Thanksgiving in Washington DC - 2007

Dateline: Washington D.C.
November 18-22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving from Washington, DC…

Well, we pulled it off; we are enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner in Washington, DC. Steve has managed to make a wonderful meal once again and we are pleased to tell you that with the help from the “Little Man” from Safeway.com our turkey showed up yesterday morning, we found room in the small frig and the smell of cooked turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes have permeated the apartment. The weather here is absolutely beautiful (although they are calling for thunderstorms this afternoon and it is suppose to cool off and we are looking toward temperatures dipping down to 45-29 in the coming days. We spent yesterday afternoon walking around in short sleeves and we were not alone!

We have been really busy this week. Last Sunday we found the local Kinkos and printed our tickets to Mount Vernon and some other things we needed and Steve watched Sunday football. We rested up and prepared for the week ahead. Monday found us at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Check out our cool pictures at our Air and Space Album on Google Picasa. It was very cool. We started in the beginning of air travel and spent the entire day just enjoying the various exhibits. We even took a ride in an F18 simulator. Pretty Cool! For a kid who grew up during the “Space Age” (remember when Mom and Dad let you have the ENTIRE day off from school to watch the cardboard “capsule” go around the world on the T.V. screen??) Steve thought it was really cool to see all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo stuff, the Russian space equipment, as well as the aerial imagery stuff he worked with overseas. He got a lot more out of the old aircraft displays than Carol did. We are going out to the “other” air and space building tomorrow. Unfortunately (gotta love the Feds!!), in order to get the building space for “free” they had to build the new museum about 35 miles from downtown D.C., and because it is new and not a big draw for many people yet, there is VERY limited transportation out there. Our options are a 70-minute bus ride each way or about $100 in taxi fees, but Steve is adamant about seeing the space shuttle and the Enola Gay (the B-29 that dropped the Hiroshima bomb) which are on display there.

Tuesday was a very interesting day. We got up extra early in order to make it to the State Department for our 9:00 a.m. appointment and using the metro system we were there in less than 30 minutes. So the security people told us we had to cool our heels and they recommended a local coffee shop (which never disappoints Carol) so we walked over, found a couple of easy chairs and enjoyed the local Georgetown University newspaper. It is good to know that even almost 40 years after Steve worked on the editorial staff at both his junior college and Sac State newspapers, they have not changed all that much. Best places to purchase pot and party, and ‘dissing the university president were the strong topics of the day! After about 30 minutes we wandered back to the State Department for our tour. We were very fortunate as we were the only two people in the tour so we followed our leader, two other guides and were escorted by a State Department Police Officer up to the 8th floor where they showed us the Diplomatic Reception Rooms and the Ben Franklin Dining Room. Check out the pictures at our Google Picasa Album for the State Department. These rooms are among the most beautiful rooms in the world and are used for official entertaining. Each year over 80,000 guests are entertained at luncheons, receptions and dinners. Several historical art pieces can be seen throughout all of the rooms, including masterpieces of 18th-century cabinetmakers, silver from Paul Revere, property of George and Martha Washington and portraits of Franklin, John Quincy Adams, cut-glass chandeliers and” the floor is covered with a carpet that weighs 5,000 pounds (hate to have to clean that carpet!) We were enjoying our tour when all of a sudden someone from “upstairs” determined our tour was over RIGHT NOW and we were literally pushed out of the room and into the elevator. It was like being invited to a party and then realizing you weren’t really wanted. Later we found out that there was a big press conference going on and they needed all of the “outsiders” out of the building!!

Remember when you look at all of this loot and these rooms that unlike most countries, our federal government does not pay ONE cent for the maintenance and improvement for any of our museums and buildings. All of the contents and their upkeep are paid for by (some VERY wealthy) private and public spirited individuals, who in return for their generosity, get to attend one “thank you” dinner each year and dine with Condoleezza and friends, or at the museums they support so the rest of us can enjoy all of these beautiful artifacts. All of the museums are open every day of the year except Christmas.

Since we were finished early we decided to wander through downtown Washington DC and make our way over to the White House. We found some wonderful monuments and found out where the National Christmas Tree is so we can go crash the tree-lighting ceremony on December 6th. Here is a picture of the tree BEFORE the lights! It is a gorgeous tree and should be really pretty when the lights come on!!! Sorry that some of these photos are not too close up, but EVERYTHING within two or three blocks of the White House and the Executive Office Building (where the Fuehrer resides) is fenced off, roped off, concreted off, wired off, patrolled by armed soldier and dogs, and probably is infested with land mines as well. Steve said the security around Lenin’s Tomb in Moscow was less rigid than this.

