Monday, December 22, 2014

Great intentions and a glass of wine.

I had great intentions of getting down to update the blog. It is about a month in arrears but my computer had an unexpected glass of wine dumped on it. I know this one will not get fixed as inexpensively as the last time. I have an appointment at the Genius Bar in Orlando on Wednesday. Ka ching, Ka ching!!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

It's Fixed!!

My computer has been "broken" for over a week. I was lost....but today I had a brainwave! What if the T connection I was using on my Mac charger was the wrong one? What if I have been using the one from my old MacBook? Maybe.... maybe.... maybe. I dug out the other one I had (the new one), switched them around... et voila!! My computer turned on and I was able to charge it up. So now I can go back and complete my old posts with photographs that were on my external hard drive. Tomorrow is going be a wet day here at Walkabout Camp and RV Park so I catch up as much I can.

Friday, November 21, 2014

A Day trip to Cumberland Island

What a WOW day. The weather was perfect for a trip over to Cumberland Island National Seashore. We left Timmy at home and arranged with the campground owner's two boys to take him out on a potty break in mid afternoon.

We got the 11:45 ferry from St Mary's. $18 each plus $4 each for entry to the National Park. The ferry takes about 45 minutes to get down the St Mary's River and over to the island. The first thing we did was join the warden guided tour of the area from the jetty to the ruin of the Dungeness Mansion. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about the early history of Cumberland Island as well as the later history of the Carnegie family and their role on the island. Cumberland almost became another Hilton Head Island. Thank goodness it didn't. It has been preserved in an almost completely natural state. If you Google dungeness cumberland images you will see many photos of what the mansion looked like. here is the National Park link to the Multimedia page.


The ferry ride out to the island

There was a strong, cool wind blowing.


Bye bye St Mary's
Heading to the cistern (on the right) to meet the ranger.

Lots of deer wandering around the island

Horses too.

These horses are feral. They will kick and bite.

A foal. The horses are counted every year and the count averages between 140 and 180

Approaching the old gates of Dungeness.

Approaching the ruins

The stonework is all Tabby a mixture of oyster shells,  lime, sand and water.


Imagine the carriages and expensive cars carrying rich folk up to the mansion.

Burned down by arsonists


We brought a packed lunch and ate it on the expansive lawns facing the salt marsh.

The echoes of long ago children playing  in the grounds.


Tabby gates


What a grand place to live.


Entrance to the lower part of the building. Kitchens?

What it used to look like.
Lots of wildlife in the salt marshes.

Buzzards

Boardwalk through the Maritime Forest

Maritime Forest

View from the board walk


Armadillo foraging in the brush
Oysters in the salt marsh

Boardwalk over the Salt Marsh

Low tide

On Cumberland Beach

Not many shells caught in the sand ripples.

1 1/4 mile walk from one end of the beach to where we have to go to get the ferry back. 

Beautiful live oaks in the campground

Camp site. $4 a night per person. 

Deer in the campground

Sun shining through the live oaks and the Spanish Moss


Michael waiting for me in the camp ground

An old man, a rocking chair and a sunny porch.  Waiting for the ferry back to St Mary's

Sign at the campground dock

A beautiful end to a lovely day.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

St Mary's, Georgia.

We have been having trouble at Walkabout with our satellite signal. Sometimes it is there and sometimes it is not. Have spent countless hours on the phone with Dish so we decided to take the receiver to a Dish authorized service shop in Kingsland. Well, we went to the address listed on the Dish website and guess what? Yup! Empty store. Thanks Dish. Appreciate the run around.

Anyways, we made a turnaround and drove into St Mary's. Our first port of call was the Submarine Museum which was very interesting. An hour there looking at all the submariny type things and then a walk along the riverfront.










Lunch at Langs Seafood Restaurant, which was so-so. A walk around town photographing the lovely old houses and the riverfront, and back home to Timmy, who was overjoyed to see us, as usual.










Cheers, off to Cumberland Island tomorrow. So stay tuned!