Independence, Missouri

Day 7, We toured the town of Independence, Missouri, where we also visited the Truman Presidential Library. .

The flag, pictured above right, was made by the troops from parachutes for President Truman.

It was very interesting to find that he was just an ordinary farmer, who was never really accepted by his mother-in-law because he was not from a wealthy family, nor did Bess’s (his wife) friends accept him. He joined the service to fight the war overseas and was elected by his peers (that’s how they did it back then) to led the men into battle. He came home a hero, became a judge in his small town, eventually was elected to the Senate and ultimately the President of the United States.

While President, the White House was renovated and Truman acquired the “buffalo” fireplace mantel. It is said that Jackie Kennedy asked for the return of the mantle when she redecorated the White House, but Truman refused. The mantle is no longer on display (or at least it wasn’t while we were there), but we were told that it is in storage. When he died, he asked to be buried in the gardens of the library so that he didn’t have to walk far to his office, pictured below left. The office looks exactly as it did the day President Truman died. The clock is stopped at 7:50, the time he died on December 26th His wife was also eventually laid to rest beside him.

“Clinton Soda Fountain” is where Truman worked as a young boy. It is still operating today, so of course we had to visit it. We stopped by for some ice cream, but most of their flavors were sold out, so we were on the hunt through town looking for some good ice cream.

We also saw the home that the Truman’s lived (Bess was born there) as well as Truman’s aunt’s house, which was just across the street, where he visited during his youth.

The National Frontier Trails Center has many artifacts on display. I could not pass up taking a picture of a rocking chair that someone who had gone out to California to discover gold, but failed to find any, returned ON FOOT back home. He found this rocker enroute and decided to carry it home for his wife.

A short walking distance was the swales , or wagon ruts, which are a lasting witness to the enormous flood of trail activity that flowed in and out of town. You’ll probably have to trust me on seeing the ruts in the photo below.

As we were driving thru town, we saw this really strange stainless steel like structure in the sky. It was the Community of Christ Temple. It is actually the church that the Mormons broke away from. I could not help taking a picture of the inside view of that strange sculptured roof.

There was beautiful art throughout the church.

We were very lucky during our tour that the organist was there to practice so we were able to witness how beautiful the organ sounded like with its thousands of pipes.

If you have never toured an underground vault, you have certainly missed something. The Hunt Midwest Subtropolis is basically storage, warehouses, offices inside a hill or a mountain. Because it is a controlled temperature area under the ground, it stays the same temperature all the time, people rent space to store whatever. I would hate to work in there with all the cars & delivery trucks coming and going. I don’t know how they ventilate it, and I would never like to work there!

We were able to scout out the Bingham Waggoner Estate located on the Santa Fe Trail. Wagon trains of pioneers, fur traders, missionaries, mountain men, gold-seekers are just a few who passed by the Bingham-Waggoner Estate. Hundreds of thousands traveled west to seek their fortune and establish a new life. A quick tour of the estate showed us an absolutely beautiful “mansion.” Looking closely at the walls and ceiling, we found that it was not wallpaper at all, IT WAS HAND PAINTED.

St. Joseph, MO

Day 8, Pony Express Museum was our first stop. The famous mail delivery service started right here in St. Joseph, Missouri on April 3, 1860. The three founders set out to earn a $1 million government mail contract. In order to accomplish that, they had to prove that the central route was the faster and more reliable route from the East Coast to California.

The Government at that time was routing the mail around South America, which took 2 years, eventually thru the Panama Canal (before the Canal) and that wasn’t reliable either. 400-500 horses had to be purchased before the first ride. The relay stations were stationed every 10-15 miles apart. Riders had about 2 minutes to get a drink, go to the bathroom, and change the mochila (the apparatus they used to hold the mail) over to a fresh horse. The riders changed about every 75-100 miles. They had a plaque listing the riders with the name of Billy Hamilton listed – could it be a relative?

The Pony Express ceased operations with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph on October 26, 1961. The Pony made its last run on November 20, 1861. Strange, that it only ran 1 ½ years, but in that time, it completed over 300 runs each way over 600,000 miles and carried more than 33,000 pieces of mail. Every year, the National Pony Express Association rides the trail in a 10 day, round-the-clock, non-stop event. More than 500 riders follow a 1,943 mile route that is close as possible to the original trail.