We also had the good fortune to get a picture of Marine One (or something like that) carrying off President Bush somewhere from the White House. The chopper was just leaving the south lawn as we walked onto the Ellipse, and thanks to Steve, his quick thinking and some fast camera action, he got a couple of shots! He got some really good pictures of and you can take a look at them at the Washington Album on Google Picasa. If you want to get a good picture really quick, he’s your man. And the cops on the ground didn’t even know we got the pic (or he’d probably be in jail right now)!










Finally we made our way to the White House Visitor area and while we were standing in line we found out that there are NO cameras, NO backpacks, NO books, NO cell phones, NO gum, NO handbags, and almost NO breathing! We explained that all we had was our small backpack, a camera, our map and a cell phone. We were told that we could not go into the White House and the only alternative was for one of us to go while the other stayed out. Well, as most of you know, Steve and I are pretty much connected at the hip and we didn’t really want to go in alone, and the time we had was the ONLY time we could go, so we made the executive decision to just blow it off. It was another sign in our estimation that Osama Bin Laden has achieved his primary goal. With all of the “power” of America it is truly amazing to see that our country is so afraid of terrorists that the present administration has made it virtually impossible for our own people to see and enjoy the birthplace of our country. We also were able to get some pictures of people who are protesting. This was good to see that in the midst of the "police state" of Washington, DC, people can still protest.







Check out the “proud” national symbol of our F.B.I. Headquarters building, with the seal and sign hidden behind the huge metal barriers that surround the entrances on all four sides of the building. It is really sad and Carol was really ready to leave DC and go back home.


Instead we went back to the National Archives and read the documents that started this country. Here are the original documents on our Google Picasa Album of the National Archives and Documents. We have also found it truly amazing that the ONLY buildings that are virtually unprotected in D.C. (no more security that what you find at Sacramento Metro Airport) are the ones that hold the REAL treasures of the country. You can pretty much just walk in the door and have access to all of this TOTALLY neat stuff. It was really cool to see the actual documents that began this country. We had the opportunity to look at the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Articles of Confederation and the Bill of Rights, and some other crucial documents that are corner stones of our history. Steve says he wishes he had paid more attention to all of this stuff when he was a kid in school, because now that he understands the true value of that is in the documents, he feels he totally missed it the first time around. I guess this is why they repeat these classes so many times from grammar school through college!

We also found Ford’s Theatre and the house that Lincoln died in. We found a Hard Rock restaurant and went in to ask about guitar picks for you Tina and all they have are Fender picks with no mention of Washington DC. Tina, let us know if you want those and we will go back. It is right down the street and we could always use a good walk! After all of our wanderings, we decided it would be fun to go back to Kennedy Center and listen to some blues in the Millennium stage. Well, our “It’s Closed” luck followed us from Savannah Georgia. For the first time in four and a half years, the blues band that was suppose to play got stuck in traffic and would not be able to make it to the Center. The Kennedy Center people, through the heroic efforts of its music director found two musicians who had not met before and put them together to provide piano and guitar jazz. While the music was good and it was pretty impressive for two musicians who didn’t even know each other to be able to play so well, it just wasn’t our cup of tea so we headed out, found the shuttle back to Georgetown University Hospital and caught the metro home.

Wednesday we spent the day walking through downtown, Chinatown (not even CLOSE to San Francisco’s) and ended up at the National Portrait Gallery. We did not take the camera but are going back for more photos maybe. Carol is afraid that if Steve gets loose in there he will NEVER be seen again! There are SO many wonderful pieces of art in this one building! You can check it out at http://www.npg.si.edu/. The best collection is the Presidential Portraits. It went from George Washington to George Bush. The collection was very informative and provided insight into the men who have been the leaders of this country. Look for more information in upcoming blogs.

Thanksgiving in Washington, DC has been really wonderful. You can take a look at our festivities at our Thanksgiving album on Google Picasa. We walked to the neighborhood store last night for last minute supplies and Steve’s cooking just can’t be beat. We had turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, biscuits and pie. Everything but the pie was home made and needless to say watching Jimmy Stewart movies, smelling the wonderful Thanksgiving smells and being with the person you love makes Thanksgiving anywhere pretty special!! Today’s temperature was 77 degrees, apparently a new high record for Washington DC! We had the air conditioner on, can you believe it? We are very thankful for each other, for our wonderful children, beautiful grandchildren and for family and friends like all of you. You are all very special to us and we thank our lucky stars that we are fortunate enough to have you in our lives.
One thing we have found that is very interesting. As most of you know we watch the news almost every night and Carol is much more interested in the commercials than Steve ever could be. Well, in California, most of the commercials are geared towards old people with the deluge of commercials from the pharmaceutical companies extolling the benefits of their “wonder” drugs and you find that most of the drugs are to help arthritis, incontinence and cholesterol. In Washington DC, the commercials are very different, they are geared towards people in need of plastic surgery, erectile dysfunction, hair replacement and any new “miracle” that will make you look younger, act younger or be younger. What does that say about California and Washington, DC? We will leave it to you to decide!!!

