Duke and I are in week three of a four week road trip. We started in New Orleans and will take the train back to Reno from Washington, DC next week. Last Tuesday, May 7, we drove from Dayton Beach, Florida to Savannah, Georgia. Along the way we stopped at Fort King George State Historic Site. It was built in 1721 by the British and was the southernmost outpost of British North America.
When I have ever talked to someone about Savannah, Georgia she has told me how pretty it is and how much she liked it. We stayed in Savannah two nights and it was wonderful. We stayed in the Old Harbor Inn right on the River. Savannah is one of the busiest ports on the east coast. It is also 18 miles from the ocean. Giant ships coming up the river were right outside our window and tey were coming and going all the time.
We walked all over Savannah enjoying the old buildings, the big trees
covered with Spanish Moss and the squares every
few blocks with trees and statues. I had heard great reports about the food in Savannah and we
had two fantastic meals, One at Jazz'd Tapas Bar with live music and one
at the Old Pink House.
The waterfront of Savannah is lined with old Cotton warehouses.
My brother and his wife have a vacation rental property on the beach at Hilton Head, South Carolina. They happened to be at the house last week so from Savannah we drove to Hilton Head. This was the first time we have seen the house. It is right on the beach and is really beautiful. If you ever want a fantastic place for a vacation check out the rental web site here. We walked on the beach, sat on the patio and read and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner overlooking the ocean.
Last Friday we left Hilton Head and drove to Columbia, South Carolina. We thought we would be able to get a tour of the South Carolina capital but it turned out it was closed because of Confederate Memorial Day.
The capital grounds have a statue of Strom Thurmond who ran for President of the US in 1948 as a candidate of the segregationist States Right Democratic Party. He was the senator from South Carolina for 48 years. After he died it was revealed that he had a mixed race daughter whom he had supported. The statue had been altered to reflect this.
The capital grounds also had a powerful African American History Monument.
On Saturday we stopped at Morrow Mountain State Park near Charlotte, North Carolina and had a short visit with one of my daughter's friends who I watched grow up. Amanda now has two little girls. It was fun to see her and to meet one of her daughters. The park is on top of a mountain that early people used to quarry and create stone tools.
From Columbia we drove to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to visit my nephew and his wife. We had a wonderful visit. They just got married last December so it was so much fun to see them. They drove us through the Old Salem, the historic district. It was pouring rain so we didn't get any pictures. It looked like a fun place to visit on a future visit.
From Winston-Salem we headed east. We stopped briefly to see Duke University in Durham.
Next we stopped in Greenville, North Carolina to visit a High School friend of Duke's. We had a wonderful visit. We enjoyed an evening of music and got a tour of Eastern Carolina University where Duke's friend is a proffessor.
From Greenville we drove North into Virginia. I'll talk about Virginia in my next post.
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