Then onto the Patee House, the headquarters of the Pony Express in 1860, and the finest hotel west of the Mississippi, and Jesse James Museum, the house where James was shot & killed. If you ever get to St. Joseph, Missouri, the Patee House is well worth visiting. We could have spent the whole day there & everyone would have been happy. It was loaded with the history of communications in the United States. In fact, they had a replica of the switchboard the Teamsters Union used when I was first hired in 1972! In this museum was a replica of Walter Cronkite’s father’s dental office. Walter visited in 2006.

Bill and I got our photo taken with a life size poster of the tallest man, measuring 8 ft. 11.

Jesse James’ house was just next door where you could still see where the bullet lodged into the wall just under the picture that he was trying to straighten when he was shot from behind.

We arrived at the Wyeth Tottle, a gothic styled mansion from the 1880’s, displaying local history, Lewis & Clark, and the Civil War. Many of the rooms have been restored to original elegance for a look at life in the Victorian age.

Lunch at Bandanas Restaurant, a barbecue specialty place, was of course wonderful. While dining, a visit from Miss Lizzie exploded into action.

She was so humorous and engaging. What a hoot!

We ended our day at the Stetson Hat outlet. Almost everyone on the bus now sports a brand new Stetson. WE ARE READY FOR THE CALGARY STAMPEDE.

Day 6, We began our Kansas City tour at the Harley-Davidson Plant. All of the sportster models come from this plant.

It was amazing to see how the metal is cut by a laser. Once the parts are cut to spec, they don’t even have to sand the edges to make them smooth!

Our driving tour consisted of the south part of town: Ward Parkway, Plaza, Art Galleries, Westport, and UMKC. Check out this single family house!

We then toured the Hallmark Card Center. Hallmark Cards grew from the originator living at the Y, selling their goods to what they are today. The area they bought for the factory is huge, but the Catholic Church did not want to sell to them, so Hallmark built all around them. It’s like a campus.

We had lunch at the local market and then a great tour of the Steamboat Arabia Museum. This steamboat was 171 foot long ship holding 200 tons of brand new merchandise (European dishware, jewelry, guns, tools, food products, and clothing items were included among her cargo). In 1856, She made good time up the Missouri River, making it to Kansas City in one week, but once she left the Kansas port, she hit a “snag” (a tree branch floating down the Missouri) and sunk.

She sank in minutes, barely saving the people aboard. Only a mule drowned. The owner of the mule said he tried his best to get the mule off the ship, but he was being stubborn. WELL, when they dug up the ship’s remains, they found that mule TIED TIGHTLY TO THE SHIP!

132 years later in 1988, a father (Bob Hawley), 2 sons & a friend found the ship.

The river had changed its course over time and after years of researching, they located the farm (cornfield) that the ship was buried under.

Pictured below is a photo of where they found the ship. The ship is outlined in white at the bottom right. Top left is a tractor trailer. This shows you the size of the Arabia.

It was buried 45 feet under the ground, a ½ mile from the river’s edge. 10 feet of it was the water aquifer. It was quite an operation for them to dig the huge hole and pump out the water while working to save the treasurers.

The museum has on display all the treasures that they uncovered and are still working on cleaning of the mud & preserving to its original state.

Unfortunately, not all the cargo was savable.

We watched a short film on the restoration of the Arabia and were lucky enough to meet Bob Hawley, who led the expedition.

On our way out of the museum, we noticed the sidewalk had sections dedicated by individuals, companies, or organizations. Bill & I just had to take our picture with the section dedicated by Teamsters Joint Council 56 of Kansas City.

And of course, I had to get my photo with my Teamster friend, Steve, who is here on this trip.

Day 3, we hopped into our luxury tour bus complete with guide Judy and headed for St. Louis. Our first stop was the Gateway Arch.

We watched a movie on the building of the arch. It was quite interesting to see how they had to jack the two sides of the arch apart in order to fit the last piece in.

Wow, these men were brave. It was scary enough being on the inside of the monument let along thinking about being on the outside! It is the tallest monument in the country at 630 feet.

That was an experience in itself to get to the top of the arch so that we could look out the windows over the beautiful city. If you are claustrophobic you might want to think twice about doing that!

What a view from the top. Below is the stadium and court house.

