Our visit to New Bern Fireman's Museum Nathaniel Russell House

One of our stops was at New Bern, NC, and we visited the Firemen's Museum there. The pieces on exhibit are original from their city. New Bern was the 1st city in North Carolina to charter a fire company, and one of the 1st in the nation. The Fire Dept there is comprised of 3 companies, one 1st chartered in 1845 became inactive becuase of members volunteering for military service in the war between the states. the 2nd company established in 1865 by Union Soldiers, and a rivalry started between them when they both received steam engines, replacing the Horse-drawn engines (Fred, the Firehorse had worked the station for 25 years until his death). The 2 companies raced to a fire, and at one time competition was so fierce that the building burned while they fought. This rivalry continued until 1928 when the town decided to house them both in the same station. The streets had been paved with oyster shells before being repaved with brick, and in 1914 the department had its first motorized truck.

Oh, yes, their safety net (see "target-like photo) hung on the wall.

Then, we visited the Nathaniel Russell House in Charleston, SC, a beautiful old mansion built in 1908 with a free-flying staircase (cantelievered 3 floors), and refurnished with period furniture. The architecture and ornate detail of light fixtures, plasterwork, etc, were exquisite. And only Mr and Mrs Russell and their servants lived there in this huge home. Bummer that photos were not allowed and I can't share anything but the outside. Wonderful experience, though. We had wanted to explore Charleston further, but finding places to park the RV were tough, and we decided to head south to Georgia where we stopped in Savannah and took a trolley tour. The OLD homes are too magnificient for words here in the south. The end of the Christmas tour was at a fancy hotel that displayed children's gingerbread house competetion entries. They were quite incredible, and really showed imagination!

Another stop was the Paris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot Paris Island, South Carolina. Brought back many training memories for Al, and educational for me.

From Savannah, we went to St. Augustine, not knowing it is the Christmas Capitol of the East! Everything was decorated for Christmas, and many activities. We took another trolley tour and also a Holly Jolly Christmas train at night. Really fun and so beautiful. Wandered through some of the many shops, had a wonderful slice of pizza with salad at a pizzeria (which I seldom eat, but was great, quick and affordable). One of the things one of the tour guides explained was about the beautiful hanging spanish moss on the trees. It is actually filled with bugs and bacteria, and before people realized that, they used to stuff their pillows and mattresses with it....hence the term, "don't let the bedbugs bite".
Also watched a re-enactment of a civil war changing of the guard ceremony which was quite interesting and entertaining. they showed how they needed to load their muskets and if it misfired, would have to re-load while enemy was shooting at them from close range. Fortunately, these rifles were not very accurate, while the big canons on top of their fort wall could fire accurately at 300 yards.
We are currently at Kissimee, Florida, (just outside Orlando) where we will stay until after the New Year. I will fly to Seattle to see family (Al will Kittysit), then we will decide where to head next, but hope to find a fun place to enjoy the warm winter here in FLorida. Today it was about 78, and so beautiful. Will blog more about this area next time I write. Just don't like to get too far strung out as it's too hard to remember.

Well, it is now Dec 22, and I have been working on this for 2 weeks, and I know more won't get done til I get back from Seattle. So, here it is such as it is. We are enjoying the warm weather and exploring the area. Just booked ourselves into another RV Park here in Kissimmee that is a lot nicer than where we are. Al will move there while I am gone and we will stay there at least until mid-January, and through the month if they have room. It is definitely their busy time here.
We never did get our cards out for Christmas, so this will have to suffice. Please know we love you all, and wish you the Merriest of Christmases and a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous 2012.

More next year! Al & Sylvia

Annapolis to North Carolina

I thoroughly thought I had written another blog that I hadn't sent since Thanksgiving, but evidently either I didn't write one, or I didn't save it. S0, I will TRY to remember what we have done. The pickup with bottlecaps all over it was parked next to us at Cherry Hill Park. I mentioned to the guy there that there must be a story behind them, and he just smiled and handed me his card. He is an artist, and was preparing to go to a show. I haven't looked up his website to find the story, but when I find his card again I may, and if it is interesting, will let you know. I wouldn't go out of my way to go see his "artwork", but he was traveling with his lady and 2 little kids who seemed to be enjoying life. We left The DC area day after Thanksgiving and went to Annapolis Naval station. Took the tour there, then wandered around the campus on our own. There is a section where the have model ships on display, and at times have the craftsmen building them, but not when we were there.

