We are slowing winding our way back north now.  Here’s where we’ve been…

Tybee Island and Savannah

Tybee Island is a barrier island in Georgia.  From there, it’s a very easy drive to Savannah.  We were looking forward to some cooler weather.

We stayed at a fairly densely packed campground…densely packed because a lot of people want to stay here within walking distance of the beach.  At least we were able to camp under palm tree!

Tybee Island Beach – right on the Atlantic Ocean.  The water is still a tad chilly.

Tybee Island Light Station

We did a day trip to visit historic Savannah, America’s first planned city. General James Edward Oglethorpe (who had previously founded the colony of Georgia) founded Savannah in 1733. He designed his new capital as a series of neighborhoods centered around 24 squares.

I grabbed this image from Google Maps.  You can clearly see the squares in green.  Now what did this remind me of?

A quilt, of course!  This is Anne Wiens’ Connections pattern.

In the movie Forest Gump, the main character spends much of his time sitting on a park bench in one of the squares.

Chippewa Square, where Forest Gum was filmed.  Note the monument in the center.

Forest on his bench.  Yup, there’s the same monument.

Savannah is the birthplace of Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts. I have been hearing about the Juliette Low Birthplace since I was a Brownie Girl Scout many years ago. So taking a tour of the house was a must-do.

A historic Plaque…this must be the place!

The Juliette Low Birthplace

Juliette was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  It was awarded posthumously by President Obama to her nephew.

Juliette Low in her Girl Scout uniform.

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Just next to Tybee Island is a brick fort called Fort Pulaski.  At the start of the Civil War, the South declared the fort was theirs.  That didn’t last long.  The North recaptured it in a 36 hour battle by using rifled canon for the first time.  This new weaponry was so destructive it essentially made brick forts obsolete.   Admission to this National Monument was free with Jim’s Senior Parks Pass, so it was definitely worth a walk around.

Inside Fort Pulaski.

Outside the Fort, you can see where the North’s rifled canon did damage to the walls.  The commander of the South quickly realized they were going to lose and so surrendered.

Little Pee Dee State Park

Little Pee Dee…funny name.  In South Carolina, this state park was named after the Little Pee Dee River, not to be confused with the Great Pee Dee River. It was an excellent stop on our northward journey. It was so very calm and peaceful and uncrowded. Ahhhh….just right.

Here’s Blue, all content in the forest of pines.

The azaleas in the park were blooming. Beautiful!  These were outside the ranger’s house.

A hiking trail within the park.  I got a little geocaching in!

This used to be a lake within the state park.  It was created by a dam in the Little Pee Dee River. But Hurricane Matthew (2016) caused the dam to breech, thus draining the lake. It was not clear if the dam was going to be repaired or not.  This probably accounted for the lack of people in the park.  That was fine by me!

Apex, North Carolina

The next stop was in Apex, North Carolina.  Back in the days when we had to work for a living at Kodak, Jim’s desk was next to his good friend Sam’s desk.  With the demise of Kodak, Sam and his family have since moved to North Carolina.  A couple of emails were traded and Viola…we were off to visit them.  Conveniently located near them is Jordan State Park.  We scored another quiet campsite in an uncrowded park!

The Blue Flame, once again nestled in the trees.

Sam and Tammy’s family: Emma, Ethan and Emily…eating s’mores of course!  They came out to the park and joined us for a picnic.

Chesapeake, Virginia

And finally, during our wanders northward up the coast, we made a stop to see my brother Dan and his family.  We got caught up with family, ran some much needed errands, did laundry, etc.   We didn’t take a whole lot of pictures, but we had a whole lot of fun.

Sister-in-law Tanya, nephew Nick, and me!

We are almost home.  Almost.  A couple more stops and we’ll be back in Rochester.  Stay tuned for the next post.