunt. Hopefully Earl and Cecelia will stop and see us when they visit him.
In any case, despite the rains, we had a great time catching up with Charlie, meeting Holly and meeting their friends. After breakfast (and a mimosa at Charlie's house) we headed across Florida to Lighthouse Point.
Lighthouse Point
Lighthouse Point is another community like Marco Island - it has both streets and canals with gorgeous neighborhoods.
Kassy is like a daughter to us and her Mom is kind of like our Sister or something....definitely feels like family. As a bonus, we also got to spend time with Robby (Big Robby - Kassy's brother) and Jenna (Kassy sister) and family.
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| Elaine with Paul |
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| Robby (Kassy brother) with Paul |
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| Jenna (Kassy sister) with Michael Jr - born earlier this year |
We arrived in time for Elaine's spaghetti dinner. She made enough for 100 people....we had a dozen. Really good though and probably the boys' favorite food - Austin's for sure.
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| Looks like he was in a fight...but spaghetti |
After the boys went to bed, we had a few drinks and played a card game "Oh Hell". Lesa won...
The next day, I took the car to a Lexus dealer for an oil change and while the girls focused on the boys. One of the tasks is laundry and with all the folks in the house, it took 3 of them to sort and fold.
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| Kassy, Elaine and Lesa - sorting/folding |
Kassy, Tobe the boys, Lesa and I had lunch with Kassy's Dad, Pat, and his wife, Elana and 2 children. Most of my lunch pictures did not come out, however this one did - this is Pat and Elana's daughter, along with Paul...looks just like Kassy!!!
After lunch, Tobe, Lesa and I took the boys to the ocean while Kassy and Jenna worked out. We took Austin and Robby way out into the ocean where the sharks were. The only incident was when Paul was carried 10-15 feet into the ocean by a few big waves....Lesa, in her dress, had to go fetch him before he got carried out as shark bait.
Everyone agreed to meet at the Whale's Rib, a Drive-in, Diner and Dive. Really good seafood - especially the whale chips.
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| L-R - Paul, Lesa, Mike (Jenna Hubby), Jenna, Elaine (also holding Michael Jr), Austin, Tobe, Robby, Kassy |
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| The Whale's Rib |
We got up and left the next morning going up the East Coast of Florida....as usual, we had an excellent time with our sister Elaine.
We stopped by Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center. Until you see these rockets up close one takes a lot for granted. The courage it must take to look at that thing and say it will take you to orbit or moon or wherever and bring you back...and you are going to reside in that little nose cone....phenomenal courage.
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| self explanatory |
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| John Kennedy got us to the moon |
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| Miscellaneous rockets |
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| First manned space vehicle - look at the size of the re-entry cone |
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| Space Shuttle |
From here we headed to the oldest city in the US - St Augustine.
St Augustine, Florida
St Augustine is one of my favorite cities in the US. St. Augustine is a city in northeast Florida and the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. So much history...so much to do. St Augustine was settled in 1565, primarily as a port for the Spanish to move gold back to Spain. Highlights of the city were:
- Castillo de San Marcos fort
- Ghost Tours
- Old Houses
- Fountain of Youth
- Holiest, Most sacred acre in the US with Mission of Nombre De Dios & La Leche Shrine
- Largest Museum of Pirate history - Johnny Depp came here to study pirates prior to his pirate movies
- Ripley Believe it or not
- Flagler Hotel, now College
- Old houses
- Lighthouse
- St. George Retail Street - all shops
- ....many other smaller but interesting historical aspects
We arrived St Augustine around noon. We dropped our bags and car at the waterside Hilton where we stayed. We immediately found Meehan's, a nice Irish Pub, just down from the hotel. Lesa had her black and tan beer and I got my Rueben sandwich. Our server told Lesa about the Irish Cream drink - she vowed to return and have one of them. Sitting outside, we had a great view of the water and Castillo de San Marcos - the oldest fort in US. That's where we went next.....
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| We had a nice outdoor table to have a beer and lunch and to plan our day(s) |
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| Oldest fort in the US - a National Monument |
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| Feeding Area for animals - not a moat |
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| I sunk a ship |
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| Lesa sunk me |
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| The old fort is very well preserved |
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| Shoot cannon balls to Piles of shrapnel type junk |
There were many attacks on the fort by French and English, but it was able to withstand the attacks due to the wall construction from a local seashell rock called Coquina. It absorbed the cannonballs. Lesa and I could see cannonball evidence everywhere as we walked the city.
After the fort, we walked 1/2 mile to an area where the first mass was said. I'm talking the first mass in the US. A giant steel cross and several other monuments mark the area.
