April 9, Monday Morning Day 43 headed for the shed!

Jerry Says he gained 3 pounds. Shirleen has not said anything.
jerr

April 8, Sunday Day 42 staying in Waukesha – Radisson free night

Happy Easter!!!

We went to church at St. Dominick’s in Brookfield. This is a beautiful church and an inspiring priest for the service. Shirleen and I have found our Wisconsin home church. The mosaic of Christ behind the alter is in the gold through lite pink colors, with intervening browns. The rest of the church has limestone rock, much like the Mankato stuff. They had an interesting part of the Easter service that had the congregation come forward and dip some water from a big tank and bless themselves with it. This is a big church, must have 3,000 parishioners and as we walked out I asked the old man behind us how old the church was, he said 50 years and he was one of the proud origin families, he was Ed Schmitz.

We went to Michelle’s and had a nice brunch with omelets with mushrooms and mine had his homemade salsa in it, Michelle made from scratch hash browns accompanied with center cut bacon. We sat around and viewed many of the trip photos. Then time for Easter ham, mash potatoes, sweet sour gravy, carrots with basil and sweetener, and corn. We had the nice Riesling Spatlatze.

Head for the shed tomorrow morning. - jerr

April 7 Saturday Day 41 staying in Brookfield WI – Hampton Inn free night

Happy Birthday Denny, 63, ain’t bad for a guy that looks as good as you do!!!!

The four of us left Mark’s house and headed north. We went to Kohler to eat lunch at the Kohler American Club. We split an order of nachos, Mark remarked that the order was much less than the there order we saw at another table. We all joined in, pretty good although the bottom of the plate had lots of small broke chips. Michelle and Mark split a Ruben, I also had a Ruben and Shirleen had a three cheese beer soup. The Rubens were made by using two pieces of dark rye and layered with sliced corn beef grilled with a dab of sauerkraut and thousand island dressing on it, when heated through, the two pieces are flipped on each other and cut. Then they are stacked on each other with a toothpick and olive on top.

We then toured the rest of the hotel and saw the other restaurant. The hotel is a five star; don’t know who counted them, and a good restaurant. The head chef has a six course meal for 80$ with wine 130$. The menu looked really good and top shelf.

Kohler has a show room of its products. We saw many toilets, bathtubs, kitchens and room displays. They also make portable standby gas engines and air conditioning. If you are in the area it is a must to see.

We went back to the house and sat down and rested for a while. We got home and got an unexpected call from Joe. He is on 30 hour leave and Mary, Dan, Em and Luke are down there. We had a nice conversation. He has four weeks left, then two weeks of clean-up. He then waits for an opening in the airborne after which he will be deployed to Washington DC.

We then decided to go out to eat. We went close by, I settled for the Weissgerber’s Gasthaus Inn in Waukesha. It is part of a number of restaurants owned by this family. We had a couple steins of Maibock Spaten beer from Munich, Shirleen her cabernet. We passed on the onion rings and the kids had aa prime rib, Shirleen a petite filet and I Wiener Schnitzel with spaetzels with a nice blend of string beans and thinly sliced carrots. Good food, recommended. When Mark G and his family were with us here years ago, Danielle slept on the floor by the table. jerr

April 6 Friday Day 40 tonight staying in Brookfield WI – Hampton Inn free nights

Visited Mark and Priscilla at their home in Round Lake IL. We arrived right on time. Priscilla is in the middle of a graduation blanket for her granddaughter, she is able to use her new computer guided sewing machine. She has embroidered neat animals on the corners of the squares. One of the squares has a picture of her, when young, and it is five generations. Not many can hit that. It is a pretty pink colored boarder around the squares. Mark has a nice brand new Harley!! Who said second childhood? But what a nice rumble when he lights it off. We ate at The Whistle Stop in Fox Lake, another railroad memorabilia stuffed restaurant. It had most sizes of model rail along with some life size elements. Shirleen had warm grilled bacon ham cheese sandwich, Priscilla a Ruben, Mark a crispy chicken salad, as the Mahi Mahi was frozen, I a home style ham and cheese omelet with crispy hash browns and English muffin. We came back to there house and looked at the emerging hosta’s, looked at his thoughts on the stream alongside of the house.

Off for Brookfield, we took highway 45, the countryside road. We got to Walgreen’s right as she was getting off. Off to her house we went for our upcoming fish fry. Mark had found a new place for us to try. Turned out it was The New Fox & Hounds Restaurant around Holy Hill WI, half hour or so from their place. The restaurant had been shut down for some time and now has new owners. We started off with beverages, Shirleen’s house cabernet, Mark and I bloody Mary’s and a schnit of beer, and Michelle had a large glass of water. We ordered their sliced deep fried onions and a nice ranch dressing. The cod used in their fish fry were thick pieces, fur of them, almost more than I can eat, accompanied by fries. Michelle had a ribeye steak. All were pleased with the food, service was slow but, there were many many people there.
More tomorrow. jerr

