April 13, 2017 Morgantown, WV

Hi everyone.
On the way to Morgantown WV, Grammie was in Accident.  Don't worry a bit, Grammie is fine.

Morgantown is located on the Monongahela and is an area of steep hills.  If you are standing in a road that goes up and down, chances you are you are in someone's driveway..  If the road is curvy, you are following along a river or a lake.  The major lake in the area is the Cheat Lake.

Cheat Lake

 Also in the area is Lynn Lake where there are many nice homes with an excellent opportunity to do some fishing.  This pic shows some of the steep hillside behind the house.

We took a trail walk along the lake where there was muck coal taken out years ago.  At the end of this portion of the trail was a dam used for hydroelectric power.  We didn't know that if it wasn't for a locked gate, we would have walked all the way to Pennsylvania.

We were being watched.

A couple of pics showing the built up housing areas on hillsides

 So many hills that even the golf coursed hardly had any flat areas.

On a trip into town, population 29,000, boosted by about 22,000 West Virginia University students, you will see a lot of students walking to and from classes as this is a downtown campus.

If you look carefully at this picture, you can get a glimpse of Grammie.

 Grammie next to a statue of Don Knotts, born in Morgantown.

Morgantown has many historic sites.  For a quick list visit the following Historic sites.

Grammie is fine and yes she was in Accident.  Thanks for keep an eye out for Grammie

One more day in town and then on to New England...Home to the Patriots, Red Sox, and many Boston Marathon runners.  Hey Sis, and Bro, we will see you soon.

April 8, 2017 Monticello

Hi everyone, today we left Virginia Beach and headed to Harrisonburg, VA with a stop at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.
If you take out a nickel and look at the back of it, you will see a resemblance of Monticello.  Jefferson was a person that kept written details of things in his life and was very meticulous in the details of his house.  The details were about many things in his life, not only of Monticello, and its revisions-remodeling, but of his gardens, crops and his management of slaves.

Monticello is said to be the  masterpiece of Thomas Jefferson.  He designed and redesigned and built and rebuilt for more than forty years and its flower gardens were an obvious show of the love for flowers.The food gardens were not only a source of food, but also an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world.

In a later remodel, Monticello is said to be the first house to use a dome in its structure.
On the tour, pictures were not allowed in the house but the link may help to see the inside.

Monticello home

Grammie outside Monticello

Jefferson thought that education was very important so he founded the University of Virginia.  From Monticello, you can see the dome at the University of Virginia, also known as just Virginia.

Monticello was built on the top of a mountain, but it was not the highest in the area.  Altus mountain, which Jefferson at one time owned, overlooks Monticello and is now privately owned.

 A wide view of his garden area today.

To the east, Jefferson could look out a distance of 40 miles...and to the west a distance of 25 miles to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Jefferson's house featured a bottom cellar running the width of his house which included a wine cellar, a beer storage area, storage for his garden crops as well as many winter supplies.  There were 2 staircases as well as dumbwaiters that servants used to bring up supplies.  The supplies were kept cold using ice from a 16 foot diameter by 12 foot deep ice house located outside on the north side of the house.

Also outside, at the cellar level were storage areas for horses, carriages, and other supplies.

The top of the mountain was flattened to make an area for his flower gardens.

The tulips were in various colors.

A visit to Monticello is highly recommended, whether of not you visit presidential homes.

Thanks for keep an eye out for Grammie

April 7, 2017 Virginia Beach

Hello everyone,
Today we went to the Virginia Aquarium.  It was a great place with a lot to see...and kid friendly, of any age.

Well, there may have been a part that wasn't quiet as friendly, but still interesting.

  The Komodo Dradon was really quite active, moving about in it's glassed in area.

There was a neat exhibit that featured a walk through part of the aquarium. This Manta was overhead.

 The Egyptian Cobra may grow up to 9 feet.

 Probably the best part for the kids...of all ages was the outdoor area that was set up for even the younger kids.  One can travel from tree to tree either by zip line or a variety of stepping obstacles.

 There were some parts the the older crowd wasn't planned to go.

Thanks for keeping a lookout out for Grammie.  Did you see her up in the trees?

April 4, 2017, Masters

Hi everyone,

Today we visited Augusta National Golf Course to see a practice round in preparation for Thursday's start. The weather was great after the Monday practice round was washed out.  When we were getting close to the course, there were many people beside the street looking to either buy or sell tickets even though Augusta National prohibits doing it.

 The free parking lot was already full with very few places to spare.

  After a little bit of a walk, we went through security and had our tickets checked.

As we walked on, there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the gift shop.  We were thinking that people wanted to get items before they ran out.  Practically no chance of that as there are web sites still selling 2016 merchandise.Over the course of the tournament, Augusta National hires about 1300 security people as well as many high school students to help guide people through certain areas.

We had not seen some of the front 9 the last time we were here so we walked past the clubhouse to the 1st Tee.

Right nearby is the 18th green, where it all will end on Sunday.

