You Are On: Latest Travels Page 3
Click To Go To:
Latest Travels Page 1 Page 2 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9
| JULY 2005 |
| BREVARD,
NORTH CAROLINA,
Home of the White Squirrel Here are more pictures of the whites squirrels found around the college campus in Brevard:
|
| ANDERSON,
SC
An interesting art museum there with a giant bug sculpture above, and an exceptional painting by Christy Green... We discovered Anderson have fish sculptures on display for auction throughout town, what fun! Called "Fish Out of Water, Hooked on the Arts"
|
| MAY 2005 |
| May
8, a surprise Mother's Day visit to the Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC
was a real treat. The largest private residence in America (4 acres
of floor space, 250 rooms - 43 of them are bathrooms), built by George
Washington Vanderbilt III and completed in 1895, this is a modern day
castle near the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina is surrounded by
100,000 acres of forest. We've been to castles in Europe, and this
is STILL an impressive place. Photos not allowed inside, but we were
allowed a self tour of 90 of the rooms.
The welcoming sign and archway..
|
| The
"cozy" home of the Vanderbilts... no, that's just Heidi posing
there, the Vanderbilts don't live here anymore..
Over two of the doorways... |
| A
water fountain under the ramp approaching the house, and an ornate cornice
atop a pillar on the house...
|
| and
an assortment of delightfully gruesome gargoyles protect the
"home"..
and impressive statue columns:
|
| The
left side has a "porch" like no other. Okay, so we have a
love affair with gnarly trees, we admit it! ...
|
| The
greenhouse (not in sight of the house)...
|
| The
winery where we found a lovely tea rose tree, clock tower and an
impressive array of wines made here, and a lovely walkway to it...
|
| And
a detached stables now serves as a lovely restaurant, stalls and all,
where we had a Mother's Day luncheon...
The gardens were so extensive, we decided to return to walk the grounds another time. We hope you enjoyed the view of the memorable Biltmore Estates as much as we did. |
sign.JPG)
| APRIL 2005 | |||
| WASHINGTON D.C. | |||
| VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL | |||
For pictures of the Viet Nam War Memorial, click here to the Support our Troops page and view the photos at the bottom of that page: |
|||
| CHERRY BLOSSOM TIME | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
Cherry blossom time! |
An innovative drummer near the Smithsonian |
A beautiful gazebo next to the Smithsonian |
Cherry trees around the Basin |
I cannot describe the surprising beauty of the Potomac Parkway around
Washington D.C. we discovered when we took a wrong turn. It is worth
the drive! |
|||
| LINCOLN MEMORIAL | |||
Glenn headed toward the Lincoln Memorial (above) and Heidi (below)
|
The beautiful walk to the Washington and Lincoln Memorials
A willow tree in the park near the Lincoln Memorial |
Again, a somber tone, respectful of the President's memory. We are also reading the opposite wall of sayings |
In the detailing along the top of the Lincoln Memorial, all the states are listed, including South Carolina |
| WASHINGTON MEMORIAL | |||
| View
from the "National Mall", really a grassy area between two of
the Smithsonian buildings
|
|||
| Washington
Memorial from the Smithsonian
and through the trees:
|
Glenn viewing the Washington Memorial from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial |
Heidi
From the walkway between the Lincoln and Washington
|
View from across the Basin (above) and through the trees (below)
|
| JEFFERSON MEMORIAL | |||
View across the Basin through the Cherry trees
|
|
A solemn tribute of flowers |
Heidi on the steps |
| WHITEHOUSE & CAPITOL BUILDING | |||
 |
|||
| ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL | |||
 |
A fine outdoor memorial |
Even his dog! |
|
| KENNEDY CENTER | |||
The unique construction of the J.F. Kennedy Center causes it to overhang
the freeway inbound lanes! |
|||
| MUSEUMS | |||
True! So many museums, so little time! Here's the Hope Diamond that was on display at the Smithsonian:
|
One of the Smithsonian buildings viewed from the National Mall (above) and the street side (below), closed for renovations
|
||
| SPLENDID
ORCHID EXHIBIT at the
SMITHSONIAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Heidi was in flower heaven...no other explanation needed |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Train overhead of the orchid exhibit entry |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| VENICE, FLORIDA for the Shark Tooth Festival April 8-11 | |||
The official banner |
Our friend Bob's megalodon jaw with Glenn |
Mote Aquarium exhibit
Florida Cracker Seafood |
"I Survived The Shark Tooth Festival" T-shirts |
| THE
PIG AUCTION
- a Venice event and fun surprise - locals decorated fiberglass pigs which would later be auctioned off. This is PIG HEAVEN for you piggy lovers... |
|||
| The SHARK
PIG at Sharky's Restaurant is decorated with real fossil mako shark teeth,
whatta grin! Named "When Sharks Fly"
|
|||
Dollar Bill Pig |
The Gondolier Pig |
Musical Pig |
Racing Pig |
The Elvis Pig (nope, nothing's sacred) |
|||
Patriotic Pig |
Pigasso |
Andy Warhog |
Miss Pig-Me Date |
Chef Pigatoni |
Piggy Bank |
Pigmillion |
Porky Pig |
Miss Princess Plenty-Full |
Sight for Sow Eyes |
Sow Jones |
SWine Connoisseur |
Tropical pig |
Another tropical pig |
Venice Pig in Paradise |
When Pigs Fly |
Pigs the Butler |
Pigsaw Puzzle |
This Little Piggy... |
Theater piggy |
"Check Me Out" |
|||
Pigahontas |
|||
| VENICE
PIER at Sharky's
a shark caught and released while we were there... View from the pier...
Typical shark toothing with a handled scoop on the shore. A nasty storm was moving in...
Casperson Beach just south of the pier...
