Fall Trip–Savannah, Georgia (Day 7)

Today is our final day for this trip. We departed from Flat Rock, NC on time. The mechanics and Doug Porter, our driver, worked on the bus until about 2:30AM to get it running well enough to drive home. Doug never turned off the bus once it started again. Because of his long day/night, the company sent another driver to relieve him as we were nearing home. This saved him a couple of hours getting home. We cannot provide too much praise for Doug and the job he did for us. Incidentally, the bus was a very luxurious bus by Mercedes and was operated by Crown Charter from Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

One of our sore points was that I frequently chose to stop at Cracker Barrel restaurants during our travel days because they could handle our bus crowd very rapidly without any hassle. However, our people were about to revolt on me; so I relented to find other opportunities as we traveled. This is difficult, since we cannot plan far in advance because we don’t always know where we will be at a certain time. But, I would look ahead for places an hour out based on my GPS. This morning, one of our people suggested a place that he had used called the Athenaeum Cumberland Inn in Williamsburg, KY. So, we called and they would be able to handle us. The choice was an excellent one and everyone enjoyed it. The Cumberland Inn provides a way for Cumberland College to offer its students a positive work experience while promoting the college to visitors.

We used the setting of their grand staircase for our group photo.

As you can see, the facilities are very impressive. There are a couple more wings to this facility that are not shown.

We returned back home to Washington Heights at about 6:10 PM, a full hour earlier that our schedule.

All in all, this trip was a very successful trip with only the minor glitch of the bus breakdown to provide a bit of adventure. Even that was handled very well with only minor inconvenience. During our entire trip, we didn’t have any injuries or illnesses (other than minor things).

We had Rick and Janice Bowersox along to help us. Jan is a nurse and helps pass out medications, when needed, and patch people up. Rick helps me with the ministry side of our trip and leads the singing on board the bus. This, along with help from Nancy, really make my job easier and less stressful.

Based on my initial feedback, everyone was happy with this trip. There are always things that we can do different and we will take the comments to help with future planning.

Fall Trip–Savannah, Georgia (Day 6)

Today turned out to be much more eventful that expected. We planned, primarily, to start the trek home with a stop in the South Carolina State Museum. I must admit that this museum was far better than I had anticipated. The facilities cover 4 floors of the building and includes a pretty nice museum shop.

Click the above image to visit their website.

Along the way we encountered some very hard rain that resulted in a couple of serious accidents. Fortunately, we were not involved and not seriously inconvenienced. However, by the time we reached the museum the rain had subsided.

Much of the exhibits were somewhat common to museums everywhere such as a selection of old cars, etc. However, I discovered several things of interest and things that are new to me.

I thought the train below was interesting and somewhat colorful, too. The boiler looks like a very large alcoholic beverage!

REMEMBER TO CLICK ANY IMAGE TO GET A LARGER VIEW!

There were many cars. Did you ever hear of an Anderson. It was interesting that it made a point of being more expensive that their competitors. But, was it really worth it?

Since my former employer was NCR, I was interested in this telephone system and the cash register. NCR also installed phone systems in department store way back in time. I once helped work on one in Rockford, IL. It was called the OK Telephone System. That isn’t what this one is, though.

Lets take a look inside a very old general store.

Notice the wooden cabinet cash register in the right photo. I’m not positive, but I think that one is a National Cash Register (NCR). I never serviced one like this but my dad would have.

Many of you know that I enjoy guns and shooting. So, It is appropriate that I handled this old black powder rifle.

Finally, its time for a little language lesson. First, how many of you have ever even heard of the Gullah language? I hadn’t; but I suspect some of my African American friends have. As the sign says, this is a conglomeration of English and African languages. Some common words that we used today from this language are YAM (sweet potato), Okra (vegetable that I do not like) and Tote.

Speaking of final, below is a Cooling Table in use. This was used to hold bodies during the viewing! It was a frame with woven material similar to what was used for chair backs.

We ended the day in Flat Rock, NC where we spent our first night. That first one was uneventful but this one was NOT!.Our bus dropped about 20 of us off at a Cracker Barrel after we checked into the hotel. The driver was to return about an hour an a half later. But he wasn’t there. I called him and discovered that the bus was broken down but he was on the phone with the experts at his bus company. Unfortunately, they did not get the bus running, so we hired a couple of taxis to shuttle back and forth between to hotel and restaurant, until we were all safely returned. That was an expensive mode of travel. Don’t think we will use them to return home, tomorrow! But, that’s another day, so we’ll be back with “the rest of the story!”

Fall Trip–Savannah, Georgia (Day 5)

Today, we actually spent a lot of our touring time in South Carolina, in Beaufort and Parris Island.

We drove north from our hotel near Savannah for about an hour to enter Parris Island. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island (often abbreviated as MCRD PI) is an 8,095 acres military installation located within Port Royal, South Carolina, approximately 5 miles south of Beaufort, the community that is typically associated with the installation. MCRD Parris Island is used for the training of enlisted Marines. Male recruits living east of the Mississippi River and female recruits from all over the United States report here to receive their initial training.

After entering Parris Island many points of Interest were pointed out by guide for the morning, Rose . She was very knowledgeable of the area, including the base because her father was a career Marine. We visited the Parris Island Museum. Because this day was also parents day, there were also many Marines, with their parents, touring the museum.

The museum was relatively small with only a couple of floors and included a small theater. Most of the exhibits were primarily photos. I guess I’m spoiled by the Air Force Museum in Dayton, which is huge in comparison to this one.

One small display that impressed me was the Marine Prayer, shown below.

