Summer Vacation 2011 Rolls to an end

We started our trek northward from south Florida with a surprise. Our son Turner’s girlfriend, Courtney, had been interning as a counselor all summer at Camp John Marc in Texas. She and Turner are big Harry Potter fans and wanted to come to the theme park at Universal Studios for some time. With the stealth help of Courtney’s parents we managed to surprise her with a visit to the Universal Studios in Orlando with Turner. I think the “kids” might have been a little crowed in the motorhome with us, but it was good seeing them both. While they toured the Harry Potter theme parks, Anna and I hung around Fort Wilderness and WDW. We limited our time touring the theme parks at WDW due to the extreme heat. Can you say HOT-HOT-HOT!!! After a four-day visit Courtney flew back to Texas to finish her summer commitment, and Turner returned to his job and graduate studies at Clemson University. We would like to come back in a few years with all of our kids.

We left Ocala earlier in our trip to see the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis at Cape Canaveral, so we doubled back to Ocala after leaving Fort Wilderness to spend more time with our friends, Curt and Cathy and their family. They are great hosts. In addition to great dining at their home, they took us around the Ocala and Gainesville to look over many of the amenities the communities had to offer. One real cool stop was the Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. The butterfly rainforest was fascinating and offered a great photo opportunity.

After leaving Florida we headed to Georgia where we stayed on Skidaway Island just outside of Savannah. We toured the historic district and did a little shopping and eating along River Street next to the Savannah River. The next morning we headed out to Tybee Island after getting all of our camera equipment ready to go. My old timers disease must have kicked in because when we arrived at Tybee we realized all of the camera gear was still inside the coach on Skidaway Island. Oh well! We went back to Tybee the following morning and enjoyed an early morning tour of the Tybee Island Light House and Fort Pulaski. Our Georgia stop was a great, although brief, but we had to keep heading north… so we hit the road to Charleston, South Carolina, one of our past favorite destinations!

We had a good time in Charleston visiting with friends and family, and eating lots of great seafood. We had a great early morning trip to Fort Sumter and then we enjoyed an evening with Clemson friends Dale and Darlene. We also visited the Boone Hall Plantation and had a great time visiting with Anna’s cousin Pat and her husband Bruce. We finished our summer trip with a brief stop and visit with Anna’s brother and sister in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. A couple of days later we headed home to the Tarheel State – back to the real world. What is next? We have several items that need attention on the home front. The Tiger is growling and we only have a few short weeks until football season gets underway in Death Valley.

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As always, we hope we see you down the road…