The beach is so narrow compared to a few years ago, plenty of unfortunate beach erosion...
Our own mug shots have to show up somewhere in this photo tour...
|
|||
| Other views
of Venice - built in 1925 as a retirement community, it has kept those
demographics ever since...
Palms on the Venice Boulevard, and Glenn holding up a tree, taking a break... A brilliant yellow but unidentified tree...
And the unforgettable hibiscus on the boulevard..
|
|
In Rambler's Rest motor home park...
The cranes are very comfortable around folks:
|
| A mini fire
truck for sale as part of a garage sale in Venice...
|
Sunshine Skyway bridge |
| DINOSAUR
WORLD
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA We're not easily impressed, but this was an AWESOME MUST SEE Outdoor, Natural setting park with over 150 life-size dinosaurs. West of Orlando off Highway I-4. We have created a complete web page to show off ALL the dinosaurs we saw there.
Here is a link to the Virtual Tour of Dinosaur World for a real taste of Jurassic Park: |
| MARCH
2004
With our friends from Oregon, we made another trip through our closest town, Conway, to see how a real Tree City builds its town AROUND the live oaks famous in the South...
They build the roads around the historical trees... An early blooming magnolia...
Linda pointed out the heart shape the leaves make, a true "heart palm"...
Say, is that house hanging like a swing from the tree? Could have fooled me!
This massive oak limb grew over the drive, and is supported on the other side to keep it from growing down...
We stopped to view the river, the ducks...
and the local color...my own Glenn, and our
Bill...looks like the movie "Grumpy Old Men"? Yup. |
| CHERRY
GROVE PIER,
Cherry Grove, SC An especially windy day in March at the beach creates beauty all its own...
But it gives Glenn and Bill something to complain about, so they're happy!
Our Oregon visitors, Bill and Linda, even think this is cold compared to Oregon in winter!
But even we have time to act silly...
|
| SWAMPFEST
November 6, 2004
Near Loris, SC, this educational festival is held on the grounds of the Playcard Environmental Education Center which teaches swamp ecology, wetland plants, natural history, forestry, reptile and bat biology. Young people were there to learn old skills, such as churning butter, soap making, fire-pot stewing, and making things using antique hand tools. One skill was helping make a dugout canoe, as our friend Tim did at a recent boat show and also set up here. You see the pine log and the tools he uses. Safety is probably the biggest issue when young people and sharp tools are in the same arena.
Of course my Glenn headed straight for the chicken bog and cornbread, as did many others...
And I found a fire pot stewing swamp potatoes (sweet potatoes cooked in pine sap). But imagine my surprise when they pulled black lumps out of a sticky black mixture in the pot! Remember, pinesap, cooked with water, makes turpentine! The potatoes were pitch black and looked inedible. But wrapped in brown paper, split open, and topped with butter and salt, the taste was amazing! Back in 1816 pine sap began to be used to cook meat, fish, turtles, potatoes and other root vegetables. It seals in the flavor and preserves the food for later use because it hardens into a seamless shell. Foods are preserved for up to a month this way. I learned something new today...
And here's Glenn with a hand full of bog AND swamp potatoes..
Here are some of the working hand tools shown...a lathe
a planer
a circular saw
a dowel maker
a machine that takes the dried corn off the cob and makes cornmeal..
and an assortment of others..
Even a monkey accompanied one family...
And of course a picture of the swamp itself, without which the Swampfest would have no name...
|
| OCTOBER 2004 |
For Heidi's 50th birthday, we went back to Vegas to visit old friends, conduct business and have fun. Here's the lovely flower arrangement from Glenn delivered to the Hacienda Casino hotel room:
A Vegas truck having Halloween fun, below:
And a Volkswagon Beetle with a "GOTRAID" license plate that was amusing:
Since we already did a great article on Las Vegas on Latest Travels page 8, we added all the new photos to that page, and updated the info, be sure to hop over there and enjoy it... Page 8
| Drive-up
LITTLE WHITE CHAPEL, Las Vegas
Yes, we were married here on June 26, 2001. If you're in the mood, it can be quite charming... |
Drive up, drive under the cherub ceiling ...
to the gate, put 'er in park...and the minister will do the rest through your car window, yessiree... single rose and Polaroid in the gazebo is extra. |
| Jack
Kreis, known as Running Deer to his friends, was recently painted by
artist Tamara Geddes who received accolades for her work, though the 95
years of accumulating experiences and wrinkles is still the original work
of art. We're proud to call him friend. He recently celebrated
his 95th birthday in this world. Experiences include being a war
veteran, pilot, actor, proud leader of Native American causes for the
Paiute Tribe, to name just a few.
Below, Glenn with Running Deer... With his birthday card:
A few of his more interesting guns (reproductions)
Breakfast at the Boulder Creek Golf Course (Boulder City, Nevada) where he's an honorary member, he treated us to breakfast there: 
His own skunk caps:
|
| Dear
friends Dann & Cindi in their newly remodeled home in Nevada.
Previously a smoker's home, never painted since the original paint from
1970, they have truly worked wonders with their place. They rebuilt
the fireplace you see with local rocks, tore down walls, replaced windows,
made new doors..truly an EXTREME MAKOVER story.
Their nephew Alex at the Open House, hamming for the camera: |
| Our
visit to Boulder City would not be complete if we didn't visit our loyal
customers-friends-families, Ellen and Alex Ray (missed you, Chris).
Surprisingly, they are PACKERS fans!
The incredible view of Lake Mead from their balcony:
|
| Also,
a visit to our favorite Asian art store on Stephanie Blvd. in Henderson NV
where we found the owner hard at work doing finishing work on a lovely
carved room divider:
And sitting in our favorite gazebo...figuring out how to ship it back to us in South Carolina!
|