Until next time, we remain Steve and Carol, life reporters at large!!

A Week in the Life of Carol and Steve in Washington, DC

Dateline: Washington D.C.
November 13-17, 2007

We have been very busy for the past few days and wanted to share with you all that we have been up to. After a day of R and R we began our Tuesday catching the Metro to Congressman Doolittle’s office for a 1:30 tour of the Capitol. There we met Josh, Charles and Caroline, the welcoming interns for Congressman Doolittle. We waited for the rest of the group to get there and began the tour.

Charles and Caroline were very helpful and had lots of information that you wouldn’t get on the regular tour, including a shuttle ride on the commuter rail that runs in underground tunnels between the Rayburn building and the Capitol. There is an entire city down there, including artwork from high school students from each state. The walls are lined with beautiful paintings, photos and various drawings from very talented students. In addition to the artwork, there is a post office, a sundries store, shoe shine stand (complete with red, white and blue bunting around it), and the shuttle train that takes legislative aides and members of the Legislature between the Capitol and their offices. We got our picture taken on the shuttle and are posting it to the blog. Check out the pictures at our Washington DC Capitol Album on Google.

I think one of the things that have really struck us is the pure opulence that pervades our government, the buildings, the statues and the people. We wonder what visitors from other countries must think about at the privileged circumstances that encompass our government and the constant show of power and wealth here. Everywhere one looks there are signs and placards that read “Members Only,” Secret Service guards, cops, and heavily armored SUV’s with radio antennae and lights all over them. We are truly amazed and we have both been exposed to the “powerful” side of government. Steve has also probably asked 1,000 times this past week, “what the Hell do all of these people do here?” The place is literally crawling with bureaucrats, aides, and other “assistant-type” people to the high and mighty. You have read or heard the comments about the “Beltway Mentality,” and how the people who work here have lost touch with the rest of us, and after being here and seeing this first-hand for only a week, one can sure see how “regular” folks get elected, come here, and get sucked in to all of this pomp and foo foo. However, the “regular” people who live here are friendly, easy to approach, helpful and have a good sense of humor – from the cops who guard the museums to the checker in the grocery store, we have not met ONE nasty person since we got here. People are just as small town and friendly here as they are in good ol’ Pollock Pines!

We have been using the Metro extensively and feel we are pretty well versed with the system. We had to use a taxi the other night and found out the hard way the rules of the taxi service in Washington, DC. They do not use a meter system; rather they use a zone system. What would have taken us one transfer and about 30 minutes cost us $12.00. For those of you who are planning to come to Washington, DC. Our “Not For tourists” book (our bible here) states the rules system for taxi’s here is known as the “Rosetta Stone” (read un-decipherable!!). Get a weekly metro pass for $22 each and learn the Metro system. You will never have to take a taxi. The streets are logically laid out for the most part, and our only complaint about the Metro is that (unlike BART) they do not label the streets in the stations underground, so when you come out of a dark whole (especially at night!) you have to take a minute to figure out where the heck you are. The other thing that amazes us is the architecture of the subway. Here is a picture of the inside of our train station. Wheaton Station has the deepest escalator in the Western Hemisphere at 230 feet. Steve has also been on the deepest one in Russia (Moscow), so he is in Metro Heaven!

We then made it to the Library of Congress for that tour. As most of you know, Steve and I are avid readers and researchers extraordinaire. The Library of Congress allows you to come in and research anything and everything that they have. We quickly signed up for a library card and plan to spend the rainy days in the Library of Congress reading old documents, researching our family genealogy and just being immersed in books. This is one of the reasons we came to Washington DC and we were not disappointed. The inside of the building (even though you cannot take pictures in the most-beautiful part of it) is truly spectacular, and the rows and rows of books even more so.

Wednesday we spent the day walking through the Capitol area after doing a quick overview of the National Archives and how to get signed up to do genealogy and other research there. Carol joined a demonstration with Greenpeace to let the Prime Minister of Japan (who was in town to visit Bush on Friday) know that killing whales is wrong! Here is a picture of Carol and the protesters.



