It is home for 4400 cadets who aspire to become Army officers. Once West Point emphasized engineering, but it now offers 44 academic majors. Since 1976, they accept female students. The cadets forgo a strict and rigorous military and physical skills training program.

Founded in 1802, the Academy is set in one of the most picturesque area of the country, aside the Hudson River. This location first served as a fort, to protect the Americans against an invasion of the British. This spot was chosen because the river bends sharply at West Point and it is narrow enough that no ship could go through without being seen and bombarded from the fort. It was a strategic decision made in 1775, and by 1778, the American flag flew over West Point.

The buildings of the academy are Gothic style, giving them an air of grandeur, massiveness and strength.

We were lucky enough to go visit the Academy on the day of a Congressional Retirement Review. Congressmen Dave Hobson and Jim Saxton were retiring. We were treated to a parade and a free fall parachute demonstration. We sat in the bleachers surrounded by cadets and watched the show.

About an hour north of West Point, a hop a skip and a jump from Poughkeepsie lies Hyde Park. This is the site of the FDR Presidential Library, the Franklin D. Rosevelt house and the Vanderbilt mansion.

Front of the mansion

View from the back of the mansion

Frederick (grandson of Commodore Vanderbilt) and his wife Louise Vanderbilt, bought the 700 acres property in 1895. The house on site proved to be unsound, so they built a temporary house at the cost of $50,000, which took 66 days to construct. They lived in that house while the main house was being built (at a cost of over 2 million dollars). It took 2 years to finish the 50 room main house. It is built to resemble the house of a noble European line. It was designed by Charles Follin McKim.

The classical style and Indiana limestone hides the modern steel and reinforced concrete structure beneath.

This house was the smallest of the Vanderbilt family dwellings. It was used as a Spring and Fall house only. They entertained a maximum of 18 guests at a time at this location.

They spent the rest of their time in New-York, Bar Harbor Newport and the Adirondacks. They Hyde Park Property was by far their favorite and that is where Frederick spent the rest of his life after the death of his wife Louise. They were self-sustained, since most of the property was used a farmland.

It was easy for them or their guests to travel to Hyde Park since they owned the railroad that passed right on their property along the river. Visitors could also travel by boat or private car.

The Vanderbilts were well-liked in Hyde Park, they treated their employees very well. They paid the best wages for house personnel. They didn’t have any children but they welcome the children of Hyde Park to play on their property, they even bought a gift for each child in the village at Christmas. Louise provided for higher education of qualified young women of Hyde Park. She participated in many charities like St. Anthony’s Home for Working Girls and Cathedral of St. John the Divine, she was instrumental in bringing the Red Cross to town and in founding the District Health Nurse Service.

Frederick, unlike his brothers, lived a very private life, but his accomplishments were impressive. He was the first of his family to graduate from College, he sat on the board of 22 railroads, he was director of New York Central for 61 years. Unlike his brothers, he managed to increase his 10 million dollars inheritance to 70 millions by the time he died. There were over 30 people in his will, he took care of all his Hyde Park employees. The one who had worked for him the longest, 33 years, inherited a quarter of a million and a 50 thousand dollars house.

Louise’s niece, Margaret Van Alen inherited the Hyde Park Property and donated the entirely furnished house along with 210 acres of land to the Federal government. Her wish was that it would be a memorial to her Uncle Fred and a National Monument. Since 1940 it has been open to the public and remains unchanged from the time the Vanderbilts lived here.

Pictures were not allowed inside the mansion.

We usually spend the entire month there, and we use this time to reconnect with my family and friends. It may be a little boring for Bear, but I do appreciate his patience and understanding. We do not do a lot of sight-seeing, although we do manage to squeeze some in, this time of the year is mainly about family.

We started our visit this year by going to Sherbrooke and celebrate mom’s 81st birthday. We went out to eat and then went to my sister Christyne’s house for the birthday cake and the gifts. I gave mom the afghan I had been knitting for her and she seemed to really like it.

We snuggled up under it, mom always likes to snuggle up to me, she does miss me a lot. It is hard for her to see me so rarely.

Mathew really grew up during the last year, he just turned 4. He is such a big boy now. He enjoyed a swim while at Christyne’s house.

Here he is, flirting with his girlfriend on his birthday.

We went one day to old St-Mathieu-de-Beloeil and had lunch at this Old Mill

They have a terrace on the Richelieu River. This famous river played an important role in the history NorthAmerica. It was used as a navigable gateway to the south; it makes its way into Lake Champlain and ultimately, Lake George.

There was a very pretty church in the village. Almost every village in the Province of Québec has its own church, and they are usually very ornate. People in these old villages were taking pride in building grand churches and each village was trying to outdo the next.

We spent one day in Montreal, traveling by Metro from one placed to the other. The Metro is very user-friendly and is the best way to move about without having to search for parking lots, which are very expensive in a big city.

We stumbled upon a McCafé, the gourmet side of McDonalds. It offers a selection of Lattés and gourmet coffees and pastries.

We went to the movies in the old Forum, where the Canadians used to play hockey. They moved out and built a new place, and the old forum was transformed into a shopping center and movie theater.

