The land of the Rich & Famous

NOTE:  I have changed the format of the Blog slightly because I believe the new format gives me more room on the page.

June 18, 2010 We left New York looking to get away from the “Big City” and we headed for the coastline of Connecticut. We found a nice KOA in Clinton, CT and decided to stay a couple of days. We drove around and found Clinton is part of a small cluster of seaside towns that are nice, quiet, places. I wanted to play golf and was very frustrated that the only 2 full size golf courses in the area were private and do not allow the public to play. After much research I destined myself to the fact that I would have to play a 9 hole course. Usually, 9 hole courses are farm pastures and not that great to play. I drove to a little town called Old Saybrook and went to Fenwick golf course. I pulled into the drive way and there was no clubhouse, just a barn. A guy there said you pay the starter across the street. I crossed the street and as I cleared the trees I could see that it was a fairly nice course. I talked to the starter and he had me join up with a long time resident of the area and his son. Fenwick is a small peninsula with only 72 houses on it and the residents manage their own community including the golf course. The inhabitants of Fenwick are celebrities and well to do people, and the houses that they built are mansions, in the early 1900s Cape Cod style. Catherine Hepburn was a long time resident here as was the Governor of Connecticut. Many of the homes are owned by the wealthy of Hartford and these mansions are simply their “summer homes”. The course was gorgeous!! All but 2 of the holes had views of the ocean, and a few of the holes were laid out along the coast. The guy I was playing with said the golf course is just a playground for the residents and no one takes their golf too serious. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my golf career. You never know.

June 20, 2010 We got up early and drove to Newport, Rhode Island. Although the original town of Newport dates back to 1755, at the end of the 1800s the wealthy moved in and built mansions (called summer cottages) along the cliffs, right above the ocean/beaches. The mansions are of all types and designs, many with beautiful gardens and huge gates at the road.

We went on the "Cliff Walk" which takes you along the cliffs at the back of these mansions and the sheer opulence is numbing.  The Walk is 3.5 miles out and then we walked about 2.5 miles to get back to our truck, quite a hike!

Not a bad "Summer Cottage".  Kind of like our cabin at Baker??? 

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is there and they have a huge playing facility behind it. There is also a Polo club in Newport, and there are hundreds of giant yachts in the many mooring facilities along the coast. They also have some nice beaches in different locations but they charge $20 to park.

The downtown section of Newport is really well done with restored colonial buildings, a beautiful harbor with lots of restaurants, water tours, and souvenir stores.


 Notice the reference to the America's Cup on the banner....big time sailing!

The sheer number of boats, some yachts as large as my house, is unbelievable. It is definitely a playground for the rich and famous. I think this entire area, from Connecticut, through Cape Cod, up through Maine, has a lot upper class residents.

 An interesting aside is that I was playing golf with a 17 year old high school student, who was well educated and from a well to do family, who told me that he had played golf in the “South” (Carolinas) with his school’s golf team. He said that he loved the courses but the people were not that nice. I asked “Why is that” and he replied, “They are Confederates”. I asked “Is there still a division based on Yankee/Confederate lines?” He looked at me and paused before saying “It’s like the Berlin Wall was”. I had no idea that people still thought in those terms, in this day and age!

Atlantic City and on to New York

Atlantic City

June 13, 2010 We left Washington DC and headed up through Wilmington, Delaware and on to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Atlantic City was kind of out of our way but are we ever glad that we went there to see it. It is like Vegas, but all of the casinos are on the beach along the board walk. Many of the Vegas casinos are also there, Caesars, Harrah’s, Bally’s, Tropicana, and of course, Donald Trump has at least 2 casinos there.

There is even a Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Atlantic City was simply a very old city until the government of New Jersey decided to develop a Las Vegas styled resort. The island it is on is surrounded by beautiful beaches, but what really makes Atlantic City so different is the Board Walk. It is mile upon mile of wooden walkway with restaurants, souvenir shops, casinos, arcades and even an amusement park complete with a roller coaster. The people-watching there was very entertaining. The place is a contradiction because beside a giant, glitzy casino is a vacant lot or a run-down apartment building. Because of the layout of development along the strip, it seems that development did not quite happen at the rate that they had planned for. All in all, Atlantic City has the same draw as Vegas; gambling, partying, but it also has the beautiful beaches. We even saw two full bars built right on the beach. It is definitely worth a look.

New Jersey is full of toll highways and they charge by the number of axles. Today we spent $39 on road tolls in a little over an hour and ½. One section of road took us over a bridge and it cost us $23! Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in tolls to pay for a new highway or bridge until it is paid for (like the Couqhala) but $23 for a 12 mile section of highway seems crazy!

