~~~ A Fort with an Angel ~~~

I always love being in the Gulf Islands National Seashore area... There is so much to see & do here or nearby here.  Today we took our friends over to Pensacola to see Fort Pickens.  Fort Pickens has guarded the entrance of Florida's Pensacola Bay for more then 175 years and it is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore - a fascinating old fort from the Civil War era.

Fort Pickens is a historic United States military fort on Santa Rosa Island in the Pensacola, Florida, area. It is named after American Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens. The fort was completed in 1834 and remained in use until 1947. Fort Pickens is included within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, and as such, is administered by the National Park Service.

We have been over to the Pensacola Navel Station several times to watch the Blue Angels practice.  There had recently been an accident and one of the Blue Angels, U.S. Marine Corps captain Jeff Kuss loss his life so I thought we would not get to see them this time.  What a wonderful surprise for us and our friends when they flew over the fort and continued to do there practice air show.


It was a great day and what a thrill for us to not only visit Fort Pickens again but to see the Blue Angels flying in the sky was the icing on the cake.  Cone to Pensacola and visit there is so much to see & do.  Visit the National Naval Aviation Museum and try to catch the Blue Angels practice show on the base.  Also Fort Pickens has a great campground for those of you who camp...

Until Later

Have FUN & Travel Safe

~~~ Throwed Rolls ~~~

We went to Foley, Alabama to visit Lambert's Café "Home of the Throwed Rolls".  Now this restaurant has been featured both the Travel Channel and the Food Network Channel and is one of the most fun places to visit...  There is plenty of food choices and they also have servers walking around with BIG buckets of Fired Okra, Macaroni & Tomatoes, Fried Potatoes with Onions, Black Eyed Peas, Apple Butter & Molasses for your rolls,  When the rolls come out of the oven the servers roll them out on carts and throw them across the room at you (if you want).   Yes you heard me right - they throw them all the way across the room at you and they are BIG, HOT, and delish!!!  Now here is the deal... The drinks come in cups so big you hardly ever need a refill.  The menu is huge with all kinds of good old cooked meals with plenty of country sides for you to choose from and remember they are always walking around with buckets of food that you can have all you can eat and those yummy throwed rolls.  If your main course is not enough for you they will gladly give you more meat.  They have 3 locations: Foley ~ Alabama, Ozark ~ Missouri, Sikeston ~ Missouri.  If you have never been to this restaurant and you get anywhere near one of them you need to "GO"!!!  You will not be sorry...

Here are the photos of the outside of the building... Look how they have all these great paintings on them.  The wall has a mural with mom & pop Lambert who started the business and one of their sons who was tragically killed in an accident (center picture).  Now there other sons run all the restaurants and keep the family tradition going.

This side of the building really moved me... It had the Blue Angel and a tribute to the Firemen of our nation and the flag & American Eagle. I loved how they incorporated a real flag into the painting.

Here they are throwing the rolls... Look real hard and you might see one... and the guy who handed out the APPLE BUTTER  (Ralph's Favorite) & Molasses. 

Ralph had the 16 ounce hamburger steak with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn. Take a look at all the food we got?  I had the Fried Pork Chops with French fries & applesauce.  (YUM) Doesn't it all look so yummy!!!

We had GREAT fun there with our good friends Buck & Jeannie and left with our tummies busting!  We loved our food, service so much that we came here twice...

Now go find a Lamberts and have fun!!!

Travel Safe !!!

~ On Our Way to the Gulf Shores ~

Got up this morning and decided we could stay at our campground until noon since we have such a long road to ride today.  Actually it is a whooping 81 miles to Gulf Shores, Alabama where we'll be staying for the next 4 days.  Blackwater River State Park was a really nice park especially for families.  Click here for a complete review of the campground.

We finally pulled out at 12:30 and are on our way... the first thing we saw along the way was the Historic State Route 1 aka Old Spanish Trail...

U.S. Highway 90 - Old Spanish Trail - Historic State Route 1

This roadway parallels current U.S. 90 to the north from Milton east to at least Florida 87.  For the most part the road is in good shape for being almost 80 years old.  It is open for bikers and pedestrians.  Throughout the Florida panhandle, the Old Spanish Trail follows either U.S. Route 90 or local streets that used to be part of US 90, many of which are designated as State Road 10A. 