Then we went to Old Montreal and had dinner in Place Jacques Cartier

Bad weather was coming, so we rushed back to the campground and left the city behind us.

Stephanie and Jonathan built a new house this year, I only have unfinished pictures of it, because I totally forgot to take pictures of it finished…by September, they did have grass growing, and the house was very nicely decorated with curtains and all. It is a very pretty house. Steph is opening a day care on ground level, she did a very good job at organizing it and I wish her a lot of success.

I had dinner with my infamous friend Manon, with whom I did all my teenager’s stunts. She is responsible for a lot of laughter in my life. (No pics, I forgot the camera)
I also reconnected with my best friend Nicole, she and I have been friend since we were 14. She now has 3 grandchildren, so I taught her how to knit socks.

The month went by very fast and then we had to leave and make our way home again.

We were only spending a day there, so we made the most of it. We started by taking a lunch cruise on the “Lac du Saint Sacrement” ship.

The name of the ship is also the previous name of Lake George, when the French were occupying this territory. We enjoyed a simple buffet while admiring the view along the way. There were some absolutely beautiful properties along the banks of the lake.

The scenery was breathtaking. The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed the nice breeze.

While Bear was taking pictures of the scenery, he got slightly distracted…

There were lots of local people enjoying the day. These teak speed boats are made in Lake George.

Next to the piers where we disembarked from the boat, was the entrance to the replica of Fort William Henry. The original was destroyed in 1757, during the French-Indian war. This war was part of a large conflict between England and France and was fought on this soil for the control of the politics and economics of North America. This took place 20 years before the American Revolution.

The Fort we can visit today was built in the 1950’s, according to the original plans of 1755, and is sitting on the original site.

We then drove up Prospect Mountain, and took pictures of the scenery along the way.

We were on top of the world!

we took to the road again and drove all the way into the mountains of Pennsylvania, more precisely in the Pocono Mountains area.

There is history here, but what really interested us were the nature and the fresh air.

This area is rich in waterfalls; some of them are easily accessible, while others require walking on steep slippery trails and are more for the adventurous type.

Dingmans Falls

Silver Thread Falls

Easily accessible and probably the most famous are the Bushkill’s waterfalls (what they call the Niagara of PA, fee required) and the Dingmans falls which are in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (free).

There are many others; the Hawk Falls in Hickory Run State Park, the Glen Onoko Falls in Lehigh Gorge State Park for example, require a bit more research and a good physical condition. Someone sure-footed and adventurous could go on a Waterfall hunt here.

My way to catch a fish!

I can just imagine what a walk in the woods would be like in early July here. The forest is covered with Rhododendron bushes, the biggest I have ever seen, and I was told that they bloom in early July.

Bear under a Rhododendron bush

One of the most unusual natural formations we saw was in Hickory Run State Park; the Boulder Field. It is a small piece of landscape left over from the last ice advance. According to the literature, this type of environment was common throughout North America 15,000 years ago, but since then, the climate warmed, plants, soil and weathering have covered or removed boulder fields.

That would be paradise to my friend Lanna!

The field is about 400 feet wide by 1,800 feet long and 10 feet deep. It is composed of an assortment of boulders ranging in size from a few inches to 25 feet long. Predominantly composed of red sandstone, you can also find some quartz and conglomerate.

Near Lehigh Gorge State Park, we found the Borough of Jim Thorpe (1887-1953).
This amazingly talented athlete has been dubbed the most talented athlete in the world. He won both the Pentathlon and the Decathlon in the 1912 Olympics (he tripled the score of the runner up in the Pentathlon and finished 688 points ahead of his nearest competitor in the Decathlon). It took 40 years of improved diet, techniques and training procedures to break all of his times and distances. His career in sports, especially Football, remains unequalled to this day. He played and won against West Point and was greatly respected by their halfback, Cadet Dwight D. Eisenhower, future President. He also kicked an eighty (80) yard field goal which to me is extremely hard to even imagine.

The Village is picturesque and the old part of town is rich with little shops restaurants and cafés.

Architectural treasures can be found like this pretty Victorian adorned with fish scale siding. A train departs from here and takes you through Lehigh Gorge State Park along the river. (The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway)

Yorktown is where in 1781, a joint army of 17,500 to 20,000 men (it depends on who tells the story) composed of Americans under the command of General George Washington, with the help of their allies, the French (including French Canadians) under the command of Major-General Marquis de Lafayette and some Germans (more on the Germans later…), inflicted a decisive defeat on the British troops of General Cornwallis and hastened the end of the Revolutionary War. Over a third of the British forces surrendered in one day.

Ok, about the Germans, this tidbit of history was amusing to me. When the French, under the command of Baron de Vioménil, led a force of 400 men, composed of French and German troops, to capture and control Redoubt 9, the difficulties were compounded by the darkness, the close quarters combats and the fact that the Germans were wearing the SAME UNIFORM on BOTH SIDES! Adding to the confusion, German commands were coming from both the attackers and the defenders at the same time. Amazingly enough, the French troops managed to do the job in less than 30 minutes. At the same time, American troops were capturing Redoubt 10.

We toured the battlefield, saw a demonstration of canon firing,

Canon firing demo

and visited the Augustine Moore House where the terms for the surrender of Cornwallis Army were negotiated.

