Day 42 - Tampa

Tampa - Definitely a bit cooler than Orlando.  Will be here for a week.  I think I will be ending this blog here.  A new blog next week, when we go to celebrate our 35th Wedding Anniversary in GREECE !!!

Some Amazing evening colors in the Tampa Sky  We were having tea sitting on the deck in the back of our rental..

A closer shot

Day 41 - Orlando to Tampa

Orlando - Pleasantly warm (bordering hot).  After a couple of down days, driving to Tampa today.

Day 38 - Off to Orlando

Milder day, but still hot.  Took a late check out and started out around 12:30pm.  Stopped at West Jacksonville Costco for gas (the Costco on the East does not have gas).  Reached Orlando around 5:30pm. 

Next couple of days in Orlando.  For the next week or so we will be taking a break from sightseeing and tourism.

Day 37 - Savannah

Very hot & humid.  Drove downtown and parked - very reasonable rates $1/hour.  Savannah has free bus rides in the downtown area.  We hopped on one of them and went to the waterfront area.  Savannah has free ferry rides too! So we took one for a round trip on the river - City Hall to Convention Center to Waving Girl Landing and back.  Nice way to get some good pictures.  We then had lunch and took the bus to Forsyth Park.  Walked in the park sometime and went to enjoy ice cream at Leopald's.  This historic ice cream place was established in 1919 by three Leopald brothers, and is now owned by their heir Stratton Leopald, who is also a Hollywood film producer, and was involved in the production of several famous movies like Mission Impossible III, Sum of all Fears, etc.  The Ice Cream Parlor has lots of Hollywood memorabilia.   Concluded our day by returning back to the hotel.

Random car parked in Savannah

City Hall with the Gold Plated Dome

Riverboat used for Lunch and Dinner Cruises on the Savannah River

Talmadge Memorial Bridge & Savannah Convention Center 

Lunch! Shrimp & Grits and Cheeseburger

Mission Impossible III Memorabilia

Some filming equipment on display

Day 36 - To Savannah via Hilton Head

Charleston - Hot humid day.  Filled up gas at Costco - lowest price I have paid so far $2.38, and off to Hilton Head.  Routed via back roads and got to see some wonderful southern style colonial homes.  At Hilton Head, after lunch headed off to the beach.  Atlantic Ocean on Day 36!

Drove to Harbor Town Pier to see the lighthouse, spent a little time there and then left for Savannah.

At the Atlantic shore in Hilton Head

Getting my feet wet in the Atlantic Ocean

Hilton Head Harbor Town Lighthouse

Hilton Head Harbor Pier

The Talmadge Memorial Bridge leading into Savannah

Day 35 - Boone Hall Plantation

Charleston - Very warm day. Visited the Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens.  It's one of America's oldest working plantations, with continuous agricultural activity from 1680's.  Rice, Indigo & Cotton were the main crops, later diversifying into Pecans with a side industry of Brick making.  At it's peak it had about 4,800 acres.  Now it's a little over 780 acres and still grows cotton, pecans, vegetables,etc.

We had a tractor-pulled open air-wagon tour of the property and then attended presentations on the history of the place and the Gullah culture.  The Gullah word is believed to have been derived from the word Angola, the place from where majority of the slaves that worked in this area came from.  After the presentations we had a tour of the main house, which was rebuilt in 1935 in "antebellum-style", an European style and architecture of the 1900's.  We then strolled through "Slave Street" - a row of still standing slave cabins (only 9 of them left) - and the gardens, before returning back to the hotel.

Avenue of the Oaks - Driveway to the Boone Hall Mansion

The Boone Hall Mansion

The smokehouse - meat used to be salted and smoked here to preserve it (No refrigeration in those days)

Cotton field

A slave cabin

Day 34 - Off to Charleston, SC

Greensboro - Good brunch with Nicole & Terry and they drove us around a bit of Greensboro, showing us some nice localities.
We started towards Charleston, SC, around 1pm, and drove straight to downtown to see the Rainbow Row - a line of houses painted in pastel colors.  Then parked car and walked around the waterfront park, visiting the pineapple fountain.
Had dinner at Fleet Landing Restaurant & Bar and checked into the hotel for the night.

Rainbow Row

Waterfront Park Fountain

Pineapple Fountain

The Arthur Ravenel Bridge

At the Waterfront