New York City

June 15, 2010 We headed north along the coast known as Jersey Shores looking for an RV Park. We pulled into a place called Toms River, continuing our search, but we weren’t successful. There are many beautiful homes along the beach but it has limited public access, and certainly no RV parks. Laurie and I think that the Jersey Shores is the area that New Yorker’s have their beach homes. We stopped for lunch in a little shopping mall and found a tiny restaurant called Andy’s Place. This place was run by Italians and they had wonderful, authentic, Italian food; a real treat. Of course they had the World Cup soccer on a TV in the back.

We decided to make a run to the KOA for the New York area. It is 60 miles from New York (north), but apparently there is only one other campsite closer, but it is booked months in advance. We checked in and the next morning we took the train into New York City. The train ride was along the Hudson River and the river is huge. The scenery along the river was very picturesque and our train took us to Grand Central Station. The station is an incredible building and it has over 100 different train tracks arriving at this hub. The train arrived underground and we climbed the stairs and walked out onto 42nd street.

I will never forget that feeling when I walked out. I felt the size an ant as there are huge building on both sides of the street and they run as far as the eye can see in both directions. Next block over, is the same thing. The noise, the smells, the mass of humanity; it was like arriving on a different planet.

We made our way over to Times Square and it was noon and the lunch crowd was on the move. WHAT A ZOO!! Much of Time Square and 7th Avenue are cordoned off to vehicles and there are tables on the street to eat your lunch, or sit and rest.  They had bleachers set up and a huge crowd was watching a World Cup game. 

We walked around for a while to get a feeling of the magnitude of the place and we passed by the Empire State Building.  The Empire State Building is dwarfed by many building in Manhattan now and the tourists are not really interested in it any longer.  New York City is made up of a number of areas; Manhattan which is the main part, Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem and so on. After walking for a while Laurie and I headed back to the train for the 1 1/2 hour ride back to our station.

The next day I headed for New York on the train but Laurie decided to take a rain-check.  Once I arrived at Grand Central Station I immediately went to the subway and caught a train to the bottom of Manhattan to Battery Park (to see the Statue of Liberty).  There are many, many subway lines under the city and they travel in every direction.  At some stations there are 3 tracks stacked on top of each other.  I planned to catch the Yankees-Phillies ballgame later that day so I had to watch my time.  I saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance because I didn't feel I had time to go on the Ellis Island ferry.  I wandered over to Wall Street and the NYSE New York Stock Exchange.

I went to the site of the World Trade Centre towers and found out that they are building another single tall tower in it's place (so it is a construction zone).  Right across the street is Ladder Company 10 which was a first responder on Sept.11 and virtually all their firefighters were killed that day.

I went over the to Brooklyn Bridge (you can see the Manhattan Bridge in the distance) on the East River and had lunch on a pier with this view.  The pier was called the South Street Seaport Pier and it was a hive of activity.  There were boat and helicopter scenic trips and you could go on a sightseeing trip on the river in a tall ship.  A great place to kick back on a beautiful day.  I planned my walking tour so that I would end up on a subway line that would take me directly to Yankee Stadium....or wrong-go.

As it turns out I had to transfer 2 times and every person I asked seemed to give me a different answer about which train to get on.  The subways are just like you see on TV; dirty, noisy, super crowded and they really travel fast.  There was one Metro employee who's job it was to hurry people along the platform and to push people from behind to jam them into the car and get the doors closed.  Can you say sardines.  The train/subway system is widely used by people of all economic classes and therefor you don't see many metro buses on the streets.  The subway is so much faster because the buses get stuck in the traffic so people take the subway.  I now understand why so many people in New York do not own a car...why bother?

And of course, I finally made it to Yankee Stadium.  That night was a rematch of last year's World Series as they played the Philadelphia Phillies, plus Andy Pettite was pitching, so the game was a sell out.  By the way, the Phillies won the game.  Then after the game, back on the train for a hour and 1/2. 

the CAPITOL - Washington DC

June 10, 2010 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB - hope you enjoyed the pink flamingos all over the lawn when you woke up this morning.  30 years old!  Man I remember when I was 30, it was like it was only......

On June 10 we drove up to Washington DC and checked into Cherry Hill Park, and as their brochure says "A Monumental Experience", oh brother.  It is quite the park with over 300 sites, a restaurant, 2 pools, a transit station right on the property, a movie every night, a couple of lakes (ponds) with fountains; well you get the picture.  The next day we jumped on a bus that took us to the rail transit and we zoomed in to downtown Washington.  And I mean zoomed; the high speed rail went twice as fast as our rail transit in Vancouver.

We soon made our way to the National Mall which is about 2-3 miles long and you can see from one end to the other.  At one end is the US Capitol building and at the other is the Lincoln Memorial.