Augustine Moore House

Show a guy a cannon and he’ll start fantasizing

No comments….

We then visited the Yorktown Victory Center, where we saw exhibits of artifacts from the Revolutionary era and a living-history museum featuring a Continental Army encampment and a 1780’s farm.

1780’s Farm

We caught a corn thief red handed with his mouth full!

We saw a musket fire demo, where we learned that the muskets were not precise at all, in fact, the odds of hitting anything at a hundred yards were pretty low. That was ok, since amazingly enough, the goal of war back then was not to kill your enemies, but instead, to scare them off so they would retreat and admit defeat. It was like a giant game of “Chicken”.

We then went to town and had lunch at the Carrot Tree restaurant, housed in the Cole Diggs house, built around 1720. We highly recommend it.

Cole Diggs House

Apart from the old historic part of town, Yorktown also features a beach, and the River Landing Piers, where you can shop in a variety of boutiques featuring the work of American artists and artisans, some of them nationally famous. For the knitters and spinners out there, there is also a gorgeous Fiber Arts supplies shop (called Colonial Fiber Arts).

If you are in the mood for a cruise on a sail ship, the 106’ Schooner Alliance sails 3 times a day, including a sunset cruise on the York River.

Schooner Alliance

It was a pleasant day

We had a great time in Williamsburg, without disturbing the time continuum; we stepped back into he past and saw life as it was in the 18th century.

We dined in Taverns like travelers used to do, strolled along ancient streets bordered by 18th century houses and shops, learned about the artisans of the era and their crafts, witnessed events like the beginning of the collapse of the Royal Government, listened to ghost stories and learned about the life of the early Americans in the 1700’s. It was delightful and very entertaining.

Capitol building.
This site was the seat of Virginia’s colonial government for 75 years.

Alternate view of the Capitol

Governor’s Palace and the gardens

The King’s Arm Tavern, featuring a menu of items served in the 18th century, and live entertainment of the era. We also liked the Shields Tavern for lunch.

Horseman bringing the news of the events that took place in Boston (the Boston Tea party).

Governor Dunmore on the balcony of the Capitol, informing the population about the punishments administered to the protagonists of the Boston Tea Party.

Citizens discussing the events on the day.

We also visited the inside of authentic 1700’s buildings, like the Wetherburn Tavern, where we learned what it meant to be a traveler in those days. A basic price for room and board was set by the authorities. That meant that for that price, you were entitled to a meal and a place to sleep. That did not mean you would have a private room, not even a private bed for that matter. The standard price meant; you would be sleeping with perfect strangers, in the same bed, in a room that would house about 20 people. If you had enough money to pay for “private accommodation”; you would sleep alone in your bed, but there would be multiple beds in the same room. Remember that bathing too often was considered hazardous to your health at the time, and that the bed linens were rarely changed, now just try to imagine the smell….

While in Colonial Williamsburg we visited the 1773 Public Hospital, which is the gateway to the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art museum. These were outstanding museums and well worth the time.

Example of a mental patient room in 1776. Patients were often called “inmates”.

In 1845, patient’s comfort had become more important as shown by the more comfortable furniture in the rooms.

Example of a portrait painted by a self-taught artist as seen in the Folk Art museum. This is the portrait of 2 young boys. (Did you notice that boys were wearing dresses back then?)

Times change but money problems remain the same…

Bear’s comment when we first started our visit of the area “I wish I had paid more attention in History class when I was young”. Actually, this place makes learning history fun, it is not at all like reading about it in a book and trying to remember dates. Of course, the history I learned in class was a little different, it had to do with the French and the war we lost against the British in 1759, but here, we learn about American history, and it is fascinating.

A quick reminder: This is the site of the first permanent British settlement in America. (On the main land, because there was a British settlement in what is now Newfoundland, in 1589). There had been some attempts before in other places, but these settlers either were massacred by the Natives or they went back to England because the living conditions were too harsh.

So, in December 1607, 104 men and boys, colonists under a charter granted by James I to the Virginia Company of London, set sail for America, and 4 and a half months later (April 1608), they arrived at the mouth of what is today the James River and found a good spot to settle their camp. They established the colony of Virginia, with James Towne as its capital. Their goal of course, was to establish a profitable colony so the Virginia Company could make money.

The area was already successfully inhabited by over 14,000 “naturals”, the Powhatan Indians, who had lived there for generations. Their social organization was remarkable. You can imagine they were quite curious about these new settlers, the fact that they had no women with them, about their strange tools, and their way of doing things.

I won’t go into details, but times were hard, the colonists were starving, and although they were able to trade with the natives for food at the beginning, things were not always peaceful between the new neighbors, many died, but the colony did survive and would eventually thrive. The first women (2 of them, a woman married to a carpenter and her servant) would arrive in 1608. 90 unmarried women would arrive in 1620 in order to provide settlers with the opportunity to marry and start families. It took a while for the new colonists to find a way to be profitable, they tried many things, but they finally achieved their goal by growing Virginia tobacco which they exported to England.