April 5 Thursday Day 39 tonight staying in Gurnee IL – Comfort Inn free night

Happy Birthday Emily, my my how you have aged!! Love jerr/Shirleen
``` if you read this before 9:41 I added many things.
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Well the road warriors got out of the gate about 11 am, as that would be 10 am in the time zone we would sleep in tonight. Maumee was a place I had been in my Hubbard travels, we visited the Andersons and looked at how they applied fat and vitamins to their dog food. In order to save the hard cash we had left and no ATM withdraw, we took off on highway 20. as we traveled down the Ohio highway I noticed a sign that may not have been appropriate for Easter time – For Sale Bunnies, dead or alive. What else can I say, don’t eat the brown eggs.

Time for lunch, we thought we would eat heavy this afternoon and picked our favorite restaurant in Middlebury Indiana, Das Dutchman Essenhaus. We have eaten there with the family in the old days and Michelle has dragged Mark Karbo there also. They now have two ways of dining, by the menu or family style. We picked family style so we could pig out for the day. All you can eat broasted chicken, really really good; mashed potatoes, noodles, gravy and green beans topped off by a dessert of 29 assorted pies. Of course I even had one and what did I do but ordered one that cost an extra 75cents, had I known that I would have done differently, mine was a apple turnover, Shirleen’s a chocolate, peanut butter, banana pie – she said it was just scrumptious. I said I have never heard her say there was a bad dessert. They have really added to the place, besides all the craft stuff they have a conference center. We looked through the gift shop. Shirleen found some cute aprons. Upon closer inspection she saw they were made in china for Walmart, someone didn’t check there tags closely!! On their placemats is the following, the same comment we heard yesterday at Lancaster. Amish country, we will do our best to offer you the hospitality that reflects our own conviction that God desires all of His creation to live in harmony. That is what our guide yester said about their deire to live in harmony. The following prayer was also included.
Give thanks for the fullness
Of days spent together,
The friends that we pray
Will be with us forever,
The feelings we’ve shared,
The food and good fun,
With faith that God’s blessings
Have only begun.

We got gas in LaPorte IN, that is also where we got off the right highway but after a couple of turn around’s we got back on to an acceptable highway, not the one we had planned on. We then worked through Gary Indiana and saw a Schugel truck. We avoided the tolls by going up a nice highway 90/94 but soon realized we would be diverted to a detour and we know what can happen then. We followed the directions explicitly and survived the downtown Chicago in the middle of rush hour. At least it is not as bad as one time before when we traversed it at 5 on a Friday.

We followed the directions to the Comfort Inn at least four times, finally found it, we took another free night, sixth one since we left home.

We light dinner this evening, at Max & Erma’s in Gurnee. A couple of wines a Fetzer cab and Sutter merlot for me. We split an order of Nacho’s, I got the sour cream and avocado with the salsa. Not bad, our waitress had the highest pitched voice we have ever heard, bet she could hit the high notes easily. jerr

April 4 Wednesday Day 38 tonight staying in Maumee – Toledo Ohio – Comfort Inn

Light snowing yesterday Wednesday! Think we are back home.

Woke up this morning and there is snow on the car, must be warm enough as it slid off the car.

Not much to say about today as we are on the toll road and very little cash left and we don't like to use the ATM. We have seen six J&R Schugel trucks on the road today. Most in central Pennsylvania. A Viessman tanker from North Mankato/Gary SD also spotted. In between I wrote the last two days blogs. For lunch we had a Norton all beef hotdog from a service center on the tollway. Norton weenies are from New York City supposedly the best! They were good, I burped them up for hours, for some reason Shirleen does not? jerr
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What did we have for dinner, almost forgot it. When you eat at the Olive Garden, it is easy to forget because we do it so often. Shirleen’s cabernet and pizza with Roma tomatoes, onions, pepperoni, and mushroom. She ate half of it. I had one of there new dishes, Wow was it good, Crab Alfredo Venezia begins with tender snow crab in a creamy seafood Alfredo sauce, served over spaghetti that is tossed with fresh spinach and diced Roma tomatoes. Recipe right off their website. The perfect accompaniment to this dish is Olive Garden’s Principato Rosato, a light-bodied blush wine. I followed the suggested wine, so so. They will have this dish through April 8th.
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Seeing that we are road warriors now and not traditional gypsies I will try and define some things I have written and others I have not because of time. The word antebellum was used when we toured Charleston, truthfully I had no clue what it meant. Someone mentioned the meaning and I looked up the following in Answers.com and here is what I found.

Ante Bellum
Before the war. Usually used to describe the United States before the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). Typically spelled antebellum in English.

Antebellum is a Latin word meaning "before war" (ante means before and bellum war). In United States history and historiography, the term antebellum is often used to refer to the period of increasing sectionalism leading to the American Civil War, instead of the term "pre-Civil War". In that context, the Antebellum Period began with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, or could be set as early as 1812. Sometimes it is called the Old South.

Romanticism
There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind...
— From the opening of the film Gone with the Wind (1939)

I again thought why have I not remembered what the word meant. Of course, we in the north do not relive the civil war as those of southern extraction. We saw many confederate rebel battle flag, the typical large red with the blue banner from corner to corner with 13 stars in the blue field. It ain’t dead yet. Jerr
Maybe more to come today??

April 3 Tuesday Day 37 tonight staying in Hershey PA – Comfort Inn

As you noticed last night I had changed plans. Now we are 20 miles south of our northern based next sight. We had thought about going up to Lancaster county and this gave uas that opportunity. So back up through DC around Baltimore (Bemo) and off into the countryside of Pennsylvania to Lancaster. This is known as the Dutch region but actually it is Deutsch as they came from Germany but the people mispronounced the name therefore the Dutch. We had heard at the boarder that there was a working train and it ran everyday. We headed to the Strasburg Rail Road since 1832. When we arrived we could buy tickets for the next ride. We opted for a diner car where, you guessed it, they were serving lunch. What a beauty it was, an old coal burner locomotive designated as a 2-10-0 wheel configuration, cars that reminded me of the Durango Silverton cars of olde. The diner was a reconstructed parlor car to diner specifications. Lead windows, mahogany wood interiors, mahogany heavy chairs and table, set with linen. The conductor came through in his suit and collected tickets. The waitress took our order for a pork, potato and gravy meal. I ate one and a half orders. As we slowly went the nine miles we looked over the rolling countryside. Amish with there horse and plow, another with a horse and disk, waving to the train as we passed. We topped at a crossing and blew the steam whistle and heard the answering call of the olde number 6 answering us, it had ran those tracks many years before and has never been seen but can be heard. At the end they unhook the engine and attach it for our pull back. What an enchanting ride. Our second train ride of this year. I found a railroad hobby shop and bought a couple of old horse and buggy, buggy pieces for the HO set of mine. We drove through the town of Strasburg and enjoyed the well kept old brick, stone and wood houses. We saw a double towered Queen Ann’s house, first one we think we have ever seen.

Now to The Amish Farm and House built in 1850, it is an authentic working farm. We again took the guided tour, which included the house. The tour started in 10 minutes so off to the gift shop we went. Well who do I spy? The Danish couple from yesterday, of course in my normal bashful manner I went over and re-introduced myself, he had a pleasant smile on his face and we shook hands and marveled on how we could pass through the same small area of the world again. We also met his daughter. It turns out he is an educator and is off for two weeks visiting her. This was a most pleasant experience again to meet them 132 miles from the last spot.

The lady giving the tour was not Amish but had lived in the community with them since childhood. Her insight was helpful. She said that there were 26,000 Amish in Lancaster County. We first heard about the way the community holds there Sunday church services. It is held every second Sunday at one of the ten families in there small area. The males sit on one side with the oldest in the first spot behind them would be the children with their fathers behind them. On the other side the same setup would take place. They read from the Old Testament and say prayers fro upwards of three hours. After that they serve a light lunch and play games and talk. The Amish feel that it is most important for family to be together, so all there activities are based on that precept. We discussed the austere furnishings, clothing design and uses. No pictures but a calendar in each room, only other wall adornment was a picture frame with the family and children’s birthday and some fancy dish plate. Upon their death the body is kept in the house dressed in white and viewed by the community. It is horse drawn to the cemetery and buried in the next available spot not in a family grouping. A quick mentioning about marriage. The service is performed in there normal dress, nothing white or different. Two meals are provided by the parents for all who attend upwards of 400. We then walked through the farm, an old lady was woking on a quilt in one barn and a wood carver was working on some spoons. We went in to look at his work. He had many rooster and chicken carvings, probably because they are in the farm yard. I asked do you see the rooster in the twig and just cut away the wood from it? He said yes, and picked up a thin twig and said look on page eight of this book and read the 10 lessons of good wood carving. Each said Always use a sharp knife blade. He whittled out a little flower from the twig he had in his hand and handed it to me. I thanked him and he was quickly off to someone who was really going to purchased something. Those people wanted him to autograph the two spoons they were buying. We finished the tour and said goodbye to the Danish friends, I gave him one of my calling cards, told him to think of us when he gets back home.

Saw two J & R Schugel trucks today one in Maryland and Pennsylvania, makes us feel close to home.

So off to dinner we go. Back in 2003 when we had a Corvette event at the Lodge we had intended to eat at the fancy dinning room. The following is from their website: The Circular Dining Room, located at THE HOTEL HERSHEY is famous for its elegant dining and unique setting. Here you will enjoy the finest classical cuisine, exquisite chocolate desserts, and impeccable service. Facing majestic gardens and tranquil reflecting pools, the Circular Dining Room is exceptional with its circular setting. Founder Milton S. Hershey made sure that the restaurant would have no corners. As a world traveler in the early twentieth century, he noted that if guests did not tip well they would be placed in a corner. "I do not want any corners," he said upon construction of the restaurant. Thus resulting in breathtaking and unobstructed views of the beautiful gardens and rolling hillside of Central Pennsylvania.

Dinner and Brunch Attire: Jackets required for gentlemen, dress or dress pants required for ladies. We should have read this before going over there. We had arrived at the Lodge to see the tulips; little did we forget that we re now in cool weather, no blossoms. We went through the gift shop and I tried to have Shirleen buy a cup that had chocolate spelled across the front of it but, she didn’t. I then went to the concierge to ask what the dress code was. It did not include peddle pushers. The gal said she was sorry. I said lets look into our suitcases and come up with something, she found a dress slack in the suitcase. I was able to borrow a sport coat for myself from the matra’de, cannot find the appropriate spelling, her name was Brenda,. We were seated and Matt, seemed like a new person – not much moxie, came and greeted us by name, because I had to give it to get the jacket. If we were in Europe we would have had the appropriate dress. We ordered two glasses of wine, never did get the names but Shirleen’s cabernet and my pinot noir. Good flavors, I have come to believe when the cost of the wine is more than 8$ you get a good house wine. Then came the bread, a chocolate cherry dark bred, sourdough and Italian bread accompanied by two butters, a real butter then a chocolate butter, really tasty, even for me. Shirleen ordered the following dinner:
