The White Sands of the "Redneck Rivera"

The beaches of the Florida Panhandle have the finest white sands and are quiet and secluded. I think they are the finest beaches of the lower 48 states.

Jimmy Carter's Peanut Farm

People You Meet While Traveling

I want to do a blog about some of the interesting people we met on this trip. So here goes a blog about some great folks we met on this trip.

1. The couple from Orlando, Florida that we met in Plains, GA. They were dressed as Thing One and Thing Two from Cat In The Hat because there son works for a Universal Studios Resort in Orlando. And what do Orlando folks do for vacation plans? This couple was heading to the great state of Arkansas to do the springs and spas. Who knew?

2. The two English couples we met at the Hay House in Macon, GA who had just toured Charleston and Savannah, GA. They told us that they just rolled their eyes when their tour guides in Charleston and Savannah spoke about how old these cities were. They said to us----you want to see old---come to England and experience things overs 1000 years old. Oh, and all of them were reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

3. The World War II navy veteran we met in Tallahassee, FLA. He told me that his ship was at the last land battle of the Pacific: the Battle of Okinawa and I told him that I had taught for DODs on Okinawa. This man said that his ship then went to Hiroshima where they waited for Admiral Halsey to show up. They spent the time waiting firing on targets of the city and he said he was amazed that they successfully hit 24 out 25 targets. Then his ship was the first ship to land and enter Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped. Three days after the bomb was dropped he and the other sailors from his ship were walking in downtown Hiroshima and were aware of the strange sensation of their clothes sticking to their bodies. The after effects of the bombing and radiation in the air. He said that there were over 270 men on that ship and only one man on that ship was able to conceive a child after the war was over. And that that one child that was conceived was greatly deformed. So sad. We need to remember the consequences of nuclear bombs.

5. The concierge man at Saratoga Springs Resort who struck up a long conversation with us after we mentioned that we had taken a cruise to Alaska and that Jack had worked in Anchorage for Army Audit. He talked about how very expensive Alaska is today for living. That's why he now lives in Orlando. He also told us about how you can get picked up for driving too slow on one Alaskan highway. He says that when he is back in Alaska he drives 120 miles per hour on this road to avoid getting a ticket.

6. The man from Morocco that we met at the Marrakesh Restaurant in the Moroccan Pavilion at EPCOT. He was our waiter and we had a great discussion about gender and the Muslim religion. He also spoke of how Morocco is very enlightened and gets along well with the minority Jewish population in Morocco.

7. The Englishman from Manchester who told us that Americans are spoiled when it comes to gas prices. In England as well as other European Union countries the average price for a gallon of gas is around $8.50!

8. The Canadian lady from Ottawa who spoke about how diverse Canada is becoming, especially the city of Toronto.

9. The young mother who was doing Disney with a seven week old baby boy and a two year old girl! What a patient sweet young momma she was. And get this: she was taking both kids on a kiddie ride while her husband did the roller coasters!

10. Our tour guide at the Harry P. Leu Home and Gardens. We discovered that we both are former DODs teachers. Then we discovered that we both taught in Germany as well as Okinawa. Then we discovered that we both had taught first grade at Zukeran Elementary on Okinawa! In 1968 I was at Zukeran. In 1990 she was at Zukeran. When she learned that we were from Northern Virginia she mentioned that she taught in Germany with a retired Fairfax County teacher. When she mentioned Mrs. Montgomery and her husband Charles Jack and I just about fell on the floor because they were our neighbors who lived across the stem from us in Burke Centre in the early 1980's. In fact, this lady was meeting Mrs. Montgomery on Tuesday in Phoenix to tour and attend an elder hostel program. We told her to tell Mrs. Montgomery hello for us and of course we exchanged phone numbers and email addresses so that we can keep in touch. She told me that I must attend a DODs teachers annual convention soon. I said I would.

11. Mark, the Disney backstage tour guide, that I wrote about in another blog this week.

13. The family from Dayton, Ohio who sat next to us at the Aloha Dinner.
I was surprised to learn that they had heard of Russia, Ohio and that it was sometimes pronounced Roo shee.

Saturday We Rumbled and Roared

Saturday was quite a day for us. First we enjoyed having coffee and a croissant in downtown Winter Park, FLA which has tree lined shops with old fashioned brick streets. Then we went to the Harry P. Leu Home and Gardens northeast of Orlando. The gardens were gorgeous, particularly the huge rose garden. It was an outstanding rose garden with almost every rose bush in full bloom. I think it was as nice as the International Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. And the rose garden was the scene of a late morning wedding. We got to see the bride and groom scurrying to their separate before wedding hiding places in the gardens. After this adventure we took roads to lead us to downtown Jacksonville, FLA and the Cummer Art Museum and Gardens. Little did we know that all highways leading into Jacksonville Saturday afternoon were filled with cars, vans and buses heading to the football rumble in Jacksonville. The game was called the River City Rumble and it pitted the Crimson Tide of Alabama against the Florida State Seminoles. Florida won the game and set the tide packing back to Alabama. When we reached the Cummer Art Museum and Gardens we discovered that the place was gearing up for a wedding reception. Second wedding to crash that day. Wow! This time we didn't see the bride in her gown but we did see the groom and his party checking out the preparations for the big event which would run from 5:00 P.M. to midnight. And we did get to see the wedding cake which was decorated ala Jackson Pollack in yellow and chocolate. Very unusual. Oh, and the gardens were divided into two parts: an English garden that was very formal and a tropical garden that was very Key West. From the gardens you could see the St. Johns River and downtown Jacksonville. I read that the city of Jacksonville is the blue collar working brother in a family of playboy brother cities like Miami and Orlando. So Saturday we rumbled and roared and then hit the motel where we snored!

