Battlefields and Bluegrass

Waving goodbye to Nashville, we headed east through the Appalachians to Washington DC. We spent two weeks camped near our nation's capitol. Some of the higlights were spending the day with my friend Bob and his family in Annapolis (including a wonderful day on his boat), visiting the National Gallery and the Jefferson Memorial, and dancing to country music at the best Western bar of our whole trip.

Our last destination before heading home was Gettysburg. PA. One of the best bluegrass music festivals in the country is held in May and August at a campground outside of Gettysburg.  Four days of marvelous music, food and wonderful weather--there's nothing that can soothe the spirit like a good bluegrass festival. We saw and heard some of the best acts in the country, and the stage was a couple hundred feet from our trailer!  We also spent a couple days touring the Gettysburg Battlefield visitors center and the battlefield itself. We took a Segway tour one day (GREAT way to see the park) and walked a
ot around the historic town.  All in all a beautiful and moving place to visit.

Memorial weekend we drove the last legs of our trip and arrived home on May 31.  Four and one half months, about 8000 miles and a million memories--we couldn't wait to leave again!

Ahhh....Nashville!

We've been to Nashville twice before, always for a long weekend only, and we've enjoyed ourselves immensely. So we decided to spend more time there than any other spot on our trip so far, three whole weeks. We had reserved an Army Corps of Engineers campground sited on a lake only about 10 miles from downtown Nashville. Due to the two-week stay limit, we had to move for the last week to another COE campground on another lake a little further from town. All-in-all during the three weeks we were there, we probably spent two evenings at home. For anyone who likes music of any kind, but especially country music, Nashville is a city like no other--nothing is even close! Nashville is a mecca for songwriters, musicians, singers and various players in the music industry. All these people are trying to get discovered and love to play music, so the number of live music venues here is hard to estimate. Downtown on "lower Broadway" there are at least a dozen honky tonks with live music from noon to past midnight every day, all with no cover charge. Then there are several "songwriter clubs" around town, like the Bluebird Cafe, Douglas Corner, Third and Lindsley and several more, where song writers play their music to small audiences in an atmosphere that is more like a poetry reading than a concert. One night at the Bluebird we saw four songwriters gathered in a circle in the center of an audience of about 100 taking turns singing their songs that were recorded by the likes of Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw and other big stars. There was something authentic and moving about this kind of show, especially all the stories the writers told about how they came to write the songs and the challenge of getting their songs picked up by artists. Another great venue is the Station Inn, pretty much the Mecca of bluegrass music. The first time we visited the Station Inn back around 6 years ago, it was a cinder block hut with no windows in the shadow of a freeway surrounded by vacant lots and warehouses. Now, it is a cinder block hut with no windows surrounded by condos, valet-parking restaurants and boutiques in the newly-gentrified "Gulch" area of Nashville. But inside it is still the place it was when Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs played here in the 50s. Never more than about 20 feet from the stage, you can see the best of bluegrass music in an awesome atmosphere, lubricated with root beer and "things" of popcorn, sitting on garage sale kitchen chairs around mismatched tables, elbow to elbow with other lovers of bluegrass. We went to the SI three nights and saw three awesome bands (Caroline, Steeldrivers and Special Consensus), two of whom were having CD release parties so some of the song writers were there, literally sitting across from us. Even if one doesn't care for bluegrass, the musicianship and singing of these top acts is a moving experience when you are close enough to be in your living room! Of course we spent several evenings on lower Broadway, wandering from club to club and sampling the music. You get a lot of cover bands, doing everything from old Johnny Cash and Hank Williams to newer hits, but also a lot of original music. We saw bands that have opened for Kenny Rogers on tour around the world (Savannah Jack) and musicians that have played in the studio or on tour with the best. The quality of music in all the clubs of Nashville is amazing. Many famous acts have gotten their start playing on Broadway for tips from Willie Nelson to Rascal Flatts. And because there are so many clubs, there is often room to dance, so we loved that a lot and were often the only ones on the dance floor. To be continued...

