Sedona

We spent the day in Sedona. First we work up in Flagstaff to -2 degrees F. The drive to Sedona down Oak Creek Canyon was spectacular. Just some of the spectacular scenery.

By the way, who put the "Yuck" in yucca???


The start of our hike.


This is after our hike around Bell Rock.

Greetings from Flagstaff

There is a lot to report on since the last post. First we made our way to Kevin and Jamies house in Baton Rouge by way of Pensacola. We paid a visit to the Naval Air Museum where Sylvia became a Blue Angel.


On to Baton Rouge for a prolonged stay...Cynthia caught up with us for a few days before heading to Chicago. We went to New Orleans twice an enjoyed some of the best food on our trip.


We left Baton Rouge on the 27th and met up with an old Navy buddy in Shreveport then tried to blast through Texas in a day and a half. Abilene on the 27th and then Albuquerque on the 28th. Here it is on the 29 and we paid a visit to the Petrified Forest.




When we were in Baton Rouge the temperature was 88 one day, the next it was 45. Yesterday it was in the 30's and today it averaged 25 with snow--I think it's winter.

Home with the Kids!

So here we are in Baton Rouge with Jamie, Kevin and Sailor! Hip Hip Hooray! Just a quick post for now with pictures to follow. Great news that Kevin is able to have this time off. Couldn't be happier... Cynthia will be flying in tomorrow stopping off here before continuing on to the Chicago Foygels for Thanksgiving where she'll meet up with my favorite Son-in-law.
Love to you all..
Smiling...ear to ear..
Sylvia

Tallahassee and Florida Parks

After leaving Okefenokee Swamp we headed to Florida and thought our best chances for a decent motel was Tallahassee. Unfortunately we did not take some important factors into consideration:
1) Florida State is in Tallahassee 2) College football in the South has even more devoted followers than all organized religions combined and 3) We got into town the night before THE home game.....no vacancy...anywhere. We had to drive an hour to the town of Wakulla Springs. We stayed in a motel then the next morning went to Wakulla Springs State Park. This is the very location where "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" was filmed. Now just the manatees and alligators inhabit the crystal clear waters.



We then drove to a state park on the Gulf and camped.....right next to a swamp. That's how we found out what no-see-ums are all about.....my legs and arms look like I'm on my 20th day of Survivor but the sunset was worth it. Monday morning we had the entire beach to ourselves until about noon.

So, what day is it?.....Where are we?...When did we blog last?

Whatever. So here we are in the Okefenokee Swamp.....who would've guessed??? Got to Valdosta, GA and realized that what we had driven through was really not worth reporting on. Pretty country to be sure...mostly industrial forests and a pulp mill--haven't experienced that smell since we left Eureka, YUK!!
So we were looking at the map after the day and realized that we shoulda, coulda gone to the Okefenokee Swamp. Hey, who goes to the Okefenokee Swamp......Sylvia and Brian do, that's who. Next day detour back to the Okefenokee Swamp, camp for the night and plan the canoe trip for the next day.

Here is a resident of the boat basin where we got the canoe.

Here are some of the reptilian wildlife in the swamp and some of the pix of the vegetation. Some of those aligators are well over 10 feet, but most are in the 7-foot range.

Brian trying to get the canoe back to the boat basin.

Myrtle Beach, SC

We made our way from Blue Ridge Parkway/Mt. Airy, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC. Ate an early dinner at Flo's place...we both had seafood. Found our hotel and made it to the beach to see the sunset. What a treat! As we were watching the sun go down we noticed some dolphins.

The next morning we made coffee and watched the sun come up from our balcony and took another long walk on the beach then off to Hilton Head, SC. On the way we stopped at the little town of Georgetown, SC and found a great seafood place. Sylvia had a scored and fried flounder and I had a bucket of oysters.

Here we were able to get out to the beach to watch another sunset and as luck would have it we were rewarded with more dolphins.
Instead of just passing through, they were feeding and some of them were doing this from only 40 feet away. Sorry no pix....all you would have seen is just water, but it was really a sight to behold. We were able to get up well before dawn, make some coffee and watch the
sunrise on the beach and the dolphins were still there.

On leaving Hilton Head, we stopped at Fort Pulaski National Monument. At the gate the park ranger said that he was going to have to confiscate the Mini, but that he would only use it in the park, you know, for the good of the Park Service and the Nation. We also had our first aligator sighting.

Head'n to the Swamp!

Hi All Y'All... We did get in late last night and too tired to post pictures of the day. Started the day with watching the sunrise on Hilton Head Island and spent the day on Tybee Island. Beaches are beautiful and go for miles. Enjoyed a feast of fresh shrimp and some hush puppies...Yum! Heading for the Okefonokee Swamp for a canoe excursion and night of camping. Brian is hoping to see some gators and I am hoping that our little pup tent will be enough of a shelter. We'll catch up with pictures once we get back into civilization...