The Old Spanish Trail was an auto trail that once spanned the United States with a full 3,000 miles of roadway from ocean to ocean.  It crossed eight states and 67 counties along the southern border of the United States.  Work on the auto highway began in 1915 at a meeting held at the Battle House Hotel in Mobile, Alabama: and, by the 1920s, the trail linked St. Augustine, Florida to San Diego, California, with its center and headquarters in San Antonio, Texas.

We headed west on Interstate 10 and the weather was perfect - well HOT but no rain...  We came up to Pensacola, Florida and first thing we saw was the rest station with a full size F/A-18 Hornet Blue Angel Jet.  We've seen it many times and it never fails to get me excited.  Even the underpass has Blue Angel Jets on the pilings.  I love this area and we have stayed in many campgrounds in the area.  If you have not ever been to Pensacola you should put it on your bucket list - there is so much to see & do in this city.

We took exit 5 in Pensacola and proceeded on the back roads into Foley Alabama and then  onto Gulf Shores.  I adore the beaches of Florida and Alabama - I feel at peace when I am there.  Just look at the beauty ...

Finally checked into the campground, Gulf State Park and all set up for our 4 nights here. 

CiCi all snug in her site - View from our site - Our friends all set up in their site

Life is Good

Have Fun & Travel Safe

~Blackwater River State Park - Holt, Florida ~

Our ride to Blackwater River State Park was uneventful which is always a good thing.  We led the way here with our friends close behind us.  When we travel we always try to not go more them 300 miles a day and most of the time even less then that - it was hard after we retired to figure out that we are just not in a hurry anymore and we should be set up at least by "Happy Hour".  Todays trek was only about 232 miles.  Our stay here was just overnight because we wanted to check it out for a future place to stay when we are home and we want to go somewhere. 

Our Campsite # 18 ~ Roads in Campground

There is plenty to do here if you are into tubing, canoeing, kayaking, swimming or hiking.  This river has sandy beaches and the bottom of the rivers is also sand.  Average depth is about 2.5 deep with just enough current to move you down the river.

There is a canoe/tubing outpost here that will take you down the river and pick you up when you are at the end.  They also rent the equipment too.  This park is a great place to come especially if you have kids.  There is a short trial to the swimming areas from the campground and 2 nice hiking trails.

Nice sandy beach areas for you to spend the day

There is a lot to do in the area since it isn't to far from the Emerald Coast on the Gulf of Mexico.  We didn't get the chance to explore at all because we only stayed overnight.  Tomorrow we will be heading to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. 

Have Fun & Travel Safe

Watch out for falling METEORS and Stonehenge!!!!

Being the typical tourist everywhere we go the first thing we do is check the areas visitors centers and websites for area attractions.  We will be in the Odessa/Midland area for 6 weeks so we definitely wanted to find some fun stuff to do.  Today we headed out with my daughter and Granddaughters to find a couple of them but not before going to lunch.  We ended up at a little Italian restaurant called Mi Piaci' that my daughter really likes & I love Italian so it was a go for me.  I had the best dish I have had in a long long time... Chicken Verona

mushrooms, artichokes, asparagus, and white wine cream sauce - baked with mozzarella cheese... Yummo! To die for!!!

Mi Piaci Restaurant - Odessa, Texas ~ Ralph's Huge Stromboli ~ Hannah & her Calzone ~ My Chicken Verona (YUM)

After lunch we were off in search of the Odessa Meteor Crater.  The Odessa Meteor Crater is the largest of several smaller craters in the immediate area that were formed by the impact of thousands of octahedrites (an iron metallic type) that fell in prehistoric times.  There was a museum and the site to tour when we arrived there.  The museum was filled with meteor fragments and a lot of history about the area and crater.

It is 550 feet in diameter and the age is estimated to be around 63,500 years .The crater is exposed to the surface, and was originally about 100 feet deep. Due to subsequent infilling by soil and debris, the crater is currently 15 feet deep at its lowest point, which provides enough relief to be visible over the surrounding plains. Still, the site offers an excellent opportunity to view a relatively uncommon impact feature close to a major transportation artery near a major city.