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| Steel Cross is actually several hundred feet high |
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| America's Most Sacred Acre |
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| Blow-up of the sign to the left |
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| The chapel - from the outside |
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| Chapel holds about 12-15 people - we were on the 3rd bench |
So we went to mass. A homeless guy came in and sat by me...he was a bit foul smelling, but seemed like a nice guy. When mass was over Deacon Dave came to us and asked us to add him to our prayer list so that he makes it to be a priest. We also found out later in the gift shop that people come to this chapel from all over the world for special intentions. Many have prayed to have a baby, sign the guest book and come back a couple years later and put a picture of their child in the guest book....kind of eerie.
Then as we are leaving the chapel, we walk 20-30 feet and come across this....I'm just saying....there is a Reiff (spelled correctly) in the most sacred acre.
Usually when we hit a new city with lots to offer, we take a tour to acquaint ourselves with the city and to figure out where we want to spend more time. At about 4:30, we jumped on the Little Red Train. It stops at about 20 different spots and with your ticket you can get off and on.
We waited for the Little Red Train in front of Ripley's. I took a short snooze on the lawn. Lesa kept yelling at me to get up....and hurry.
The train takes you by many of the landmark "things to do" - some we did, some we didn't. Key point is that you won't run out of things to do.
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| Pirate Museum |
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| Look close and you recognize this bloke |
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| Does not work |
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| Ripley's is huge...we did not go in |
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| Flagler Hotel, built for the rich and famous, became Flagler College |
After the red wagon tour, we went back and retrieved our bags and actually checked into the Hilton. Made a drink or two and then ventured down to St George Street where all of the retail shops are located.
That's where we signed up to go on the ghost tour with the Sherriff. The guy actually used to be a Sherriff in Broward County, Florida, but had been doing ghost tours now for 15 years. There were about 15-20 people in our group. You can see in the picture below, Lesa has dinner - a drink and popcorn.
The ghost tour is about 2 hours. Along the way, you hear many stories about strange appearances and cemetery stories. I think we saw 4-5 other ghost tour groups. One ghost tour is at Ripleys - they turn all the lights out and give you flashlight....could not get Lesa to do that one. There were many stories about people capturing images (orbs) on camera shots and which window or over which tombstone, etc... Real?...who knows. It's pretty common knowledge that there are dead bodies in many back yards etc. There were cemeteries for only Catholics, or outside the city wall for only diseased people or protestants...cemeteries are very segregated.
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| The story tellers have websites that you can post pics |
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| Cemeteries look scary even in the day time |
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| Orbs are sure signs of ghosts |
In the bottom right pic above, are the 2 pillars that created the gate into the city of St Augustine. The original St Augustine was surrounded by a wall and a moat...the fort mentioned earlier...the city. You could only enter via this gateway. This picture shows the many orbs of ghosts that want to get back into the city. They were likely thrown out when they died because of disease or they were not Catholic. Story is also told of a small girl ghost that appears now and then. Her parents both died from fever and were sent to the cemetery outside the gate. She appears at the gate waiting for them.
I took one picture that the Sherriff asked me to post. He said I caught a orb mist around the kissing tree. There is a palm tree growing out of the trunk of an oak tree. Supposedly if you kiss under the tree (we did) you'll have lasting love. The tree is dark at night and I took my picture of the tree (no flash) and supposedly caught a ghost mist...
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| $ women compete for the ghost touch |
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| Real gem, I'm sure |
After the ghost tour, we returned to Meehans Irish Pub for Lesa's Irish Cream and my Irish Whiskey. The next morning, we drove out to Anastasia Island to see what was there. There is an alligator farm and a really nice lighthouse....and a nice beach.
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| Mansion at the lighthouse |
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| The Lighthouse |
Done with Florida, we headed for Savannah.
Savannah and Charleston
After St Augustine we hit 3 cities over the next 2.5 days:
- Savannah, GA - See the homes and trees
- Charleston, SC - Visit Boone Plantation
- Wilmington, NC - Nightly stop
Lesa has always wanted to see Savannah. Years ago, we took the boys to Hilton Head for golf. We flew into Savannah and did a 5 minute drive through.
Unlike the Spanish domination in St Augustine, Savannah was an English colony run by a guy named Oglethorpe. There are buildings, streets, parks and people named after him throughout the city. Savannah was an English buffer against the more southern Spanish colonies. Should there be an attack by the Spanish, the more Northern English colonies could be warned.
The city had a very dominant role in civil right movements and in the civil war.
Our Savannah visit started with us unloading our car and try to check in a the wrong hotel....we were a block off. The accurate one was a nice boutique hotel that we got through Priceline...$230 room we bid $130 and got it.