At the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center we found it humorous that this wagon would be next to a photo of Armstrong walking on the moon.

The photo below is Trail Creek Pass where several horses fell, some turned over and others slipped down steep hill sides. One horse crippled and 2 gave out.

Can you imagine climbing these rocks with a horse??!!

and Camp River Dubois, located in Illinois, is known as the point of departure. This is where Lewis & Clark’s expedition actually departed from on May 24, 1804. The full scale replica of this winter encampment is based on Clark’s own drawing.

They set up camp here at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri River, as seen pictured behind us in the photo below, on December 12, 1803, and prepared for the next five months for their journey.

You can tell the rivers apart because the Missouri River is always very muddy. The farmers used to say it was “too thick to drink and too thin to plow.”

At the interpretive center, we saw a short film and a replica 55 ft. keelboat, with its 30 foot high mast,

made so that you can see the living quarters and how supplies were stored.

Day 4, again, we hopped into our luxury tour bus and joined the same tour guide. St. Louis has the oldest market in the country. It came into operation in the 1700s and is still operating today! The reason for that is that the woman who owned it, left the market to the city when she died, with the stipulation that it must remain a market. If it ceases to operate as a market, every living heir to her must be found and given their share. So, needless to say, the city is making sure that it operates as a market.

Our driving tour of Forest Park and Tower Grove Park shows us some beautiful homes, much cheaper than in Washington, D.C. area. Forest Park was the home of the 1904 World’s Fair and contains the Art, History, and Science Museums, Zoo, Jewel Box greenhouse, and the Muny Theater. There is only one building left, pictured below, as a reminder of the World’s Fair.

We had our choice of touring the Botanical Garden, which has the largest traditional Japanese garden in North America, or the zoo, which is rated one of the best in North America – right up there with the San Diego Zoo. All of our guests wanted to go to the zoo. It was fabulous. We were able to see the other sections of the zoo that we missed when we toured in 2009.

We had the most filling meal at an all-you-can eat buffet and then off to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

The world famous Budweiser Clydesdale are my favorite.

They delivered the first case of Budweiser to Washington, D.C. after the repeal of Prohibition. There is a criterion to be part of the traveling hitch team. They are known for their size, strength and precision. They must be 4 years old, 18 hands tall, weigh between 2,000-2,300 lbs., have a bay color, four white stocking feet, a blaze of white on his face, and a black mane and tail. They have been a company icon since 1933. The Dalmatian dogs have traveled with the hitch team since the 1950s.

We visited the museum, the lager cellar, the packaging plant and of course the tasting room.

finishing in the hospitality room for a full glass of our choice of beer, not just a little paper cup either. We were told you could have 2 glasses, but I don’t think they were counting. Bill tried Stella Artois, while I tried a new beer with a lemon flavor. I now like the lemon over the lime flavored beer.

St. Charles, MO

Day 1-2

We are starting our 44 day Lewis & Clark Trail with 21 total RVs with a great orientation and dinner.

We had so much food that we had to take a long, long walk in the evening. We never told anyone they would lose weight on our trip.

St. Charles has held The Lewis & Clark Heritage Festival since 1979, when the town found from Lewis & Clark journals that their trip actually began in St. Charles.

We started with a tour of the First State Capitol Building and were greeted by a wonderful tour guide who explained how Missouri became a state.

Apparently the President would not allow them to become a state because he didn’t agree with their constitution. They didn’t care and continued to say they were a state. A few years later, they changed their constitution so that the President would finally grant them stateship .

Moving on to the “Doctor” we found out all about how some of the medicines used in the Lewis & Clark days were actually poison. A lot of the medicines used that had a positive affect were used but they didn’t really know why they worked. Medicines didn’t seem to be a science, they seemed more like trial and error.

After the Fife and Drum Corps parade

We spent the afternoon wandering around the authentic reenactment of Lewis & Clark’s encampment in 1804.

The festival is so much fun for the children and they seem to take it very seriously.

Especially this young entrepreneur

We met the great, great, great grandson of Clark, Charlie Clark, pictured below,

who led the men who participated in the actual reenactment of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. He has a cousin, Bud, who usually also participates, but we didn’t see him this year. We also didn’t see Josh, who was the youngest member of the reenactment. We were so lucky to talk to so many of the actual participants of the reenactment who told us of the uncanny similarities of their trip and the original trip. The participants have formed a camaraderie that is so strong and a bond that will last forever.

