Jacksonville and St Augustine, FL

After our brief stop in Charleston, we drove down to Jacksonville, Florida and we're staying at the Naval Air Station's Jacksonville RV Park.

We caught up with friends Fran and John, who were staying at another Naval Air Station campground, Osprey Cove RV Park.

Back in 2009, Lynda and I discovered Beach Road Chicken when we were visiting the Jacksonville Mayo Clinic. They claim to be the oldest restaurant in Jacksonville, and have been at the same location since 1939. Beach Road Chicken serves up very generous portions of family-style dinners of good ole' southern cookin', such as fried chicken, catfish, creamed peas, biscuits... etc. Everything is heart-stoppin' good, and we were determined to go back there again. Anyway, we picked up Fran and John and went to Beach Road Chicken for lunch - it was as good as we remembered!

Fran and John

After lunch, we drove to a so-called historic district which was supposed to offer an interesting area to park and walk around. We could not find it, and  ended up driving around. We came upon some beautiful old homes and so it turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon despite the false start.

Fran and John left the next day for Patrick Air Force Base... we will be just a few days behind them.

Before arriving in Jacksonville, I contacted a long-time friend, Kevin, who had moved to St Augustine about a year ago. We arranged to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with him in St Augustine, and I was really looking forward to seeing him!

Knowing that we would not be home from St Augustine until at least 10PM, we decided to board Sydney and Barley rather than leave them alone for 12 hours in the motor home. We dropped them off Saturday morning at the Jacksonville Airport Pet Paradise boarding kennel. Pet Paradise has facilities around the country at major airports. What makes them so useful is that you can drop off and/or pick up your pets on Sundays... most kennels do not offer Sunday service.

As it turned out, another friend, Bridget, had recently moved to Ponte Vedra Beach and so we met her for brunch at Beach Diner Saturday morning before driving south to St Augustine. We became friends with Bridget online several years ago when we were looking for a housesitter, but had never met her in person. We were so glad to have that time with her!

We met up with Kevin at his apartment in the old part of town around 1:30PM. We met his little dog, Walter, and then spent the next eight hours walking all over St Augustine, seeing both the touristy stuff and the off-the-beaten path things. Kevin's enthusiasm and love for St Augustine is so contagious! And he knows so much about this beautiful old town.

The weather was perfect. We ate a late lunch, popped into taverns for a beer every so often, got some pizza, walked around cemeteries, smoked cigars, visited Flagler College, etc. It was just an amazing time with my dear ole' friend. And, as you can see, Kevin and Lynda hit it off just fine!

We left St Augustine around 10PM and drove back to our Jacksonville campground  - we were exhausted and our feet were sore, but what a fun day we had!

We left Jacksonville this morning, after picking  Sydney and Barley up from Pet Paradise. They were happy to see us. Woof!

Charleston, SC - Angel Oak Tree and Crab Legs

After our week-long stop at Dreher Island State park, we made our way to the Joint Base Charleston RV Park.

As planned, we went to see the Angel Oak Tree, one of the oldest living trees in North America.
According to the web site, The Angel Oak is a Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) that is a native species found throughout the Lowcountry (Coastal Carolina). Believed to be in excess of 1500 years old, its massive, draping limbs and wide spreading canopy present the aura of an angel but the naming of this tree was acquired from the tree's previous owners, Martha and Justin Angel.

I have to admit that the Angel Oak was very impressive!

And we also enjoyed the drive from the base to Johns Island. I had forgotten how pretty the Oaks are in that part of South Carolina, with their scarves of Spanish Moss.

After visiting the Angel Oak Tree, we drove back to the campground and spent some time with the grrr-animals before going out to eat.



We both enjoy low country cooking and found a restaurant not too far from the base that served up some pretty good food!

 


We leave tomorrow for Jacksonville, Florida. We hope to visit an old friend in St Augustine, and catch up with RVing friends, Fran and John Kurz

Dreher Island State Park, SC - Fun with Friends!

We left Cove Lake State Park on September 30th and made our way to Dreher Island State Park, a few miles north of Columbia, South Carolina.

This was our first drive of significant distance in the motor home, and I was very pleased to see how well the Dolphin handled going through the Appalachian mountains between Tennessee and North Carolina. She hauled us and the car up and over with barely a shrug.

We lived in Columbia for many years before moving to Tennessee, and have stayed in touch with several  South Carolina friends who we were hoping to see. As it turned out, this has been a busy and fun-filled week!

We caught up with Sheila and Teresa over lunch at the Mediterranean Tea Room. And we spent a lot of time with Rhonda - she took us out on her boat at sunset, fed us several wonderful meals (and lots of wine), accompanied us to Octoberfest in Newberry, and hosted a dinner get-together with Sylvia  and Jeanie. We also got to visit with Catherine, and have a delicious brunch with Mimi.



Dreher Island State Park is on Lake Murray, and has two campground sections - A and B. We're staying in section A, in a site on the water. This is a lovely setting and we hope to camp here again sometime. The dogs have enjoyed it also - we took them swimming, which they love.

We also put Ursa's ashes into Lake Murray. Ursa, our much loved dog for 18 years, loved to swim in Lake Murray. And so it seemed fitting that her ashes become part of the lake. She passed away in 2009 and we've waited since then to go to Lake Murray.

This week has flown by... We're leaving tomorrow for Charleston, where we'll stay two nights so we can visit the Angel Oak Tree and enjoy some low country food.