Wednesday September 21 Pics

Mini golf


Rexall Drugs

Route 66 Inn

Art Deco building from the '30's

Texan Route 66 Motel

Leaning water tower outside Groom, TX

Wednesday September 21

8:00am - We slept in a little bit today so that we wouldn't run into rush hour traffic making our way through OKC, OK beginning our day. We made our way across the city to begin our tour of Route 66. Our plan was to follow it, checking out the small cities along the way and reliving the nostalgia. We stopped at McD's for breakfast, unfortunately we are now out of the land of bagels and back into McGriddleland. We started along the map, but it soon became clear that a lot (much more than I expected) of old Route 66 is gone and now what is considered "Route 66" is the access road that runs parallel to I40. We did go through some old towns, and see some old signs, but both of us are pretty disappointed. At this point, we can say, if you've driven I40, you've driven Route 66. At least between Amarillo, TX and OKC, OK. We were expecting the road to be still be intact in a lot of places and be miles off the freeway, but that simply is not the case. While I got a few good pictures, my nostalgia for The Mother Road is fading. Especially if it continues like this tomorrow. Frustrated, we called it a day in Amarillo, TX.

Weather - Cloudy in OK
Sun in TX

Tuesday September 20 Pics

Flamingos


3 finned sea turtle

Penguin

Manatee

Bird

Otters (lower right corner)

Tuesday September 20

8:00am - Today we decided to sleep in a little since we had gotten up so early yesterday. We were pretty close to what we were going to do, so we were not in a big hurry. It was a sad morning, after turning away from the coast yesterday, we were officially back land-side. It will be another year before I see ocean again. Off to breakfast at McD's and then to our destination for the day, Dallas World Aquarium. We took the trolley and were going to walk until we got there and realized it was about six or more blocks off the trolley line. Car, please. lol So we thought about stopping at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank on the way back to the car. C looked it up on his iphone and, well, no, we couldn't do that either. Tours have to be arranged in advance, but tours are suspended right now because of remodeling. Oh, well. Another time. At least we know and we can look at making a reservation for a tour next time. So we got to the car and drove down to the Aquarium and parked. The aquarium was pretty big and very well organized. They have manatees there! You don't see those very often. We spent a couple hours there, which was a long time for us, but we enjoyed it and had a good time. We even had lunch. We headed out on the road to where we planned to stay for the night, Norman, OK. Just outside OKC. We saw two places that we put on the list for next time as they looked interesting, they were exotic animal parks. I like those. We got to the hotel at a decent time and got pizza from a local place and just watched some TV. Tomorrow we start our Route 66 tour!

Weather - Sun

Monday September 19 Pics

TX sunset

Red Jacket Firearms - "Sons of Guns"

VexCon - "Billy the Exterminator"

VexCon - "Billy the Exterminator"

Monday September 19

6:00am - Our day dawned bright and early and with promise. .....Until we opened the door and walked outside. And saw that it was just downpouring. We still headed out to our first destination, picking up breakfast at McD's along the way. We had to drive through rush hour traffic, which is why we had to leave so early. We got to the other side of town about 45 minutes early, and it was still coming down. We wanted to do a swamp tour, but it was an open air boat. Not something you want to be on when it's raining and you have no jacket and an expensive camera. So we bagged it. We also bagged everything else we were going to do in New Orleans because it was all outside stuff - walking around the French Quarter and a riverboat cruise. We had checked out the weather forecast on C's iphone while we were deciding what to do and saw that rain was in the forecast for the entire day, so we pulled up stakes and headed out. We didn't have anything else planned so we just did some touristy siteseeing. We located Red Jacket Firearms ("Sons of Guns") outside Baton Rouge and VexCon ("Billy the Exterminator") outside Shreveport. We then headed towards Dallas, TX and called it a day about an hour east of Dallas. Nothing exciting today, it was a pretty boring day.