This is looking towards the 18th fairway.  When watching the tournament on TV it really doesn't show how much uphill and downhill the course has.

We saw Phil coming up towards the 2nd hole where he easily made a birdie.

Phil's caddy, Bones Mackay taking a rest.  This was after we watched several people skipping golf balls across the pond on the 16th.

After enough walking, Grammie and her best friend stopped 

for a pic in front of the leaderboard and then called it a day.

Thanks for keeping up with Grammie's golf activity.

April 3, 2017 Headin' North

Friday was the last day of our daughter Monica and family's week long stay with at Cocoa Beach.
They weren't looking forward to leaving and left concerned that their flight might be delayed.  Their fears were confirmed when the got to the airport. We got the call at 3:30 the next morning that they arrived home safely. Thanks Tyler and Eli for keeping Grammie active.

On Saturday, we spent the morning enjoying the sunrise, and packing, and loading the van.  We got a late start but had a short drive up to Kings Bay Georgia.  Tom got in a quick round of golf because it was hot and not many people on the course.  With the recommendation of the staff, we ate at St Mary's Seafood in St Marys Georgia.  There are a lot of places that have wonderful seafood but the ones that stand out are the ones where the parking lot is full. Fried Green Tomatoes didn't disappoint.

Sunday we headed towards Charleston, SC where we stayed at the Joint Base Charleston.  Nearby is the 2nd Boeing Plant located in the US, which is the primary location of the new Dreamlifter 787 aircraft.
Before we got to Charleston, as we passed through the city of Walterboro, we saw a sign that we hadn't seen before, but certainly intriguing. After a few turns, we ended up at the local airfield... Anderson Field.  During WWII the land was leased to the US Army Air Corps.

 In 1942, the Field, better known then as the Walterboro Army Air Field, was used to train pilots for overseas duty.  This location was also where some of the German and Italian Prisoners of War were held.  In 1944, it was here that over 500 black men from the Tuskegee program went through advanced individual air combat training before being deployed overseas.

 The sign that we saw traveling through Walterboro, TUSKEGEE AIRMEN MONUMENT, honoring the Airmen, Instructors, and ground support personnel for their efforts and accomplishments in the war. 

After arriving in Charleston, we  met up with a former Winthrop resident, now living in Mt. Pleasant, SC and caught up on our lives.  We ate at Sullivan's Restaurant on Sullivan's Island, and again a full parking lot.  When leaving, we happened to notice this sign. The library is named after Edgar Allan Poe, who was stationed on Sullivan’s Island as a private in the US Army from 1827 and 1828.  The Edgar Allan Poe Branch Library is housed in the renovated Battery Gadsden, a former Spanish-American War four-gun battery.  
Sullivan’s Island was used by Poe as the background for his story ‘The Gold Bug‘.

Today we are staying at Fort Jackson, better known as Fort "wanna forget" by someone.  We met up with Jim and Sue who will be going down with us to this weeks golf competition.

Caught Grammie resting.

Thanks for keeping an eye out for Grammie.

March 30, 2017 - Treetops

Hi everyone.  Today we went back to the Brevard Zoo area with an extra days entrance from our last visit.  Although we revisited the zoo, our focus was to do a little treetop view visit.

This time is was a turn for the kids to get into action.  Tyler and Eli were strapped into their harnesses and followed their guide up onto the lines.

On the lower portion for the kids, Grammie's feet didn't have to leave the ground when taking pictures.

They had fun going from one tree stand to another.

Having never had experience with the system, it was very safe as one was always connected to the cable.

Tom and Monica enjoyed the higher altitude above the animal cages.

Everyone was treated to an after dinner rocket launch.  Although launches have been a common occurrence since the 60's, this was the first launch using a previously used rocket.

It's neat how the people still cheer up and down the beach when the rocket takes off.  

For more news about the first time reuse of a rocket thruster, visit the following link.
Historic spacex launch

Tomorrow morning we will begin our return trip back home, but not before visiting Augusta National and the Boston Marathon.  Still plenty to do before the snow is gone.
Thanks for keeping track of Grammie's whereabouts.

March 29, 2017- Kennedy Space Center

A busy day today.  We headed over to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.  It was another great day and the grand kids had a great time.

But first, another glorious sunrise.

There was plenty to do and plenty to see.  One of the stops featured the Apollo series of flights.  The rockets back then were the Saturn V series with a tremendous amount of thrust.  When it took off it was said to be louder that an Atomic Bomb.   The main fuel tank was about 33 feet by 138 feet and it's weight loaded approached 5 million pounds.  It burned just shy of 18,000 pounds of fuel per second.

There is to be a launch on the 30th that will feature the first time a rocket will be reused on another flight.  This pic is of Launch pad 39A where the launch window opens up at 6:27 p.m.  A fortunate opportunity for our visitors provided there are no delays.

The Apollo 14 mission module is on permanent display here at the Space Center.

Tyler with the Space Shuttle Atlantis in the background.

After another great day the kids were happy to be back in the pool.