Grilled Beef Filet, Truffled Dauphinoise Potatoes, Wilted Greens, Shallot Jus

And I the fish special of the day a fried firm white fish name unknown with fingerling potatoes with mixed fresh vegetables and a balsamic glaze.

The filet was not medium rare and for one of the few times, when asked by Brenda I told her that the steak was nt medium rare, she looked at it and agreed. She immediately said the dessert was on them and she would talk to the cook. When done we received the dessert menu and Shirleen ordered the:

“Chocolate Evolution”
A Tasting of Five Chocolates
38% - Milk Chocolate Timbale With Hawaiian Sea Salt
Peanut Brittle, Milk Chocolate Twigs
63% - Warm Crispy Chocolate Cake
70% - Dark Chocolate Sorbet, Port Reduction, Micro Mint
82% - Dark Chocolate Consommé

I would have liked to have ordered the Louie XIII shot for 146$ but, that was not offered. I ordered the chef’s cheese plate. I ordered the pecorino, a local hard cheese and a delicious local Maytag blue cheese. They also had a nice crispy bread cracker with bread – the bread I did not touch. Accompanying this was a fine raspberry jelly. Nice dessert. Well Shirleen’s was just scrumptious. Real peanuts in the brittle and the port reduction was an extract of chocolate diluted with water, not much there. The rest was great.

I also sent Mark three Flat Stanley’s for Danielle’s class with this one being the Capital in DC for. jerr

April 2 Monday Day 36 visited Washington DC staying in Lorton VA – Comfort Inn

Cherry Blossoms just beautiful. Walked down the Potomac with blossom pedals blowing in the air. Later - jerr
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April 2 Monday Day 36 visited Washington DC staying in Lorton VA – Comfort Inn

Our day was started at the U. S. National Arboretum in Washington DC outskirts. They house the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum of bonsai exhibit and it was striking; the oldest bonsai tree was started in 1785 and not over a foot tall. These old trees are usually conifers. There were many nicely trained trees, with varying ages to them, flowering azaleas and a variety of other trees. We were introduced to a display of stones, called Scholar’s Rocks traditional Chinese Gongshi displayed on an individually carved wooden base, in a ceramic container, or in a tray of sand. They can be called spirit stones or viewing stone. They are unusual stones, ideally shaped by natural forces, catching the essence of Earth’s life-energies.

We did a walk through some of the shorter paths as the area covers 454 acres. There were some big columns on a mound that came from the Capital building when it underwent a renovation years ago and never replaced back to the capital. There was a cherry blossom path to follow on the acreage, these turned out to be much larger than the Potomac trees these were big, well rounded and sitting by themselves in all there glory. As we were walking around the park we were passed by it turned out three young adults, I said to them, I knew we’d be passed up. One of the guys turned around and smiled and said, the race does not always go to the swiftest! We all laughed. Straggling behind but with this group was an older guy, in his 50’s, who was walking with them. When he caught up with us I ask him to walk along. He said that he had lost 100 pounds and walks the garden three to four times a week, Monday is his slow day – that was today, other days he keeps up with the kids.

Time for a quick snack. We were standing on the corner of 7th and Constitution with a puzzled look on our face. Along came this suited man and asked if we were lost? I said no, looking for a place to eat. I looked at his ID tag, he worked at the Federal Transportation Unit, added some creditability again. He sadi right us, I’d recommend it. It was the Potbelly Sandwich Works. Shirleen’s roast beef with chips and I with a cup of delicious chili and a, to die for - only as the easterners can make, a meatball sub and a coke. And off we were again. Looking for a map, Found a gal stationed in that area with maps, ended up she was out and also her buddy, so she gave us the one she usually keeps showing people where they are. I looked up and saw the U. S. Naval Log society and went in . a small room on the ground floor but an extensive Navy set-up beneath street level. Fun to walk through and think back.

So we footed it to our other intended stop in DC and that was the National Museum of the American Indian. For those who do not know, the stone that was used in this building was harvested from the Vetter quarry in Mankato over a 10 year period. The design of this building was flowing without square corners, except in the elevators. We waited for a guided tour. The gal was a Cherokee from around Oklahoma. She added an element of creditability throughout the tour. The exhibit covers all the Indian tribes of the Americas and Hawaii. It starts by showing their universe by presenting there Native beliefs, it moves to there Peoples centering on Native history, and there Lives focuses on contemporary Native life. It stresses the belief of the Indian in the careful nurturing of the Earth. She showed us the many different types of Indian dress, notably the women’s. The different uses of the hide, two sides or front and back of dress was from two deer sewn together; three sides or three hides like before but across the top was the third hide to make a shawl arrangement. Some adorned with elk’s teeth, rolled tobacco lids that would jangle, many with glass bead work and some with porcupine quills. They display figured art from 3,000 years ago, different forms of gold work and some compositional metals – copper, silver and gold. At the start of the tour we meet some people from Denmark and I chatted along the way with him. They had a daughter going to school in DC.

We also had time to take n the National Botanical Museum. It is quite the showcase. Again we waited for a guided tour. The beauty of the orchids again overtook us. Every once and a while we could feel rain, it was from, you guessed it, the automatic sprinkler system our taxes paid for. She said it worked as designed and included a shade system to decrease the amount of sunlight. We walked out through the new garden part and viewed another Chihuly art work, much like the one in Florida, many bulbs and elongated bulbs of from one to five feet long, piled in an old wooded green boat tied to the side of the pool. Off to the car we go.

Now we are off to the Cherry Blossoms just beautiful to view from the car along with a thousand other gawkier’s. We noticed we could park next to the trees. We got in line and after ten minutes we parked in the center of the tree area. It was fun to see families with children enjoying and playing amongst the trees and blossom pedals falling down, many others strolling hand in had. We walked down the Tidal Basin with blossom pedals blowing in the air. We took pictures with the Jefferson monument and cherry blossoms and us and the Jefferson and the cherry blossoms. We took more pictures of the blossoms, never could get enough. We were really lucky, the opening of the Cherry Blossom Festival opened two days before. The cultivar of cherry tree is the gifted one from Japan, Yoshino. As we left, where we were waiting to get in had grown to block after block of waiting people.

Now off to dinner. We had seen a The Capital Grill on our walk back to the car, could we find it again? With Shirleen’s innate guiding ability we parked right in front of it. We sat at a bar table, much like the full dinning room but without table linens. We grabbed a couple of waters, which I guzzled down quickly and two house cabernets which turned out to be pleasant, bill said they were: Yalumba Y Series of varietal wines express the lively personality and colourful 150-year history of the Hill Smith family of Yalumba, Australia's oldest family owned winery. These are fresh and flavoursome fruit-driven wine styles of quality and consistency, highlighting the true regional character of South Australia's most renowned viticultural areas and confirming Yalumba's reputation as Australia's finest independent winemaker – from their website. We mixed and matched something together, a spinach salad with warm sweet sour dressing and real crumbled bacon bites. An order of onion rings and a couple of lobster and crab cakes, not as good as those that Shirleen had the day before, might be because of the lobster. I asked the waitress if this was part of the same Capital Grill we have in St. Paul. She said that that company owns 27 of these in state capitals. Another quest.

Off we went to the south in preparation for a trip to Fredericksburg in the morning. I looked at what it had and that night decided not to go there. But where, well there is always tomorrow morning. Later - jerr

April 1 Sunday Day 35 Landover Hills MD Comfort Inn car problems!!!!!

April fools!!!!!!!!!!! jerr

Before I start I must say writing the blog at the end of the day is tiring, prone to mistakes and inadvertent missed good things. Yesterday I mentioned poppies and that should have been pansies. To top it off they are one of my favorite.

Today started at the day at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Without saying we viewed beautiful color. Azaleas in full bloom, clumped together were whites, pinks and violet. The Plantation in NC was the largest plantings of azaleas and good color. Matching these I would say. This again was a free pass, we belong to the Minnesota Horticultural Society at the U. the garden had a bonsai demonstration. Many different kinds, one I may be able to grow a dandelion plant in a small pot. Other beauty’s also. We walked to the tram transport and took a look at the vegetation before we walked it. The azaleas were in full bloom, magnolias also. There were trees 15 feet high and full of blossoms, I said look at the clumps of blossoms, they look like snowballs, Shirleen agreed. The plantings were really planned out, many violas and pansies in the same pot. Large potted plans in brown, blue and a fish container. A neat use of the crape myrtle was when the espaliered them along a walk way. Again there was a generous use of bunches of pansies and tulips planted among them, blue pansies and yellow and red tulips. We have really seen a couple of nice gardens with sculpture contained within them; this was another of those gardens. A new plant we saw was a lobster claw blossom, yellow and light red thin pedals.

We then crossed the Chesapeake Bay, two tunnels and three bridges, a meer 12$. Neat way to get to the Virginias peninsula coast. We again traveled away from the center roadway and went occasionally to the coast side. You guessed it we were hungry. We found the Historic Eastville Inn Restaurant built in 1724 in Eastville Virginia. The dinning room was old style, high ceilings overhead, walls a yellow/orange color, fancy purple gathered drapes on the windows as if the colonial era. The sign on the front of the building said it was a National and VA Historic Register and was a SOCIAL MECCA and COURT LODGING. Find this place the food is beyond the normal fair. Shirleen’s said her coffee was flavorful and I had a chardonnay. Shirleen’s crab cake sandwich and marinated cucumbers were good, she said so continuously, different than normally. Turns out the cucumbers were marinated in there house dressing, must have been and oil, water and spice mixture. My crispy fried oysters were just as good. A must eat place.

The above put of the way place was again a place few would find. We continued up the back roads, some only one and a half lanes wide, no middle strip. Some of the trees alongside were marked like the European trees, painted white up the trunk of the tree about three feet high, so when the lights hit the white tree at night you can see what you are going to hit if you don’t slow down. Many houses reminded us of the slave houses, these were all the way from wooden to mobile homes. The homes were mostly in need of paint but, the cars alongside were well maintained and washed. Better than ours at this time. This again was America. Further on we came upon a seaside fishing village, nice old small and plantation sized homes with pretty flowering plants. We went down to the boat area and saw it was a clam and oyster business that was being pursued. Piles of shells, later we saw a pile of them for sale. We spied a restaurant “Stella Waterfront restaurant. It is used as a pathway in small gardens. As we went along the countryside we saw soft white wheat sprouting to three inches or so and right among these were old cemetery stones, three maybe five and a fence, sometimes the gravestones were right in the front yards of the homes, next to a yellow bell bush.