After finding a Starbucks we also wandered around the Capitol and while Steve was taking pictures of the Secret Service guys and buildings, Carol found a couple of DC cops who were willing to get their pictures taken…as Steve always says…”A Cop in every City, that’s all Carol asks.” He also informed them that three of them were not going to be enough to keep her our of trouble, so one of them took off before we could get a photo snapped. We think Steve scared him off… all she did was tell the DC cops that the NYC cops aren’t supposed to have their picture taken…a little rivalry goes a long way. She also got planting tips from the Capitol’s landscaping guys who wanted to know where her southern accent was if she knew what collard greens were. Leave her alone for a few minutes and she will be talking to anyone and everyone!! We also walked down the Capitol Mall. Take a look at all of the monuments and sites at our Monument Album on Google Picasa. It is truly an awe-inspiring view. Remembering all of the speeches we have seen from this vantage point. We went to the Washington Monument and then walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. You really are reminded of what history is really all about. They have placed a stone where Martin Luther King spoke during the “I have a dream” speech. It gives you goose pimples when you stand there and look out and can see the Capitol in the distance.

We also got to visit the Korean War Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. It is so sobering and when you look at all of the young men who have died defending this country it really makes you think about what it must be like for the troops who are in Iraq. It also makes you question how our leaders can look at themselves in the mirror every day while our young men and women are over there dying. We can’t imagine anyone being able to support a war in Iraq if they were to walk through these war monuments.

Steve found his friend John Mariani on the Wall and we took this picture. If any of you would like us to look for someone special who might be on the Wall, just send us a note and we will go back. You can never be reminded too often that war kills our young. The fall colors are still just beautiful here because of the mild summer and fall. We have only had one real cold and rainy day since we got here, and it blew off after about a half-day.


Speaking of sobering things, we also had the opportunity to go to the Kennedy Center and have a behind the scenes tour. It is a wonderful place and there are so many performances each day. In keeping with the family’s desire to provide culture to everyone, the Kennedy Center offers free performances every evening and they are online at http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/archive.html. We have found two or three events that we are going to go to as well as a couple of shows we want to see. The story of the Kennedy Center is a fascinating story. Two months after President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Congress designated the National Cultural Center as a "living memorial" to Kennedy, and authorized $23 million to help build what was now known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Fundraising continued at a swift pace--with much help coming from the Friends of the Kennedy Center volunteers, who fanned out across the nation to attract private funds, what is amazing is that over $300 million was donated by nations around the world who began donating funds, building materials, and artworks to assist in the project's completion. In December 1965, President Lyndon Johnson turned the first shovelful of earth at the Center's construction site, using the same gold-plated spade that had been used in the groundbreaking ceremonies for both the Lincoln Memorial in 1914 and the Jefferson Memorial in 1938. Unlike in many other countries, we have learned that many of the memorials in Washington have NOT been funded by the national government, but by people and private foundations.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we spent the day going to the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Natural History and the National Archives Museum. Take a look at the pictures on our album of Museums on our Google Picasa Photo Album. Of course, they are just CRAWLING with screaming and boisterous little kids from schools all over the country, so we have spent part of our tour research trying to figure out where they will NOT be at any point during the day. The American Indian Museum provided both of us an opportunity to learn more about the indigenous people of America, their customs, histories, religions and clothing styles. Many of the early tribes were moved to Oklahoma and Texas as the Western movement happened and this information as well as the research center in the Museum has given Carol an opportunity to hone her genealogy skills. She is still looking for Chief Eagle Plume (tribe and Nation still unknown) on her father’s side of the family. We then made our way to the National Museum of Natural History and were greeted by about a thousand little kids. It seems (rightly so) that all of the schools use the Smithsonian Museums as learning tools. The dinosaurs were the big attraction at this museum and we were not alone as we looked through this museum. We are not kidding; you could spend four or five days at each of these museums. We are so happy we have the time. We spent four or five hours in the exhibit on the beginning of world civilization and the peoples of Africa. We had the opportunity to see “the Iceman” who is over 5,300 years old; we watched the beginning of the world through to modern times, and for those of you who know how much we love geology (Dan, Erin and Shawna!) we spent two hours looking at rocks!!! We also had the opportunity to see the Hope Diamond, Tiffany jewels and every other precious stone you could think of… simply breath-taking. We also had the opportunity to go through the mammal exhibit and took TONS of pictures of animals for the grandkids. This museum has something for everyone and it was evident when we went back on Saturday and finished the museum. Washington DC had a walk to help the homeless on the Capitol Mall and we think that most of the families that walked in the walk decided to spend the day at the museums. When the grandchildren get older, we will definitely bring them back to Washington DC to see these museums. To see all of the things that you read about in books brought to life is simply a dream come true for these students!