Saw the Wright Brothers' airplane on display. Hard to believe it really flew! The chapel on campus was beautiful. The capital building we did not get close to, but did drive by. We stayed 2 nights at Annapolis, parking at the Elks, which was across street from shopping mall so we got the rest of our shopping done for the Grandkids. We only are giving to them again this year, so we are done. We got up 2nd morning there to have no water for showers....the water pump had gone out, so next day we moved to Fredericksburg Elks for 1 night, and found a place to replace the water pump. They also replaced the LP gas regulator, as it was not putting out enough fuel and the frig was cycling on and off. From there, to Richmond, VA, again to an Elks for 7 nights (actually in Glen Allen). We went to Grand Illimunation at Richmond one evening and saw the city in lights. They had a street fair, and entertainers along the way. There was a hotel lobby with a group of harpists playing Christmas music, etc. We picked a Mexican restaurant for dinner and my spinach salad was wonderful, but Al's Burito was "Smokin HOT" and he did not enjoy it at all! Asked for more sour cream and got it down, but he was sweating big time!

Went to tour Maymont Mansion...what a gorgeous place. 12,000 sq ft. and all for only 2 people and their staff. Each room had a theme and was decorated accordingly. We were not allowed to take photographs inside, but did catch the outside. Another beautiful day to walk the grounds. There were 100 acres...of course we didn't walk it all, but it felt like it. We parked at the wrong entrance and walked and walked to the mansion, but it was worth it. There was a peacock in the parking lot, evidently very used to people as it came right up to us and ate bites of our cheese sticks. didn't want the apple, though. This is a photo of a photograph which shows the elaborate decor.

In the carriage house, were the beautiful carriages below, including a hearse. The Mansion was beginning to decorate for an elaborate Christmas event to take place the next day. As usual, we are either a day late or a day early, but at least it was not crowded! From Richmond, we took a day trip to Williamsburg for their Grand illumination. Their celebration was done in old style lighting by baskets filled with pitch-saturated wood that was lit. People were wandering the streets in period clothing and shops and stores were open depicting their times. We didn't buy the pass at about $37 each for the day, so we were not allowed into the shops (we did get into an old time post office where the postmistress was hand-cancelling a pile of letters)....one shopkeeper said "a shop is where things are made". Oh, well! We walked around the Colonial Williamsburg all day, had a nice lunch, and found some real stores to walk through. Then at night, they had fireworks in 4 locations. We were situated so we could see 3 of the displays at once. Then, we high-tailed it for another long hike for the park-and-ride where we had left the car....along with thousands of others. Way worse than Rockaway Beach on July 4th! We sat in the car for at least a half-hour before attempting to leave.
At Williamsburg, we experienced a treatment session in a salt spa. It was fashioned after a mine cave in Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland. The artificial cave is built from timber with no metal and filled with salt. Along with lighting, temperature and humidity control, music, we spent 45 minutes relaxing during which I fell asleep! It is supposed to be beneficial to asthma, emphasema, hasten healing, and even weight control. Interesting and we learned there is another one at Orlando, so we may try again when we get there.

From there, we drove to Newport News, VA and parked at another Elks. Did some shopping, but other than that, we came, we saw and we forget what we did. Lots of tourist attractions, but either needed good weather or money to go, so we passed. Just more intent on moving southward now. Tonight, we are parked in a parking lot of a restaurant that is closed and for sale in Edenton, North Carolina. We have the company of a couple 18-wheeler drivers and we spent awhile visiting with them this afternoon. We plan to head south on Hwy 17 tomorrow through NC.
We have a reservation for 2 weeks starting December 18th in Orlando, FL. We may extend it another 2 weeks after seeing the place and checking out the area. I am flying to Seattle Dec 24th and back Jan 5th, to spend the holidays with family and grandchildren. Al is staying with the RV and our 2 spoiled kitties, so hopefully we can line up some fun things for him while I am gone. Hate to leave him for the holidays, but best day to fly was Christmas Eve, and wanted enough time to see all the family there.
Well, that's about all the rambling for now. Hope you are all ready for a very Merry Christmas and the best for 2012.