We checked in the Comfort Inn in Landover Hills Maryland, right outside of DC four miles to the next botanical garden. Makes you wonder about where you stay when the hotel clerk is behind bulletproof glass but, we did not have to have a passport or give our fingerprints. We ate at a nice Italian Inn next door, ordered a medium pizza and left half there. It was a thick crunchy crust with a mild tomato sauce with pepperoni and mushrooms. Another surprising and pleasant surprise. Out waitress Jan turned out to be a comedian and a couple years older than us. Her joke was: What did one wall say to another? I’ll meet you at the corner. Enough for tonight. jerr

March 31 Saturday Day 34 Norfolk Virgina tonight to somewhere up the coast to DC

We are at "The Lake Wright" Sleep Inn Norfolk.

First I must say, I have been negligent in mentioning this before, Shirleen has become a brilliant navigator. She has found where we are going and where we are staying each and every night. What a help!!!!!!!

We took off from Jackson NC and headed up to New Bern, I remembered a guy from boot camp, a Rutlidge from there. A little later we took the back road Hiway 264 to Roanoke Island to check out the National Park Lost Colony site. We stopped at the visitor center and they asked where we came from we told them we came on 264 and there eyes just opened widely. They were surprised we took the back roads. We found them magically enchanting. A touch of real America, this is what we are trying to accomplish on this road tour – gypsy travels (we are bohemian) or what ever you want to call the travels we are taking.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the “Weeping Radish Restaurant” in Manteo NC on Roanoke Island. It was a Bavarian restaurant with the blue and white squared flags out front. I had a Weissen (Wheat beer), need not go back for another. Shirleen had a brat with kraut and a scoop of potato salad, good brat. I had a chicken schnitzel with spaetzels and a good purple cabbage. The schnitzel was lightly coated ¼ inch thick chicken fried in butter, the spaetzels were of the noodle type. You flatten the stiff flour, egg and water dough and cut the spaetzels with a knife and boil like ours. They were blended with a light gravy. Schmeck’s Gute!

We then went up to the Roanoke sight that was settled around 1584. We walked the grounds and saw the earthen wall and ditch from where the earth was dug with a couple of log post sticking out of the ground, looked like a ill made fortress. That is where they were supposed to of had placed around the living site. It was interesting, I had seen a piece on Discovery about this. This where the first English (England) baby was born, Virginia Dare. Dad always liked that wine, now I know where the name came from. It was a really sweet wine, supposedly like a little lady? The group had come to this sight, had problems with the local Indians, we killed one of their chiefs and they retaliated by killing one of ours. With little food and salt the English wanted the governor to go back to England and get them help. The English were in a war with the Spanish and needed all ships, even the passenger ones. Three years later the governor returned and found no trace of the family and daughter he left. The houses, outbuildings and other things the 50 or so people had there. A mystery that for over 400 years has never had a conclusion to.

In this location there was “The Elizabethan Gardens”. The walkway into the garden was lined with crept myrtles that were pollarded. The brick gate walling into the garden was flanked by flowers and flower pots. Behind the building was a little garden with knot gardens containing blue poppy’s and tulips. The camellias were in full bloom, as we’re now more north. The azaleas are just starting to bloom, they also had a miniature azalea that we had not seen before.

We walked down the paths and found many little nooks that contained statuary. A nice lookout to the Abermarle Sound. There wedding area was all white flowers among beautiful green leaves with a fountain in the center of the area. More knot garden areas with green hedges around tulips and poppies. They also had a live oak of around 400 years old. Just another must see.

Up we traveled through Nags Head, another of those places where the rich and wealthy live. Neat looking place along the intercostals.

We found this motel after another around the circle to get back to where we should be. They suggested “The Aberdeen Barn” for dinner, doubt again ran through my mind. I told Shirleen about it but we decided to try the restaurant at the motel. Well what a mistake, thank goodness we looked at the menu and went to the suggested restaurant. We were seated and Thanked for coming. We had ordered a bottle of Trumpeter Argentinean cabernet wine, nice selection. They had the old bread sticks with a mild cheddar cheese. Shirleen’s 7 oz tenderloin and my Cowboy Delmonico steak were some of the better we have had anywhere. We found this motel after another around the circle to get back to where we should be. They suggested “The Aberdeen Barn” for dinner, doubt again ran through my mind. I told Shirleen about it but we decided to try the restaurant at the motel. Well what a mistake, thank goodness we looked at the menu and went to the suggested restaurant. We were seated and Thanked for coming. We had ordered a bottle of Trumpeter Argentinean cabernet wine, nice selection. They had the old bread sticks with a mild cheddar cheese. Shirleen’s 7 oz tenderloin and my Cowboy Delmonico steak were some of the better we have had anywhere. The manager of the restaurant has been a friend of Twins player Michael Cuddyer. jerr

March 30 Friday Day 33 Charleston to Jacksonville NC

We are at a Quality Inn.

The state tree of South Carolina is the palmetto, same as Florida but, there is called a cabbage palm?

We left our motel and went down one block to Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolet. He had a dozen C-6 Vette’s on the lot, we went in and a sales guy ran up. He asked if we were looking for anything, I ask how would we put a trailer hitch on a new Corvette? He grinned and said we’ll figure it out. I said we were NASCAR fans and had been to Daytona a couple days ago and when we pulled in to our motel we saw this dealership. He said hang on I’ll get you a Hendrick plate and license frame, how could I refuse. At that time Shirleen had no idea that Hendrick’s was the owner of the 24 car, Jeff Gordon, now she really liked it. We did a little touring of Charleston, we went down many streets but, gave up on trying to find some of what we had done the day before. Nice town could spend more time but, that would be next time.

We traveled along the coastal roads to see how things are other than on the hustling freeways. For lunch we ate at Damon’s Grill in Myrtle Beach for starters we had two cabernet’s and a ½ loaf of onion rings, Shirleen ordered southern Pulled Pork BBQ and I a Beef Brisket sandwich with horseradish, both with coleslaw and fries.

Away we headed north on 17 and went to Wilmington NC but, the only rooms we found in four motels was smoking rooms. We went to the local county horticultural societies planting area. This was a location that showed how to plant and where to plant the garden flowers and greenery. Down the line from there was the Airlie Gardens. A most beautiful setting. We walked around the tulips that were in full bloom, all kinds but planted in single color masses. We then saw the signature piece a garden designed by a lady whom tended the garden for many years. Minnie Evans put together a concrete and bottle chapel. The walls were punctured by glass bottles, Crown Royal, many beer and wine bottles along with some gallon jugs. One can’t say enough about the beauty of this piece of work. we strolled down to the dock to look out upon the waterway and looked back toward shore and saw the osprey nesting pair. From there we looked at the live oak tree that is thought to be 400 years old.

Away we headed north on 17 and went to Wilmington NC but, the only rooms we found in four motels was smoking rooms. Only 50 miles away was Jacksonville, we found a place at the Quality Inn, lacking on quality. We went to the Outback for dinner. Shirleen had a bowl of onion soup and I two Guinness beers and a hamburger, fried onions, mushrooms and Swiss cheese, I left the bun and fries off my menu. jerr

March 29 Thursday Day 32 Charleston Sleep Inn

We decided to take a tour of Charleston today. To be picked up at 9:20 well he was early and I was ¾ through the blog writ-up and had to quit right then. I write it in Word and transfer to the blog later.

We had a very comprehensive tour of the small historic and closely aligned areas. Again the flowering azalea’s are at there peak. The metal work is all over, gates, fences, window guards and ornamentation. Much hand forged metal items are being done by a man who is 96 years old. He now only lays out the material and others do the forging. We learned much about the civil war and the generals who participated. We were looking at some of the old houses and the guide pointed out that the side porch was called a piazza and the front porch the porch. this came from the British housing. Also the closeness of the house and in some case there were two houses one behind the street house. There was a house with a house number of 40 and on a gate next to it was a 40 1/2. That house wa behind.

We were looking at a very fashionable house by the bay, roughly 6.5 million, that had a cannon on the middle of the third floor. No, not put there, it was fired from three streets down. They had only placed gunpowder into the barrel and lite the fuse with no cannon ball in the barrel. The cannon flew the three blocks down into the third floor. Off that same bay we spotted two dolphins sauntering off the sea wall.

There is an intersection called "the four corners of law" hosting buildings from each level of government: the courthouse (state law), City Hall (municipal law), the Federal Building and U.S. Post Office (federal law), and Saint Michael's Episcopal Church (canon law). We saw the first fire protection for housing. On the center of the front there was an emblem. When smoke was seen in the air the fire trucks from the different fire protection would race to the fire. If the first truck saw it was not one of there houses they would just turn around and go back to there firehouse. The beginning of insurance. As we went through the city he asked the question; what is the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? A graveyard is next to a church and a cemetery is away from the church. He also mentioned that they call themselves the “Holy City” and that’s because it has over 100 churches.

We then grabbed a quick wine and split a fish sandwich at TBonz Restaurant. Do not waste your time on their food. Thin slice of fish and small on top of that.

Off to our Magnolia Plantation and Gardens tour. On the way out there our guide who is southern gave the following slave description. The average cost of a slave was 1,250$ each. He then said that they would buy the slaves for there ability to work, either strength, knowledge of rice growing or some other skill. With the cost of a slave being so high, he asked the question, why would the owner treat the slave like we see in Hollywood movies? It sound to me that they are still trying to rationalize the use of slavery. He made it sound so real many never twitched a muscle, it took me a while to think through his summary.

The Plantation has nearly 500 acres of garden acres, flowering peach, camellias, and the full blossomed azaleas. We walked through the garden, picturesque foot bridges and the plantation house itself. The house is theorized to be the third one, two previous houses had burned down. This structure was covered with a phosphate mud, different than I would have guessed. We walked through the gardens down narrow winding paths with many colorful trees. The plantation had been in the hands of the first family for nine generations. We had a tram ride through the other parts of the plantation. We saw the old rice growing paddies. Rice was the most important and largest cash crop in Charleston, next being indigo plants – used as a blue dye for English soldiers uniforms and later blue jeans. With cotton being the next most cash crop. The rice crop was devastated in 1911 by a large hurricane. The hurricane caused salt water to get into the rice paddies and rice does not grow in brackish water. Brackish water is neither fresh nor salt water it is a blend.

A lady of slave background with a last name of a plantation owner as slaves had no surname and took the owners name. she was making sweet grass basketry, the middle is made of pine needles from the large needle pines, then sweet grass cord and a brown swamp grass cord and the individual cords were bound with pieces of palm leaves.

