Hi y,all! We have been in the Carolinas for a couple of weeks and are starting to talk funny! We don't care much for grits, but hush puppies are pretty good.

We took a day trip to the Agusta, GA area today and heard on the radio that Agusta was James Brown's hometown and the famous from the music world were all gathering there for his funeral tomorrow! We drove along the Savannah River and visited 2 dams. We got a little lost on the way home as it was dark and signs are hard to read. It also does not help that "home" keeps changing!

Yesterday we took a scenic drive along the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in upstate SC. We were actually at elevations over 3,000 feet. They almost look like mountains. We were surprised to see many huge wild rhododendrons! They are plentiful in certain higher elevations in both the Carolinas and must be beautiful in the spring. The evergreen trees are mostly pines and there are many "stick" trees this time of year with mistletoe (it's a parasite) growing in clumps on the high branches. It was a clear sunny day and beautiful.

There are hundreds of Baptist Churches in this area! They are usually attractive red brick buildings with white trim and white spires and, of course, a graveyard.

Christmas decorations are everywhere. The traditional plain green wreath with a red bow at the top accounts for about 95% of the wreaths. They are very dramatic on all of the white houses. There is not much diversity in decorating styles and all of the variations we do at home are rare here.

We have had a wonderful visit with cousins Arlane and Jim in North Carolina. Their son, Cameron wife Deb and teenage daughters Hannah and Rebecca are near and came for Christmas day along with Deb's mother Yvonne. We had a fun time and it was especially nice for us to be with family when our kids and grandsons are so far away! Teen girl presents (computer stuff, makeup, etc.) were fun to experience and different from the Cars items and toys that Santa brought Garrett and Parker! We did miss those two little faces and excitement on Christmas morning! It was hard not to be with Jean & Mark (finally in their new home) and Carlee & Cody. We missed Aunt Mary, brothers, sisters and cousins at home!

As usual, we have had some great meals with Arlane and Jim! We all went to the Snappy Lunch in Mount Aire (thats Mayberry) for pork chop sandwiches. It's next door to Floyds barber shop. We also hit the Lexington Bar B Cue that is famous and ALWAYS has a long wait!

Prices for food seem reasonable to us. Bob has gotten Sr. coffee at McDonalds for as low as 24 cents.

On the other end of the spectrum, we toured the Biltmore Estate. It's amazing!

It was hard to leave Arlane and Jim - we had such a special time and experienced the finest in southern hospitality!

We are now in Fair Play, SC on Lake Hartwell. We will enjoy the scenery here then head to Atlanta for the last of the Christmas lights. After one rainy day, it is again sunny and beautiful.

The open house at Susan and Tods was a great event with about 100 people attending. The beautiful historic home was decorated with traditional decorations of wreaths, garlands, candles and an 18 foot tree! It was fun to help a bit and to meet so many new people from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

We left our wonderful serene motorhome location at Susan and Tod's farm and headed south. We choose to bypass Baltimore and DC and meander through Delaware (very flat) and Virginia to Virginia Beach/Norfolk area. We crossed the Chessapeak Bay Bridge and tunnel - 17 miles long. That is something that has been on our list of must dos!

Virginia Beach is one of those towns that is VERY busy in the summer. They have a wonderful beach that has miles of a concrete "boardwalk" that is nicely done with artwork and great access. They have a Christmas light show for about 2 1/2 miles on the walk where they let cars drive down it at night. (For you Redmond people, it was similar to what was done at Marymoore Park a few years back.)

After 2 days at the beach we headed to cousin Arlane and Jims in Salisbury, North Carolina.

All of this travel was under sunny skis and reasonably warm weather! We have been so lucky with lots of sunshine and above normal temperatures. It appears we picked the right time to be gone from the Seattle area as Carlee, Cody and the boys were without power for 6 days after the big storm! Jean and Mark lost power in the new house for a few days just when they are trying to move in.

We spent the weekend with Arlane and Jim in Williamsburg, VA. The Christmas decorations were beautiful and we had several memorable meals! Traditional decorations are all natural and there were lots of green wreaths, garlands and red ribbons. They are accented with fruits, pods, pinecones and other natural items.

We also got to tag along at another wonderful holiday party. Arlane and Jim's friends Hank and Shirley have hosted a "Toys for Tots" party in concert with the local Marines for 13 years. They decorate their home and yard "bigtime" and this year received a community service award from a local TV station. There were about 400 people, 10 Marines, and by the end of the day a truckload of toys!

 

Our 2 weeks at home were a whirlwind. It was really great to see the children, grandchildren, Aunt Mary and several friends. Bob was busy working at Jean and Mark's house, Linda was working on the Festival of Trees and decorating. It was fun to do some baby girl layette shopping with Carlee and spend a lot of time with Garrett and Parker. We had planned to see more important people and do some errands the last 2 days, but the snow came and stopped all that. We did manage to go on a Christmas tree cutting excursion with family. Fortunately Cody got us to the airport fine and it was 70 degrees for a few days when we got back to New Jersey!

We did more sight seeing in the beautiful weather. The Delaware river (Washington crossed near here) is pretty. We have toured the Pennsylvania side of the river and the New Jersey side also. The Delaware and Raritan canal is interesting and there are countless small towns that are very old and beautiful.

Christmas decorations are springing up. Many houses have wreaths in every window and many have candle lights in every window. Garland swags with red bows are everywhere!

One of the problems of RVing in this part of the country is the lack of facilities open for dumping our tanks. The West coast is much more RV friendly. We had to drive 70 miles round trip to the only State Park that was open.

We had a fabulous day in New York City set up by our friend Susan. Visited her Madison Avenue office, had a wonderful lunch, a great walk of 5th Avenue stores like Tiffany's, hotels like the Waldorf Astoria and many famous locations. Saw the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and, yes, the Rockettes are really fabulous and precise! Had a great dinner at Cafe des Artistes and a drive around town to see the Christmas lights - beautiful. New York is friendly, interesting, hectic and has horrible traffic. To enjoy it, you need to stay right in town and pay the high prices at a hotel or have a driver that knows how to negotiate the style of driving!

Visited Valley Forge where Washington's army spent a long winter with almost no provisions.
Many died from disease and infection - it was before germs were understood.

We are staying at the farm through the weekend to attend Susan and Tod's annual holiday open house.