The Plan
We haven't been on a car road trip in a while and this month is the perfect opportunity to visit friends and family. Richard planned our itinerary with my input. We decided our destinations are Cocoa Village, the Rudder Club, Jacksonville, and Amelia Island for the first day. Then, we will have lunch in Savannah on our way to visit my brother, Paul and sister-in-law, Diane in Charleston for our second day. We will continue on to visit Ford and Magda Cooper for lunch in the state capital of Columbia, S.C. and then head towards Virginia. Our destination is our former neighbor, Bernadette and Marty's, new place on the eastern shore in the little town of Machipongo. After a few days with them, we will head back to look at waterfalls along the way in the Asheville, NC area and Georgia. Let's not forget to pick up some peaches and pecans on the way home!
Cocoa Village - This little town long intrigued us after our friends, Marilyn & John stopped there in their boat a few years ago. They told us about how cute it is with an enchanting downtown full of unique shops and eateries. We drove through town and have to agree. This is a place to come back to!
Rudder Club - When Richard was in his 30's he worked in northern Florida for Oxy Chem. Weekends were often spent at the Rudder Club sailing on his boat in the local waters. There are such good memories for him here and I, Joanne, wanted to see it. The manager warmly welcomed us and patiently listened as Richard told him some old stories of times gone by here. The club is thriving with a nice swimming pool add-on and more docks. The manager tried to talk us into rejoining, but it is too far out of range geographically for us now.
Jacksonville Friendship Fountain - Jacksonville is a short ride from the Rudder Club and we decided to check out the downtown area. They have a neat "Friendship Fountain" bordering the river skyline. There was a local festival being set up and we stopped to talk to some of the people there. Fun time!
Amelia Island - We made it to our pre-reserved hotel right on the beach at lovely Amelia Island. The May weather was perfect in the low 80's for walking the beach and catching sunset views. We found a nice restaurant for a seafood dinner with hushpuppies. Here, I felt I was in the south!
Savannah - After a leisurely breakfast we headed up the highway to Savannah. It was a beautiful day to stroll around the waterfront and we posed for pictures by the paddle-wheeler boat in port. We found a cute little restaurant where we shared some shrimp and grits. Yum!
Charleston, Actually Mount Pleasant, SC - We reached our free bed and breakfast location, my brother, Paul and sister-in-law, Diane's home in Mount Pleasant. Finn, the dog, was also there to greet us and we had a wonderful time catching up. We really enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner and the next morning, Diane served us the absolutely BEST blueberry coffee cake, homemade! Since we last visited, we admired their new guest bathroom and lovely porch that gives them a whole other room to relax and eat in. Such nice additions!
Columbia South Carolina - We bid Paul, Diane and Finn goodbye and headed up the road to the state capitol area to visit dear friends, Magda and Ford Cooper. We traveled extensively with the Coopers when they lived in Punta Gorda to Peru and then to China. It was such a joy to visit them and see them thriving and enjoying living near their daughter, Vanessa and family.
They have a lovely apartment filled with memories of their times in the foreign service. They showed us around the town and treated us to a lovely fish dinner at their favorite restaurant. The highlight for me was Ford reciting a poem that he recently wrote about the joys of aging and comparing it to the river that traverses the downtown area.
Chesapeake - Virginia's Eastern Shore
We left in the early afternoon and started the long drive to Virginia's eastern shore, stopping at a nice motel along the way.
Virginia has such great memories for me because I lived there for 3 years in my 30's when we were transferred with Lipton Tea to the Suffolk/Virginia Beach area. What a thrill it was to ride the long 28 miles Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel as I had done years ago, maybe 43 years ago!!
We arrived in the late afternoon to the little town to Machipongo where our neighbors, Bernadette and Marty, decided to settle after life in Punta Gorda. There home is literally in the woods in a small little settlement of about 20 homes along a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.
We had a delightful 2 days with them enjoying hearing about the improvements to the home and workshop and gardening sheds. They have a lot of land to garden and enjoy with a super water view from the back porch.
Such a cute home and property peaking through the wooded forest.
Crabs in the neighborhood!
We sadly said goodbye to Bernadette and Marty and started the trip home. Our plan was to see as many waterfalls as we could on the way back - and we did!
Asheville
We had a long day of driving across North Carolina to our destination of Asheville, NC. We have such great memories of time spent here with our friends, Betty and Richard, in this home on 93 Forest Hills Drive. Our friends had to sell it when Richard became ill; but, we could not resist stopping by it. We reminisced about all the good times with our dear friends. Richard A is now in Heaven and dear Betty seems to be finding joy again in her life traveling and enjoying friendships in the Houston area. The house is in good hands with the new owners.
We stayed in a lovely place near downtown. There is still a lot of construction going on renovating flood damage from the storms last year. The town is on its way to recovery.
Waterfalls
There is something magical and healing about gazing at waterfalls. We stopped at lots of them on the way home. Check out the pictures below.
We forgot how great a car Road Trip can be! We took it easy and enjoyed all the sites!
.jpg)
Posts