Alabama coast (3/25 - 4/7)

Well, I have to confess to being a negligent blogger. We've had a great time since we left Florida we've had a terrific time and seen some wonderful places. I'll try to catch up on this post, which might be kind of long. When last we checked in, we had decided on a whim to travel to Dauphin Island Alabama for a two-day bluegrass festival. We planned to keep our options open and either stay longer in Dauphin Island or move on to Gulf State Park, which we had heard great things about. After traveling the three-hour drive to Dauphin Island, some of it through a driving thunder storm, past Mobile (Mo-BEEL as they say here) and down the western shore of Mobile Bay, we crossed the 3-mile-long bridge (built in 1952, the year I was born) to the island. We quickly found our campground on the Eastern tip of the island and walked to Fort Gaines for the festival. Mobile Bay was the site of a major civil war naval battle ("Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead", which of course it doesn't seem Admiral Farragut actually really said) and there are two forts on either side of the wide entrance. Fort Gaines was a very cool venue for a festival, with high brick walls and a large grass expanse inside. This festival, the first annual "Seagrass Festival" was partially supported by BP in their efforts to restore Gulf tourism in the wake of the oil spill. We saw some great acts, highlighted by Sara Watkins and her brother (two thirds of the extraordinary and groundbreaking band Nickel Creek) and one of the heavies of all time, Ricky Skaggs. The moon was brilliant, the weather was pleasant and the music floated out to sea and up to the stars. The next day, we explored the length (8 miles) of Dauphin Island and walked to the beach near our campground. It was a really interesting place, with most of the houses up on stilts and half of the island basically just sand dunes, but we decided to move on to the Alabama gulf coast for two weeks, where the water and beaches were nicer and there was more to do. Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, was hit with a double whammy this decade. First hurricane Ivan in 2004 flattened much of the park and closed it for quite a while, then last year a forest fire destroyed 1000 acres of forest. We weren't sure what we would find in this state park that was so highly-rated by online reviewers, but we weren't disappointed. Yes, there were a lot of areas where the trees were broken and burnt, but there was also a lot of renewal and bright green shoots covering the landscape. The vistas were more clear and the swamp areas were more visible now and we saw some of the most amazing sunsets of our trip so far. Gulf State Park has miles and miles of paved bike trails, over a mile of unspoiled beaches and very well-developed campsites. We met a lot of people who had wintered here--the park is much more "snowbird-friendly" than the Florida state parks where stays are limited to two weeks max. We did a lot of bike-riding, exploring the coast and historic sites of the area. Fort Morgan is directly across the bay from Fort Gaines and is a much more extensive site, with many gun placements and a lot of informative exhibits about the Civil War battle fought in the area. I have to say something about the people we met in the Alabama gulf coast area. Alabamians (yes, that's what they are called) are very nice people (except for the occasional redneck truck emblazoned with Confederate flags and gun racks!) and have a simple outlook and lifestyle that is appealing. The Alabama accent is so pure and melodic and their sense of humor is humble and self-deprecating. We felt very comfortable here--and of course LOVED the seafood, especially the shrimp. We found a type of shrimp called Royal Reds that were so sweet and buttery that they reminded us of lobster (I know, a heresy for New Englanders). One thing we didn't appreciate before is how French southern Alabama is. The early settlers were the French and Mobile was actually the capital of the Louisiana Territory at one time. The only smudge on the area are the oil and gas rigs visible offshore from some areas, but we didn't see any sign of beach damage, two-headed shrimp or oil slicks. We'd definitely go back to this area as a less-developed alternative to the Destin-Ft. Walton Beach area. Our next destination was Nashville, where we had concert tickets for April 10th featuring our favorite musician, Keith Urban, but first we had to get there, almost 500 miles and 8 hours drive due north through Alabama. We decided to break it into two days and stop in Birmingham to see the Civil Rights Institute museum there. THAT was an experience. Through an immersive combination of photographs, tv news stories on 60s-style sets, recordings, newspaper accounts and artifacts, we heard the story of the civil rights movement--of which Alabama was in so many ways the epicenter. We had to fight back tears at some of the amazing events that we were only barely aware of at the time--school children being attacked with fire hoses and dogs or being blown up by bombs. All of the self-justifying talk of the leaders at the time sounds ridiculous today. The Institute itself is across the street from the Baptist church that was bombed, killing 4 little girls. Sitting in the park across the street from that was an incredible experience.

Florida Panhandle--the Emerald Coast (March 25)

