Bardstown, KY- The Bourbon Trail

We stopped to see Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home. There's a beautiful monument on the exact site where the family cabin was. The cabin inside the monument is not the original as previously thought, but is representative of what their cabin would have looked like.
We stayed in Bardstown (37 miles SE from Louisville) and had no idea is was on the "Bourbon Trail." It seems people come from all around to drive the trail and taste the bourbon. Not a bad way to spend a day. Heaven Hill was right there in Bardstown and Makers Mark and Jim Beam not far away. So, we joined in the fun and spend a day tasting mmmmmmm!
Our campground was in a KY state park on a golf course at the edge of town. A beautiful spot, 39 sites, most of them empty and we met some very nice folks from NY, CT, MD and a couple who are on the road full time.
The park also has a beautiful a 1800's mansion, Federal Hill, that used to belong to the Rowan family. One of their cousins was Stephen Foster who wrote, "My Old Kentucky Home" after being inspired on a visit to Federal Hill. He also wrote "Oh Suzanne" and "Suwanee River".
Today we are just south of Chicago and will be home tomorrow afternoon. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, the places we saw, the people we were with, those we visited and those we met. Now it's time to go home and remember the coldest winter in Florida on record!

Lookout Mountain

How many times have your driven by an attraction, buy have not taken the time to stop? We have been driving through Chattanooga for about 20 years and said we wished we had time to stop at Lookout Mt. Well, today was the day. We stopped and explored the mountain and Ruby Falls. We did not know that "Uncle" Leo Lambert discovered the falls in the late 30's and named it after his wife, Ruby.
During an excavation of a 420 ft. deep elevator shaft to the original cave at the mountain, a small opening was found at the 260 foot level. Leo and a group of his co-workers entered the opening and spend most of the next 17 hours crawling until they found the waterfall. The waterfall is 1120 feet underground and well worth the walk through the cave to see it. Once there, music is played and colored lights are put on the falls.......so not to disappoint the tourist. Oh well, it's truly beautiful colored light or not.

We drove to Rock City from the falls and were amazed at the homes that are on the mountain. There's a community up there with stores, fire station, I assume school and beautiful homes.

Tomorrow we head out to Bardstown, KY to visit Lincoln's birthplace and Whiskey country. MMMMMMMM As you can tell we're taking our time getting home. We want to go through Chicago Sat. to miss the weekday traffic.

Charleston, SC

An interesting city to explore. It's was larger than I expected. The homes are lovely and spread throughout and mingled among modern buildings downtown and on the riverfront. There was a wonderful downtown market where the locals sell their wears including the famous sweet grass baskets. This is an art that has been passed down through the generations, basically among slaves. They can be very intricate and beautiful but have a hefty pricetag.
We took a boatride to Ft. Sumter which we found fascinating. The beginning of the Civil was all around. I have never seen so many state flags flown from everywhere. It became very obvious after awhile.
The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is berthed in the river at Mt. Pleasant and open for tours. It was the first time I'd been on this type of ship. WOW! It's huge! 3,000-4,000 men, a city in itself totally self contained. The flight deck is big, until you consider planes landed on it and had to stop immediately (with help of a hook).
We also visited The Citadel museum. The cadets played an important roll at the beginning of the Civil War. They aided in firing on the supply ship that was bringing the Union soldiers at Ft. Sumter needed supplies and turned the ship away. This was the prelude to the firing on the fort that started the war.
South Carolina is a beautiful state in many ways. Very interesting landscape - "the low country". These are the areas of "salt marshes" where the water comes and goes. Then there's the rest of the state with lush vegetation and beautiful wisteria that grows wild in the trees along the roads. It's in full bloom and outstanding.

Hunting Island, SC

We made it to SC! Another state park (Hunting Island) which makes 2 in a row. This is something we hadn't done before. The park is right on the ocean which means lots of walks on the beach for us and the dog. The big thing to do here is to ride your bike on the beach during low tide. The moon was full during this time which meant the high tides were at their peak as well as the low tides. There was a 7-8 foot difference. Quite interesting to watch on the beach as well in the salt marshes. This is truly "low country".
Hilton Head was down the road to the South and Beaufort to the North. This series of islands was very interesting. Beaufort was a huge slave trading area, as was Fernandina Beach just over the Florida line. The agricultural crops in Beaufort were indigo, cotton and rice which made the owners very wealthy. They built homes along the river in Beaufort as their summer home to escape the heat on the plantation. Slaves came with them and is a lot of cases were housed on the first floor of the home. Because Sherman bypassed this area, the town looks almost the same as it did during the civil war.