There was an old 1825 slave cabin. It was approximately 16 feet long and 10 feet in width. In the middle was a dividing wall, as two families lived there. In the rafters was a boarded area of 6 by 4 foot. This was the sleeping quarters, not sure how that worked? Nailed on the wall was a dried rat skin it was each slave’s duty to catch six rats a day so that they would not eat the rice. It turned out that rats were part of the slaves diet. Two fireplaces were in the center, one on each side of the wall. It was a superstition that if the fire went out that bad things would happen, therefore someone always guarded the fire. The house was painted green and this was supposed to keep the evil spirits out of the house. This house was close to the plantation house and would have housed very important slaves. Further out in the rice paddy area there were smaller houses with two doors on them implying two families in them? It was said that the slaves who cared for the rice slept in lean-tos. I again wonder if these slaves cost as much as the average?

We had tour of the house, fun to look at but, all but one room had period furniture and no one had lived in the house with that furniture.

Back to the hotel, and get ready for dinner. We had heard a number of times how good the food at “Magnolias” was. I called for reservations and found the place in ten minutes without getting lost. Shirleen had a Amavi Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington State and I BigFire pinot noir. To start the meal we started with an appetizer, first one in a long time. We ordered homemade potato chips with crumbled blue cheese and scallions both of us loved this dish. The cheese was much like stilton cheese. The cheese was local from Clemson, therefore Clemson blue cheese. Shirleen ordered Dressed Rainbow Trout with crab and artichoke stuffing, scalloped potatoes and sautéed asparagus and I the Shellfish over Grits sautéed shrimp, sea scallops and lobster over creamy white grits with a lobster butter sauce and fried spinach. Both were good, Shirleen’s was the best, the stuffing was tasty and the fish done to a nice moist doneness, the scalloped potatoes the best, super thinly sliced and a flavorful and tasty sauce, baked to a crispy outside and moist inside. Not that I would not order mine again, the dish is their signature dish, I found the lobster – I think a rock lobster was tough, small shrimp but good sea scallops.

Now it is light out and we stopped at the Poogen’s porch for their business card which turned out to be on the street we exited from Magnolia’s parking lot. From there it was easy a left then a right and out to the motel. Well not quite, after missing the hiway 17 sign last night this evening we took the turn to soon and ended up somewhere. After a short time being lost I stopped at a gas station. I was in line and the guy behind me said how’s your night going? I said not to well, he said what’s wrong? I said I was lost and trying to find hiway 17, he said, follow me were going that way, I said sounds good to me. Thank god that I didn’t care that he was black and he drove a Dodge ram truck. We followed him back to the area we first turned around at and onward we went and back to 17, I blinked me lights bright twice and off he went. Trust given is trust returned.

Yesterday we saw that Beaufort was one of the wealthiest towns before the civil war. They had converted from growing indigo to becoming cotton growers. There cotton had long threads and easily separated cotton from the hull. This cotton was worth 60 times regular cotton and approached the fine quality of English cotton. jerr

March 28 Wednesday Day 31 Charleston Sleep Inn

Well like I said, if we find something to do in Beaufort we would stay. We did find a nice tour of the old houses and second oldest church in the country.
More to come - jerr
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Well like I said, if we find something to do in Beaufort we would stay. We did find a nice tour of the old houses and second oldest church in the country. The azalea’s were in full bloom here and we found out that the mis-reported lilac is a wisteria of SC not Chinese or Japanese wisteria. The many homes of the civil war time that are still standing is said to be because of the north not burning these homes but used as hospitals, especially the large homes. Others large homes were used by the officers; they always get the good stuff. I think that’s because if you put the officers in confined spaces like the enlisted live in they could not exist. It is different the way they interchange between Union and federal soldiers. I will have to research this later. Some of the homes had had a family with 14 children and a hundred slaves. An interesting tid bit was the whistling path. This is the path between the kitchen which was 15 feet from the house. The servants were to whistle as they brought the food to the family so they knew that they were not eating the food. My thought was they could have eaten it before they brought it?? It was said that they would also carry hot corn meal biscuits in there pockets and toss them to the dogs along the way. That’s where the hush puppy came from. I must say the streets in these parts of town are small; two cars can pass, as long as one is parked. There are no sidewalks usually just a small dirt path. The trees are right alongside the road; one had a sign on it, 12 feet to here. Heavy undergrowth of trees, vines and azalea’s, but quaint.

We were going along the coastal area and the tide was out. The guide said that the mud we could see was plough (pronounced - flew). The mud being high in nutrients compared to the sand of the area was hauled up to the gardens by the slave. A thought struck me, our forefathers had to break the virgin soil when they got here in the early 1850’s. we did our own work.

It was again a town that has had many movie shots taken there. There was a Forrest Gump shot of him looking over the Mississippi river when in fact it was the intercostals of Beaufort. Barbara Streisand rented a house for a month and that money put the family’s four children through college must have been a bundle.

Catch a bite to eat and off to Charleston. We had heard bout a little Italian place with good eating’s “Panini’s”. after a glass of cabernet we eat a thin crust brick oven style pizza in an elongated form. There shirts said anyone can make a round pizza try ours. It was a garlic base with tomatoes and pepperoni and I had a side of sausage. Apparently they thought it we had waited to long for our food and they asked if we wanted some soup or salad? I took a cold tomato soup, not bad but I like warmed better.

We decided to stay on the south side of Charleston, turns out to be minutes away from historic downtown. Also next to the Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolet. Owner Hendrick Motorsports Fields Race Teams in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series with Drivers Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Jimmie Johnson.

We did the wash, that blew an hour and a half. Thank goodness they had commercial sizes. We had heard about a place to eat in historic downtown. Poogan’s Porch Restaurant. I called for reservations and could get in at 8. We left right away as we don’t know downtown it was 7:05. At 7:55 I called them and asked for directions. It turned out the street we were on was Queens St after I crossed the next intersection, although there was no street sign and it looked like an alley. I followed his directions and saw the parking garage he directed me to go to. I saw this parking spot, on my left. That is a different direction to parallel park from. Well with a car waiting behind me I pulled off a 10, once in backward and half frontward there I was. We got out on this semi dark street I looked across the street at this old house that had extra lights on and there it was Poogan’s Porch. It turned out the name came from the dog that is buried in the front yard with his buddy cat. The owner had died and the dog would not leave and also died there. As we waited Shirleen had time to read about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward eating here. I asked the waiter if we could be seated on the porch as this was the only night we were in town, Well she would never know the difference. she sat us on the second floor porch what a romantic moment we had. We had a cabernet and merlot/Cabernet blend from Bordeaux. The biscuits were fresh baked and the spread was honey butter. Shirleen ordered Plantation Fried Chicken a piece of breast stuffed with white cheddar cheese, pesto & country ham with buttermilk whipped potatoes and string beans. I had Shrimp & Grits, tri-colored peppers, Vidalia onions, Cajun sausage, tasso & blue crab gravy. One wonders about grits, well they were a ground corn meal slowly cooked over the day, and were firm, not the wet I am used to. I would eat there anytime! - jerr

March 27 Tuesday Day 30 Beaufort SC Sleep Inn

When I was talking about the cars a couple days ago I forgot to mention a ’31 DeSoto convertible. A rare find.

We went back into Hilton Head. Many azalea’s in full bloom throughout the Island. Many pine trees, a surprise to me, but still some palm trees and shrubs. Moss on many live Oak trees we saw. In order to go to the lighthouse side of the island, we had to pay 5$. A cheapie like me that hurts. There are many homes and villas tucked away along the road. We wandered through the stores and saw many nice items. I knew we were just a shirt away from leaving the stores. Before we climbed the tower we ate a small lunch at The Sea Pines Resort Quarterdeck Topside Restaurant, outside of course. We started with a Sycamore cabernet each a fine tasting wine. Shirleen with a BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich with chips and I a bowl of Sherry Crab Bisque.

We then went to the tower and climber all 114 steps, 65 feet high. I looked down the center and though this is a place I need not be. Although like I told Shirleen, I had to make free ascent escapes from a 100 foot tower, two different times. The first a free ascent the second with a Steinke hood. This was a nice bird’s eye view of the different islands. The one straight ahead of us was Daufuskie Island a sizable population of Gullah inhabitants from the end of the Civil War until very recently. Gullah are the descendants of freed slaves. The harbor had a majestic live Oak, a Teak and mahogany old time boat and some gigantic cruisers. We also found that shirt.

We then drove back through some out of the way streets to look at the local color. I for one like the more tropical Florida settings. I can see how people who come down here from the north during the cool weather appreciate the climate, look and golf courses.

Mid afternoon we started off to Beaufort SC, a artistic community with an ongoing display. It was only 30 miles or so. It is a little town with a historic seaside type front street. There were 13 stores, the parking was all metered. We found one with 22 minutes on it and started the run through the stores. The first store had the sweet grass baskets we were looking for but, Jerry said lets look at some of the other stores before we buy here. Down the street we went, lots of acrylic, water color and painted pictures of scenery, homes, flowers, trees with moss, birds. There was a lot of pottery, 75$ for one of your leaves Michelle, they did not have the color on the back like you do. We came to the fourth store and there were more baskets. I looked at the regular ones and pricing was similar to the first store. Ah ha, I founds some smaller ones, maybe more my pricing, nope these were 200$ and probably rightly so as they were no more that 1.5 inches long and ¾ inch high. A lot more effort went into the making. Down the street and a quick in and out of the stores because of the meter, we had no change. Well when we went back to the car I noticed the car behind us left and the meter had 42 minutes on it. You guessed it, my Bohemian kinship stepped in, I backed up the car to the other meter. We went in and found ths basket that fit our needs, a nice example of African American art, I think that is politically correct?

Enough of this town and off we went to find a room. We thought we would try and use some of the Hampton Inn points, well they were full. Next, Country Inn and Suites, I needed my card – probably in MN somewhere r a printed confirmation. This did not set well and I told them that there is no reason for me to stay at any of theirs again. Time for dindin.

We had found a nice looking and as the lady behind the chamber counter said, it is fine dining. I asked if I was properly dressed, she said now a-days it is acceptable. Even though many of the people who were there were dressed with my normal blue sport coat when we travel abroad. We ate at The Beaufort Inn – Veranda restaurant. Starting with a glass of Sterling cabernet Reserve each 11$, later I had a Lois Latour chardonnay 8$. We then shared a Cab Cake with a black eyed bean, small half tomatoes, collard greens and sauce accompanied with fresh buns with a butter blend with crushed pecan and black strap molasses. Our main meal was a split, it was a special with two six ounce lobster tails on a corn and red pepper hoe cake with a fine white sauce and three pieces of grilled asparagus. They plated both meals separately and only up charged 2$.

Of to beddie bye, we were going to go another 35 miles or so but said lets stop her in Beaufort. Tomorrow I think we are headed to Charleston unless we find something else here in town to do. Jerr - Got Joe's letter out this morn.

March 26 Monday Day 29 nite in Bluffton by Hilton Head Island