Chief Wahunsenacawh (better known as Powhatan) ruled the area, and was the father of the famous Pocahontas, his favorite daughter, who saved the life of Captain John Smith twice during the first years of the colony. She also frequently visited the fort, bringing food and gifts from her father. In April 1613, Captain Argall kidnapped Pocahontas and brought her to Jamestown. While hostage, she received lessons in Christianity and converted, she was baptized. She later married John Rolfe, in April 1614; this marriage ensured peaceful relations between the Powhatans and the colonists. In 1616, she visited England with her husband Rolfe and their infant son Thomas, and was presented to the Royal Court. She died on March 21, 1617 in England and is buried in St. George’s Church in Gravesend, England.

Statue of Pocahontas

In 1619, privateers attacked a Portuguese ship and stole their cargo of African slaves, which they brought to James Towne. The status of these Africans in the colony is not exactly clear, there are records of black families owning land in the early days, what is certain though, is that by the mid 1700’s, laws had been passed and African Americans had lost all their rights and status, and were enslaved. 3 People, 3 different cultures, the British, the Powhatans and the Africans, their destiny and their interaction were to establish the foundation of what was to become the United States of America.

Jamestown was the capital of Virginia from 1607 until 1699, when the colony moved the government to Williamsburg.

What we can find in Jamestown today:

Today we can visit the Jamestown settlement, a replica of the fort where you can observe actors in costume living the way they would have been in the 1600’s.

You can observe a good demonstration on how to fire a musket! The picture on the right is blurry, because that was loud and even if I tried to be very still when it happened, the natural reaction to such a loud noise is to jump, which I did of course, but just a little bit

You can also see a replica of a Powhatan Indian village.

This kind of structure, which has a name I can’t remember, housed one Powhatan family. The children were very important in the Powhatan culture; they started participating in sharing the chores of daily life as soon as they were able to imitate their parents (2 or 3 years old). They had specific chores to do, which were essential to the life of the community, like standing in a structure like this one and making a lot of noise, so the birds and animals would stay away from the garden (now I can just see my grandson Mathew doing that!)

The Powhatans built canoes by bringing down a big tree in the water and then removing material from the inside of the trunk by burning and scraping. These canoes were very solid, floated well and were maintenance free for at least 50 years. The new settlers, who at first laughed at those canoes, soon learned their value and started to use them.

In this picture, the canoe is being made on land, but because of the sheer weight of these, originally they were made right on the water.

We can also climb aboard replicas of the 3 ships that brought the settlers to Jamestown.

You can just imagine how bad the conditions were on these ships, especially for such a long voyage. The flagship of the expedition was the Susan Constant;
With an overall length of 116’, and width (beam) of 24’10”, it carried 54 passengers and 17 crew, that’s 71 people my friends, on a ship where the total living quarter space is not much bigger than the size of our motorhome, if you take into account that they had to carry enough supplies to be able to feed 71 people during almost 5 months, and on top of that, all the tools and odds and ends they would need to establish a colony. Huh, hmm No thanks! I’ll pass!

Bear in front of the replica of the Susan Constant and “luxurious” sleeping accommodations on board the ship… and a picture of the Discovery, a smaller ship. I am not kidding when I say luxurious, because most passengers didn’t even have a bed; they slept on top of cargo boxes, or on the floor, wherever they could find a spot.

We then went to Jamestown Island, the archeological site. For years, they thought that the emplacement of the original fort had been lost to erosion, until archeological digs found stains in the soil that indicated wood had stood and rotted there, they had found the fort! It was originally about 200 yard from the water, but it is now very close to it, so they built a sea wall to stop the erosion around the island.

As usual, bear made a new girlfriend:

after his conversation with his new flame, we walked down to the original fort, where we can find today, the still-standing tower of a church built in 1686, using the foundations of the earlier church who had burned.

Abandoned in 1750, the church fell in ruins by the 1790’s, and although the tower remained intact, bricks for the other portion of the church were used to build the present graveyard wall. The first church on this site was built in 1617, and it is in that church that the first legislative assembly in America convened from July 30 to August 4, 1619.

It is interesting to observe the work of the archeologists who are digging on site, they are willing to stop and talk to you as you walk by.

They found many artifacts from the period who are now housed in the Archaearium museum not far from the fort. No pictures were allowed in the museum.

We started our visit of Charleston by taking a bus tour, in order to find out what there was to see and what Charleston was all about. Unfortunately, our guide, who was very knowledgeable, spoke so fast, that we could not understand what he was saying. We did asked him to slow down, but he replied that he had to fit 400 years of history into a 90 minute tour. So he did, but we managed to understand about a quarter of what he said.

We then took a cruise, to see the town from the water, that was very enjoyable. From the boat we could see the Charleston’s skyline, the gorgeous houses that were near the water, and also Fort Sumter, where the first battle of the Civil war took place.

While we were on the tour bus, Doug spotted the only knit shop in Charleston

Now he can’t blame me for that one, because he is the one who pointed it to me. After we got out of the bus, we walked back to the knit shop, appropriately names “Knit”. While Doug was browsing the Charleston Dining guide, I had a very enjoyable time in this 3 room shop full of gorgeous yarns, books, patterns and tools.