On the other end of town is the Lewis & Clark museum with a Keel boat replica underneath, which we were invited to see. We were very lucky to have the owner, Mimi give us a great introduction to the Lewis & Clark expedition. What a treat.

Before we left town, we visited the church where the original expedition said prayers before leaving on their trip. You will notice that the log cabin with vertical logs as opposed to the usual way of laying logs.

What a great set up they have. One building is salt water fish and the other building is fresh water fish.

This little creature has 3 hearts, tentacles that come out of his head, and blue blood.

It’s called a cuttlefish. He looked so sad. It was like he was saying, hug me.

The King Crab also looked as though he wanted to interact with us.

The shark, however, was another story.

As well as the Alligator Snapping Turtle who lies motionless with his mouth open to use their tongue (which looks like worms) to lure its prey.

Now that was a scary site.

Jellyfish are always an interesting creature to watch and be thankful that you are not in the water with them.

Upside down jellyfish were really something different.

Now, I just had to jump into the tank and get a photo with the piranhas.

What a great place to visit.

A lot has happened this month. It’ll be a month we’ll never forget. My father-in-law passed away.

This photo was taken at his granddaughter’s wedding in 2010. It is the last good photo we have of him. He lived his life out in a nursing home, which was hard to watch as he was a very active person. Another World War II Vet has gone home to rest forever with his wife. We will miss him terribly as he was always the one that we could count on to tell us how to best fix something. His knowledge base was unending.

Nephew Sam was gracious enough to open his home to us.

What a great photo of the “older” grandchildren.

Day 38-41

Back to the State of Georgia, home of the Georgia Peach.

Downtown Atlanta is chock filled with history. We saw the capitol building with its Georgia Gold dome (yes, it’s real gold), Olympic Park from the Summer 1996 Olympics, Turner Field, where Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth’s home run record.

The infamous hand. No one seemed to know what this symbolized. I researched it on the internet and found 2 explanations. One was that it belonged to a church and symbolized child labor. The other was that it was in front of a doctor’s office.

and homes of the rich and famous

After touring the city of Atlanta by motorcoach, we had a first-class tour of CNN.

We learned all their secrets, like how the announcers can read the teleprompter while looking directly into the camera

and how the green screen works, with a demonstration by a volunteer. Check her out below.

Next, it was on to the World of Coca Cola, where we tasted Coke products distributed all over the world.

Born in 1886. In 1919 the rights were bought by Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead of Chattanooga for $1. Expansion began and by 1959 Coca-Cola was available in 53 countries!

In its beginning, stores would sell Coke from a big bowl, pictured below on a pedestal in the center front of the display case.

New brands, such as Tab and Sprite were introduced in 1960-1981. The infamous commercial “I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke” in 1971 brought international appeal and by 1999 was available in over 200 countries.

Diet Coke was introduced in 1982 and the first change in formula came about in 1985. Today, over 450 brands exist worldwide. Who would have thought…..

Probably the funniest thing was, one of our guests retired from Pepsi. So he decided to wear his Pepsi shirt on the tour. He had great fun with the ticket taker.

Stone Mountain – what a great way to end a 41 day Southern Exposure trip.

You can view the stone carving up close by taking the gondola to the top of the mountain.

It’s hard to imagine the enormity of the mountain until you step back.

The Stone Mountain laser show is one of the best in the country. During the summer months, it is conducted every night. Make sure to arrive early to grab a good spot on the lawn.

Day 36-37

All I can say about Asheville is WOW!

It felt great driving into the Mountain area, like through the Green River Gorge.

From our campground, we could see the Biltmore Estate off in a distance.

The Inn is to the left, the Antler Hill Village is in the middle and the Biltmore House is to the right.

The Biltmore House and Gardens was beyond belief. George Vanderbilt inherited $100 million. Through is shipping and railroad business, he doubled his inheritance within 10 years. The Biltmore House was built, more or less competing with other relatives, for entertaining friends and family. The house was built at a time when it was unusual to have indoor plumbing and lights, yet it had 43 bathrooms and an indoor swimming pool with underwater lighting. It also had 90 bedrooms, an exercise room, bowling alley (where the servants reset the pins). The 250 room house is 135,000 sq. ft.!!!! Unfortunately, we were unable to photos inside.