Weather - Rain (southern LA)
Sun (nothern LA, TX)

Sunday September 18 Pics

Sunrise at our oceanfront hotel the other day

Cemetary at Pensacola Naval Air Station

Ocean across from the lighthouse

The lighthouse

"Top Gun" F14

"Blue Angel"

Fly Navy

Sunday September 18

7:30am - Our day started at the normal time. We had to pack up our laundry from last night so we didn't get on the road until almost 9am. Breakfast was at McD's. We are still in the land of bagel sandwiches. Our destination today was the Naval Aviation Museum. The museum is actually on the military base, Pensacola Naval Air Station. The military allows people onto the base to visit the museum, the lighthouse, and the cemetary. They give you a visitors pass that you display on your dash while you are on base. We go to the museum and take the trolley tour around the field where they have a multitude of planes. The tour guide was a retired naval pilot that knew the history of every plane and gave detailed descriptions of each. It was great to have someone who flew the planes talk about them. The field is directly next to where the Blue Angels reherse. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you can sit there and watch them practice. They have a Blue Angels jet on the field that on those days they open to the public and you can go and sit in. I can't imagine what that place is like during the summer! Packed, packed, packed. We spent a lot of time looking at all the planes they have inside as well. The place is huge. Another must see if you're in Pensacola. We stopped by the lighthouse and the cemetary before heading out. We did not have anything else planned for today because we had a pretty long drive over to New Orleans, LA. Today we were in four states. We started in Florida, drove through Alabama and Mississippi, ending up in Louisiana. We stopped in Slidell, just outside New Orleans. After much searching, we finally found a place open, and that delivers, for dinner. And we are all set for tomorrow. We have a big day planned tomorrow, so we have to get to bed early tonight.

Weather - Sun (FL, AL, MS)
Rain (LA)

Saturday September 17 Pics

Woody


Batmobile


70 Mustang, 1 of 1. Yes, please!

DeLorean. Yes, please!

GTO Judge

Saturday September 17

7:30am - Yep, you guessed it. Day started at the normal time. Breakfast at the normal place. We have a great routine going! We headed out straight away to our first destination, Tallahassee, FL. We are destined for the Tallahassee Car Museum. C loves cars, his favorite are the (real) muscle cars from the late 60's and early 70's. This museum had quite a few on display and even I found at least two that I would like to take home. They had lots of other things too, trains, model cars, cash registers, boats, knives, even some guns. There were lots of items there! It was pretty interesting. After we left the museum, we headed on our way to Pensacola, FL. We have something planned here as well, but we did not get in early enough so we just checked into the hotel and I did boring old laundry. I know, exciting, right? lol We spent most of the day driving so not much to tell today, sorry! More tomorrow, I am sure!

Weather - Sun and humid

Friday September 16 Pics

One of the marinas in Hilton Head


Bridge connecting north HH to south HH

Dolphin!

Owl! Caught you looking, he's fake

Friday September 16

7:30am - Our day started at the normal time. You can almost set your watch by us by now! We drove around Hilton Head Island a little, checking it out. A lot of gigantic houses, private golf courses, exclusivity galore. We then had breakfast at McD's. Seriously, before our next vacay, I think I am going to buy some stock! lol We headed out to our first activity, a dolphin tour! Yay! It was also a harbor cruise, so it served a dual purpose. It was neat to cruise around Hilton Head, seeing all the houses from the water. On the peninsula, the houses have water views on both sides. One of the houses there was listed a couple years ago for 14 million, the highest ever listed on the island. The house never sold and fell into foreclosure and was sold last year in a short sale for five million. It is a second home for the new owners and the captain of the boat we were on said he has only seen them once, over 4th of July weekend. I think if I bought a house there, I would visit more frequently, it's gorgeous! As we cruised out, we did not see any dolphins and I was disappointed, and soon it was time to head back. I was hoping we might see some on the way back and we got lucky! Yes! We saw some! Just a couple, but none the less, I got to see some. I was happy. We headed back to shore after watching them for a few minutes (our cruise time was about up). Once back on shore, we headed on to our next destination, Savannah, GA. We wanted to do a riverboat cruise in Savannah, but we didn't get into town in time to make the last one, so we decided to do a trolley tour of the city instead. That was really neat, it took us around to some of the more historic and architectural places around the town. Unfortunately, for the second time on the trip, I forgot my camera. One of these days, I am going to forget my head. We definatly put Savannah on the list to visit again because they are steeped in history and the architecture is just astounding. Once our tour was done, we headed out of town to where we were going to put down for the night, Jacksonville, FL. I wanted to stay on the river, and choose a hotel that was on the river. When we got there, they were out of river view rooms, we had to pay for parking, half the lights in the room didn't work, there was no fridge and the internet didn't work. Needless to say, it was not worth the price we paid, and I was not happy. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Weather - Cloudy and cool