Amelia Island, Fort Clinch

A spot between the Atlantic Ocean and the Amelia River....what could be better? Not much! This was a beautiful campground with lots and lots of hiking, biking trails and beaches.
There's even a fort here although no battles were every fought here. The funny thing is, our riverboat guide told us that the fort does a re-enactment battle there every year. She just has no idea what battle they're re-enacting! It was build pre and during the civil war as a general defense and never completed.
There seem to be three distinct areas to Amelia Island: one very weathly area with huge homes, condos, golf courses and resorts; one beach front area with a mix of very large nice homes to summer cottages; and one middle to lower middle class housing area.
Fernandina Beach (on Amelia Is) has a quaint downtown area that is a pleasure to walk and, in my case, window shop. There are many Southern style homes that I would have loved to have seen the inside. The Amelia Island lighthouse is also a sight to see. It's no longer operational and has been taken over by the city.
I mentioned our riverboat guide.....we took a trip up the river and over to Cumberland Island. This is where the wild horses abound.
Also, acccording to the internet, Dungeness on Cumberland Island, Georgia, is a ruined mansion that was the home of several families significant in American history. James Oglethorpe first built on Cumberland Island in 1736, building a hunting lodge that he named Dungeness. The next Dungeness was designed by Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene, who had acquired 11,000 acres of island land in exchange for a bad debt. His widow built a four-story tabby mansion in 1803 on a Timucuan shell mound. During the War of 1812 the island was occupied by the British, who used the house as a headquarters. In 1818 Henry Lee III, known as Lighthorse Harry Lee and father of Robert E. Lee, stayed at the house until his death, and was buried there for a time. This house was abandoned during the U.S. Civil War and burned in 1866. In the 1880s the property was purchased by Thomas M. Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie, who began to build a new mansion on the site. The 59-room Queen Anne style mansion and grounds were completed after Carnegie's death in 1886. His wife Lucy continued to live at Dungeness and built other estates for her children including, Greyfield for Margaret Carnegie, Plum Orchard for George Lauder Carnegie, and Stafford Plantation. By this time the Carnegies owned 90% of the island. The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925. In 1959 Dungeness was destroyed by fire, alleged to be arson. The ruins are today preserved by the National Park Service as part of Cumberland Island National Seashore. They were acquired by the Park Service in 1972.
The church (chapel) where John Kennedy Jr. and Caroline is also located on this island. We saw pictures of it and it's so small that many of the guests had to stand outside during the ceremony.......next to a rather large pig pen!

Titusville

Here we are on our last day with our camping friends, Jim and Barb. We've had a wonderful time with them and hate to part ways. The domino tournament is over and as MaryAnn B would say, "the scorekeeper always wins." Such was the case here and yours truly was the scorekeeper. I was hoping to pass the trophy along, but we know have a reason to hook up next year (hopefully in AZ) and continue. Perhaps we can include the Bernauers and the Bohmans.
We've spent time at Kennedy Space Center and Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Great places to visit. It's our second time for both and we throughly enjoyed them just as much this time as the first.
Tomorrow we're off the Ft. Clinch State Park just north of Jacksonville.

Wekiva Spring State Park

What a beautiful place this is! It's located in Apopka, FL just NW of Orland. Our first full day (Wed) was perfect weather. We took a bike ride to the spring and river which was just down the road from our campsite. Barb and Jim went out in their kayaks for a couple of hours and then Barb and I went out. The river was like paddling in the jungle. Lots and lots of vegetation, clear water so you could see right to the bottom and very peaceful.
But, before my kayak ride, I met a young couple with the cutest little cockapoo puppy who were trying to rent a canoe. The problem being the park didn't allowed animals in the boat, so they were discussing what to do with "Ella" while they were on the river. First, the guy said they could tie her to a tree.....the girl was horrified (so was I). Then they discussed leaving her in the car for two hours......I was horrified, they were not. I offered to "dogsit" Ella until they got back.
So Ella and I walk up the hill to find Paul and Judy (my sister was visiting for the week) to show off little Ella. They fell in love with her, which was good because then Barb and I took off in the kayaks. When we got back, all was well and they had met lots of people who just had to come over and pet Ella. Aren't aniamals amazing how they bring people together?
Thurs. was a torrential downpour all day. We were to go to Disney World, but cancelled out until Sat. Went to the movies instead to see Matt Damons' new movie, Green Zone.....not a particularly good movie. Friday was also a rainy day, so we hung around the campground.
Sat. was perfect for Epot and we had a wonderful time. Stay until the end of the fireworks; came home tired. Sunday we met up with a sorority sister of mine from FSU for dinner. Paul, of course, knows her well also since he was one of the "houseboys" at Alpha Chi Omega. We had a great time catching up with each other and with mutual friends.
Today we are in Mims just north of Titusville. The campground is very, very nice and we're looking forward to seeing Cape Kennedy, Merritt Island and all the other sites. This is the last week we'll be with Jim and Barb, so we need to finish our Dominos tournament and award the trophy.
They internet site I'm on will not allow me to post pictures. So I'll post them at a later date.