As the picture below shows, Savannah was originally built by Oglethorpe with 24 parks, each about the size of a square block - the green squares in the picture. Two of those parks were later given up, but 22 parks still exist and each recognizes a city or national hero and most have some sort of monument. The Savannah River (Bottom) can take in huge ships and has a riverfront of restaurants and bars.
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| They had to raise bridge 48 feet after a large ship took out the bridge |
As in St Augustine, we started with the 2 hour tour. Again the trolley made 16 stops where a ticket gained you unlimited boarding and re-boarding. Just below the trolley picture is a map that shows the comprehensive route of the tour. After the tour at the end of Wednesday, we knew exactly what to go see the next day.
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| Old Town Trolley |
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| The trolley winds through the entire downtown. Our hotel was towards the top by #14 |
Savannah is a city to be loved by history buffs or people that like to look at different old styles of home architecture. Yes, Lesa loved it, but not a family vacation spot.
After the tour we ventured down to the riverfront for dinner. They say that years ago, most of these establishments were bars. If you got too drunk, you would be carried away and awake as a laborer on a ship crossing the ocean. The river front now is pretty much all bars and restaurants.
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| River Market - bars and restaurants |
After dinner, we walked back up to the square by our hotel (one of the 22 squares) and had drinks and listen to live music at the Treehouse - pretty cool bar on second floor over the street that is closed to traffic and is dedicated to retail shops.
The next morning we got up and walked for 4-5 hours. First though, Lesa had to select breakfast - hmmm, which cupcake?
We had several destinations in mind that we'd seen the day before on the tour - famous houses, the cathedral, the art gallery and several movie settings. There have been a large number of movies done in Savannah - Forest Gump, Something to Talk About, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Forces of Nature to name a few.
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| This is where the feather floated from the church to the sitting Forest Gump (that's me, not him) |
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| Julia Roberts walked out of this bar and saw her husband in the clothing store next door - he was with another woman - Something to Talk About |
This is the most photographed fountain in the US...not sure how they know that...but it was highlighted in the Midnight Garden movie....the movie was pretty much filmed in a house along this park.
And of course, there is this famous statue from the movie. The statue is now in a museum....you get to pay $20 to go see it.
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| Good and Evil |
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| Good or evil?? |
Along the way, there are a lot of old famous mansions. The tour describes why the mansion is famous. In one, during all the civil rights stuff, a guy with a gun somehow walked up to Martin Luther King to kill him and said he looked him in the eyes and God told him not to do it....true story. The King and Queen of Spain will be here before long and one of the houses is being re-decorated for their visit.
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| The moss covered trees add a bit of mystery to everything |
Later that day, we played golf near Savannah. Nice golf course. Lesa was on fire and shot 43 on the back 9...48 on the front. The course had a lot of trees and much water...saw no gators though - disappointed in that! It was really hot - we played in 3 hours since there were minimal golfers out there.
After golf we came back, cleaned up, and had dinner at Paula Dean's restaurant - Lady & Sons. The food was served buffet style - fried chicken, ribs, and everything that goes with it. We were both so full after dinner that we felt like we didn't need to eat for 3 days.
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| Paula Deen |
Charleston - Boone Hall Plantation
We didn't visit the city of Charleston...didn't even drive through it. However, we did want to see a working plantation, so we visited Boone Plantation. It started back in 1681 via an Englishman. It has changed hands several times and the current owner still lives there and the plantation still is 100's of acres of fruits and vegetables.
The driveway is gorgeous as it is lined with 300 year old oaks covered in Spanish moss.
You get to tour the downstairs of the house, but no pictures. The house sits at the very top of the driveway. Each side has gardens to explore.
We walked the gardens and took a few pictures.
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| Gardens had lots of Roses and 1 Lesa |
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| 600 year old Live Oak |
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| Where is Waldo |
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| This Crepe Myrtle was at least 50 feet tall. |
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| Bees everywhere in the garden, but they seemed to mind themselves |
We took the 30 minute tour to go out and look at the fields and some other buildings. They grow melons, cabbage, sweetcorn...they harvest the crops by letting people come in and for a price, pick their own produce out of large fields.
Like Savannah, this plantation had been used for a lot of movies/TV - The Notebook, North and South, American Idol, America's Most Wanted, Wheel of Fortune, and many others.
Along the entry driveway on one side were thoroughbred horses. On the opposite side were all of the slave cabins. They've put story boards in each of the slave cabins describing church, food, sleeping, working, escaping, etc....
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| Thoroughbreds |
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| Slave Cabins |
This particular Plantation does a lot of celebration around Halloween with haunted houses, backwoods rides, corn mazes and the like.