After Doug had suffered in the knitting shop for a few hours, we made our way to Vickery’s grill , a restaurant recommended by the knit shop owner. They serve Cajun food. Bear ordered a plate of Lowcountry boil (a mixture of different critters like shrimp, crawfish etc etc) served on a bed of creamy grits.

Charleston is also a good place to eat She-Crab soup, a soup made with female crabs and their roe (very good).

On our way back home that evening, we stopped by the Mercedes dealership and test-drove a Smart Passion I totally fell in love with this tiny cabriolet full of clever features, like a back-up camera, fully retractable roof. And yes, it does have some trunk space and it is towable 4 down. How cute it would be behind the motorhome, like a little bunny tail! It only weighs 1700 lbs and averages 50mpg and it’s a pusher! like in the motornome, the motor is in the back! LOL LOL

The next day we decided to walk and go take pictures of things we had spotted the day before on the bus tour. There is a shuttle service in Charleston, it costs $9.00 for 3 consecutive days, it is very uncomfortable but worth it, you can step on and off as you wish, there are bus stops all around the historic district.

The historic society for the protection of Charleston is very powerful, the firefighters in this fire station have been asking for years to modify the doors so they can fit regular size fire engine trucks in the fire station, but they have been denied every time, so they have to make do with small size fire trucks

On our way to the town’s market, Doug and his new favorite girlfriend spent some time eating candied pecans and chatting, they do say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, the proof in in the pudding, or at least in the pecan! LOL LOL LOL

At the corner of the candy shop, we spotted this “work of art”, a telephone pole covered with chewed gum!

The City market

We visited the market where artisans from the area offer the fruit of their labors for sale. We found a lot of Sweetgrass baskets.

These baskets are a historically significant example of African cultural heritage that was transported across the Atlantic by enslaved African people. Coiled basketry, one of the oldest African crafts in America, appeared in SC during the late 17th century. Bulrush and palm, mainstays of coiled baketry, are ancient plants that are mentioned in the Bible. They are also prevalent in Africa, and their availability in the Lowcountry proved to be a welcome cultural connection the the homeland. Today, sweetgrass baskets are available for sale on the roadside stands along Highway 17 and at the City Market. You can observe artisans while they are making the baskets and ask questions, and, of course, make a friend, like we did with Mary Alice, who, while she was making a basket, explained to Doug, the secrets of making creamy grits. Here she is, posing with me and our brand new sweetgrass basket.

The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon

From the market we walked down E Bay Street and found the Old Exchange building, constructed between 1778-1781. It is one of the last formal structures built by the British Colonial Government in the American Colonies. It was built for the purpose of public meetings, splendid entertainment and office of the King’s Customs Collector.

Donwstairs, the Provost Dungeon was used mainly as a warehouse to store goods like rice, indigo, cotton and other staples of the colony waiting to be shipped or delivered.

After a siege of 42 days, on May 12th, 1780, Charles Towne fell to the British. With a large number of prominent patriots in the city, the British were concerned about an uprising of the “rebels”. They arrested many of Charles Towne’s prominent citizens who were seized from their homes and brought to the dark cellar. The Provost, earned the name “dungeon” and was used as such for two years until the British fled the city in 1782. The living conditions were horrible and many perished from diseases. While evacuating, they took with them the Bells of St. Micheal’s, 500 rice barrels filled with silver, 3,000 loyalists and 5,000 slaves.

The second floor of the building is where in 1788, delegates from around the state ratified the United States Constitution, becoming the eighth state to do so. It is also where, to celebrate the new country, Charleston entertained President George Washington with an elaborate ball in May of 1791.

In this pictures, I think the ghosts in this room are playing a trick on Doug’s shoes!

The pirate connection

Blackbeard, one of the most feared pirate in history. His name was Edward Teach, but he earned his nickname because of his long black beard. Prior to battle, Teach would braid his beard, dip the ends in wax, and would light the ends on fire, creating a shroud of smoke around his head. It was so terrifying to the people of the time, that many believed he was the incarnation of the devil, often causing the opposing crews to surrender their vessel without a fight.

Amongst his exploits, was the blockading of Charles Towne Harbor in May 1718, where he and Stede Bonnet held the whole city ransom for desperately needed medical supplies.

The following winter, his career came to an end, when on January 3rd, 1719, Lt. Robert Maynard and his crew engaged the Queen Anne’s Revenge (Blackbeard’s ship) and defeated the pirates. Legend has it, that after they cut his head, his body was thrown overboard and it is said to have swam 3 times around Maynard’s vessel before sinking into the sea!

The architecture

One of the main reason I wanted to visit Charleston was for the architecture. Charleston, before the Civil War, used to be a very rich city. The average income in today’s dollars would be about $350,000. (Of course, we do not count the slaves in this average). These rich families were able to hire the finest architects and skilled labor to build their homes. The spared no expense. For example, one family built a 14,000 sqft home, because they had 14 children and figured they needed 1,000 sqft of space per child. The houses often have a narrow facade, but are very deep. One of the reason is that they were taxed according to how much of the house was facing the street, the other reason is that they were oriented to catch the breeze.