Thursday September 15 Pics

Suspension bridge into Charleston


Carnival cruise ship

Original Customs house

Fort Sumter

Shrimp boat

Retired aircraft carrier

Thursday September 15

7:30am - Our day started at the usual time. I woke up with a bit of a headache. It's been warm, upper 80's, low 90's, but it's the humidity that is killing me here! It makes it so much warmer. I am not used to it. Breakfast at McD's. We then hit the road down to Charleston, SC. Originally we had planned to do a dolphin tour but we changed our minds last night and decided to skip both that and the SC Aquarium. We decided to do a harbor cruise and take the trolley around the city instead. Before the harbor cruise, we stopped off at the Fort Sumter museum and checked out the artifacts they had. It was small, but the history and items they have were interesting! The harbor cruise was very nice. We spent the time on the lower deck, inside where it was air conditioned! We saw a Carnival cruise ship in port and the bridge into Charleston, which was the first triangular bridge in North America. And we saw dolphins! There were quite a few, but they were so spread out I never knew where the next one was going to jump up so I couldn't get a picture. Bummer. I know! Another time maybe. There are four old forts in the area that were all pointed out to us and each has a rich history in the Civil War. After the harbor cruise, we got on the trolley system and took two of the three routes around the city and saw various things. One of the main things we saw was The Citadel. This is a military college that up until three or four years ago was all male. After the trolleys, we decided to head down to Savannah, GA. We decided to stop in Hilton Head Island instead so we can check out the island tomorrow! Woohoo, looking forward to it!

Weather - Sun and muggy

Wednesday September 15 Pics

View from our hotel room


Stingrays


The ocean from the ferry


Stack of alligators

Giant Gallapagos tortoise

Albino alligator

Wednesday September 15

7:00am - Yep, the day started at the normal time. This seems to be a good time to get up and get going as we seem to be getting in pretty late and by the time we unwind its really late! Breakfast was the standard at McD's. Yum! Love the bagel sandwiches. I am going to miss them when I am gone from this part of the country again. We were off and running to our first destination of the day, NC Aquarium. Last year we did a lot of zoos. This year we seem to have a lot of aquariums of the agenda. That's ok, I like them! We cruised around and looked at the exhibits, saw all the fish and jellies, sharks and stingrays. There is always a petting pool at aquariums, and that is always fun. I sometimes get the feeling the creatures are thinking, "Stop touching me, stop touching me, stop touching me!" After the aquarium, we headed over to the ferry and took it across the inlet. Yay! It was our first official sighting of something oceany. The trip took about 30 minutes and we were off to our next destination, Alligator Adventure. This place had lots and lots of gators and crocs, just stacks of them, everywhere! Big ones, small ones, albino ones, tailless ones, foreign ones, domestic ones. All kinds. It was pretty interesting and neat to see all the gators and crocs. One croc was gigantic. His head alone was probably as big long as my upper body! Rogue gators and crocs have a home here. That's good! Next we were off Ripley's Aquarium. It was neat, but I actually liked the one we went to in the morning better. Ripley's was smaller and higher priced. But we still had a good time and that's all that matters! So C made this agreement with me that we would try local places to eat more frequently instead of the processed fast food all the time. So today for lunch, we had BBQ! OK, I had BBQ, he had chicken fingers. Really? Yes, really. And he didn't even dip them in BBQ sauce. But at least we didn't have fast food. And for dinner! We went to Medieval Times! Dinner and a show! It was awesome. And so cool to see C eat with his fingers. hehehe They said silverware hadn't been invented yet so we didn't get any. C doesn't eat things like ribs because you have to eat them with your fingers. It was pretty good grub and a cool show. Tonight we are staying in a oceanfront hotel with a gorgeous view of the ocean. It is so nice. Leave the door open a little and fall asleep to the waves crashing against the sand. Ahh, that's the life.

Weather - Sun and muggy

Tuesday September 13 Pics

NASCAR Hall of Fame


Richard Petty's #43

Hendrick Motor Sports

Jeff Gordon's #24 shop

Richard Childress Racing

Dale Earnhardt's #3

Kevin Harvick's #29

Kevin Harvick, Inc

KHI shop