Georgia ~ More Southern Charm & New Friends

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

     Marcel Proust, Rememberance of Things Past

Our travel plans were made keeping in mind that we wanted to be in a campground where we could drive places with somewhat minimal miles required.  So, keeping with the plan, our first stop was in Hinesville, Georgia where we booked a week at Happy Acres RV Campground.  It wasn't quite what we had expected - especially trying to get onto the street that took us to the entrance - but we worked through the challenges/frustrations.

We must share with you our first experience with Southern BBQ while we were in Hinesville.  This happened for us at BBQ Heaven.   We were able to meet the owner, William, who prepared all of the food, and even gave us a carry out of more food to take home and enjoy.  It was definitely our first experience with collard greens and steamed cabbage as the sides, along with corn bread.  He was even kind enough to let us take his photo outside of his restaurant.

Next stop about 7 miles from the Florida border (but still in Georgia) to the town of Folkston and the opportunity to travel further to the Gulf for more adventures.

The Folkston Funnel  ~

One attraction that they boast is the place where train watchers can watch nearly 70 trains a day; six Amtrak trains and the Tropicana Juice train which moves from Bradenton, Florida to Kearney, New Jersey five nights a week.  It was a little on the quiet side when we visited, but still some nostalgia lingers.  We're sure that some of the locals hang out on the platform and just watch the trains coming and going all day.

Savannah ~

The 45-mile drive to experience this historic city definitely left us with some quite remarkable, beautiful and unforgettable memories.  We immediately fell in love with this city.  I do believe that we walked close to 5 miles trying to touch on all of Savannah’s Historic Squares - 21 in total.  We could have been there for more than the one day that we spent checking out some of the grand architecture and stately live oaks draped with Spanish moss.

A must-see list for new eyes is the Historic District which consists of River Street (shops & food, etc.); Bull Street (Savannah’s 19^th century architecture showcase) and the majestic Forsythe Park (complete with fountain).

Here to there are free Shuttle services called the Purple Dot that run every 10 minutes.  Of course, we can’t forget the many churches and the best part was Jones Street which is said to be the prettiest street, dripping with the charm of the moss suspended from a canopy of majestic oak trees.  This place will definitely hold a special place in our hearts.  So many pictures it was hard which ones to include.

It was time to travel a few miles to Folkston, Georgia where we  stayed at the Okefenokee Pastimes RV Campground.

This was just the perfect spot for us to check out a few very memorable places - Jekyll Island along Georgia’s coastal and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Jekyll Island ~

The length of the Island is about 5500 acres with at least 10 miles of shoreline, and is home to seven beaches that are all unique in their own way.  We elected to visit Driftwood Beach and the Great Dunes Beach Park.   Ancient driftwood monuments line the waterfront creating a tree graveyard of bleached oak trees.  Some of the trees are fully exposed and some appear to emerge from the depths of the sand. As we made our way around the driftwood trees, catching glimpses of sea shells dotting the beach brought back memories of our time at South Padre.  

At the Great Dunes Beach Park, Jeff noticed a couple shore fishing down by the water, so off we went in search of some conversation.  The couple come down to Georgia from Connecticut just to experience the fishing and to make sure that they eat as much of the local shrimp as they can.  They think it’s the best!  We’ll just have to try some.

A friend recommended a  Bird Sanctuary on the island, so we had to check it out.  It was a cooler day so not too many birds, but we so love and miss our birds.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge ~

Our campground was about 7 miles southwest of the main town, but what we especially liked was that it was across the street from the main entrance to the Refuge, which is run by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 

Being from the Midwest, visiting the Refuge or as they refer to it as the Okie, really opened our eyes and knowledge of an area that we knew nothing about.  The Refuge covers 630 square miles in southeast Georgia for what is known as the Okefenokee Swamp.   I love reading the brochure which says ~

Alligators bask in the sun while flocks of white ibis, wood storks and sandhill cranes forage in the shallow tea-colored water.  The “Land of the Trembling Earth,” as the Native Americans called it, is an ever-changing landscape.  From the open, wet prairies of the east side to the forested cypress swamps on the west, Okefenokee is a mosaic of habitats plans and wildlife.

We're told that this was a real alligator - size and all!

Chesser Island Homestead ~

Within the Refuge, this homestead is named for the family who first settled it.  Chesser Island is 592-acre island in the swamp.  It shows how the early settlers lived back in the mid-1800's, played hard and worked even harder.  To celebrate this heritage the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge observes "Pioneer Days" ever year and we were fortunate to stay and see what it was all about.  With all day demonstrations of broom & soap making, quilting, butter churning, blacksmith and some live music.  What a hoot we had watching them grind down the sugarcane into syrup (which tastes like heavy molasses) and juice samples.  Food from the 1800 was also shared and we had a really good time.  They also had boiled peanuts which is really a big favorite in Georgia, do we had to try them.  Only one comment from us is that they can keep them!  Wow, sodium content is off the charts!

  
A Honey of an Experience ~

We have always thought of the nectar of bees as just plain ole "honey".  Well, this this part of the world honey took on a new meaning.  For instance, coming from the Midwest, Clover honey has pretty much been a standard.  Here in the state of Georgia, our eyes were opened up to a whole gamut of delicious, and different, tastes of honey.  Here are some of the really awesome honey's we've had the experience in coming to know.

  -  Saw Palmetto - made from the white flower/brown berries that grow on this shrub which are sweet, with a fruity caramel taste.

  -  Gallberry - is sourced from a small evergreen holly bush (also known as inkberry) that grow along the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast of Northern Florida where you'll find the piney woods and swamp areas.  A very rich and elegant taste!

