Rhode Island Adventure

This was our first time to stay in Rhode Island and we had no idea what to expect in the smallest state in the country.  One woman suggested a restaurant in nearby Westerly that serves clam chowder and clam cakes.  "You can't get more Rhode Island than that," she said.  So we checked it out.  The clam cakes were more like clam balls.  With ketchup they were pretty good and the chowder was OK--not as good as at Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco.

Westerly is in the southwest corner of the state just a few miles from the southern shore.  Newport, RI, is in the southeast corner of the state so we didn't get to see that iconic location.  But we enjoyed our nearby coastal areas, including Watch Hill and East Beach.

This Merry Go Round is right next to the beach in Watch Hill.  Kids were having a good time there.  The city beach there cost $9 for seniors so we skipped going there.  Instead, we walked toward a beautiful inn we saw on our way into town.

On the way we walked by some beautiful homes.  The high rent district increased in value as we got closer to the shore.  Look at the view through this carport.

I love this neat old house.  How many people visit this "cottage" in the summer?

This unique fence surrounds the gardens of a house named Seaswept which apparently was built about 1865.  In the distance you can make out the Watch Hill Lighthouse.

This is another spectacular house with a beautiful view.  I wonder what witch the weather vane  honors.

There was an almost hidden path--pedestrians and bicycles only--leading to the Watch Hill lighthouse.

 

Then we found a cutoff to the East Beach and finally got close to the waves coming in. As always, the lighthouse and beach have brisk winds but we were glad we finally got to the Atlantic Ocean.
  According to the evening news, Saturday was the day the Rhode Island beaches opened.  I didn't know you could close beaches.  But since it is the first day there are life guards available at some of the beaches, perhaps that is what they are talking about.  The weather hasn't been conducive to swimming and enjoying the beach.  Tonight we saw average temps for Memorial Day over the past 3 years--all in the 80s.  Today the high was 56--brrr.  The waves were good for surfers, however.

Eventually we came to Ocean House, the large inn we saw driving into town.  They have a private beach with individual changing tents and lots of beach chairs, as well as a large croquet field.  I would love to stay there for a couple of days--when the weather is a little warmer.

Hurricane Sandy came through this area in 2012 but we couldn't see any damage were we traveled.

This neat old touring car was parked outside the hotel.

It was a fun day to top off our visit to the last state on our bucket list.  Since beginning our RV travels in 1988, we have now spent the night in all of the lower 48 and Alaska.  Yipee!  Now, we need a new goal to put in our bucket.

Alaska–Day 67

On our way to fuel the truck, we drove to the beach near the Village of Ninilchik.  We saw a lot of people out clamming.

We thought it would be interesting to watch them at work.  However, that meant crossing the rocks, water and mud between us and them.

Look at the footprints through the mud.  Many people were wearing high rubber boots.

We saw one fellow who was walking in the mud and he walked right out of it!  He was forced to walk several steps in one boot and one sock before he could retrieve the boot and put it back on.  Here is is, carrying the sock as he makes it back to his vehicle.

One young person decided walking barefoot was the best way to get through the muck.  A trash bag doubles as a rain coat.

Since we weren’t wearing rubber boots (we don’t own any) and we didn’t want to go barefoot, we decided to wait for someone to come back to the shore where we could look at the clams.  Some people dig with a special shovel, others use a tube like this.  These are the razor clams dug with that tube.

Clams are dug while the tide is out.  Here are the boats in the Ninilchik River, obviously waiting for the tide to come in before they can sail out into Cook Inlet.

We spotted another eagle in a tree.

This gull seemed to like modeling for the camera.  I think it is a glaucous-winged gull

Tourists in South Carolina

The Grand Strand is a strip of white sand beach over 60 miles long, including Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where we spent four days. The beaches really are beautiful.



Three mornings there we went to the beach, where John ran three miles a day and I ran some, walked more. It was fun to watch the waves coming in.



We saw people fishing, others trying to surf board, and lots of people walking and running on the beach each morning. We even saw a surf rake, this machine that smooths the beach sand. Is it a Zamboni for sand?



The first morning, as we drove down the main drag, we kept seeing signs like this.



It took a while to find a road that did go through.

Our RV park was right next to Barefoot Landing, a major shopping, dining and entertainment venue in the very touristy section of Myrtle Beach where we were staying. There was a gate we could go through at the park to access Barefoot Landing. We rode by these yachts that people were staying in--just another way to travel.



It was fun to watch this young boy try to ride a mechanical bull--just one of several carnival-type activities..



As we biked around it smelled wonderful--there are lots of restaurants. Since we had already eaten, we decided on an ice cream cone. We should have checked out the price before we placed our order. Here is John enjoying (?) his $4.95 single ice cream cone. Have you ever heard of a cone costing that much?



We were glad we hadn't planned on spending Memorial Day Weekend at Myrtle Beach. It is the weekend for Black Beach Week. Here is a quote from the web site for the event.

Black Bike Week is not only the largest black bike festival in the world but its also the largest black beach week event period. Every Memorial Day Weekend ( May 27-May 31, 2010) over 350,000 bikers travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for fun, food, festivities and more. If you love bikes and the people who ride them, you cannot miss this event.


It began Thursday night, our last night there, and all night long--at least until 3 am, we could hear loud motorcycles going up and down the street in front of the RV park. Our park itself, was quiet, but we were next door to a motel that was really loud.

