Southeastern Ramblings

I've been roaming around Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina over the past week.  It's a fine time of year to be here...the heart of spring, with flowers blooming in profusion.  The air is mild; some days are a bit sultry, others a shade cool and blustery, but the weather is never uncomfortable...ideal for exploring.  This is sunrise from my room at Jekyll Island last week.

I stopped in Savannah for a night to see my friends Doug and Amy.  I took a stroll through the city, enjoying the many verdant squares set up by James Oglethorpe almost three hundred years earlier.  The squares are surrounded by fine homes and festooned with cool gnarly oaks. 

I moved on to Charleston, where I visited my friend Wendy and her boyfriend Mark.  We went to Patriots Point Maritime Museum, and toured the USS Hornet.  Decomissioned in 1970, the ship had many familiar fittings that my ship, the USS Chicago, had when I was on board from 1973-77.  Here's Wendy on the flight deck of the Hornet with I believe an F-18.

This is a tailhook mechanism.  The airplane lands and snags an arrestor cable with its tailhook, shown at the right.  I had never examined one  before, and was amazed at how blunt and fragile it was.  Seems it would be awfully easy to miss the cables.  While that happens from time to time, generally the pilots are really good at snagging those things.

On the way to a winery/distillery in the Low Country, Wendy, Mark, and I visited the Angel Oak.  This remarkable tree is 300-400 years old and resides southwest of Charleston.  It's only about 65 feet tall but its branches extend over a width three times its height.  It looks particularly dramatic in black and white.

Fine Charleston homes on the Battery.  Our friend Shawn dropped in for a day and was Zillowing these homes as we strolled..  Many, including these, sell for several million dollars; but just a few blocks inland, you can get one for high six figures.

Yesterday Wendy and I visited Middleton Place, a plantation that has been owned by the same family for over 300 years.  Its heyday was before the Civil War, but it has been restored and is now a National Historic Site.  The flowers, obviously, are in full spring bloom.

Here's one of the residents of Middleton Place, taking his leisure on a balmy day.

Wendy made a friend!!

The azaleas are blooming profusely in South Carolina.  They're a bit late this year due to the cold winter, but they're sure pretty now.

Flagler Beach.  Orange sand!  I like this town...it's my second overnight visit.  It's a Florida rarity...a quiet beach town.  Reminds me of many of its Australian counterparts.

Sunset in Flagler Beach, after a showery day.