On many on the houses, we noticed what they call “earth quake bolts”. Charleston was victim of a violent earthquake and the houses had to be repaired. One of the ways they found to do this, was to insert a long metal rod in the space between floors, and with the help of a turn buckle, they realigned the walls. This reinforcement is the reason why so many pre-civil war houses are still in existence today in Charleston.

The Boone Hall Plantation

Doug thinks it is a conspiracy. He thinks that I purposely choose places to go where he will have to drive over a big bridge. I swear I don’t do it on purpose! Anyway, in order to go to the town of Mt Plaisant, we had to cross this bridge.

And this is the face he made while driving over the bridge, that my friends, is not a smile, it is a grimace.

We made it to Boone Hall Plantation, which is still privately owned, the two top floors of the main house are still used as a residence by the owners where they are in the area.

The house was actually built by a Canadian Embassador in 1936, after he bought the property for the price of $55,000. He and his wife did not think that the old house (which was a regular farm house) was habitable, so they replaced it with what they thought was a suitable plantation house. As the tour guide explained, the first house had burned, the second house had been destroyed by the Yankees, the third house was destroyed by the Canadians and we can now enjoy the 4th house on the property .

Boone Hall is one of the only plantation where the Slaves house are still standing. Those little brick structures, would each house one family. These were the skilled slaves, and the ones that were serving in the house (the high class slaves). The field slaves resided in wood structures near where they worked, and these didn’t survive.

This is a good place to explore the “Gullah” culture. We enjoyed a live presentation on the evolution of this culture in the Lowcountry. The Gullah language is derived from many languages, mainly English, but with bits of Portugese, Spanish, etc. etc. It is spoken extremely fast, with a completely different rythm than English, on top of that, the sound “th” is pronounced either like a hard “d” or hard “t”, so although it is mainly English, it is very hard to understand. The Slaves that were brought here, came from many African countries and spoke hundreds of different dialects, in order to understand each other and communicate, they developed the Gullah language. They also adopted Christianity (which was surprising to me, since that was the religion of their captors, until they explained why). It turns out that they connected with the story of how God freed the Jewish Slaves from Egypt, and the African slaves believed that he would do the same for them if they prayed hard enough.

Last but not least, we ended our visit to Charleston by eating brunch at High Cotton, a wonderful little restaurant on E. Bay street. We ordered Crab Benedictine, (poached eggs staked on a crab cake on top of a slice of fried greed tomato) and covered with a nice hollandaise sauce. Served with either grits or house hashed potatoes. It was absolutely delicious.

1000 year old tree

It is a Live Oak with a trunk circumference of 35 feet 1 1/2 inches (10.71 meters). The crown spreads 89 (27.1 meters) feet and it s 44 feet high (13.4 meters). It is in excess of 1000 years old, which makes you feel very humble, small and insignificant when you see it.

The Fulton Mansion

The construction of this house began in 1874. The style is French Second Empire. What is the most amazing about this house is the way it was built. The walls and floors were constructed by stacking and spiking pine planks!

Also unusual, is the fact that only half the house had running hot water, so if you were unlucky enough to have a room on the other side, you had to wash with cold water…

Before the State bought the house and restored it, it had been turned into a sea food restaurant, and then the land around it was turned into a trailer park! People would go in and write their names on the walls! It withstood the test of time, built solid as a rock thanks to the genius of George Fulton, who didn’t have any engineering training, but had a real talent for construction.

USS Lexington

We had the privilege of going to visit the USS Lexington, affectionately known as the Lady Lex. This aircraft carrier first sailed in 1942, fought its first battle during World War II in Tarawa and was the first carrier to enter the bay of Tokyo after Japan’s surrender.

Frankly we haven’t figured out how they didn’t break their legs moving around in this ship, the stairs were steep ladders and sometimes ceilings were low, everything was tight and crowded with equipment. It was really not built for comfort, except maybe for the captain’s suite. We loved our visit though, it was an amazing look into the past.

Interesting facts:

USS Lexington steamed more miles and served longer than any other carrier in the world:
1943 - 1947, 1955 - 1991 (40 years)

It was the first carrier to conduct flight operations in the area Cape Horn

It was the first ship in U.S. Naval history to have women stationed aboard as crew members (August 18, 1980)

It is as tall as a 19 story building and as long as three New York city blocks.

It carries enough gasoline to drive your car around the world 132 times.

The flight deck is equal to more than two acres of land on which you could grow a crop of 100 bushels of corn.

It was the first carrier to establish a seagoing high school (21 sept 1967)

USS Lexington carries enough fuel to sail non-stop a distance of 30,000 miles.

It has sailed a total of 209,000 miles, equivalent to 8 times around the world.

It was the first foreign carrier to enter Tokyo Bay.

It has crossed the equator 13 times and the international date line 6 times.

It has more sleeping space than the largest hotel in the world.

It was the first carrier to deploy air-to-surface missiles aboard a carrier.

It can produce enough electric power to supply a city of 150,000.

You could park more than 1,000 automobiles on its flight deck.

It has more telephones than a city of 5,000.