After departing the Parris Island Marine training facility, we went into Beaufort. Beaufort is a quaint town that was first occupied by Europeans 450 years ago. It was chartered 300 years ago this year.

The weather was not generally conducive to outdoor photography but we had enough dry bright periods that I was able to get a few shots. The city is known for its scenic location and for maintaining a historic character through its impressive antebellum architecture.

These are examples of the architecture in Beaufort. Obviously, the one on the left is very old but I don’t know about the one on the right.

Many of the buildings on the main streets have become businesses, such as these two; housing a ice cream parlor and coffee shop.

Everywhere we looked, we could see lots of beautiful flowers and plants. The climate in Beaufort is sub-tropical and ideal for these plants.

Of course, since Beaufort is on one of the Islands, there is a lot of water all around. Below we can see the waterfront and marina.

While we were in Beaufort most of us took time to find a place for lunch. Nancy and I found a great place for shrimp. The owner is from Ohio!Their fried shrimp was fresh and the best that I’ve ever had. Nancy also wanted to have some fried green tomatoes. I tried them, but won’t ask to do that again!

Tonight we enjoyed dinner at Houlihan’s Restaurant. We all really enjoyed the food and the service. I was amazed that we were allowed to order from a menu selection.

Friday, we load our bus in the morning and head back up toward North Carolina with a stop at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbus, SC. Then, we continue to Flat Rock, NC where we will spend the night.

Fall Trip–Savannah, Georgia (Day 4)

Another day of touring started a bit dreary but ended up fine! Today, we went into Savannah and toured the waterfront and many of the sights around town.

We started our time after being dropped off ant the Visitor Center near the Hyatt and on River Street. It is always heartwarming to see our people helping each other. We had about two hours to walk along River Street and visit the shops and sights along the way. Many of us stayed on River Street but several also ventured further from the river to some of the Squares and other sights.

I can never pass up a chance to photograph a ship and I really like the sternwheelers! This one would give you a ride across the river for free! I especially like this photo because it includes the suspension bridge and another ship behind the paddle wheel ship.

There is a lot to see along the river but most of it is pretty bland in a photo. However, I liked this statue along the river of a girl who always greeted the ships with a flag during day and a lantern during a night. Her dog would alert her when a ship was coming in.

We provided our group a special opportunity (not part of the Diamond Tours package) with lunch at Paula Dean’s “Lady & Sons Restaurant”. Great food! The food was “buttery delicious”!

After lunch we had a guided tour of Savannah with a step-on guide. Our guide seemed to be very knowledgeable of anything to do with Savannah. First, we visited the childhood home of Juliette Gordon Lowe, Founder of the Girls Scouts. As seems to be common, we were not allowed to photograph the interior.

We also visited a Cathedral. Nancy enjoyed seeing their organ pipes .

Following our Savannah tour, we had dinner at the Johnny Harris Banquet Center. During and after dinner we were entertained by guitar and singing.

He was entertaining but the real entertainment was our very own Young at Heart Dancers!!!

(Remember: All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them)

It was a long day but a fun one. It was certainly more tiring for some than for others!

Tomorrow, we visit Beaufort and Parris Island. I will need to be careful to keep the gals away from the Marines!

Fall Trip–Savannah, Georgia (Day 3)

Today, we began our real touring of the area around Savannah, Georgia. Actually, we drove a good distance south to St. Simons Island and later to Jekyll Island.

We met our step-on tour guide for the day, Barbara Smith and then drove over the causeway to St. Simons Island. The day started very dreary with showers and we prayed that the sun would come out and we would have a good day for walking around and sightseeing. In a way I don’t like bothering God about something like that but we have a good number of people with us and some are in their late 80s. We don’t want anyone getting sick or slipping because of the wetness. It won’t be any great wonder to most of you that our weather for the remainder of the touring day was mostly sunny and warm. It got cloudy late in the day as we were leaving Jekyll Island and started raining while we were having dinner. Praise the Lord for good weather.

Barbara Smith, our step-on guide

(REMEMBER: YOU CAN SEE LARGER IMAGES MY MERELY CLICKING ON THEM)

Our first stop was to see Christ Church were John Wesley and his brother, Charles first preached on St. Simons, Island. He never saw this church but preached under an Oak Tree a couple hundred feet away. The tree is still standing but severely storm damaged.

The church was built by craftsmen more accustomed to building ships. You can see the result in the construction. There we very few nails used in the construction. There were also a good number of nice stained glass windows. The current building was reconstructed following the Civil War because of its poor condition following the war.

Many of the trees and flowers in the area near the church and around St. Simons were stunning.

There are a good number of places to eat near the peer at St. Simons and near the lighthouse. We chose a place called Zuzu’s. They have very good hamburgers and sandwiches. I liked the quote from Bob Marley on the napkin holder at our table.

Of course, you can’t visit St. Simons Island without visiting the lighthouse. I wanted to climb the steps to the top but it was hot and humid and I didn’t want to distress those near me on the bus!

Once again, we boarded the bus for the trek to Jekyll Island. This is a very exclusive island that has a number of restored “cottages” once known as the “Millionaire’s Club”. The cottages are anything but! We were able to tour some but were not allowed to take photos of the interiors for “copyright” reasons. Hmm, I need to do some research on that one!

We toured Jekyll Island with another guide via a Tram.

Then, there is the Club House, were most of the rich residents had their meals and hung out here. This is a very nice hotel, today; with a 4 star restaurant.

Finally, it is time to leave for dinner. But we stopped at a beach for a short time to let some of the gals get their feet wet!

I’m not sure that this sea gull appreciated the tourists!

The day came an end after a nice dinner and time of fellowship. I think it was a great day and everyone should have a great night of sleeping after a long day.