Heading North

We are heading North today to Fredricksburg, VA.  We'll spend a couple of days there seeing the sights, going to Washington DC and Monticello.   I am really excited about Thomas Jefferson's house in Monticello.



Really happy to be getting out of this campground.  It's very small and in between a highway and railroad track.  The trains go by all hours of the day and night.  I feel like the I Love Lucy episode when they are in the hotel room and the train goes by and the bed moves across the room.  Thank goodness ours is attached.

Time to get this show on the road.....Later people.

Ticks are Ticking Me Off

Lone Star Tick.  This is the first tick that latched on to me in Georgia back in March.  So okay I was in the woods no pest spray...GASP...Listen I am not used to this woodsey stuff.  I grew up in Southern California.  The worst bug we have there is a bee or an ant.   After learning my lesson we got some bug stuff and come to find out I am ALLERGIC.  Gee shocker there.  Since I am allergic to most everything.  In our travels we found some natural stuff and that does a lot to make me smell good but probably attracts them to me even more. 

Then the ticks find me in North Carolina.  Only one though so I will commend that one for a job well done since I was pretty careful.  

We are now currently in Williamsburg, Virginia which I will affectionately call TICKVILLE.  It seems the tick populations here out number the human population.  The reason for my conclusions is that we pulled 11 ticks off of me.  Some as small as the head of a pin.  

See below....

The ones taken off last night seem to be deer ticks capable of transmitting Lyme Disease.

So all in all I am a rolling buffet for all bugs that bite, Mosquitoes, Ticks, and Deer Flies. 

My husband's theme song....Since we had the tick incident.

Brad Paisley's  TICK...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OctrGD4JW8U 

Yesterday we are visiting Jamestown, the site of the first settlers in the area.  We found this terrific path to see birds and wildlife.  Of course we broke out the cameras, lenses and were ready for action.  Another person in the area told us of a bald eagles nest, very excited we ventured into the "Pine Trees and woods" to get a better look.  The nest was across a small waterway and up in a tree.   These young bald eagles are just hanging out waiting for mom and dad to bring some food.  They are young eagles and have not transformed their heads into the white "Baseball" these birds are known for.  We watched them for quite a while and they were very cool.  I held the bug spray in my hand and sprayed myself, my clothes and yes even my hair.  

On the wooded path to the water way we came across this Red Headed Woodpecker.   I think there may have been babies in the hole there because it was checking the hole constantly and going in and out.  A beautiful bird that's for sure.

A little history on the Jametown Settlement:

In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, a group of 104 English men and boys began a settlement on the banks of Virginia's James River. They were sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, whose stockholders hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World. The community suffered terrible hardships in its early years, but managed to endure, earning the distinction of being America's first permanent English colony.

Today heading to Williamsburg to get some more history.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.....

Great Dismal Swamp Elizabeth City NC.

Don't let the name fool you.  This place is in the swamp, with that we get bugs...lots and lots of bugs.  When we arrived it had just rained and the little lake out our window was really beautiful with this fog on it.  

After the sun came out this was our view.  Which was very nice.  Not too many people here right now so the bugs are feasting on me.  I am a rolling buffet for all things that bite, crawl and fly.  The biting flies and mosquitoes swarm me and the ticks just seem to find a way on me then latch on.  Tom says I need Advantix like we put on the dogs.  I can't use sprays because I am allergic to them too so we are looking for cedar oil so I can smell like an expensive closet.   

Leaving here today if our mail arrives, it didn't come yesterday.  Thanks USPS.   If not one more night in the Dismal Swamp.  Then onto Virginia....

Fort Macon, Outer Banks North Carolina

This is Fort Macon.  On the Outer Banks of North Carolina near Atlantic Beach.

A little History from Wikipedia....

Five-sided Fort Macon is constructed of brick and stone. Twenty-six vaulted rooms (also called casements) are enclosed by outer walls that are 4.5 feet  thick.

Blackbeard and other infamous pirates were known to have passed through Beaufort Inlet at will, while successive wars with Spain, France and Great Britain during the Colonial Period provided a constant threat of coastal raids by enemy warships. Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge "QAR" is thought to have been discovered in shallow water right off the park in the Atlantic Ocean and is being recovered. Beaufort was captured and plundered by the Spanish in 1747 and again by the British in 1782.

The War of 1812 demonstrated the weakness of existing coastal defenses of the United States and prompted the US government into beginning construction on an improved chain of coastal fortifications for national defense. The present fort, Fort Macon, was a part of this chain. Fort Macon's purpose was to guard Beaufort Inlet and Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina's only major deepwater ocean port.