Brownsville and Mexico

We stayed in Harlingen, next to Brownsville and visited with Bear’s cousin, sweet Jamie and her husband Tito. We found out they are great cooks! They also love animals, they own a parrot named Pancho, 2 dogs, Luke (Great Dane) and Ginger (Catahoula), and T-Rex the Iguana. Doug is an only child, and his cousins are the closest thing to sisters he has, so he was really happy to see Jamie again, it had been such a long time.

Mexico

Doug wanted this Canadian to cross the boder! So, we did! We crossed in Progresso, simply walking across a bridge (25 cents toll to go to Mexico and 30 cents to come back)

A lot of retired Americans and Canadians spend their winters in this area, so they can go buy their prescription medicines and have their dental work done in Mexico, where the prices are really lower. I had a crown made for $175.00, compared to $800.00 to have it done in the USA, that was quite a bargain. Dentistry is a big industry in Nuevo Progreso, there must 500 dentist in a half a mile stretch of road, most people we talked to are very happy with the service they get from their Mexican dentists, so am I. The main street is also a giant market place, a party town for Gringos.

We ate wonderful Mexican food at “Country Boy” restaurant. We had a few drinks in a “Happy Hour all day” dancing bar. We came back with a bottle of Scotch and a few new teeth! LOL LOL

Langtry TX

On our way to meet our friends in Fort Davis, we stopped by Langtry Texas, the home of Judge Roy Beam and Justice west of the Pecos, famous for his no-nonsense judgments. He has a reputation as a “hanging” judge, but in reality, he never condemned anybody to hang. When he would impose a fine, he would pocket the money himself, and he was not above interrupting a trial in order to serve a client in his bar, because you see, he was not only a judge, he was also the owner of the town’s bar. He was a very colorful character…

Everybody knows that Doug is afraid of bridges, here is the bridge over the Pecos River we had to cross with the motorhome on our way to Fort Davis.

And last but not least, seen in a Cacti garden….

No comment….

This Parish is situated on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain which was named after the Count de Pontchartrain who served as a Minister of France during the reign of King Louis XIV, the “Sun King” after which Louisiana is named. The lake is 40 miles long and 25 miles wide, it covers 625 square miles. It’s average depth is about 15 feet. The water is brackish and the bottom of the lake is covered with clam shells. It is home for over 125 species of fish, the bay anchovy being the most common.

The Choctaw nation used to live here, as early as 1600 BC. St. Tammany economy flourished with the influx of tourists from New Orleans, who came here “de l’autre coté du Lac” (the other side of the lake) to experience the clean air and artesian water which was reputed as having healing powers by the Indians. This same water is now the key ingredient in two thriving parish products, Abita Beer and Abita water. (Abita beer is pretty good, we sampled it last night when we went to Abita Beer Brew Pub and they also serve quite a good selection of Cajun dishes so it was a delicious dinner).

St. Tammany Parish is also known as and equestrian parish. The rolling hills of Folsom are the breeding and training grounds for many Arabian and thoroughbred horse farms, as well as home to exotic animal farms, including Llamas, Ostrich, miniature horses and more.

New Orleans is sandwiched between the Gulf of Mexico to the south and Lake Pontchartrain to the north. To access the North Shore if you were in New Orleans, you would have to cross Lake Pontchartain causeway bridge, which runs 23.87 miles north bound and 23.86 miles on it’s south bound span. It is the Nation’s longest over the water highway bridge. (I am pretty sure it is the second longest bridge over water in the world, but don’t quote me on that one). Since Doug is afraid of bridges, we didn’t even try to cross this one!

View of Lake Pontchartain and the Causeway Bridge

Baton Rouge

Maybe the most interesting part of traveling through Louisiana is learning about its history. I was never a history buff, but I learned surprising things during our visit to Baton Rouge, the Louisiana State Capital.

Baton Rouge is a very nice city, we felt secure walking around and sight-seeing. There is a Trolley in the Historic part of downtown, it runs from 10 AM to 2 PM, it is totally free, and it will take you from one attraction to the other.

We first visited the old Capitol building. It is surrounded by an impressive cast-iron fence, cast and erected in 1855 by the John Hill Foundry, it is unique in the fact that it is constructed entirely of interlocking parts, the only bolts used are the ones to anchor it to the iron base plates. It is on the list of the 10 most endangered sites in Louisiana, the rust and water having caused serious damages. It spans 1575 feet and surrounds the 5 acres tract around the Old State Capitol. It is undergoing an extensive preservation and repair effort.

This 150 years old building, built in a blend of Gothic and Victorian architecture styles withstood war, fire, scandal, bitter debate, abandonment and an occasional fistfight. The building was reborn as the Center for Political and Governmental History in 1994. It features a gorgeous cast-iron staircase (1882) , black and white fossilized marble floor, intricate brass hardware, faux-bois and gold leafing, stained-glass windows and a magnificent stained glass cathedral dome(1882). On the grounds, you can also see a Ginko tree planted in 1857.

The old Capitol building and its stained-glass cathedral dome.

The Center is the repository of film and video archives and houses state-of-the-art interactive exhibits and a multimedia presentation. We listened and watched old political speeches from famous Louisiana politicians like Huey P. Long (he was quite a showman) and his brother Earl (famous for his affair with the stripteaser Blaize) and others. We also learned about the history of Louisiana and I was blown away by what I learned.