Hilton Head/Savannah

Hello from Savannah, Georgia. Here are some pictures of Old Savannah. Beautiful old homes, some dating from colonial times. Sylvia and I did our own walking tour. We spent about 5 hours, just enough to get a flavor of the city. It would be easy to spend days here.



The facades along Factors Walk.....This was where the movers and shakers of Old Savannah did their thing....the brick building in the background is the Cotton Exchange.

Sylvia climbing the stairs from the river front to Bay Street.



End of the day...beautiful subject in a beautiful sunset. This was shot after watching dolphins "herding" fish just 40 feet from where we were standing.

Myrtle Beach, SC

As luck should have it; we happened upon the opportunity to rent a condo right on the beach with the views you can see in the pictures below. It is "off-season" so it felt like the beach was mostly ours. We arrived in Myrtle Beach on the late side but the beach beckoned us for a night stroll. What a treat to get up to see the sunrise while enjoying a cup of coffee on the balcony. Only to follow it up with a walk along the waterside... barefooted, of course. Even warmer than summertime along the North Coast. Felt great!




Left Myrtle Beach and stopped at St Pawley's Island where we spent more time walking along a strip of beach that was beyond beautiful. We'll post pictures tomorrow... Brian's camera is in the car! We were drawn to pull off the highway at Georgetown where we discovered a retail shrimp warehouse. They only had fresh raw shrimp so we asked for a recommendation. The restaurant was on the wharf and Brian enjoyed a bucket of oysters and I had fresh flounder... Superb food and the wait staff was so much fun. (Be sure to notice the bucket of shells!)

Blue Ridge Parkway

Not long after starting our day on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia we ran into this light dusting of snow...Yep, kinda cold. The road varies from about 2200 feet to this, about 4,000 ft so the trees still had quite a bit of color in lower elevations to leafless at 4,000 ft.




Here's Brian checking out the connections on the bridge over the James River.


Here's Brian identifying trees...."Look Syl, a tulip tree!!!"


Still identifying trees. "I think it's a sassafrass tree."

Late in the day, just before Mayberry (Mt Airy, NC).....yep it's still cold, look at the icicles!

Relatives!

This is Dino's Ferrari that is actually a model named the "Dino"!
Picture taken across the street from shoe store right before we left. They really got a kick out of seeing us load up the Mini!
Millie gave us a tour of the neighborhood. This was Tony Delillo's house. He worked on our teeth in the room on the right. I sure remember that!
Dad as Best Man at Gloria and Cousin Johnny's wedding. Johnny shared so many pictures of the times they spent together.
Lunch with Anne. Delicious as one would expect. Homemade biscotti and of course being sent off with a care package. Yum! Anne just celebrated her 85th birthday and is hoping that she will soon get a visit from the sisters! (She sure misses her sisters.)

Overlook from Skyline Drive of the Shenandoah Valley.


With the rain yesterday, we decided to check into a motel early enough to go to the laundromat (See... we haven't been able to totally leave all responsibilities behind!) and get a haircut. There was a salon close to the motel that advertised $13 haircuts... I went for it and as the nice lady was cutting my hair, I asked what her favorite part of this profession was and she answered "Men's haircuts"; so my hair is very short!!!!
With clear skies this morning we set out for Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. Took a few hikes to really enjoy the beautiful vistas. . Again... breathtaking views. Temperature today stayed at 42 degrees and cold wind but it just added to the beauty.


Views from a hike we took today. We apparently just missed an eagle soaring with some crows. We waited to see if he would return but it was about 39 degrees!

Spent three full days in DC and had a spectacular time. Even appealed to Senior Senator Arlin Specter's office regarding a "ticket" I received for entering the Pennsylvania Turnpike without a toll ticket. The problem was that no ticket came out of the kiosk and no one responded to the call button... Long story but the Turnpike Authority will be receiving a letter from Senator Specter's office. His representative told us that she did not want us to have such an impression of his state!!!
Brian decided to have a chat with a very wise man I don't know what they spoke about but hope some wisdom was shared.

Tomorrow we set out on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park

More pictures of family visit..

John is showing Brian the moulding that our dad put up. Millie is sitting where she does when she checks in our her brother. They are so well known and the neighbors sure value having them around.

The old picture is too blurry but dad is 2nd from L and Grandpa is on other end with Aunt Lucy next to him.

L-R= Dino, Irene, Brian, Lydia with arms over Amanda, Michael, Matt, Cindy holding James.