Named after U.S. Senator from the State of North Carolina, Nathaniel Macon, who procured the funds to build the facility, Fort Macon was designed by Brig. Gen. Simon Bernard and built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Construction began in 1826 and lasted eight years. The fort was completed in December, 1834, and it was improved with further modification during 1841-46. The total cost of the fort was $463,790. In the 1840s, a system of erosion control was initially engineered by Robert E. Lee, who later became general of the Confederate Army. At the beginning of the Civil War, North Carolina seized the fort from Union forces. The fort was later attacked in 1862, and it fell back into Union hands. For the duration of the war, the fort was a coaling station for navy ships. Often an ordnance sergeant acting as a caretaker was the only person stationed at the fort.

The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, and only two days elapsed before local North Carolina militia forces from Beaufort arrived to seize the fort for the state of North Carolina and the Confederacy. North Carolina Confederate forces occupied the fort for a year, preparing it for battle and arming it with 54 heavy cannons.

A holding cell for prisoners or a room soldiers stayed in while stationed at the Fort.   There were several of these rooms.

One of the canons left in place.  There were 54  around the fort just like this.  Some were gone.  Amazing.  

The inside of the fort.  You can see some of the canons around the top

The mote area that enemies wouldn't see until it was too late and they fell in if climbing the hill around the Fort.  From a distance it looked like just a hill sitting there, until you got closer.

Garden Pictures

These pictures go with the next post.  They are ones I took from my phone.

Garden Paths

Labyrinth I walked while Tom took picture. 

Brookgreen Gardens South Carolina

South of Myrtle Beach South Carolina

The following link is a Slide show of photos Tom and I took at a place called Brookgreen Garden.  I referenced this location before.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100518153875957627148/May12012#slideshow/5737548316209673698

The history of the garden is a husband and wife (Archer Huntington and Anna Hyatt Huntington), philanthropist and sculptor bought 3 dilapidated plantations in the 1930's and made a garden, sculpture garden and zoo for injured animals and birds.  The animals were injured and rehabilitated but could not return to the wild.  The garden was to display his wife's work but has grown to display many other wonderful artists.  Here is a link to the website:http://www.brookgreen.org/horticulture.cfm

Some of the sculptures we saw are shown below.  The gardens were spectacular.  Not bustling with color flowers per say but large oak trees and natural woodlands gave way to small patches of color with sculpture being the focal point.  After 3 days in the gardens this is a snip it of what we saw.

In addition there was a butterfly garden inside this huge net where we were able to find butterflies in their natural habitat.   Between the two of us we took over 300 pictures I believe.

Here is the link to the butterfly slide show.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100518153875957627148/Butterflies#slideshow/5737891468690932946

Here are a few of Tom's flower life pictures.

Our time in Myrtle Beach came to an end Tuesday and we traveled North back to North Carolina and are currently in New Bern.  In our search for a campground this time around we came across a place which is literally in someone's backyard.   There are about 30 sites and most have long term people staying in them.  We drove up to the owners front door and they waved us back.  They got busy I guess and we didn't pay until the next day.  Gotta love people in North Carolina.  Everyone has been super friendly.  We'll be exploring the Outer Banks for a few days.  Already we have seen there is a lot of civil war history here.  Which we both find fascinating.  Then heading north to Kitty Hawk.

Hope you are enjoying your day as much as we are.

Myrtle Beach

We have been in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for almost 2 weeks now.  This town is little too much of a Tourist Trap for us but we found some things to do other than the usual stuff.  There is a state park on far down the road which had some birds doing what they do best "Fishing"

Tom was able to capture this Great Egret having his dinner.   

We saw these little splashes around in the water and both took several picture to try and capture what the little fish under the surface were chasing.  One of us finally got something and realized it was a shrimp being chases by the little fish under the surface.  The little guy would jump out of the water.  Sometimes he didn't make it and was fish food.

We have been having some fun with the birds in our RV park.  We have some Blue Jay's and these black birds called Starlings.  When we put our trash out to be picked up the birds usually come out and peck at the trash bag.  These two birds didn't want to share with each other.  

Mr Blue Jay having a little photo Op !!!

He found himself something good and was determined not to share it with any other birds.  

Thrasher Bird looking for bugs.

Other than taking pictures of birds we played golf, rode the Ferris Wheel downtown, went to Charleston to check out the history down there.  Next post will be of Brookgreen Garden, a spectacular Sculpture Garden.  I'll work on that post next.  Stay tuned.....