Our drive from Cedar Key to Niceville (yes, that's really a place!) Florida was long--7+ hours and 400 miles. Florida is really a big state! We had tried to book one of the Florida state parks that are on the beach, but they fill up fast and we had to settle for Rocky Bayou State Park, about 5 miles from the beach, but a nice park and campground on the water. Our plan was to stay in this area for a couple weeks, for a few days of which our friend Lallie was planning to fly down and stay with us. The nearest beach town to us is Destin, FL which is near Ft. Walton Beach. These towns have the most beautiful beaches--white soft fine sand beaches and clear green water. There are also extensive bays, harbors, canals and other water features in this area, so it is extremely scenic. We enjoyed watching the great sunsets from Destin Harbor, Blueharbor Marina (only a 5 minute drive from our campground) and of course the beaches. Topsail State Park is one we'd love to try to stay in next year. It's a lovely, spacious campground with grassy sites and a short bike ride from the gorgeous beach. We also went to Richardson Beach State Park one weekend and it's beach was also great. I did a little diving while here, which wasn't a tropical coral reef like the Keys, but was interesting in it's own way. The visibility was about 40 feet and we did two dives, one on a natural limestone reef with soft corals and sponges, the other on an artificial reef composed of the demolition debris from an old bridge that was replaced. Both had a lot of interesting fish and other marine life. It was fun to get back down underwater and I felt a lot more comfortable having just done some diving a month before in Key Largo. We did some great eating in Destin and one Sunday while Lallie was here, we took advantage of her nautical experience to rent a pontoon boat and explore the bay and bayous around Destin. Very nice and we saw some dolphins too! We'd love to come back the the Emerald Coast some day and hopefully camp right near the beach. It's funny how serendipity works on a trip like this. Case in point: I happened to pick up a "Snowbirders" tabloid newspaper one night at a restaurant and read in the calendar section that there was a bluegrass festival the coming weekend on Dauphin Island, Alabama. I'd never heard of Dauphin Island, but we love bluegrass and had no firm plans other than to drift over to the Alabama coast for a while. On further research, Dauphin Island sounded great, so we booked a couple nights at a campground there and headed off late on a Friday to catch a couple days of bluegrass. Read on to find out about it!

Cedar Key (March 11)

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We knew we were going to be working our way north out of Ft. Myers toward the Florida panhandle and the Gulf shore, and while researching places to stay I came upon Cedar Key. We took a chance and booked a week at Cedar Key hoping it would live up to some of the good reports we'd read--boy, did it!

Cedar Key is literally in the middle of nowhere. Most Floridians I'd mentioned it to had never heard of it. It is about 2 hours north of Tampa on the Gulf coast, about an hour out of Gainesville at the end of Route 24. Surrounded by wildlife refuges and state parks, Cedar Key is at the heart of what they call Florida's "nature coast". It was the terminus of a railroad that ran from St. Augustine in the late 1800's and became the cedar pencil and whisk broom capital of the country for a while. What it is today is a charming small town of about 1000 people that is home to thousands of birds, millions of shellfish, hundreds of tiny islands and a slow "old Florida" way of life that is just plain wonderful.



We stayed in a small RV park about a mile up the road from "downtown" Cedar Key. This was the most friendly, laid back RV park we've found. The people were wonderful and they had low-key events almost every night--karaoke on Sunday, bluegrass picking on Friday and Saturday, bingo on Thursday. We watched beautiful sunsets from the docks and met some really terrific people. We rode out bikes to the docks at Cedar Key and watched people fish among the pelicans, gulls and other shorebirds. We ate melt-in-your-mouth gulf shrimp, clams, grouper and bruschetta. We visited a 5000-year-old native American shell mound that was 25 feet high and several acres across. Cedar Key is described as being like Key West 50 years ago and there is something to that. Quirky homes, restaurants and shops, working fishermen, stunning natural surroundings and little commercialization make Cedar Key a real treasure. We're planning to come back and stay a month next year instead of the week we spent this year.

Ft. Myers (March 4)

As I write this, we are driving north out of Ft. Myers after spending two great weeks at the Calusa Cove RV Resort in Estero. It didn’t start out very well, though. After our questionable camping experience in Key Largo, I was a bit nervous about this one. Trying to make reservations months in advance during the high season in Florida is challenging at best. The web sites for some of these places are primitive and there is a certain amount of “puffery” in the descriptions and pictures.

Calusa Cove’s site was worse than most, with the pictures mostly being stock photos of people kayaking and enjoying the beach. We arrived late afternoon and our hearts sank a bit as we drove to our site, which was at the end of a row of trailers and semi-permanent single-wides. It was a sandy and weedy clearing at the edge of a scrub Florida palmetto forest. Our neighbor, Jim, came over to introduce himself. He helpfully warned us about the fire ants that invaded their trailer one night while they slept and gave me some fire ant poison to spread around our wheels and jacks to keep the critters out. As I crawled under the trailer in the dark to make sure I surrounded the tires with the deadly stuff and felt the new bites I was collecting from the no-see-ums, I really wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.