Wilmington, NC
Primarily, we stopped in Wilmington to sleep. We got to our Marriott and they'd had a power outage and only had access to half their rooms. Given my status at Marriott, they sent us to another Marriott and paid for our stay....very nice customer service.
We did stop at the place where USS Carolina was docked. We could only look briefly, but it is huge with it's 16 inch guns....can you imagine the shell coming out of there? Interesting story about her, the Japanese, during WWII reported her sunk 6 times.
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| USS Carolina |
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| This Coast Guard ship was parked nearby....never saw one that large before |
Cary, Ashville and Nashville
- Uncle Kenny / Aunt Norma's
- Ashville, NC
- Nashville, TN
My Mother, God bless her soul, had 6 brothers and 3 sisters - Bob, Rita, Mom, Norma, Tom, Jim, Jerry, Kenny, Judy and Mike. Kenny is third youngest and only a few years older than me. When I used to take business trips to the Raleigh area, I'd try to stop and chug a few beers with he and my Aunt Norma. Typically, it was a threefer - three of his for one of mine...the guy can drain beers and not an ounce of fat on him!
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| Norma and Kenny Muhlbauer |
Over the two days, we saw a lot of Jeff (another Ken and Norma son) and Tracy and girls. It was the most time I'd spent with Jeff and Tracy and we just had the best time sharing kin folk stories, talking about our journey and particularly hearing of Jeff and Tracy's adventure in going to Europe to adopt the girls.
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| Tracy and Jeff Muhlbauer |
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| Gabby and Virginia/Virgil/Ginny or whatever names Kenny wanted to call them |
Jeff and Tracy have 100's of pictures that were really interesting...I can't even imagine going through the process of adoption but then I always tell Lesa that I can't imagine going through a birthing process either.
One daughter is from Georgia (as in beside Russia), the other from Moldova. Both are the cutest little things that just love their Grandpa and Grandma.
Norma made lasagna for us the first night and the second night we went out to have Asian food...had to give Norma a break after watching Amelia all week and then having us descend upon them. As I said, most of the spare hours were spent getting caught up on my brothers and sisters or all of the relatives listed above. Both of them have minds like steal traps and I heard old stories about other uncles and aunts that I just can't repeat...but man they were funny.
Kenny had dug out a little pocket knife that my Dad had given to him when he was a boy...he gave it to me since he thought I was the nicest and best looking of all my brothers and sisters. Norma also donated a couple of Alaska shot glasses to our drinking cause. She pretty much has Lesa pegged.
We look forward to the next Muhlbauer reunion and hopefully a visit from Ken and Norma to Arkansas.
Ashville, NC
We stopped the night in Ashville. We had 2 targets - Biltmore and the North Carolina Arboretum. We arrived around 5PM and spent a couple hours at the arboretum.
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| Most likely a Rain god |
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| A Princess |
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| See a pattern? This was from Leg 1 trip |
Lesa also found several projects for me while we walked through the Arboretum. I'm sure they are on a to do list already.
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| Water station to capture drainage to re-apply to plants |
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| Ivy or rose climbing ladder |
The Arboretum has 11 different trails that are marked easy to difficult and anywhere from .3 to 1.3 miles in length. On a nice day, it is a good place to hang.
We headed for the Biltmore. They wanted $70 each to just go on the property. Here is a picture from the internet if you want to see it.
We did go to the Biltmore Village (2nd picture above) for dinner. It's a nice little retail area with stores and restaurants.
Nashville
We closed Leg 3 with a major stop - Nashville. Both Lesa and I are Country Music fans. While downtown hotels were $300-400 per night, we found a Marriott boutique for $143 out at Grand Ole Opry Land - called the Inn at Opry...cool/clean place. We got to our hotel about 1PM. After we unpacked, we went straight down to party center - downtown Nashville.
We started out with a tour of The Country Music Hall of Fame. To a Country Music lover it felt like hallowed grounds! There were artifacts from all of the people that Lesa's Dad & Mom danced to and most of the current day stars. Here are a few pictures:
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| Trisha Yearwood had a huge display |
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| Hank Williams - look at the duded up jacket - and this one was mild |
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| Lesa's friend, Tanya Tucker, dress on the right. Lesa said Tanya would never wear that dress. |
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| Garth, McGraw, Faith Hill Vince Gill |
There were quite a few areas where you could watch 10 minute movies that highlighted everything from HeeHaw to Kenny Rogers to Roy Acuff. Very cool...felt like watching it twice it was so good.
And then there was Elvis...he had an entire room to himself. The clothes and cars were unbelievable.