George opened the Biltmore House in 1895, married Edith in 1898 and had their only child, Cornelia, in 1900. George died at the early age of 51 leaving Edith to run the estate. In the 1920s she sold off 90,000 acres to the government.

Bill and I both saw our daughter-in-law, Jenn, in the young photos of Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil. The Biltmore estate was opened to the public in 1930 in order to bring tourism to Asheville during the depression and raise money to preserve the estate.

Today Biltmore remains a family business, owned by Vanderbilt grandson, William Cecil. His son, William Cecil, Jr. is the CEO and his daughter, Diana, is vice chair of the board of directors. There are 1,800 employees that help to preserve the estate.

The estate is comprised of much more than the house, which is about 2 miles of road to get to the house. The estate is approximately 8,000 acres. Within the estate are beautiful gardens with a conservatory. The gardens were designed by Frederick Olmsted, the designer of Central Park. The Tulip Festival is set for next week, but they were in full bloom while we were there. Breathtaking.

A short drive will take you to the Antler Village and Winery.

In its day, the estate was a working estate. A dairy, market garden, as well as sheep, poultry and pig farm producing food for the Vanderbilts and their guests. Biltmore also sold products in the community, such as milk, eggs, honey, meat, fruits and vegetables. We visited the historic barn, the little village and finished our day tasting their wonderful wines. The one thing we missed was the rare 1913 Stevens-Duryea Model “C-6” automobile. We’ll have to check that out next time.

Day 33-36

We toured the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens (founded in 1676) by tram. In its time, it was a booming rice plantation. The Rice Plantation owners were the more affluent people.

Yes, they had slave quarters, above left, and still have alligators here on the plantation. Where ever there is fresh water in the south, I think you’ll find alligators. The biggest and oldest alligator on the plantation, Bubba, is about 70 years old! We didn’t see him today.

Our historical bus tour of downtown Charleston was picturesque as well as informative. Mary, our guide wrote a book about Charleston and the Civil War, so she was a wealth of information.

We toured the Citadel.

Anyone wearing a Citadel ring, can surely wear it proudly.

Don’t want to forget the bulldog, their mascot.

The Charleston Battery has always been my favorite place. It was never used in battle. After the war the cannons were brought in, some of them are even “Union” cannons, as a display. I’ll never forget visiting with my cousin’s family and bringing our children to the Battery to enjoy a beautiful evening. Walking along the wall, you’ll notice the beautiful homes that are set sideward. The front doors and porches are located on the side of the house. This was done because the lots are so narrow.

We stopped at the Charleston Market. You can’t go to Charleston and not go to the city market! You’ll find all kinds of craft items there. Our favorite is the sweetgrass baskets, which has been part of the Mount Pleasant Community (a suburb of Charleston) for almost 400 years. The baskets are made from natural palmetto, long pine needles, bulrush and sweetgrass. Basket making is a traditional art form brought over from West Africa by the slaves to the area and has been passed on from generation to generation. Today, it is one of the oldest art forms of African origin in the United States.

Over the years, these baskets have become quite expensive. A decent size basket, which isn’t real big, got for a couple hundred dollars. I guess I was lucky that I bought my basket a long time ago for only $35. I thought that was a lot back then, but today it would be worth about $250 or more. The most expensive basket we saw was the large one above on the right. It looks like a hamper. If you ask them, it’s not for sale, but if you press the issue, they will give you a price of $30,000. This basket was made by Africans as a dowry basket.

Bill and I have toured the USS Yorktown several times, but never had lunch aboard.

Pictured below is a photo of the sailor’s berthing compartment (next to the typewriter looked like to us a baby bed-hmmmmm)

The torpedo workshop

There was also a surgical room onboard.

What a wonderful feeling to walk through the Medal of Honor Museum aboard the Yorktown. It was an overwhelming feeling to be proud to be an American!

Our boat ride out to Ft. Sumter this year was so much better than last year since it was not raining and a beautiful day.

The ranger gave a great introduction to the fort. After all is was where the first shot was fired in the Civil War. Below left is a photo of the fort in 1861 and below right is a photo as it is today, over 100 years of change.