Universal Studios

On Tuesday, we visited Universal Studios. Nice, but not as nice as Disney. Disney does better at keeping you cool in the heat. More shade and more fans. We did do the ET ride again and Jack rode on the Earthquake. We saw the Horror Make up Show and Shrek. The Beetle Juice Graveyard Rock and Roll show and the Blues Brothers performances were both very good. The best part was that we used the free tickets we got when we visited in 1990 and it didn't cost us to get in--except for parking.

Plains, GA to Tallahassee, FL

The drive through southern Georgia let us see acres and acres of pecan groves. They are huge trees and probably produce tons of pecans. We had to stop at one of the roadside stands and buy some pecans. We also saw loads of cotton fields that are approaching harvest. The temps have returned to the upper 80's, so we feel we have an extended Summer. We drove through Thomasville, GA, which is a picturesque upscale town and a magnate for the northern rich who come to this part of the country to hunt. There are over 70 plantations with 300,000 acres and most are not working plantations, but are kept for their hunting value. One called Pebble Hill was open to the public, so we stopped. The last owner of the house setup a trust to hold the property and all its furnishings for the public. Her mother built the house in 1934 as a replacement for the original house that burnt. There were 18 guests and 12 servants in the house when it caught fire and she told everyone to grab a piece of furnishings and get out of the house. As a result, a lot of the original furnishings were saved. The cook was cleaning artichokes at the time in a wooden bowl. So, she grabbed the artichokes and the wooden bowl and left the house. The owner found this so amusing she made the artichoke the symbol for the plantation. The stables are the building with the turrets. They were some of the most impressive stables we have ever seen. The livestock and the servants all lived very well. From here we drove to Tallahassee. It's a beautiful city with a small town feel. The parks with their Spanish moss covered live oaks and the antebellum homes with a New Orleans feel make this an enchanting place. Make sure you read the next post. It's new, too.

Spartanburg, SC to Plains, GA

Our second day on the road took us to Plains, GA, via Athens and Macon. Since we had visited Athens and the University of Georgia on previous trips (remember Jeanine?), we just drove through and went on to Macon, which was a pleasant surprise. Apparently, Sherman bypassed Macon on his way to Savannah and the impressive antebellum homes are pretty much intact. We stopped at the visitor's center for information and asked them where they would recommend for good southern cookin'. Surprisingly, they said "Jeanine's". (We then discovered she didn't know how to spell her name and spelled it "Jeneane's".) The food was excellent and the perfect comfort food--fried chicken, collard greens, corn on the cob, okra and corn bread. The place was packed and we'll tell you about the "culture" of the place when we get home. After that, we toured the Hay Mansion. This home had been featured in A&E's American Castles series, and it was apparent why when we went through. It was built around the time of the Civil War, but escaped damage. It was built at a cost of $100,000 while the largest home in Macon at that time cost $12,000. After the war, when others were rebuilding and trying to just make a living, the owner put 24 karat gold leaf on his crown moldings. Money wasn't a problem. The house is currently owned by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. We'll show you the book on it when we get home. From Macon, we drove to Plains with a stop at the Habitat for Humanities Global Village. That's the second picture posted. They have built replica's of homes they have built all around the world. It was a very inspirational display of their work. In Plains we discovered that the entire town has been declared a National Historic Site for Jimmy Carter. The Federal government owns a lot of the town including the High School where both Jimmy and Rosalind graduated from, his boyhood home and farm, and the compound where the Carter's currently live. It is a very clean and pretty town with just one main street. We discovered that there was one hotel in town. It had 8 rooms--one for each decade of Carter's life from 1920 to 1980. The rooms were numbered 1920, 1930, 1940, etc. and were decorated in furniture of that time period. Rosalind Carter decorated the rooms. That is were we stayed. The Inn is the building with the balcony and we stayed in 1930, which was decorated in a French style. The picture of the room really doesn't do it justice, because it was really beautiful with lots of period amenities. The bathroom was also done in the 30's style and we are really glad bathrooms have evolved since then. Unfortunately, there was no internet access, so we will do two blog posts tonight.

On the Road Again!

We had a wonderful drive on Monday and made it south of Spartanburg, SC. We left home around 5:00 am, stopped in Charlottesville for breakfast and had lunch in the Barbecue capital of the world, Lexington, NC. The barbecue was wonderful! and the place we ate in had been written up in Southern Living magazine. There were loads of people there--mostly locals--so we assumed we had picked the right place. We then stopped outside Charlotte, NC, at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. This place has been recognized by HGTV as one of the 20 best gardens in the U.S. As you can imagine, Joann thought she had died and gone to heaven. It was beautiul and the pictures were taken there. We stopped around 5:00 pm for the evening, so we had a long day, but made good time. The weather is almost perfect, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and prayers going for continued good weather.