We are staying in Hilton Head, South Carolina because our intention is to visit Savannah, Georgia. The best RV Park closest to Savannah is in Hilton Head which is about 25 miles away.
Day 67-69, May 8–10: SOUTHEAST COAST
It was a long drive from the Blue Ridge Parkway to Hilton Head. We drove through North Carolina into South Carolina and then after 8 hours and 328 miles we arrived at Hilton Head Harbor Resort.
SOUTH CAROLINA facts: South Carolina became the 8th state in 1788. SC covers 31,113 square miles and has a population of 4,012,012
State Capital: Columbia
State Motto: "Animis opibusque parati (Prepared in mind and resources) and Dum spiro spero (While I breathe, I hope)"
State Nickname: Palmetto State
State Flower: Carolina Yellow Jessamine (1924)
State Bird: Carolina Wren (1948)
State Animal: White-tailed Deer
State Tree: Palmetto Tree (1939)
State Gem: Amethyst
State Song: “Carolina” (1911)
HILTON HEAD HARBOR RESORT
This place is a luxury RV Park. It is really like being in a resort. All the sites are privately owned. And each site is individually landscaped and decorated by the owner. Some sites have waterfalls and gardens, others have fancy lawn furniture and barbecues, etc. Some sites have permanent trailers on it for ‘summer homes’. The whole park is lushly landscaped with trees, bushes, and grass. We were given an electric cart to drive around and pick out our own site for the next three nights. We picked one out that had a small grassy meadow on one side.
Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under SOUTH CAROLINA to see a review and more pictures of this RV park http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA
Hilton Head is a summer resort beach town that is very exclusive. There are a lot of vacation homes that are empty right now. But there are also a lot of full time residents and many businesses. There are some really beautiful homes and estates in lush gated communities. These communities also have private beaches. To get into the best of these communities you have to drive in on a toll road and pay a fee to enter. There must be some very elite shops and fancy restaurants in these areas. They just don’t want the general public to have access to these places. Anyone who has a home here is a very lucky person. We explored some of the areas where there was no fee and saw some beautiful homes. But we were a little disappointed in some of the shops. There were a lot of tacky tourist places that sell T-shirts and other junk. We only had one day to explore this area so we mostly drove around and admired the homes. We saw many walking paths and bike trails and also some nature preserves on the map. If we visit here again, we will take more time for these activities.
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
On another day we drove the short distance into Georgia to visit Savannah. This will be the only time we will be in Georgia on this trip, except for an overnight stay on our homeward bound journey).
GEORGIA facts: Georgia became the 4th state in 1788. Georgia covers 58,876 square miles and has a population of 8,186,453.
State Capital: Atlanta
State Motto: "Agriculture and Commerce and Wisdom Justice and Moderation"
State Nickname: Peach State, Empire State of the South
State Flower: Cherokee Rose (1916)
State Bird: Brown Thrasher (1935)
State Animal: Right Whale
State Tree: Live Oak (1937)
State Gem: Quartz
State Song: “Georgia on My Mind” (1922)
To get into Savannah we crossed the Talmad Bridge. This is an interesting structure that was completed in 1991.
It was Mother’s Day when we visited Savannah. On the waterfront, we found a nice café to have lunch in. Then we visited the River Street’s Waving Girl statue. The city lighthouse keeper's sister, Florence Martus had become known to seamen all over the world for waving at every ship that came into port from 1887 to 1931. One legend maintains that she promised her sailor sweetheart to greet every ship until his return.
We spent the rest of the day walking the oak tree lined streets in the historic section visiting some of the squares that are left over from Gen James E. Oglethorpe’s city grid plan when he founded Savannah in 1733. Savannah was laid out in a series of wards in which commercial and residential buildings centered on a public square. Cotton was the city’s main industry. Savannah almost met the same fate as Atlanta, but Sherman had spared its squares, its houses and its heritage. Today there are 21 of those squares and each one has several ancient oak trees with moss hanging from them along with gardens, grass, benches, and monuments. It’s a very peaceful place to rest your weary feet. It was also a gorgeous, sunny and warm day (in the high 70’s). It was a great way to spend Mother’s Day.
Our next destination is the Orlando area in FLORIDA.
FLORIDA facts: Florida entered the Union in 1845 as the 27th state. Florida covers 54,252 square miles and has a population of 18,537,969 (Jul 2009).
State Motto: "In God We Trust”
State Nickname: Sunshine State (1970)
State Capital: Tallahassee
State Flower: Orange Blossom (1909)
State Bird: Mockingbird (1927)
State Animal: Florida Panther
State Tree: Cabbage Palmetto
State Gem: Moonstone (1970)
State Song: Suwannee River (1935)
Day 67-76, May 11–17: FLORIDA, THE SUNSHINE STATE
It was a very long drive to the Orlando area in Florida. It took us 7 hours and 287 miles. Oh it was hot in Florida. Hot and humid. Actually we started hitting the high temps and high humidity towards the end of our journey along the Blue Ridge Highway. It’s only May and summer is starting here in the south.
We came to Florida to visit family in the Orlando area. We stayed in two different RV Parks for our seven day stay here. We spent the first four days in Davenport (closest to our family) and the last 3 days at Fort Wilderness Campground inside of the Walt Disney World property.
Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under FLORIDA to see a review and pictures of Fort Summit/Orlando KOA in Davenport and Fort Wilderness Campground in Walt Disney World http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/
We visited with our family every day and had a wonderful time catching up with our lives; my cousin Linda and her husband Dan, her daughter Jennifer (2nd cousin) and her husband Cory, and Jennifer’s sons Lucca & Dario (3rd cousins). If you read our BLOG on our two month trip through Alaska, you met my cousin Linda. It was due to her heart surgery that I made that emergency trip to Orlando from Alaska to help out for 10 days last July (it was all explained in that Alaska trip BLOG) Today, almost a year later she is doing great!
With the family we visited Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney. We took in the sights, visited, ate, did some rides, visited some more and ate some more. Oh yeah, did some shopping too. We had a wonderful visit and a wonderful time.
On our last day we had a good-bye dinner together and then Dave & I spent a few hours that evening at Magic Kingdom (same as Disneyland in California). We saw the Electric Parade and the fireworks. A nice ending to our visit.
Now we turn North and West and head for home!
Our next stop is Elko, Georgia
I see you aren't a big fan of Cory, Dario and myself :(
ReplyDeleteFYI, On my computer some of your pics are cut off, including the family pic....I'm invisible :(
ReplyDelete