Charleston Tea Plantation

Producers of American Classic Tea. They are the ONLY tea growing location in North America.

It takes about 7 years for the tea bushes to start producing the harvested tea leaves. You can tell in the photos below that the field pictured on the left is a younger plant than the field on the right. They only harvest the leaves from the top of the bush. The sides are too “woody.” If they tried to harvest the leaves from the sides of the bushes, it would take too long to separate the limbs and stems from the tea leaves, so they just use the leaves cut from the top. The tea plants bloom in November. During harvesting season, depending on the weather conditions, they hope to get 6-10 cuttings.

The equipment they use to harvest the tea is one of a kind.

The machine was created in the 1800s by one of the employees and has to be maintained in order to keep it going.

They now have a greenhouse so they can take clippings off their current bushes to produce more plants.

Just outside the greenhouse are a couple of beautiful pecan trees. They don’t harvest the pecans commercially, but Mr. Hunt does gather them for his own use.

Once Bill Hunt partnered with the Bigelows, his tea business increased tremendously. He processes the tea leaves and sends it up north to the Bigelow plant for packaging and then it is sent back to the tea plantation. Bigelow tea is produced in China for the most part. Below left is a photo of the current day processing plant, while below right is a photo of the first processing plant.

We finished our time in Charleston with my aunt, and cousin’s family.

Juanita and Ralph’s granddaughter, Rebecca, demonstrated how to throw a shrimp net.

Sherry finished off the night by polishing her daughter, Diona (not sure if I have the spelling correct)

We reminisced about such wonderful memories and making more wonderful memories. Thank you Aunt Dot, Juanita, Ralph, Sherry, Rebecca and Diona!

Day 30-32

Last year we toured Savannah during the Civil War tour. This year our tour of Savannah was more for its beauty and culture.

Bill and I toured the Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum. The Lighthouse was completed in 1736. Because of fire, it’s been replaced several times.

Upon climbing the 178 steps (rather quickly I might add since we were trying to catch up with some of the people in our group who had a head start), we found out just how out of shape we were. Across the street from the lighthouse complex was “the battery” (pictured below). It was used for gun placement during the War of 1812. Wow, oceanfront, that would have been a good “deployment.”

Prior to 1933 before the Lighthouse was converted to electricity, 3 light keepers were required to “man” the lighthouse. Each keeper had their own house. The head keepers cottage was built in 1881 (photo above right, building in the middle). Quite comfortable.

The Summer kitchen was built in 1812 (photo above right, little white building on the left), The 1st Assistant keepers collage was built in 1885 (photo above right, building to the left next to the summer kitchen). The 2nd Assistant Keepers collage was built in 1861 (photo above right, building on the right).

In the short film about the lighthouse, a woman was interviewed who grew up in the lightkeepers house. Her father and grandfather were keepers. She talked about how she and her 5 siblings would always run over to the lighthouse and sign in using movie star names hoping that their dad would not know it was them. Of course he did. HAHAHA

We toured Savannah by trolley. We saw 250 years right before our eyes. Homes and churches beautifully restored. It felt a lot like New Orleans. We visited all the squares. Below left is a “piece of the rock” from Stone Mountain which is in one of the squares.

We saw Chippewa Square, where Forest Gump was filmed sitting on a park bench eating a box of chocolates.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, built in 1873 is pictured below.

I was amazed at the workmanship on the stations of the cross.

The First Afro-American Church

The First Jewish Synagogue

The Capitol building with its gold dome

We had a wonderful lunch cruise on a riverboat.

Coming up the channel was a huge “car carrying” ship.

Wonder what Shirley is looking at.

As we were gathering up our guests, I came upon one very “relaxed” guest.

It was an exhausting day.

Day 28-29

The Okiefenokee Swamp tour showed us alligators, turtles, birds, and plenty of plant life.

We started out seeing a 3 foot alligator and it progressed to a 6 foot alligator. Looks like the alligator above right is smiling.

We took an awesome trolley ride of Jekyll Island.

In 1794 a French family, the du Bignons, bought Jekyll Island. Their house is pictured below.

In 1886 the island was sold to the newly formed “Jekyll Island Club,” the most exclusive social club in the United States. It had a limit of 100 members, among them the Astors, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, Morgans and McCormicks. A club house was built on the island and members constructed private “cottages”– enormous residences designed to house entire families with staff. The club was open for the post-Christmas season when many families came down from Newport and New York to relax and enjoy the “country life.”

