We started in Oklahoma
Drove to Texas
Flew to Charlotte, North Carolina
Drove to Mouth of Wilson, Virginia
From there drove down through North Carolina to South Carolina then Savannah Georgia on down to Amelia Island Florida and on Cocoa Beach
Then we flew home from Orlando.
Whew.......golly what a trip. Now, I could list everything we did but it would probably turn out to be the length of a novel so let me just hit the highlights and hopefully it will make you want to book a trip to one of these beautiful places.
When I say beautiful, I have to admit, while we were driving we saw some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. We missed the trees in their full color by probably a week but that still didn't take away from the scenery. The roads were windy up in the Virginia mountains but the scenery looked like something out of a painting.
One of my favorite stops was Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Now if you are a fan of old television shows, you may know that Mt. Airy is better known as MAYBERRY!
The TV show was based off the town where Andy Griffith grew up. Downtown Mt. Airy has been converted into Mayberry complete with old time police cars, Floyd's Barber Shop and Wally's gas station.
And of course, you can't have Mayberry without Andy and Opie.
As we made our way down to South Carolina, we decided to make a stop in Charleston. This city is rich with history and we got a taste of it while we were there.
Just outside of Charleston Harbor is Ft. Sumter.
Some history buffs will know that Ft. Sumter is the spot where it is said, that the civil war began. South Carolina had seceded from the union but the union still had possession of Ft. Sumter and wouldn't give it up so, a cannon was fired from a nearby Battery in the harbor and made a direct hit on the fort.
The fort is in ruins but still provides plenty to see.
After visiting the fort, a short ferry ride back to the mainland brought us to another war. Sitting at Patriots Point in Charleston harbor is the Aircraft carrier The USS Yorktown, the Destroyer USS Laffey and the submarine The USS Clamagore.
The Yorktown was home to over 3300 soldiers during WWII and played a vital roll in several battles but was lost in the battle at Midway. You could spend hours on this vessel and not see the whole thing. There are about forty planes and helicopters on display.
The USS Destroyer Laffey took on fifty Kamikaze fighters off Okinawa in WWII but they didn't sink her. Exploring this battleship was quite interesting. You could almost feel like you were pulled back in time.
The USS Clamagore was by far the strangest vessel to tour. I can't imagine being on the crew of a submarine. The doorways that you had to climb through were only large enough for one person at a time and that was the only way to get from one location to the next. There was no other hallway. It was one long tube. Bunks hung above torpedoes and along narrow walls. Although exploring it was fascinating, I think I would quickly get claustrophobic.
Also part of the tour at Patriot's Point was a recreated medical unit from the Vietnam War. The walking tour took you through different areas of a camp. One of the interesting pieces on display was an amphibious helicopter.
After Charleston we continued our historical trip along the coast to Amelia Island in Florida. There, we visited Fort Clinch. This fort was also part of the Civil War but was in much better shape.
Much of the fort has been preserved and each building is set up to show just how the soldiers would have lived.
Fort Clinch also was surrounded by beautiful beaches.
And what do you do when you are faced with miles and miles of sand? You hunt for seashells.
But the beaches of Fort Clinch are also known for something else.
This was the part of our trip where we got to hunt for treasures and boy, was it a hunt. It's always fun to walk for miles along the beach but searching for these little black beauties was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But, we were successful!
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