 

It was a fun visit and good to do some walking after such a big lunch.... After we finished checking out the Meteor site we headed to Stonehenge ~ no not in England but the full scale replica over at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa.  About 20 stone blocks, similar in size, shape, and appearance to the ancient Stonehenge in southwestern England, were unveiled in the summer of 2004. The replica matches the original Stonehenge horizontally, but it falls some 14% short in height from the English monument. The tallest stone on the original is 22 feet, while the highest in the Odessa is 19 feet. 

While the original may have taken 2000 years to complete, the replica was placed at UTPB in six weeks. The stones were moved two at a time on tractor-trailers and lifted into place on footings made of reinforced concrete. The original Stonehenge marked the summer and winter solstices. Each stone weighs more than 20,000 thousand pounds and is composed of limestone slabs donated from the quarry of TexaStone of Garden City in Glasscock near Big Spring, Texas. It was a fun visit and the best part is that it is FREE.

 It was a great day with our family and I sure wished our other daughter could have been with us.

Come on back and follow our adventures...

Have Fun & Travel Safe

 

Two Charming Towns

I was finally getting caught up with my blogging but atlas I am in Cape Brenton and still haven't finished my post on around the South Shore area of Nova Scotia so here I go again...

We started out towards Lunenburg but got sidetracked by 2 other quaint little towns ~ Chester & Mahone Bay.  What a beautiful day it was indeed... we drove along the coast until we came to the Old Train Station in Chester, which is now a visitor center.  Gorgeous coastal drive...



Chester, a charming historic seaside village, rich in tradition and hospitality, which was officially founded in 1759.   The first permanent European-descended settlers were a group from Massachusetts who came to the area in 1761.



Chester is one of the wealthiest communities in the province of Nova Scotia with many seasonal and year-round residents. The nearby waters of Mahone Bay and its numerous islands are well known for yachting and have made Chester into a vacation destination.  The day we were there, there was a lot of sail boats on the bay ~ we sat for a long time and just enjoyed watching them as the glided through the water so gracefully.

Our other stop for the day was at the very touristy town of Mahone Bay... So beautiful and is Mahone Bay which was founded in 1754. The harborfront is the heart of Mahone Bay. Three historic churches are perched on the water’s edge and is an awesome site as you head into the area.  The downtown area is filled with historic homes, craftspeople, art galleries, quaint shops and restaurants. You could spend hours walking & driving through the area.

We love these small coastal towns and enjoyed our day driving and walking around them. 

Have Fun & Travel Safe

A True Tragedy ~ SS Atlantic

We headed out early in the morning to find a Lighthouse and a memorial on the SS Atlantic.  The SS Atlantic was a White Star luxury liner that sunk on April 1st 1873 ~ the same people owned the RMS Titanic which sank on April 15th, 1912.  Both of these ships has history with Nova Scotia and we went to visit the area that was involved with the SS Atlantic while down in Lower Prospect.

Sandy Cove Lighthouse ~ coastal views and a small replication of the town that some man made in his front yard
(it was very cool)

Here is an old photo from the museum of the retrieval efforts of the SS Atlantic ~ all you can see is the mast of the ship.  It sunk here but within 5 days had fallen further down into the ocean.

Sailors scavenge the wreck of the The S.S. Atlantic—the other White Star catastrophe—for bodies and valuables. The Atlantic has more casualties buried near Halifax than the Titanic, and its hulk lies on the floor of Nova Scotian waters.

The White Star’s luxury steamship S.S. Atlantic ran into Mar’s Head at Lower Prospect on April 1, 1873. It appears April was an unlucky month for the White Star Line. This was the worst single vessel disaster to occur in Canadian waters prior to the Titanic which also sank in April. Five hundred and sixty two people lost their lives that day, but 390 were saved due to the efforts of the local fishermen and their families.
                 

Visit the SS Atlantic Museum first to understand the horrific tragedy and the stories of heroes rescues. See artifacts that have been recovered from the sunken ship  stories of the crew and passengers.

There is an Interpretation Center, the mass burial site, a boardwalk that wraps around the coastline, and a gazebo to take in the magnificent view. This area has been landscaped and interpretive panels installed which tell the story of this disaster.  The young man in the Museum was so full of information and was very helpful helping us understand more the circumstances that lead up to that fateful crash upon the rocks of Terence Bay.