In 1942 the U.S. government ordered the area evacuated because of the war submarines in the waters surrounding the island. The state of Georgia purchased the island from the club in 1947 and turned it into a state park.

Among them are San Souci, owned in part by J.P, Morgan, Indian Mound, the twenty-five room home of the Rockefeller family; the Goodyear Cottage completed in 1906; Crane Cottage, circa 1917, and one of the first condominiums in the U.S.;

the largest and most lavish of the cottages; the original Club House, a wood and brick Victorian structure with towers and manicured lawns;

and Faith Chapel, built in 1904 in the Gothic style with copies of the Notre Dame de Paris gargoyles.

The chapel has a large “signed” Tiffany stained glass window.

In front of the Rockefeller home was the first “dune buggy.”

It originally had a gas motor and it could go up to 35 miles per hours on the beach. Eventually they put an electric motor on it with a battery which dropped the speed down to 10 miles per hour.

I can see why they felt like they could come down here and relax. There’s something serene about the water, the trees, the Spanish moss blowing in the wind and all the beautiful flowers.

Day 26-27

You just never know what you are going to see on the road. Below is a truck. Look closely just above the fuel tank. It says “Cat Food.”

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the USA. Mission Nombre de Dios is where the first Spanish Catholic Mass was conducted in 1565 by Father Lopez, whose statue still marks the spot. President John F. Kennedy said that this site was the most sacred acre for Catholics in the United States., President Kennedy

The grounds are very beautiful gardens along the water. It’s so relaxing to walk around or sit and enjoy the view. As you can see, Bill is relaxing.

The oldest street, Aviles Street

Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. Construction began in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. It was under the British from 1763 until 1784. In 1784 it went back to the Spanish when Spain reclaimed Florida. Florida was not given to the US until 1819.

The original entrance into St. Augustine

The oldest house in the USA

The oldest wood school house in the USA

Fountain of Youth

I can tell you the water is NOT refreshing….

The old Flagler hotel, which is now a college.

Flagler & Lightner Museum. It was once Flagler’s hotel. Below left was the lobby.

Flagler built the first hotel to bring in tourism. When a hotel was built across the street from his hotel, the furniture that was to arrive on the train, which was owned by Flagler, disappeared… It was not on the train! Hmmmmmmm so here was a hotel on opening day with no furniture. It didn’t take long before he sold to Flagler at pennies on the dollar.

Below, now a ballroom, was once an indoor swimming pool, complete with deep end.

It’s difficult to tell in the photo how the floor graduates to where the deep end once was. The tables are at the deep end.

Bill liked the grandfather clock which was hand carved wood.

And it still works! Look how tall it is.

Day 24-26

Home of the Kennedy Space Center and Astronaut Hall of Fame.

We started out at the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Remembering the loss of the 3 Apollo 1 crewmembers in 1967 during a routine simulated launch test, the 1986 loss of the 7 Challenger STS-51L crewmembers 73 seconds after liftoff when an o-ring failed, and the loss of the 7 Columbia STS-107 crewmembers in 2003 when the space shuttle broke apart during re-entry over east Texas, 16 minutes from home was a somber experience.

Since 1981 the Kennedy Space Center’s shuttle landing facility serves as the primary landing site for all space shuttle missions. The first space shuttle, Columbia, launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981, with astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen aboard. This began the new era of “reusable” space shuttles.

Pictured below is the vehicle assembly building. Hard to believe that after they assemble the shuttle that they can get it out of that building.

The shuttle below will be shipped to Houston for display.

Below is one of the space launch sites.

Before leaving the complex, we hopped on the Space Shuttle Flight and Landing Simulator. We were able to view the launch control center for the Saturn V, which sent Apollo 8 astronauts into orbit around the moon.

It was exciting to sit there and imagine what it felt like to be in the control room at that time.

Day 17-23

Miami/Ft. Lauderdale was exciting. Lifestyles of the rich and famous.

We took 2 narrated boat cruises and saw the homes of Rosie O’Donnell, Elizabeth Taylor, Owners of PetsMart and Sunglass Hut, Johnnie Weismiller. Below are some of the mansions we saw. Check out the lower right photo. They even have their own helicopter!

