THE END

Monday, April 26, 2010

Sweet Home Alabama - MARDI GRAS

January 29th and we make it to Gulf Shores, AL. We stop at the State Park but there are no sites available. Find a monthly spot at Island Retreat RV Park on Fort Morgan Rd. Lots of snowbirds, the majority are from Michigan.

The weather continues to be colder than we had hoped. This is one of the coldest winters on record. Highs are in the 50's but gets down to the 20's at night. Average temps should be in the 60's.

Enjoy a Mardi Gras Parade up in the town of Fairhope.

Florida - Breakdown

Enter Florida, stay at Stephen C. Foster State Park. Then continue to Tavares, Florida fora visit with Gary's Brother. Enroute to Gulf Shores, AL. we layed over in a small State Park - Ochlocknee State Park in Sopchoppy Florida. Home to white squirrels. Had a pleasant evening, called ahead to Gulf State Park to see if they had monthly sites available which they did. Stopped at the dump station on the way out in the morning and it would not go any further!Towed to Tallahassee for repair. Was fairly painless and quick, but just enough of a delay to lose out on a monthly spot at Gulf State Park in Alabama.

Stephen C. Foster Museum

Carillon at Stephen C. Foster Park

White Squirrel

Breakdown

Fred Ganyon State Park, Niceville Florida

Big Lagoon State Park, Florida

Thursday, January 21, 2010

January - Sapelo Island, Cumberland Island National Seashore

Before leaving Brunswick GA, we take a ferry and tour Sapelo Island. We then continue our Journey with a stop at St. Mary's and the Cumberland Island National Seashore to see the wild horses.

Sapelo Island . Inhabitants are consist of an African-American community known as Gullah. Reynolds had their Summer Cottage here (he was rejected by Jekyll Club because he was "New Money")
Dungeness on Cumberland Island, Georgia, is a ruined mansion that was the home of several families significant in American history. James Oglethorpe first built on Cumberland Island in 1736, building a hunting lodge that he named Dungeness.

In the 1880s the property was purchased by Thomas M. Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie, who began to build a new mansion on the site. The 59-room Queen Anne style mansion and grounds were completed after Carnegie's death in 1886. His wife Lucy continued to live at Dungeness and built other estates for her children including, Greyfield for Margaret Carnegie, Plum Orchard for George Lauder Carnegie, and Stafford Plantation. By this time the Carnegies owned 90% of the island. The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925. In 1959 Dungeness was destroyed by fire, alleged to be arson. The ruins are today preserved by the National Park Service as part of Cumberland Island National Seashore. They were acquired by the Park Service in 1972.

Dolphins Follow the Ferry

Sapelo Island Lighthouse

RJ Reynolds Summer House Can be reserved overnight for groups of 16-19 adults with a 2 night minimum all meals included.

Library

St. Mary's Harbor at Sunset

Cumberland Island Ferry

Dungeoness Mansion

Wild Horses

Live Oak Forest

Ranger Tour

Friday, January 15, 2010

January - Savannah / Tybee Island / St. Simons & Jekyll Island

Stop in Savannah and visit Tybee Island, then continue on to visit the former Managers of Atlantic Oaks in Brunswick, GA. Have an accident on the way out of town and decide to sit still for a bit and stay a week Visit St. Simons and Jekyl Islands.

At the turn of the century, tycoons, politicians, and socialites flocked to Jekyll Island to revel in their own luxury and America's burgeoning wealth. Our historic Georgia Club was described in the February 1904 issue of Munsey's Magazine as "the richest, the most exclusive, the most inaccessible club in the world." Its impressive members included such luminaries as J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Vincent Astor, Joseph Pulitzer, William K. Vanderbilt, Crane, Macy, Goodyear, and Gould.

SAVANNAH