This green space is a beautiful park like setting with all kinds of monuments, museums, art galleries, food and souvenir kiosks...it is a happening place.  There are monuments to WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, and many more.  There are museums for Air & Space, American History Natural History, National Art Gallery, and many more.  The Smithsonian has a number of buildings with awesome displays, and they even have a castle there.  Directly behind the Capitol Building are the Library of Congress Jefferson Building and the Supreme Court Building.  All of the buildings are works of art themselves, mostly Roman-Greco with huge pillars and massive entrance stairs.

I am sure most people recognize this tall tower as the Washington Monument.  The amazing thing about the National Mall is that most of the popular tourist attractions are all located in one place.  We saw many school tours; what an awesome way to teach children about their history, nature, space, and other topics.

And of course the White House.

I know this may seem hard to believe but I had a chance encounter with the President.  While I was on a bike ride I stopped at a store to get a bottle of cold water.  All of a sudden about 5 black SUVs came to a screetching halt in front of the store; these dudes in dark suits and dark sunglasses jump out of the SUVs and start tearing around the store, checking things out.  After about 3 minutes of this intense scruntiny, the front door of the store opens and in walks President Obama.  I was at the cash register paying for my water and the President walks up and asks the clerk for a package of Camel cigarettes.  He said "Hi, where are you from".  I explained that I was Canadian eh and he asked me if we could sit and chat for a while because he would appreciate a Canadian point of view.  He told his body guards to give us some space and we talked about some major issues; the War in Iraq, and the Gulf oil spill to name a few.

He said that he only smokes when he is away from Michelle and the kids, and from media scrutiny.  He asked me to call him Barack.  We became quite friendly during our 1/2 hour conversation and he thanked me for my input.  We exchange phone numbers and he said he would look me up during his next visit to Vancouver.  What a nice guy!!

A trip into American History

 NOTE:  We have had limited access to the Internet for the last week so the following entry covers quite a lot of material, and mileage for us.  It covers Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, New Bern in North Carolina, Virginia Beach in Virginia and Fredericksburg in Virginia. 

June 3, 2010 We left Charleston and booked into Huntingdon Beach State Park which is just south of Myrtle Beach. We could only get one night because it was booked solid for the weekend.  A very nice campsite with a beautiful beach.  As you drive in to the park we crossed a cause-way that crosses over a lagoon that has a fair population of Gators, including some fairly big ones. The Huntingdon family donated the property to the State on the condition that they make it into a park.  

The family home is on the property but it is in disrepair, but the gardens are incredible. They have an incredible statue at the entrance. I went for a long bike ride in the area and saw many beautiful homes built along the water. Some of the new houses are really nicely done and they are made to look like the colonial homes.

The next day we drove up to New Bern, North Carolina. It is named after Bern (bear), Switzerland and they have the bear motif everywhere in town.

Man, when it rains down here it really rains.  This is a picture at New Bern.

We stayed at a KOA which was very nice and it was a rest stop for us. I went and played golf at a very nice course (Emerald Golf Course) and I played with a retired teacher from Pittsburg and his wife. They are avid golfers and they told me that they decided to retire here and found a nice gated community with 2 full size golf courses, swimming pool, commons room, etc. Well, they had no sooner moved in when one of the golf courses closed because the ownership had run into financial problems. Then, a year later, they closed the second course because the housing development in the community was not selling. So now they have to drive across town to play golf. Man, the economy sucks!

June 6, 2010  We left New Bern and drove up to Virginia Beach, Virginia. We pulled into First Landing State Park, made our way to our campsite, backed in and got set up. Then I look across the road and there is a Dodge pick-up with BC plates. I went over and introduced myself and had a few beers with Dave and Brenda from West Vancouver.  They have been on the road longer than us and they have a giant 5th wheel that is a toy-hauler. They each have a BMW motorcycle, a regular bicycle, and they have a 2 person kayak, and it is all stored in their 5th wheel. Dave reminded me of my friend Henry Wantke; big tall guy, talks sort of slowly, a great story teller, gets sidetracked quite easily when telling a story, and boy does he like his beer.

The classic Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach.

A walk along the beach at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  I'm thinking "I wonder if I can get Hooch into the water" and you can tell by the photo that he is thinking "No way in hell"!

The next day we toured the Historic Triangle; Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Jamestown was the first English settlement in America in 1607.  Williamsburg was the state capital in the early days and the Governor’s palace is there. Yorktown is where the Americans finally defeated the British to establish their independence. All three towns are part of a National Park and very well restored, and the parks include tours of the towns.

Virginia really hasn't developed road building technology yet!
Actually this is part of the driving tour at historic Jamestown.

This is the Victory Monument in Yorktown to signify the final battle in which the Americans defeated the British to win their independance.