We're Not in Kansas anymore, Toto

Or Colorado or Arizona.

We are in South Carolina and yesterday I went into the local Walgreen's to pick up medicine for our cat, Partner. I noticed spray bottles of something to "Stop the Sting" from Jellyfish. That certainly is not something we would see in Kansas, Colorado or Arizona. At the local Wal Mart, we saw displays of beach towels and buckets to use at the beach, huge coolers and fishing rods for fishing in the surf. As we drive the streets of Myrtle Beach, we have seen several superstores of beach toys and beach wear.

Here we see hookup sites for water yachts, much like the hookups we have for our land yachts. In fact, we have stayed in RV parks with hookup poles for water and electric that look just like what we saw last night.

The fishing boats we see trucks hauling through town are sure a lot bigger than the bass boats we are used to.

These differences are part of what makes it so interesting to live in different parts of the country.

St. Augustine

Yesterday we drove south along the Atlantic Coast through some really nice areas, especially Ponte Vedra. The dunes line the road, so we couldn't see the ocean most of the way, but we did see some impressive houses. Our destination was St. Augustine, a city I had heard about for years. From the city's web site, it looked like we might need more than one day to explore. There are museums galore, for instance. The surrounding area first explored in 1513 by Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, who was then the governor of nearby Puerto Rico. He claimed the region for the Spanish crown. The city itself was established in 1565 and has been ruled by the Spanish, the French, the British, the Spanish again, and in 1821 it finally became part of the United States.

This is one of the early gates that guarded the city.



Today the most obvious sight is trains like this,



which take tourists around the old town. They drop people off at each museum and other locations. I think buying a ticket on the train gets you into most of the museums. Since we wanted to walk around ourselves, we didn't get free admission. This is the "oldest school house museum" in the country, they say.



We didn't pay to go inside. We also didn't pay to go into a living history exhibit. We did explore the Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine and Saint Photios Chapel. A Scottish physician, Andrew Turnbull, received a grant from the government of Great Britain to settle land in its newly acquired property in Florida. His wife was the daughter of a Greek merchant in Smyrna, Asia Minor, and he believed people of the Mediterranean area were suited to the warm Florida climate.

On March 23, 1768, 1403 colonists sailed for Florida, to a settlement called New Smyrna. Only 1255 survived. They were not prepared for the harsh conditions as indentured servants or for clearing the swampland filled with alligators, poisonous snakes and mosquitoes. In just over two months, they revolted. The revolt did not bring about improvement and by the end of the first year, 450 men, women and children were reported dead. By March 1777 many of the settlers began leaving for St. Augustine, about 75 miles to the north. There the Greek settlers established the first permanent Greek settlement on this continent. The shrine and chapel celebrate that settlement. Isn't the chapel beautiful?



This is one of the numerous narrow lanes in the old town area of St. Augustine.



Some of the older (not oldest) buildings in town are really interesting, especially the tile work on the roofs. This is the Methodist Church. Click the photo to enlarge and look at the roof.



The Catholic cathedral looks much the same. Another old building has been converted to use as Flagler College. The tile on the tower here looks the same.



After leaving the city, we checked out the St. Augustine Lighthouse. That would cost $7 to go inside, so we didn't. We did take this photo. It is a great lighthouse.



Then we drove on 14 miles south to Fort Matanzas National Monument, built in 1740--42 by the Spanish to protect Matanzas Inlet, the "back door" of St. Augustine. Admission is free (even if you don't have a US senior pass). A free ferry takes tour participants across the inlet to the fort.



This is a view of the small fort from the water.



These are some of the guns that protected the fort and access to St. Augustine.



They were only fired once at British ships, in 1742. They drove the British ships away and no major attack was attempted on the facility after that.

This is kind of a cute guard house. But would it protect the soldier inside?



Here is where the soldiers slept.



We biked to the beach again last evening, then walked in the surf. Here are some of the gulls that kept us company. And note the large ship in the distance. We don't know what kind it is.



This morning we ran along the beach. I haven't been able to run for 10 days because of problems with my foot. I only made it about 1 1/2 miles this morning, but it sure was fun. There is no better place to run.

Finally--Florida

Yesterday we parked in this tropical jungle--on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in a Jacksonville city park, Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park.



John thinks maybe we are in Jurassic Park and a brontosaurus might come out to get us. But we have good electricity and there is hardly anyone here--maybe 15 rigs in a campground with over 200 full-hookup sites.



This sign is posted all over the campground. I can understand not feeding alligators or raccoons. I wouldn't know how to feed a possum--the only ones I have ever seen have been roadkill. But cats? What cats? Why shouldn't we feed them? Maybe they mean big cats? Somewhere near here you can go to view panthers.

After getting set up, we rode our bikes down to the beach. There were quite a few people enjoying the sand and the water.



And lots of sea gulls looking for dinner.



The campground is next to a lake.



I wish I knew what this camouflaged thing floating in the lake was.



Tonight we biked back to the beach. We had it almost to ourselves. There were a few shore birds.



And there were more waves.



Maybe we can do our run along the beach before we leave.

Cairin (our GPS) died about the time we drove into Florida. We bought a new one at the Tallahassee Wal Mart, but when we got it home, it wouldn't turn on. Today we visited a Wal Mart here and traded Cairin II for Cairin III. We really like this Garmin nuvi 1450. And it makes it so much easier to find where we want to go in cities.