Charleston, SC

We enjoyed our visit to Charleston, SC. The downtown historic district contains one of the nation’s largest collections of colonial architecture. There are also many Victorian homes. The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Union occupied Fort Sumter, which fell to Confederate forces. The city’s was known as a major slave trade center, a major rice shipping area, and as a winter playground for wealthy industrialists.

It's really neat walking through the historic area viewing all of the homes and houses of worship.

It is very similar to Savannah, GA., only a little smaller and not as easy to get around in if you are driving.







There are many cobblestone streets and brick streets that add to the cities charm.

We had a great dinner at Hyman’s Seafood and Aaron’s Deli. The fifth generation is now running the business. It was originally a wholesale business that was established in 1890. Judy had a great corned beef sandwich while Mike enjoyed one of their specials: a whole fried flounder.



It's a shame he didn't enjoy his dinner.



Our last day here we just loafed. Did some shopping and Mike had the oil in the truck changed and the tires rotated.

Stone Mountain & Atlanta, GA

Just finished spending four days in the Atlanta, GA area. We stayed at Stone Mountain which is approximately 16 miles east of Atlanta. Stone Mountain is lichen and moss-draped, rising some 825 feet above the Piedmont Plateau. The base circumference is about 5 miles. This is one of the biggest hunks of freestanding granite in the world. The park is 3,200 acres with many tourist attractions.

The big attraction is the Confederate Memorial Carving, depicting Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson riding their horses. The figures are 76 feet high and 160 feet wide, making it the world’s largest relief sculpture. It covers an area of 3 acres on the mountain face. We rode a cable car that took us to the mountain’s peak. It passed right by the Memorial providing a great view.

Back on the ground we toured their museum where we read a historical explanation of each of the three figures – southern style. It was amusing reading about Jackson. They told how he was shot by friendly fire and mentioned that “if that didn’t happen the outcome of the Civil War might have been different.” We were surprised that they didn’t want a rematch.

We took in several rides, a 4D movie, craft demonstrations, toured an antebellum plantation, and many many gift shops.

The park has a fantastic evening laser show that is projected on the mountainside and fireworks.

One day was spent at the “World of Coca Cola" in Atlanta. We saw the history of coca cola beginning with the creation of the original formula by John Pemberton in 1886. Can you imagine that the rights to bottle it was purchased for one dollar! We went through a small bottling plant where we saw how it is made, watched commercials from all over the world, saw all sorts of memorabilia, and got to taste forty different beverages that coca cola makes all over the world. We also received a commerative bottle of coca cola that was produced there.

The next day we went to the Georgia Aquarium that opened in 2006. It is the world’s largest, and was a $250 million gift to the city from Bernard Marcus where his company, Home Depot began. The aquarium is a state of the art facility with a staggering 8 million gallons of fresh and salt water that contains more than 100,000 different animals. It is divided into several marine life areas.

That evening we got together for an enjoyable dinner with our friend Alice Brown from Bakersfield. She was attending a convention in Atlanta – timing is everything.

Savannah, GA

Savannah, GA is known as America’s best walking city, a living museum, 2½ square miles with more than 2,300 Colonial and Victorian homes and buildings. The city was laid out in 1733 in a perfect grid by its founder, British General James Oglethorpe. Although he wasn’t Jewish, the Jewish residents put up a monument to him, with a Star of David, since he did so much for them. We saw many buildings with lots of wrought iron balcony railings and decorations, which reminded us of New Orleans. There are twenty-one of the original twenty-four, one acre squares in the city, which originally had 40 families living around each of them. Each square is like a miniature park. At President Lincoln’s request, Savannah’s fabled architecture was spared burning during the 1864 scorched-earth military campaign of General Sherman.

We went by Paula Deen’s restaurant where you have to get in line in the morning to see if you can get seated for lunch or dinner. Several natives told us that she is so busy with her many other interests that the restaurant isn’t quite as good as it used to be. We decided to eat at Mrs. Wilke’s Boarding House where we got in line at 11:20 and finally were seated at 12:50. We sat with a family with two high school aged sons who were behind us in line and another couple with their daughter. On the table when we were seated was sweet tea and it was very good! We were served platters of fried chicken, corn bread, stuffing, gravy, okra gumbo, sweet potatoes, red rice, beef stew, creamed corn, collard greens, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, beef stew, sausage, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, bbq pork, and more! There were twenty-four dishes in all. For dessert we had a choice of blueberry tart or banana pudding. Lunch was fantastic, and if anyone goes away hungry it’s their own fault. Mrs. Wilkes opened the boarding house in 1943 and though she died in 2002, her spirit is still very much here. Today it is run by the fourth generation of her comfort-food, savvy family, serving old-time traditional favorites that are as unpretentious as the restaurant’s homey setting. When finished with the meal you are asked to bring your dirty dishes, silverware and glasses to the kitchen as was the rules going all the way back to early times.