~ Memorial Park ~

The ships of those days divided their passengers by class... The front part of the ship held single men, the center was families and the rear of the ship held single woman.  When the ship hit the rocks the front half was broken completely off and the other two thirds of the ship sunk right away.  The only survivors were all men and one small boy who just so happened to be spending the night in the front with his brother.  So terribly sad... This area we are visiting right now has had more then there share of tragedies and have put together beautiful memorials for each one of them.  Tragedy that brings people together to help and remember. 

~ Memorial Park ~

We really enjoyed learning the history of this sad event in Terence Bay as strange as it may sound.  If you come this way be sure to come out to explore this coastal area town, Sandy Cove Lighthouse and the SS Atlantic Museum & Memorial.  It is well worth the trip.

Have Fun & Travel Safe

More Fun & More Food ~ What can I say!

I made a BIG boo boo ~ forgot there was a holiday weekend approaching and had no reservations anywhere.  We leave the Hershey Thousand Trails on the Friday before the weekend and my original plan was to move on up the highway towards New Haven Connecticut.  Soon I realized that the Memorial Day Weekend was coming up and started calling for ressies but to no avail.  Everywhere we had wanted to stay was booked solid and we couldn't extend here because we used our 14 days and they were full on all other plans like Passport, Encore and any others they may have accepted.  So on the phone trying to find a place ~ we decided to stay in the general area since we were really enjoying it here.  Finally we found a nice campground in New Holland and got the last spot!  Thank goodness~~~ So we were saved this time.

Campbelltown Cafe ~ PA

Bob at the RV park he asked if we had been to Campbelltown Cafe' and if not we should go.  Well it doesn't take much to convince us to go out for food and soon we were on our way out for breakfast. If you ever come here this is a wonderful place to eat plus the staff is delightful!

Eggs Benedict ~ Our Waitress Mira ~ Sausage & Gravy with Eggs

The rest of the day was a do nothing day ~ We did take Tiffy to the groomers and had all her hair cut off... she is a much cooler now and seems to be doing a lot better.  However over the next few days we continued to drive through the countryside and enjoyed looking at all the Amish farms.

Have Fun, Travel Safe & Stay Healthy!!!

 

"Savannah ~ My Hearts Desire"

What can I say about Savannah ~ I just LOVE this Old Charming City so much that I never tire visiting it. The Old Southern Homes, the 24 parks adorned with huge oak trees draped in moss, the history that waits for you around every cornier, the Southern kindness that greets you everywhere you turn and the fabulous food. Such as Mrs Wilkes ~ Southern hospitality and cooking, served family style and Paula Deen's ~ Lady & Sons ~ Yummy Southern Buffet... Not a surprise in a town with so much history that there are many ghost stories you can here all about from all the locals...

One of my favorite stories is "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil". If you have not already read the book or seen the movie I highly recommend it. It is a 1997 American drama which was based on real-life events in the 1980s. It is a tale of Savannah's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trials of Jim Williams:

Because of the presence of The Bird Girl in the movie and on the book cover, Bonaventure Cemetery was made a popular tourist attraction. Due to tourists disrupting and damaging
neighboring graves while posing with the statue, The Bird Girl no longer stands in the cemetery and is in the museum. However, there are many other beautiful statues and sites in Bonaventure Cemetery. Also pictured here is the Johnny Mercer House (song writer of over 1000 songs including Moon River & You must have been a beautiful baby) where Williams threw his annual Christmas parties for the cream of society. Apparently, the shooting occurred in the study - lower right hand window. Today, the house has been restored and is now a museum.



I have taken hundreds of photos and would love to share them all with you but that would be such a never ending post ~ lol. So I have made yet another slide show of the homes and sites we have seen during our time here in Savannah... This is a wonderful place to visit!

We Stayed in a GREAT RV park while we visited this area ~ Hardeeville RV Park in Hardeeville South Carolina. Click on the RV park name to see my complete review of this nice park. It was only about 10 minutes north of Savannah and easy access to the historic city! We also got a 2 day pass on the Old Town Trolley while visiting Savannah and it made it really easy getting around the area plus they tell you a lot of the history of the area.

Have Fun, Travel Safe & Stay Healthy!!!