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| Look at the guns everywhere |
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| Decked out |
Will The Circle Be Unbroken is the actual theme to the reverent Hall of Fame room.
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| Lesa walking in - there are 127 members through 2015 |
After the Hall of Fame, we went to the unofficial Hall of Fame on Broadway Street - Tootsie's. Had a few beers and listened to really good live music.
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| Broadway Street has one bar after another - all of them have live music |
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| Tootsie's is the most famous...we eventually got a chair right where old blue shirt is |
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| Some performers sing while on the bar. |
Records recorded about Tootsie's include "The Wettest Shoulders in Town" and "What's Tootsies Gonna Do When They Tear the Ryman Down?"
Charlie Pride gave her the jeweled hatpin that she used to stick unruly patrons.
It is rumored that Roger Miller wrote “Dang Me” in Tootsies.
Famous early customers were Kris Kristofferson, Faron Young, Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, Hank Cochran, Mel Tillis, Roger Miller, Webb Pierce, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline and many more.
Movies filmed at Tootsie’s include “W.W. & the Dixie Dance Kings” starring Bert Reynolds, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” about Loretta Lynn and starring Sissy Spacek, and “The Nashville Rebel” starring Tex Ritter, Porter Wagoner, Faron Young, Loretta Lynn, The Wilburn Brothers, and Waylon Jennings.
A segment of the Dean Martin summer show was filmed at Tootsie’s.
TNN (The Nashville Network) did a 30-minute show about Tootsie’s, produced by Gus Barba.
Esquire and Penthouse magazines did articles about Tootsie’s.
Willie Nelson got his first songwriting job after singing at Tootsie’s.
The photo and memorabilia lined walls are called the “Wall of Fame”.
Tootsie was known to slip $5s and $10s into the pockets of luckless writers and pickers.
It was said that she had a cigar box behind the counter full of IOU’s from where she had given drinks and food to hungry pickers and writers. Supposedly, at each years end, a bunch of Opry Performers would take all the IOUs and pay Tootsie so she wouldn’t lose the money.
At her funeral were Tom T. Hall, Roy Acuff and Faron Young. She was buried in an orchid gown, with an orchid placed in the orchid-colored casket, so she could take her favorite flower with her to heaven. Connie Smith sang some of Tootsie’s favorite hymns at the funeral.
Charlie Pride gave her the jeweled hatpin that she used to stick unruly patrons.
It is rumored that Roger Miller wrote “Dang Me” in Tootsies.
Famous early customers were Kris Kristofferson, Faron Young, Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, Hank Cochran, Mel Tillis, Roger Miller, Webb Pierce, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline and many more.
Movies filmed at Tootsie’s include “W.W. & the Dixie Dance Kings” starring Bert Reynolds, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” about Loretta Lynn and starring Sissy Spacek, and “The Nashville Rebel” starring Tex Ritter, Porter Wagoner, Faron Young, Loretta Lynn, The Wilburn Brothers, and Waylon Jennings.
A segment of the Dean Martin summer show was filmed at Tootsie’s.
TNN (The Nashville Network) did a 30-minute show about Tootsie’s, produced by Gus Barba.
Esquire and Penthouse magazines did articles about Tootsie’s.
Willie Nelson got his first songwriting job after singing at Tootsie’s.
The photo and memorabilia lined walls are called the “Wall of Fame”.
Tootsie was known to slip $5s and $10s into the pockets of luckless writers and pickers.
It was said that she had a cigar box behind the counter full of IOU’s from where she had given drinks and food to hungry pickers and writers. Supposedly, at each years end, a bunch of Opry Performers would take all the IOUs and pay Tootsie so she wouldn’t lose the money.
At her funeral were Tom T. Hall, Roy Acuff and Faron Young. She was buried in an orchid gown, with an orchid placed in the orchid-colored casket, so she could take her favorite flower with her to heaven. Connie Smith sang some of Tootsie’s favorite hymns at the funeral.
All of the above happened by 4:30 PM. We drove back out to Opry to our hotel, changed clothes and were headed back down by 6PM. We had dinner at Margaritaville - I had my T-Shirt on, Barry and Teresa.
You'll not believe this, but the live music at Margaritaville was Glen Campbell's kids....
We hit several other bars and live music in everyone of them. The live music was great in each and every....
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| John Stone Group - Awesome |
Got up the next morning and had to get a running checkmark - around the Grand Old Opry. Selfie's below since Lesa slept in.
After Nashville we hooked it home.
Back Home in Arkansas
That night, it was business as usual - Floyd and Huber over at the house drinking. How do they even know we were back...do they check every night?
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| Floyd, Me, Huber on our deck |
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