Today we pick up where we left off yesterday, only today we go by tour trolley. We again used Old Town Trolley, they do a number of large town tours. Last year we used them in San Diego, this year Key West, St. Augustine and now Savannah, next Washington DC. We find this agency to do a good job.

As we got on and became settled into our seats, the driver asked where everyone was from. After everyone tried to outdo the others I said Mankato. He said hey I like that city and the Dunkin Donuts. He said when he was going to the seminary in Sioux Falls that he would speed over to Mankato pickup donuts and go back speedily. I mentioned that the owner lives next door and I would pass on the message.

We traveled the whole route and then got off at and grabbed the trolley at one of the first stops to get us where we wanted to go. Again the white, pink and red azalea’s; the yellow daffodil’s and multi-colored pansies dotted the landscape. A new flower was spotted, a purple viney lilac used in arch ways and on fencing. We also found out that the amount of iron, pronounced - arn, fencing and house decoration such as alongside the windows determined your wealth. We then went through the artsy area, a number of galleries, many nice pictures of moss covered oak limbs along row houses, or elegant two and three level luxury old homes. Others pull in the palm and sea setting with a egret or so in the picture. Mary tune in test to follow, the first artist had three paintings around her easel. The one on the floor was sold, the one on the easel was not, but a couple wanted to buy it and she said it was not yet done, they indicated they would buy it whe she was done. That prompted my question to her and Mary? How do you determine when a painting (or art piece) is done?? The picture on her easel was a large floral garden in the lower left quarter of the panel, she then had a tree over it in the background and an open upper right half. Even though the next element was not in the original she then put an old two story federal type home in that area partially covered by the garden and tree. It was not yet done because she needed to tone down the house color and needed something in the upper right corner. Unknown at this time. She in essence said I just get the feeling. Upstairs another artist was asked this question. He said he judged it complete when he thought it was ready to hang in his house.

We walked around the area and grabbed the trolley to exit close to our lunch spot. On the way we passed a number of spots where notable films had been spotlighted. Forrest Gump’s bench in the park, Julia Roberts looking through the window of “The Six Pence” restaurant where her husband was stepping out on her. A number of others but surprisingly I remembered these even though I know I have not seen either.

We arrived at our lunch spot, the end of a long line. The guy in front of us came back from the check in and was told 45 minutes to an hour. It was “the Wilkes House”, another family style well known eating spot. The owner had died three years ago and the guy next to us said it was one of the biggest funerals in town. On the first seating, 16 people to a table, she would have her husband say a prayer. Not sure if they do, we were not the first seating, we waited 60 minutes. People in front of us from Edina, behind us Ohio. There were so many bowls you could not taste or find a place to put the food on your plate. One guy counted 17 vegetables, all the southern ones, potatoes au-gratin, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, now the meats, beef stew, BBQ pork slices done just right and of course her southern fried chicken. This chicken was lightly coated with flour and again I passed up the dessert – banana pudding for more chicken. The biscuts were really good and flakey, Not bad for 15$ even, to drink they only had sweet or unsweetened ice tea. This is another place I had seen on Food Network but had forgotten about it until the tour driver mentioned it.

We went through a catholic church that had its windows made in Austria and the stations of the cross hand carved in Germany. They asked for donations as it cost them 600$ a day to run the church. Made me wonder how much the guy that had had his funeral that morning had to pay, almost like the government.

We hopped the trolley and went through the areas we had seen before but easier than walking that distance.

Our next location to visit wa about twenty miles onto the intercoastal area again, Tybee Island, home of the largest lighthouse and miles upon miles of white sand beaches. On our way back we could not resist stopping at Paula’s brother Bubba’s restaurant. We stopped at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, said to be one of the best for seafood. They did have a couple of Paula’s recipes, the chicken would take 25 minutes to prepare. Seeing we had just basically got off the table we grabbed a cabernet and an order of crab balls wit a smooth not spicy tarter sauce.

Off to Hilton Head we go. Not sure what’s there but we will find out and let you know. Anyone know where to eat their? We already got a heads up for Charleston – the Flight Deck. jerr

March 25 Saturday Day 28 in Savannah tonight

Happy Birthday Uncle Pat.

This morning we headed back to Savannah for a fun packed full day. We had seen that there was the 72nd Savannah Garden and Home Tour. We found the sight on-line and got the pertinent information. Now we had an hour to kill and we walked down around the historic district river street. I almost forgot , I wore my yellow Chihuly T-shirt today. One guy hollered Chihuly as we passed, neat her said. We picked up a chicken salad sandwich on one of the sidewalk cafes. The tour had a bus take us to one of Savannah's most beautiful historic neighborhoods - Ardsley Park. The tour allows us to visit one of Savannah's other Historic Districts. The wonderful little hamlet, located approximately three miles from downtown Savannah, was the city's first automobile suburb built in the 1900's. Ardsley Park is rich in history and embraces grand homes and lush gardens replete with huge, century old oaks and magnolias. We met a couple from Sheboygan WI and toured with them. The bus took us there but then the long and sweltering hot walk was by placing one foot before the other for three hours. The homes go without saying, for the rich and the famous. The richly decorated homes, with art specially painted for the owner, hand built ceiling moldings. Paintings from places these people had been from Europe and the Orient. One person had a damaged statue from a church in Budapest of the Virgin and Child. China from the orient and the pretty white and blue porcelain dinnerware. The gardens and greenery around the homes were immaculate, even on homes not on tour. We noticed the moss is greener and looks more alive than further south, I think the trees are more heavily leaved also. The wrought iron is remindful of Dad’s work. Many cute gates looking into back yards covered with vines and flowers all over them. I was surprised to see how many of the six homes we visited had attached guest homes.

We returned to the Episcopal Women of Christ Church. As we exited the tour bus this guy came up to me and said nice shirt he said Chihuly was his cousin, I said we loved his work. He said you ought to come to Tacoma and view his work shop. We then went in and bought a giclee (gyclee) print of the tour poster, I got 40/50. Why? Our 40th anniversary.

Yes, time for eats. Lets see if we can get into Paula Deen’s “The Lady & Sons” restaurant. There were no available tables for the rest of the days, but Shirleen remembered to ask for seating at the bar. So up we went to the third floor bar. On Sunday’s they only serve the buffet. Other days they do menu and buffet. We settled in with a cabernet and a #8 for me, she caught it after a few seconds. #8 is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser car number. Brought out the NASCAR in me. The buffet was well stacked with baked and deep fried chicken, a beef, potato and carrot casserole. Green beans, lima beans, delicious cabbage (with a shot of vodka to neutralize odor), collard greens tasty, mashed potatoes must have pureed or something special for the texture, turkey and dressing with biscuits and hoe cakes delivered to the bar (table). Now back to the fired chicken, Shirleen said what a flavor, a little sweetness to it. Ask Kim, our bartenderiss, how it is made. She said it is marinated with egg, red hot sauce (Tabasco) and spices overnight. Then floured and deep fried. I held myself back and only went back for the chicken twice. To top off the meal they bring, only to Shirleen – three desserts a peach cobbler, banana pudding and a brownie. All for 14.99$ and her fame.

Tonight we found a place in Savannah just a couple blocks from the river walk street. We drove around the historic downtown area and saw many magnificent homes. It struck us how many had steps up to the second floor doorways, Shirleen reminded me it was for the likelihood of flooding in the area. Again, the beauty of the massive live oaks, the moss in the trees, the vibrant colors of the flowering plants in the setting sun were just downright picturesque, wow. Footnote, live oaks, I had wondered what the significances was of that designation, it means they do not drop there leaves and go dormant.

We walked down town and viewed a bunch of old cars out on tour for a week around this area. Model T’s, A’s, Buick, Franklin’s, Auburn, Packard’s, a 7 passenger Moran, it had a dash between the driver and two passenger compartments. Had a nice talk with Dave the owner of the Moran, they were greasing his vehicle. jerr

March 24 Saturday Day 27 in Port Wentworth Comfort Suites

We start out the day with a visit to the old Spanish Fort with their battle flag still flying over it. Not there yet but getting closer. More info at: http://www.nps.gov/foma/ jerr
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This morning we mailed the following from St. Augustine for Danielle’s grade school class. Forgot to put the date on it.

Hello Class of Mrs. Case,
I have visited the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean since I last sent and e-mail. We are now headed north.
I have sent you a picture of the Oldest House in the USA and built in the 1700’s. The main floor is the only room and is no larger than your bedroom. The house had no bedrooms and no dining room. The people ate, played and slept in this room.

Have a Nice Day,
Flat Stanley
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Our main event for the day was the Castlillo De San Marcos National Monument, another free activity. For those over 62, you can get a lifetime free pass for all National Parks for 10$ once and use forever. It is a fort built by the first Spaniards to protect their holdings. It was built with that shell clay rock coquina, it turned out that the cannon balls would only stick in the wall because of its composition and not shatter the wall. This fort had never been attached and conquered, Only during the civil war the confederates took it over from one lone Yankee and 200 of them.

An interesting fact was that during the early 1800’s the fort was a refuge for blacks. If they could get out of Georgia and Alabama and make it to the fort they could become free if they became Catholics and became soldiers. There were a couple hundred who did this.

It is an interesting structure as it is not square but has a buttress at each corner that opens in two directions for cross fire. There is a group of volunteers who on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays fire a cannon five times during the day, quite the spectacle. They wear the clothing of the Spanish period. I thought well be have seen Burg’s battery do it what could be so different. Well the pomp and circumstance of the lead up to the firing. The five men have their stations and a leader person shouts out the instructions in Spanish. They start off by kneeling on one knee and signing themselves. It took probably 5 minutes to conduct the firing and it made a loud noise. They said the small cannons could shoot up to a mile and a half, with the heavier shells thee and a half miles. Also they had great accuracy, he said because the men were soldiers for life and they got extremely accurate as they would shoot 77 cannons six times an hour, hour in hour out.

After the firing off to Savannah we go. We worked close to the beach mostly with A1A. We ate at Jacksonville Beach’s Eddie Bahama’s, the merlots were non-descript, Shirleen’s coconut shrimp delicious, my buffalo shrimp quesadilla was non-descript, to hot to have a flavor but the fries were good.

On the north side of Jacksonville we took a 10 minute ferry ride with the car over St. John’s Bay, 3.25$. Nice touch as we were not in a hurry. After we left Florid and got into Georgia we went to the highway as there are no intercostals that we could find on any map we had.

Arrived downtown Savannah at 5 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon over a music-fest weekend. No accommodations, even asked if the Hyatt or Hilton had any rooms, the Hampton said not even the hotel that starts at 309$ a night had any. We had to go 15 miles out of town to find a spot, I am sure one of the run-down places would have had one but we are on vacation not a quick jaunt through the countryside. It turns out these nightly stays have become home for us, not our real home as that could never be replaced.