Below left was Al Capone’s house. He used the one in the back and his security used the one in the front. The house on the right can be rented, which they do for models and photography shoots.

I think everyone was drooling as we passed each house, or should I say mansion?

You never know what you’ll see at the docks.

Darn, just missed Judge Judy’s yacht.

Then, there were the “spring breakers”

The Jungle Queen Cruise not only showed us beautiful homes, but also provided a wonderful BBQ dinner and show. “Coconut drinks” were available. Not only was the drink in a coconut, but the coconut was a work of art.

The ventriloquist was great. Since we had a honeymooner in the audience, he decided to harass him up on stage. HaHa reminded me of the time Bill was called on stage in Las Vegas.

You never know what you’re going to come across on our adventures. While waiting for our dinner cruise, we met a man from Jamaica making hats from Coconut Palms. The hats were unique because along with the hat, you get a grasshopper and tall reeds. Check it out!

Miami Beach was impressive. How many can say they live in a big city, like Miami, and get to the Atlantic Ocean Beach in minutes,

that is, depending on traffic.

The city of Miami has an interesting architectural style. Check out the Burger King below.

The old Pan Am building is now the city hall.

Have you ever seen a public pool this beautiful in the middle of a big city?

We were pleasantly surprised and impressed with Miami. It is not at all what we expected.

We moved on to Orlando area, home of DisneyWorld, SeaWorld and Universal Studios. Since Bill and I lived in the area and worked at Disney, we took the time to visit with friends.

We had the best time just “catching up.”

We had brunch with guests that are on our current Southern Exposure trip and 4 others who were in the area for a “Civil War” reunion.

Before leaving Orlando, we had dinner and a show at Arabian Nights.

What a great show they put on.

Day 14-15

Key West is the only place where you’ll find the end US Rt. 1 – 0 mile marker and begin US Rt. 1 North – 0 mile marker at the same intersection, opposite sides of the street.

If you have not driven to the Florida Keys, remember one thing. Plan plenty of time because there is only one road in and one road out, Rt. 1. In the cities the road is 4 lanes, but otherwise, it’s only one lane. The Seafood Festival and Woofstock were going on the day we drove down to the Keys, which made driving almost unbearable.

I tried to take phtos that showed just how pretty the water is with its blues and greens.

Photos just don’t do it justice.

Another notable marker is the bouy that marks the “most southernist” point on Key West. You are only 90 miles from Cuba, more than 100 miles to a Walmart.

In this area, there are many things named “the most southern”, like restaurant, house, bar, store, etc.

Our sunset dinner cruise was amazing. Sights always look much different from the water. Reminded me of when we owned our boat. What a beautiful view. Music, food and great company

All the beer, wine and mixed drinks you could drink, made for an interesting ride back to the campground by Trolley. hmmmmmmmm

The trolley ride around town is the way to go. The drivers point out all the interesting sites. Below left if the largest and oldest hotel, Casa Marina, now owned by the Waldorf Astoria. It was built by Flagler, who came to the Keys and built the railroad to make the Keys more accessible. He partnered with Rockefeller and together they formed a small company, “Standard Oil.”

I snapped the photo below to show the cute “gingerbread” decoration, which were used back in the day to display your livelihood, such as the ship’s wheel on this particular house. As I was looking at my photos on the computer later that night, I noticed the high heeled shoe hanging from the utility wire. I THOUGHT I WAS BACK IN NEW ORLEANS AT MARDI GRAS.

Every city seems to have people with their creative ways to make money. Check out the dog below.

The week we arrived in the Keys, the snowbirds were going home as the Spring Breakers were also arriving. Most of them in tents. Check out the tent below. I have never seen one of these!

A little about the formation of the Florida Keys. Below is a photo of the “beginnings” of the Florida Keys yet to come. These trees growing in the waters are protected. Their roots grab the sand, coral and whatever else is in the bottom of the waters. They continue to grow and gather deposits, eventually producing “the island.” As you drive over the 42 bridges that connect the Keys down to Key West, you will see clumps of these trees out in the waters. One day they will connect to what is now the Florida Keys.

That is if a hurricane doesn’t come in and destroy it all, like the hurricane that destroyed the railroad bridge years ago.