A bit of history

Permanent settlement by Europeans in present day United States started with the establishment of a colony in St. Augustine, Florida, by the Spanish in 1545. The French soon followed and in 1682, Sieur de Lasalle, claimed the entire Mississippi river valley for France. He named it Louisiana, in honor of King Louis XIV. The Dutch and English also established colonies in America, mostly North East. Most of Canada and all of Louisiana was clearly French, Spain dominated the South West and Florida, and the English clung to their 13 colonies on the Atlantic East Coast. Since they all couldn’t get along, in 1754, the war started and the British won. In 1763, Britain ruled Canada and Florida, France, humiliated by its defeat, compensated her ally Spain for the loss of Florida by transferring Louisiana to the Spanish Crown.

Well, the Spanish soon discovered that they were not making any money with the colony, in fact, it was costing them money, so they gave it back to France.

The newly formed Republic, the United States of America, emerged as an independent nation in 1783, and they figured that they needed the Port of New Orleans for economic growth and survival, so, Thomas Jefferson sent an envoy to meet with Napoléon Bonaparte and negociate the purchase of New Orleans. At that point Napoléon was very busy trying to conquer most of Europe and that was costing a lot of money, Louisiana was a drain on his finances and he really didn’t care for it at all. All he cared about was money for his military conquests, so when the envoy from the United States arrived to negociate the purchase of New Orleans, the French representant of Napoléon told them it was all fine as long as they would accept to also buy the entire territory of Louisiana. After much debating and negotiating, they finally agreed on a price for the whole deal, 50 million francs (15 million dollars). So on April 30 1803, Louisiana became a part of the United States. Now until I visited this museum, I always thought of the Louisiana territory as what it is today, that is, the territory occupied by present-day Louisiana, but I was dead wrong! Oh boy was I ever wrong!

Now look at the picture and that is what Napoléon sold to the United States for 15 million dollars…..

The Louisiana purchase.

Yup, you are seeing right, Louisiana covered 827,987 square miles and would later make up all or part of 15 States. That my friends, is a bargain! And to think that some Americans were against the deal!

Well, this opened the route to the West and the rest, as we say my friends, is history….

The old governor house

We then took a tour of the Old Governor House.

This is the second “Governor House” on these premises, this one was built for Governor Huey P. Long in 1930 at the cost of $150,000 dollars. It is 20,000 square feet and has 7 bedrooms, all with their own private bathroom. There was an earlier house on this land, but Governor Long didn’t find it suitable, he tried to have another one built earlier but didn’t get the approval of the congress, so he had the old house declared “condemned” and then tried again to get the funds for the new house, and this time, he was successful.

This house is often referred to as “Louisiana’s White House”. It was occupied from 1930 until 1962, when Governor Davis moved to another house, closer to the new State Capitol. This house has no air conditioning and it would have cost 2 million dollars to retrofit it with AC, so Governor Davis figured they could build a new house for less than that.

Governor Davis by the way, was also a Country Music Star, and he is the one who wrote the song “You are my sunshine”.

Governor Davis Bed

The walls of the house are plaster, and some rooms are painted with faux-finish, but the dining room is covered with a French Wallpaper depicting scenes from various ports of the United States as seen in the 1600’s.

On the Mississippi river, sits the USS Kidd DD-661, an old WWII ship that is also part of the Veterans Museum.

We didn’t have the time or energy to go visit other sites in Baton Rouge, there are many others including the new Capitol building, the Casinos, the doll museum and so on. The whole area of Baton Rouge is surrounded by old Plantations and most of them are opened to visitors, some of them offer meals and sleeping accommodations.

Today is my birthday and we are staying home, preparing for tomorrow’s trip, we are leaving for Texas, and hopefully the weather will cooperate because the last few days, we’ve gone through multiple severe thunderstorms, 2 hail storms, a tornado watch, cold and nasty weather. I am happy to report that it is now warm and sunny

Gosh I do feel silly (just a little bit though:)

Anyway, most of you know by now that we just upgraded our manually operated RV potty to a more sophisticated elongated-bowl, push-button, flush-and-forget-it, waving-good-bye-optional, electric-toilet.

” Alleluia! no more “grab the sprayer, stand on one leg, push the pedal down, spray around the bowl, chase toilet paper around, lift the pedal, fill the bowl, make sure the sprayer is not leaking, put the sprayer back in its holder, now I am totally awake even though it is the middle of the night” toilet.

Ok, I hear you laughing, I am very serious here, you should thank your toilet when all you have to do is push a lever or a button and it does the work for you, really, I mean it! But I digress here…

In the “looks” department, this toilet is also quite a beauty, showing off its shiny porcelain hard body and its streamlined elongated seat, it is also taller than most RV toilets which makes it a winner in the “comfortable to sit on and get up from” department.

Boy this is really beginning to feel like home.

We now come out of the bathroom giggling (yeah! we are easy to entertain)

Doug also got himself a new Euro-recliner with integrated foot rest (no ottoman required) so he feels really comfy when he watches tv and rests at night after a day of sight-seeing and driving.

So here it is folks, the latest improvements for our “humble but highly upgraded” Bounder.