Ya, time to eat. We went down the line from where we were at and found a place that had an outside area to eat. The Island grill in Port Wentworth GA. I have nothing against bikers except for their smoking cig and we happen to be down wind, every one of them. That is a problem with eating outside as that many times becomes the smoking area. Shirleen’s merlot and my Bud draft were just fine, well I really would have like a glass like the wine had but I must have looked to shifty for one. We had a quick split order of grouper fingers with onion rings, really tasty.
jerr

March 23 Friday Day 26 still in St. Augustine

Update later, tired tonight, takes 1/2 to an hour to think and write. jerr

here goes:

To the Trolley we went. We thought what we would do to wake up was to ride the trolley for a while. It is really nice to hear different versions of St. Augustine, its places and history. We finally got off the trolley by the area where the first mass in the America’s was supposedly said. It is a little way off the main area by a peninsula in a bay. There is a 208 foot stainless steel cross at the point. As one walks toward the old church in the approximate area of that mass there is a cemetery. It had been used during the early years with one I photo’d that said: Don Oliuerco – 1800 Consort of Dona Gonzalez 1797; love the consort. A quiet place. From here we walked the rest f the day.

Time for lunch, we were told that the restaurant across the street from our motel was good. It was Le Pavillon, French and German foods. The owner was Claude with wife Geisle. She from German, he from Switzerland and Italy, he was a chef with the Hilton chain for many years. Nice old gent, we spoke with him at our table before our lunch. We had cabernet’s with Shirleen’s crepe with chicken and a light sauce, and I the Friday special there Seafood puff pastry, scallops, shrimp and a tasty sauce. What was special about this meal was the salad with Boston (butter) lettuce with a light Italian dressing accompanied with a super parmesan toasted bread. The bread was a nice soft texture, halved and spread with fresh parmesan and toasted. I think the bread was warm before it was toasted because the bread was soft and warm.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church, the one Mr. Flagler built for his daughter and her child his first wife and his self. The church was built within a year. He hired two crews of 500 people who worked day and night to finish it by the anniversary of his daughter’s death. It was appointed with rich mahogany and marble. The baptismal font is a six foot by three foot solid piece of marble. The grounds of the church have a nice garden area with a wall for ashes. As you would expect quiet.

We also saw where Lincoln had signed the emancipation Act. The Woolworth where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a sit in, the pool where the owner poured hydrochloric acid into when DMLK was swimming and a house he slept in. and a church he preached in. Neat!!

Across from this was the Flagler College. It is the old Hotel Ponce De Leon that Flagler owned in 1877. He had his friend Tiffany do the windows in the restaurant now students eating area. They are valued at 37 million dollars. Not that exciting but for some multicolored ones higher up from the floor level ones. The chairs were also made by Tiffany, there were five left. They were wood back with a leather seat fully packed for comfort. The front legs had wheels on them for easy pulling out and putting under the ladies. The wood back had the face of a happy lion (lions were used throughout the structure as Leon means Lion) – guess you just change vowels for a Spanish influence. These chairs were sold to the prof’s for five chairs they paid 75$.

We walked over to the Lightner building which housed a large museum, but we opted out for a walk to the Hotel San Marco. Just a walk through not much compared to the college.

The bridge of lions is being refurbished. A bridge has been built alongside the old one. In another four years the new bridge will be removed and relocated to some other place as a bridge and the old bridge will be again in use. 67 Million dollar renovation. It is also a law that no buildings within the old district can be higher than 34 feet, three stories.

We thought we would try a different restaurant instead of eating across the street from where we were staying. So off for downtown we went, it was already 6:30 and hunger was evident. We walked past many places packed full on St. George street, the old city street. We made the corner and tried Hungry Harry’s again packed and a 45 minutes wait for an outside table. Stopped at the Hilton, no one eating we left quickly. Down the road we went, yes you guessed it, we ate at the place across from us. Again Shirleen with a cabernet and I with two faz bier Warsteiner’s, the bread, salad the same but this time we split a Vienne Schnitzel, made with pork. The breading was with an egg wash and then cracker crumb breading and fried in butter. Vegetables were carrots, green beans and a vinegary purple cabbage – I thought one of the best I have had. Split charge was only 5$. jerr

March 22 Thursday Day 25

Today we wake up in sunny St. Augustine. Off to a Trolley tour of the city/old city. This gives us a good idea of where we should go back too. The architecture is of Spanish/Moorish days. The person most associated with the town is a Mr. Flagler, he had built a railroad from Pittsburg to Key West, all on the bet that there would be a need for coal to fuel steamers going through the Panama Canal. This was back in the late 1890’s to 1910. He was good to the people that worked for him, giving them a place to live and hospitalization. Along with this he built/owned three of the best hotels in the city. Turns out he lays claim to owning 3 hotels f stature within three blocks of each other. One way to fill them was by getting people down here. He did this by building many different denominational churches with the thought that the more denominations the more people would come here. The trolley we were on allowed us to exit and enter as many times as we want for three days. That’s why we are staying over a night. We also passed the Love tree, where it is said anyone that kisses the other, they shall stay together for eternity. So we did kiss!

Out first stop was the oldest house in the US. It was built around 1564 or so. The blocks to make up the base of the house were Coquina a shell stone that is quarried. The overhead beams were the originals, beds were actually bed rolls. So in the day they could be rolled up and placed against the wall. Remember the house was no more than 10 by 17 feet. In the direct center there was a 2 foot round low silhouette that burned charcoal. This would keep the place warm in the winter and keep the bugs and mosquitoes away. Now think of it there was no smokestack so it was the smoke that stayed in the house and into there lungs each day. No need for anti-perspirants! Being old like this it had many owners and uses over the years. There is a quaint garden and outside sheds with the house. One of the neatest things I saw was the rock that had been used as ballast in the ships. This rock was semi-porous and was used to filter their drinking water. The water in the top rock was like dirty river water and underneath in the catch basin was clear. Of course clear does not necessarily mean drinkable, but in there case it was as the town survived.

From here we walked to the old town and guess what we found a place to eat. The White Lion Pub and Restaurant. Shirleen had her chocolate martini and I a chardonnay. Her fried Mahi Mahi turned out to be two big hunks of fish, of which I got one, and I fried clams with pole beans well cooked with onions, really good taste; also had a bowl of yellow rice. Don’t need to again try a glass of Bud’s Heffevisen.

The afternoon was spent watching Shirleen eat an ice cream cone. The cone was one of those homemade dark batter sugar cone, smells go and tastes better. We looked at a number of shops and didn’t find anything to take back.

We found a new place to stay a Comfort Suites in downtown St. Augustine. We are just a couple blocks from the horse and carriages. We sauntered down for a delightful half hour ride through the city, many of the same stories but some with a different twist. Did I mention dinner time? We ate at O. C. Whites restaurant, Shirleen and I had a glass of house cabernet, She coconut shrimp and fries - tasty, I Pasta A La Vodka - plum tomatoes, with fresh basil and garlic simmered in a light cream sauce with a splash of vodka over angel hair pasta with shrimp, a great dish. We strolled back in the dark our hotel. We were passed by four groups of people who were doing the Ghost and Gravestone tours. A neat thing but we didn’t need it we walked past the Huguenot (French Protestants) Cemetery by ourselves. Not as scary as it used to be, maybe the closer we get to it ourselves the less scary it gets?

Tomorrow we will go to the fort and catch some of the other things we missed today. Really nice town, somewhat commercial but laid back.
jerr

March 21 Wednesday Day 24

at the St Augustine FL Quality Inn
One of the things I fail to mention is our side trips. We do not always stick to the A1A we slip closer to the ocean or gulf depending on where we were. Today we drove down Daytona Beach for half an hour each way, each of us one way. The speed, well not like a race track 10 miles an hour.

This morning started out at Daytona USA, the race track. We got there really early and people of all ages where visiting. There was a tour of the track and a stop for pictures at the Winners Circle. You get a real feel for what racing is when you look at the corners, they are three stories high around 31 feet. So you are running at about a 30 degree angle when making those corners. The next thing we did was take a ride on a simulated race track lap. It had all the bumps and jostling the intense noise of the high revving engines that one would have in the car. Really fun. There was an Imax NASCAR film in 3-D. Again it was well do, by Disney, and gave the thrill of a real race. The clincher was when the wheel came off one of the cars from in front of us and whizzes right to the right of our shoulders. Dale Ernhardt was mentioned a couple of times, tastefully. To this day he is alive in peoples heart much like Elvis lives. The day that Dale crashed on the last lap of the fourth curve of the Daytona 500 that Michael Waltrip and Dales son came in second and was right in front of Dale. Well as the race was about to start, the TV camera panned over to Dale and his wife holding hands and I said to myself, someday they won’t be able to do that, meaning he would be killed in an accident, I am not a profit but it does give me a funny feeling every time I see something about him.

We stopped at an Olive garden in Daytona for lunch, nothing different except Shirleen had a strawberry Siciliano ice cream drink.

Up the road we go towards St. Augustine, I have already mentioned the driving on the beach.

After bedding down we took off south to the beach area for eats. Looked in my rear view mirror and saw a red C-6 Z06 behind me, ah, I can always dream. Off to the left was a small road, so down it I go. It turned out to go to the beach, but right alongside the end of the road is a restaurant, Beachcomber, wouldn’t you know. We seat ourselves out side on the only open table. It turned out to have one of the few views of the ocean, as the dunes are high and in the way for a good view. The tables are thick wooden tables with wooden benches. We ordered house wines, merlot and shiraz, with a cup of Maorcan (not sure of spelling) clam chowder, spicy tomato base beans, onions and clams. We split a beachcomber fish combo plate consisting of fish of the day today fried in bread crumbs Mahi Mahi, butterfly shrimp and sea scallops.
Tomorrow we are doing the St. Augustine tour thing and off for Jacksonville. jerr

March 20 Tuesday Day 23

Tonight we are in Comfort Suites in Daytona Beach.

We did not have breakfast at the Inn so we headed out to find something. We were going to see another Botanical Garden and on the way I spotted The Gathering in Largo FL. Turns out a home-style restaurant. Many selections on that menu, even half orders of eggs Benedict, with four different types. The coffee was tasty. Shirleen’s eggs and potatoes and my frittata with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and ham were really good.

Off we went to the Florida Botanical Garden. This was a mix of gardens with many of the same palms we became familiar with more south of here. We see fewer orchids but still many lovely flowers. We did see Shirleen’s most sought after animal an alligator next to a Watch Out for Alligator sign, what a coincidence.

Another part of this Garden was a heritage farm. There were many structures, houses, barn, smoke house, general store with a little garage. The store had many cans of food, boxes of crackers, and man household items. The garage had a 1925 Model TT truck, the two TT’s are right. A neat sign which I think I will put up in my garage was “Mechanic Out”.