  -  Tupelo - known as the Queen of the Honey world for its soft, buttery sweetness.  This is truly our favorite and in Savannah, it's all thumbs up on this one for sure.

This is William that we purchased his Tupelo and Gallberry
homemade honey.  Jeff baked him a banana bread too!

William also gave us a big bag of lemons and here
in this picture is his grove of persimmon trees
which he gave us to try.  Very different fruit!

New Friends Along the Way ~

We moved to another campground closer to the town of Folkston right before Thanksgiving, called the Okefenokee RV Park.  And, it turned out in our favor as we were able to spend this season of gratitude with the campground community, as well as meet new campers that we now call “friends”.

Gary, a very special friend from North Dakota

Nicole & Carmine, new friends from the Catskills of New York

That pretty much showcases some of the unique places we visited in Georgia as it now becomes time for our Florida experience!  We hope that everyone had a wonderful season to reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to travel and live our best life on the road.  
 

Travel Blessing to all!

South Carolina ~ Southern Charm & Family

Welcome to the Palmetto State whose image is on all of South Carolina's license plates.

You never really know what a campground is going to be like until you get there so you always hope that it needs your expectations.  Trying to find a campground close enough to where our grandson was going to school in South Carolina was a challenge, but we found one that was almost a stone’s throw away from the town where Joe attends Camden Military Academy. 

Lugoff ~

The RV park was to be our home for a little over three weeks.  information sheet was a little different from what we normally read in a couple of ways, in that it was very explicit about saying that “alcohol can and does cause many problems in our world” and on  profanity, “we simply do not need it, nor will we let it go on”.   I guess that might be the Southern way.   In our travels to get to this point, we have definitely noticed that the people are very polite, accommodating and overall very gracious, answering with a "Yes, Mam" or "Yes, Sir".  It definitely is a nice touch for travelers new into the area.

It would be here in Lugoff that we would have to order a new refrigerator  (cooling unit), but we made due but not after having to dispose of most of the food that composed of condiments, etc.  We saved pretty much all items in the freezer as we were able to switch over our outside cooler/freezer that exists in one of the basement bays.  Thank heaven for this option.  Kay pretty much Googled various foods to see what we could freeze so her knowledge base on this is pretty good now.  Not that we want to go through this again, but it sure does help with savings some of the food.  We were so fortunate to get hooked up with a terrific mobile RV repair service . . . Jarrod to the rescue!

We had planned to have Joe on 2-day furlough to help him celebrate his 17^th birthday on October 12.  He was pretty excited as overnight furloughs are few for the students.  He was really looking forward to being with us off campus to relax, catch up on TV/movies and of course his phone, which is very limited for the students during their school week.

Joe is pretty easy to satisfy when it comes to food, just as long as he can pick up his snacks at a Walmart before heading back to school.  We made sure that we scoped out the pizza joints as this is one of his favorites.   Our birthday card contained enough $1.00 bills (his favorite $ for his wallet per Jill, his Mom), so that when he gets back to school, he can purchase snacks at the commissary.  Candles and a  chocolate cake with the traditional Happy Birthday chorus topped off a special birthday that we’ll hope he remembers for a long time.

Getting Joe back to school was a quick trip of about 7 miles from the campground.  We were able to see firsthand in our grandson and the other cadets on campus the polite manners that they are all expected to show in voice and presentation.  Either you make it work or you’re out.

A special treat for us was to be able to enjoy one of their, full dress, parades.   It was definitely a perfect day to sit under a large magnolia tree in the bleachers and beam with pride for the entire assembly for all of their work.  And, the band was better than expected for a high school.  Good job all around!  Parent Week also gave us the opportunity to tour the campus, watch some of the football game and to enjoy more family time as Jill and Joe's little sister, Julia flew in to spend a few days in Camden with Joe and us.  As with any student, they are very busy during the week, so it was only weekend time when we could really spend time with him, which gave all of us the chance to do other things.  

With family all dispersed to where they needed to be, we made a visit to Gorget Distilling Company.  We were able to get a tour of the small distillery by one of the owners as well as taste test some of their various rums and moonshine before making a purchase of a couple of our favorites.

Columbia ~

The road trip into Columbia to visit Riverbanks Zoo & Garden was right up our alley.  What a lovely place for us to walk around and experience the food, wild encounters and the botanical garden.  The best part of it was that there were no huge lines or flocks of people to work our way around.  Before we knew it, it was time for Jill to drive back to Charlotte, NC for the flight back to Minneapolis.  Unfortunately, we won’t see them until we return to Minnesota in the Spring so this little visit was really nice.

With family back into their normal routines, we still had a few stops to check before we were to leave this campground.

Charleston ~

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience this “jewel of the Lowcountry” – a seaport that would later be synonymous with Southern charm, and the clip-clop of carriage tours.  The city that is almost 350+ years old.   Founded in 1680 when Charles Town relocated to the peninsula which had a population at that time of 1,000.  It has survived Blackbeard the Pirate, wars, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes; being renamed in 1783 as “Charleston”. 

The diversity of the foods, architecture and people some things about Charleston that we believe will always be part of the draw:  a stroll through an old graveyard that has been around for centuries, a walk around the Battery, a meander down moss-lined cobblestone lanes, the of course, the awe of standing under a majestic old oak tree.  Lots of walking is expected so that you can really take in what Charleston is all about.  But, just in case you need some travel assistance, you can ride the shuttle free which operates three routes on the Charleston peninsula.

With our South Carolina visit coming to an end, it was time to pack up the coach and continue our journey to another LowCountry area.  This would be the charming state of Georgia. 

  
We are very proud of our grandson, Joseph.🥰🥰🥰🥰