In that I am sort of a History buff, I found these tours fascinating, but did require a maximum of Laurie's patience. I am reading a book called The Civil War by Bruce Catton and I am travelling through the territory that the battles took place; it just doesn’t get any better than that for me. On our way back we drove down to the Virginia Beach strip which is made up of giant hotels on the beach, restaurants, bars, girls dancing on tables (oh, did I really log that).  Then back at camp later that night, we went over to visit our fellow BCers, a campfire, and a few more beers. This was the first time in a long time that the temperature was only in the low 80’s during the day (not the 90’s), and then it cooled off at night. They are forecasting cooler temperatures for the next couple of days. What a relief!!!

Observations: * We have seen many places just like Virginia Beach, with lots of action and they are great places for young people to hang out. When I was young I aspired to go to California to live the beach party life. After touring the Gulf Coast and now the Atlantic, there are a 100 fold more opportunities and beaches to attract that life style.

* I now know what they mean when they say the Carolinas are a mecca for golf.  In some cases there were golf courses on both sides of the highway and a real variety; expensive resort courses and moderately priced courses.  I can see another trip down here in my future!

* You may find this hard to believe, but there is a major grocery store chain down here called “Piggly Wiggly”…..I’m not making that up….I’m not that creative to come up with stuff like that. What were they thinking???

* This beautiful home is very new yet it is designed to look like one of the colonial classics, Myrtle Beach.

June 8, 2010  As a result of my interest in the Civil War, we headed up to Fredericksburg and checked into a nice KOA about 9 miles from the historic Old Town. When we arrived we kicked back, did a couple of loads of laundry, and had a nice BBQ.

Fredericksburg has two events from history that caught my attention: 1) It is where George Washington grew up, and 2)Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania was the location of 4 major Civil War battles between Confederate and Union armies. I toured the museum at Ferry Farm which is the farm where George Washington grew up. Apparently, the famous apple tree incident happened there. Fredericksburg has a major university called Mary Washington to commemorate George’s mother.

I also toured the visitor’s centre that explained the battles (December 1862) that took place in this area which saw more than 100,000 casualties. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson (Confederate) defeated General Ambrose Burnside (Union), but later was defeated by Ulysses S. Grant. Stonewall Jackson took a bullet during one of these battles and died 8 days later. Historians say that this defeat set the stage for the Union army to finally defeat the Confederates.

I also toured the Chatham mansion that was built in 1768 and in its time, hosted two of America’s most famous Presidents – George Washington in 1785 and Abraham Lincoln in 1862. All in all, a very interesting history lesson.

South Carolina

May 31, 2010


We left Savannah and drove up to Charleston (Charles Town), South Carolina. We checked into a nice campsite called James Island County Park. What a great park. They have many facilities located in the park including a fishing pond, a dog off-leash area that includes a lake, a major water park, cycle trails, and a climbing wall/facility. The park has nice big sites amongst the trees, full hook up, and laundry facilities. The park is located about 15 minutes from the historic district of Charleston.

We drove into Charleston and visited the Charleston Museum which is the first and oldest museum in America. They have a full-scale Confederate submarine outside the building. Yes a submarine dating back to the mid 1800s. Charleston has an incredible past including the first attempt at settlement dating back to 1560, it was the nation’s commercial leader in exporting rice, and later, cotton, the area was full of plantations producing these products, it was also a major centre of the slave trade, it had a very active Pirate community (including Black Beard) that wreaked havoc on the shipping lanes, the first shot of the Civil War happened here April 12, 1861, to name just a few.

The Historic District is very well preserved with cobblestone roads and antebellum homes and buildings. Generally, the old homes and buildings are not as grandiose as Savannah, but what I liked is that many of the buildings look out over Charleston Harbor, as the Historic District is built on a large peninsula. All along the road that runs along the water are historic mansions and beautiful homes. They are the kind of homes I would love to own.

For lunch we went to Queen Anne’s Revenge which has many artifacts from the pirates of the era, and in particular, Blackbeard. The restaurant displays many pirate pistols, grenades, blunderbuss (like a spray shotgun), pieces of eight, grappling hooks, helmets and more, some of which were on Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge.

"Laurie, never mind the damn umbrella, RUN!!!!!"








Observations:

* Ever since that first night in Louisiana, we have heard a locust insect called a Cicada that makes an eerie, screeching noise that sounds like someone letting out air pressure. All it takes is for one of them to start, then the whole forest has the screeching sound.

* We have found that many cities have claimed retired Navy ships like the USS Lexington that we toured in Corpus Christi Texas. Sometimes the town has a affiliation with the ship and in others, it is claimed to be used as a tourist attraction.

* June 1 is the official start of Hurricane season. There are TV programs dedicated to preparing for, and surviving a major hurricane. They predict that this year will see a very active hurricane season as the temperature of the Gulf of Mexico has risen, plus other factors. They predict between 14 – 24 hurricanes that will actually be named, meaning that they are of major concern.