One morning we had breakfast on Tybee Island, a popular seaside resort since the late 1800’s. We had breakfast at the Breakfast Club which earned national acclaim when John Kennedy Jr. hired the chef to cater his wedding.

We walked on cobblestone streets, which need your attention so you don’t twist an ankle!

Mike then drove to Congregation Mickve Israel, the third oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. It is a reformed temple that was founded in 1733. Its neo-Gothic architecture resembles a church. We took a private tour of the temple. The sanctuary is large and beautiful and in the museum we saw the Torah that the Jewish settlers brought with them dating back to the 15th century. Last week they celebrated their 275th anniversary.

We HAD to make a trip to Leopold’s Ice Cream Store which opened in 1919. They have the typical tile floor and marble fountain plus an old wooden phone booth. Their coffee ice cream WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS is marvelous!

St. Augustine, FL

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. It was founded in 1565, making it 444 years old. The city was 256 years old as the US took possession of the province of East Florida in 1821.

A self-made millionaire, Henry Morrison Flagler decided to develop St. Augustine into a winter resort for the northern rich. He then set about the task of building a great Gilded Age empire of hotels and railroads that extended from St. Augustine to Key West.

Most of the buildings are of Spanish Renaissance Revival style. This architecture features clay-tile roofs, towers, rounded arches and extensive red terracotta ornamentation and poured concrete supports and walls.











In 1883, Franklin Smith built his Villa Zorayda, which is 1/10 the scale of a small portion of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.


We got in a little beach time, wading in the ocean and collecting shells.

We’re Back

Can you imagine going fourteen days without Wi-Fi? Well, we survived and we're back on the blog again.


St. Cloud, FL

On Friday, June 26th we arrived at Kissimmee, FL. Saturday we drove to St. Cloud, FL to go on an air boat ride with Wild Willy.

We went a little way from shore and he stopped and gave us ear protectors to wear that looked like huge ear muffs. These were to protect our ears from the noise of the engine, which was like a huge fan at the rear of the boat.

We rode through lily ponds, swamp, etc., while Willy gave us information about the lake, plants, animals, etc. He was extremely informative and hospitable and stopped often to show us different things along the way. We stopped right next to herons, egrets, and some pelicans right in the middle of thick plant growth.


We even saw a few baby alligators in the shade under some thick shrubbery before heading back. Willy knew exactly where to find them. The mother alligators don’t teach their young to eat, they only protect them from predators. The adult alligators were nowhere to be found because the water was too warm and they were on the bottom. It was fun whizzing along up to 60 mph at times, just cutting a trail.


As you can see from this picture, we just made it back to the dock and beat the rainstorm.

Disney World

Sunday, June 28th was the beginning of our Family Reunion. Our son and his family from Massachusetts arrived at their time share which was only ten minutes from our campground. It was fantastic to see all of them. My, how our grandson, now eleven, and our granddaughter, now eight, have grown. On Wednesday our daughter and her husband from Alaska arrived.


Would you believe we spent eight days at Disneyworld. We took in just about everything they offered, including a day at Typhoon Lagoon, a really fun water park with a super wave making machine. Mike and the big kids enjoyed all of the roller coasters. Disney is just a fun, fun, fun place where everyone smiles. The raft rides where you get soaked were a welcome relief from the heat and humidity.

Diets were put on hold – we ate at Chez Mickey in the Contemporary Hotel and Mickey’s Backyard Bar-b-que at Fort Wilderness. Both were buffets where all the Disney characters mingle with you for picture taking and lots of smiles. Another interesting meal was at the Animal Kingdom resort. We ate at BOMA, another buffet with African dishes that were superb.

Largo, FL

We then moved to Largo, FL (in the Tampa Bay area) for a few days of rest after closing Disney almost every night. We visited the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg where we saw their core exhibit called History, Heritage and Hope. Included in this exhibit were original artifacts, video and photos, presenting the history of the Holocaust. We were at the museum for about 2.5 hours. It was a solemn experience of a story that cannot be forgotten. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the museum.