Down the line was a LaFrance fire truck, one of the different elements on that truck was the rear tire. It was solid rubber with a deep grove in it.

Then the quaint little house, a kitchen, setting room and two bedrooms, I found an instant connection with the front porch and two rockers, one which fit me just fine. To the back was an outhouse with directions for use, cute, wish I had photo’d, the garden for the house had carrots, little green tomatoes, a scarecrow with a moss beard with grass clippings between the rows of plants.

Now off to the University of Southern Florida’s Botanical garden. No need to go there, they are too interested in football and basketball to give monies to a program like gardening.

We found a nice place to stay for the evening. ¼ mile from Daytona 500 Racetrack! I asked the desk where a good steakhouse was? He said Gene’s Steak House in Daytona Beach since 1948. When I got back to the car Shirleen said she found a good place Gene’s, so must be good. After going the wrong way for five miles, I turned around and went another ten miles the other way to find the restaurant. It is an unpretentious building on an open highway. We were seated by the daughter of the owner. She told us that her grandparents owned the restaurant, when they died their daughter took over. The third generation daughter is now the manager, her brother the night manager and her mother owns it. We were handed a wine menu, it had some of the fine wines of France, most twice to 30 times my budget. Louie XIII shot of cognac for 125$, no period in there. We bought a bottle of Cabernet by Salmon Creek, California 2002, tasty. If we had not finished it there state law permits taking the leftovers home. There complimentary starters were spicy hot garlic pickles, baby corn with corn relish, and carrot sticks. We ordered a flame broiled filet Mignon for Shirleen with a baked potato and I a New York Strip with French fries. Our salads were accompanied by ranch and Roquefort cheese. Those steaks were among the best tasting I have had in a long long time.

Now came the fun part. Did I mention this restaurant caters to the rich and famous race car drivers, and motorcycle enthusiasts? Well it is. We sat behind a picture of Shirleen’s favorite race car driver – Paul Newman. At Elkhart Lake I have a pic of her by his pink race car. Pat, the owner, sat by the people who were next to us and soon we became part of the conversation. Pat had come by the table before we ate and I asked why she was working, she said one of the waiters had a sick mother in the ICU, so she came in to help. Turns out her son came in for a snack after working 14 days straight, now he is waiting tables to help out. A family thing I guess. Now the table next to us mentions Paul Newman and how he made her mother feel really good after she had lost her brother three weeks before. Turns out he rarely is part of a picture and never autographs. This gal had asked him to be part of the picture and he obliged and autographed for her. Well it turned out that he likes Oreo cookies for desert and they had given him the leftovers, which he gave to this lady. Turned out that her deceased brother, each night had had 6 Oreo’s with milk before sleeping. Paul giving her those Oreo’s was just divine guidance. Now the conversation drifted to his love of apple sauce. A couple times before they had made some for him when he came in. this time Pat made some from scratch, brought it out to him and he said no thanks. she said she had just made it for him, he said, he only used it on baked potatoes and tonight he had French fries. Really cute stories. Pat also talked about her run in with Montoya, Target’s race car owner Chip Ganassi. When we left she was sitting at the bar I went over and said how much we enjoyed the evening. Her question was, were we locals? No from Minnesota and had a daughter in Milwaukee. She asked if we had eaten at Mader’s, of course we had. She said the schnitzel was delicious and I agreed with her as I had also had it. She said go to the Harley factor and tell the president that Pat Young from Gene’s told us to stop by. Love these racing freaks, I fit right in. jerr

March 19 Monday Day 22

Added a couple things later this evening.
Tonight we are in Clearwater FL Quality INN up 30 miles from St. Petersburg.

One of the reasons we came back to St. Petersburg, besides the warmer weather down here versus Daytona Beach, was to see the Sunken Gardens – A Botanical Experience. That was an understatement. The guide was a horticulturalist with a stunning presentation. It was a two and a half hour walk through a ¾ mile path. He, after being there since 1998, knew each plant there botanical name and common name. You would think we have seen everything tropical by this time as it is our 10th garden. Well we have but this garden was started in 1903, a number of the royal palms were planted that year and have withstood many hurricanes, graceful and tall. The Cuban flamingoes were from the early 60’s and generally live 50 to 60 years. There are a number of caged birds. They and the flamingoes are taken in to a shelter each night so the raccoons don’t get to them. There was a pond full of Koi, a couple adults and there offspring. I found a fascination in cycads: Cycads have crowns of large, feathery compound leaves and cones at the ends of their branches. Some have tall, unbranched, armor like trunks; others have partially buried stems with swollen trunks – from Wikipedia. These plants have survived for 200,000 years, I have heard this number used a couple of times and figure it is within two standard deviations of the real date. A must for those who love gardening.

Off to the waterfront in Tampa Bay for lunch. We found Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro, watched the sail boats and birds while we sat and ate. Shirleen’s Chocolate Martini was scrumptious and I started with a Maddalena Cabernet followed by a Mezza Corona chardonnay. Shirleen opted for the fish of the day – a baked trout with a fine mango salsa and I a Quesadilla. This I got for Abby, as she likes them, not sure this one would be similar to her liking. It had fire grilled chicken, Andouille sausage, green tomatillo, onions and jack cheese folded in a cheddar jalapeno tortilla. Wow what a bite to it.

Down the block for another one of those mind-boggling exhibits Dalí - http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/home.html The current exhibit is DALI & THE SPANISH BAROQUE. The guide we had was marvelous, she pointed to the hidden portions of the paintings. Showing how his art incorporated other artist’s ideas. One of his themes was a small picture of a father, most of the time, holding his sons hand. This was what Dali would have loved to have had his father do. His father wanted traditional painting not this style. He did approve of his initial still lives. He was a master of color and technique. He had paintings that were line drawn, pastels and hard intense colors. One must understand what he has put into the painting and the time of the world he did it in. He was a very religious man in life and in his paintings. He drew a perspective of Christ on the cross; this picture was from the top and Christ's head hanging down so that one could not see his face. It turns out Dali does not paint the face of God, he always has something in the way, one was the fist of God in front of his face. This is the exact opposite of yesterday’s sculpture/painter. Dali's work included using the hidden - item – person – thing – into the picture, something you didn’t see until it was pointed out. Then you wonder how you missed it. One that I noticed was a painting with a line drawing of a lady, here nose and eye were actually a man on a horse holding a lance, yes really. I am now an avid lover of his work, I think ever since I saw his long legged giraffe elephant in a window in a French village near Cannes at a store in St Paul de Vence.

We went to the west to take in the sunset over the Gulf. But ended up eating again, at Caddy’s Waterfront BBQ and Restaurant in Treasure Island a couple glasses of Merlot and Shirleen’s pulled pork and my pastrami, we expected sandwiches it was just plated no bread with our double order of beans. The gals said she was glad she was not going to be between the sheets with us. The scenery was nice, but the food was just adequate. The wind had just changed direction now it is blowing from the Gulf all day it was the other way. Coats and sweatshirts came on, and me in my T-shirt.

We found the Quality Inn just in time, as the sun was setting out our lanai. The sun was obscured by clouds the last twenty minutes or so but the color was dramatic – yellow, orange and reds. Much like some of Dali’s work, jerr

March 18 Sunday Day 21

Tonight we are in St. Petersburg Florida at another Comfort Inn & Suites.

We started the day by traveling south to Winter Park. We had seen a advertisement about an Art Fair, turns out the 48th one. It was four streets long and three tiers deep. Many wonderful crafts were displayed. We found people from the Twin Cities and Minnesota, along with a number of Wisconsinites. We found a nice piece of art from a lady in New York city it is a painted flower arrangement with a border done in another style. Many of her paintings reminded us of the 1800’s art we have seen overseas.

Time to eat, this time we ate indoors, as it was a bit chilly. Again it was a spot along the street, Pannullo's Italian Restaurant in Winter Parkwhere the art show was being held. After Shirleen’s Guenoc Cabernet and my Ravenswood Shiraz it was off to pizza. They had an item on the menu that was different, two pieces of pizza with three ingredients. Shirleen had pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes and onion; mine was fresh Italian sausage, spinach, and anchovies – what a treat. Turns out they pre-bake the pizza with cheese, then the ingredients you order are if to bulky pre-cooked and re-baked in their oven. What a nice touch.

The reason we went to Winter Park was to see a sculpture garden by the Slovak sculpture Albin Polasek from the Carpathian mountain area of what is now he Czech Republic or Moravia. He was quite the sculpture as he never had a problem with money. At the age of 72 he married a 62 year old woman who only lived 18 months. He then at the age of 82 married again and another 62 year old woman. He made a Christ on the cross looking up instead of down, named The Victorious Christ, a larger than life sculpture of the crucified Christ gazing heavenward. This signified his dying in Glory not defeat. He was deeply religious and had a prayer chapel in his garden. There were the Stations of the Cross that he had drawn but hid away. On these he had drawn his mother as Mary and himself as an observer who did not want to be seen as upstaging the reason for the drawings. The museum includes Polasek's former retirement home, studio, galleries, and chapel, as well as surrounding gardens containing figurative sculpture and mythological pieces.

Another attraction in Winter Park was Harry P. Leu Garden. An immense garden alongside a large lake with many trees, flowers and vines. The different item was a clock in the outer part of the garden. It was apparently run by a motor and place on a slant wall surrounded by petunias it was 12 ft in diameter. The time was right on 3:15, I had to wait until the minute hand moved to 25 to show the difference. During that time Steve A. called and they were in Marco Island, he asked where we ate and it turns out they are staying right across from the restaurant we ate at last week. Ya never know.

Where now? It turned out we got the answer from Danielle’s friend – Flat Stanley – he wanted to go to see the gulf. So westward we went to St. Pete. We plan on showing him the gulf tomorrow, those interested in him please write and I will explain this school project.

The traffic was heavy but interesting. Alongside came a pewter C5 Z06 and next to him a black Porsche turbo. They were pacing each other that meant to me if they had a chance they would see who would come out on top. When they got 5 car lengths ahead of me an opening to the right of the Vette came open, he burst through the small opening and the Porsche right after him. All I could see because of the many cars in between was two guys racing each other. Two minutes later another Z06 came by. I have seen many of them down here, also a lot of the new Pontiac Solstice converts.

Time for supper, we had passed the Texas Cattle Company – Worlds Greatest Steaks. According to the waitress, the owner originated Red Lobster and sold it to General Mills. Turns out it is one of eight in a local chain now owned by that same man. He also has one of the ten top steakhouses in the country – Charley’s in Orlando. Sounds like another adventure to me. Shirleen had a Tobin Cabernet and I a Rosemont Shiraz. Her fillet Mignon and my T-bone were real tasty. As we went into the restaurant we thought about our experience in the Cattle Company Steakhouse in the Twin Cities, that was a disaster and there are no longer open. This is not part of that chain.

Tomorrow will be another adventure I am sure. jerr