But, you know, Calusa Cove turned out to be pretty nice overall. It didn't have nice grass or a pool or a laundry or, really much of anything. But it was right on the edge of a large wildlife preserve that extended a few miles to the Gulf of Mexico. From our trailer, we could watch the sun set knowing that no one was living between us and Mexico hundreds of miles away. We occasionally saw a local tortoise ambling about and eating weeds and never did get invaded by fire ants. It was quite beautiful and far better than being sandwiched in with a ton of other RVs.







We saw a lot of Lucas during our stay, having him over to the trailer for Mojitos and dinner several times, sampling the local restaurants, visiting his office at Gartner and going to see the Red Sox opening day of spring training in their new stadium—Jet Blue Park in Ft. Myers.
The beaches near Ft. Myers are beautiful. One day we went to the “dog beach”, which is a county facility all set up to a literal dog heaven. A short walk from the parking lot off the coast road is a series of beach and sand bars that are enclosed by water on both sides, so you have to wade through a couple feet of water (at least when we were there at high tide) to get out there. And what a place for dogs and dog people. The water was shallow, clear and warm like bath water. There were a couple dozen dogs there on this Saturday morning (Lynnae and Tucker were there Friday, too) and they were chasing each other, running in the water and generally having a great time. Tucker chased his rubber Frisbee into the water over and over. Other dogs came over to play and everyone got along great. At one point he was chasing a greyhound all around the sandbar howling like the beagle half of him loves to do sometimes.



We had heard that Lovers Key was beautiful so we went there for a sunset. Access is just north of the dog beach.



We loved seeing Lucas at work and home. Although there's no pics, he prepared and served a dinner to us and three of his friends...a delightful evening.



A few weeks back we had purchased a Groupon for the Ft. Myers Fred Astaire studio, so while we were here, we got to get a couple private lessons and attend two practice parties. It was great to dance and scrape a little rust off the swing and cha cha skills. On our last night in Ft. Myers, after spending the afternoon watching the Red Sox demolish the Northeastern kids at Jet Blue park, we had dinner with Lucas at the Sandy Parrot Tiki Bar, where we discovered they have a dance floor and live music. So we got to dance a bit more before spending our last night in Ft. Myers and packing up Sunday morning to make the 5-hour drive up to Cedar Key on “the Nature Coast” of Florida (in other words, the middle of nowhere).

Diving with Jeff and Lucas (February 20)

Friday night Lucas drove down from Ft. Myers and arrived around 7. We grilled up some shrimp (the Gulf shrimp are amazingly tasty and fresh) for dinner then took off to pick up Jeff at the airport. Our trailer is roomy for Lynnae and I but living in the trailer with the four of us was going to be “interesting”.

I had booked two days of dive trips for the three of us guys and Lynnae was going to go out in the dive boat with us on the first day to snorkle while we dove. Jeff had done the first half of his dive training in New York and just needed his 4 open water dives to complete his PADI ceritification. We could all go out on the same boat and Lucas and I could dive on our own while Jeff got certified. We left the dock in Key Largo on a beautiful 80-degree afternoon. It was about a 30 minute ride out to M olasses Reef, which is located in John Pennekamp State Park. The reef here ranges from just 10 feet to about 30 feet deep. We did two dives that first day and it was a little choppy at the surface, but we had really nice visibility underwater. There was a bit of a current, which proved to be a problem at the end of the first dive.



It had been about two years for me and more than three for Lucas since our last dives, so we were pretty rusty. It didn’t take long to get more comfortable and we tried to hang around the dive instructor who was putting Jeff and a few others through their paces. We lost them about halfway through our dive and just explored the reef. We didn’t realize how much the current was pushing us until we went up to the surface and saw that our boat was about 100 yards away and against the current. I was getting pretty low on air by this time and started to back stroke on the surface toward the boat. It was a bit dicey for me but Lucas and I did make it back near the boat and one of the dive masters came out and helped me get back to the boat, which was great since I was pretty tired by that time. The next dive, one of the instructors had us stay with her and she gave us a guided tour of the reef and that dive was much more relaxing and fun, since we just had to follow her and look at the fish, coral sponges and eels. We did two more dives the next day and Jeff and Lucas went out the third morning too. We all had a great time diving and saw a couple large (4 ft.) grouper, crabs, a massive manta ray, and thousands of fish. This reef is much nicer than I expected, with 50-foot visibility and beautiful coral and fish.

While we were diving the second day, Lynnae went to a nearby bird refuge and had pelicans walking betweeen her legs and stepping on her feet . Both diving days we weent out to local fish restaurants with that Keys “feel” and great seafood. It was sad to say bye to Jeff, but we were headed back with Lucas to Ft. Myers to spend a few weeks near his home.