As our apartment is situated in a very diverse and “active” neighborhood, the last couple of nights we have had the police helicopters over head and every night someone’s car alarm goes off. We have found our favorite car alarm is the one that has about six different sounds incorporated in one. It gets set off not less than four-to-five nights each night. We think it is a game between the people in the apartment building behind us and the neighbors in this building. Thank goodness we don’t have a car. We can’t see why anyone would need a car but they are all over. Steve has found two or three stores that he goes to for groceries and the newspaper each day and I’m pretty sure they think he is the new guy in the neighborhood. He always comes back with colorful stories of the characters he meets in the ‘hood! However, every one is friendly and easy to approach, and we have seen few signs of outward violence (although the Post is a lot like the Sacramento Bee each morning). In the morning the car alarms are set off by the garbage collectors who pick up the giant trash bins and shake them in order to get all of the garbage out and then drops them back on the ground. Sometimes they shake the building! Yesterday as he was dumping the trash down in the basement, Steve met one of DC’s finest who was doing surveillance on the building behind us and wanted to know if there were any other exits to this building… Steve told him and went on about his business. Needless to say we aren’t in Kansas any more, Toto!! However, urban life is different than country life and we have had a great deal of fun learning the ins-and-outs of living in a large and busy American city. It is going to be a great comparison point for living in an Australian city for a month or so next year.

We are having a wonderful time and we apologize for such a long blog but we have decided to incorporate a week’s worth of activities into one blog. There is just so much to see and do, by the time we get home from our adventures we are both too tired to think and there is just so much to say, we have decided to put it all together in a weekly blog. Hope you enjoy the new format. Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing!

Somewhere in DC we remain…Steve and Carol

Dateline: Washington D.C.
November 12, 2007

Today is a “down day,” our first since leaving the S.S. Scurvy in Florida on the third of November. It is a good day for it, as it is rainy and cold outside. This gives us time to plot our future adventures, and as we have a mixture of in-door and outdoor events planned, it is nice to be able to pick and choose over a period of a month. Steve stayed up until midnight last night watching Sunday Night Football, and loves it back here because “Na Futbole” (Russian for “at the football”) is on from early afternoon until REAL late at night on Saturday’s and Sunday’s both. Gives us all day to sight-see and him all night to watch sports. Carol says some things never change, no matter where you are.

Our apartment is nice and functional, and almost everything works. Steve has had to “re-engineer” the combination washer dryer (shades of life in Great Britain a few years ago), and we have photo evidence (see photos at the Veteran's Day Album Google Picasa) of his handiwork, but all else is fine. We are very centrally located, just about 10 blocks from the White House, so we can keep an eye on King George and the Fuehrer over there.

Yesterday was a bright autumn, cool, blue-sky day. The trees are still in full color here as well. It was an emotional day for the both of us. Carol had a chance to visit the grave of President John F. Kennedy, and as it was Veteran’s Day, Steve was able to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of the Viet Nam Veterans’ Memorial Wall, and hear General Colin Powell speak (as well as some other Viet Nam vets who gave awesome talks).

Almost all of the footage and photos for today’s blog are of Veteran’s Day Celebration events, so if that is not your cup-of-tea, be forewarned. However, if nothing else, be SURE to watch the video of the Native American Viet Nam Veteran playing the “Spirit Song” on his flute at Kennedy’s grave site. Steve spoke with him after he finished filming, and the man told him it was a Native American ritual song played by his Nation for the dead to ensure their spirits had peace in the afterlife. He had traveled to Washington D.C. for the Viet Nam Vet’s Memorial re-dedication from his reservation in Arizona, and told Steve he had brought his flute along especially to play the song for John Kennedy simply because “I had a great deal of respect the Man.” It made our day as well!










If you have never seen the changing of the guard or wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before, it is an experience that gives one goose bumps on your entire body. It is SO electric. You are just awe struck by the somberness and respect of the event, and the numbers of headstones in Arlington National Cemetery (we will be going back for the full-day tour). Busloads and busloads of veterans from all of the wars we have had (including one 106-year-old man from World War One), as well as their families and other Americans, began pouring into the cemetery as soon as it opened at 0800. We saw two Medal of Honor recipients present, plus more brass than in the lobby of a Ritz Carleton Hotel. As an addition, the Secret Service people at Arlington were in SWARMS!! It was amazing how many people are there to protect the Vice President. Even with all of the vets there it was search every one and everything. Kind of funny, because all of the S.S. guys (no pun intended, Dick) look the same. Muscle, hard looks and ear pieces.







While it is cool to see the Challenger Astronauts and some of the other “hero” markers, it is not the famous people buried in Arlington that makes such an impact. It is the rows upon rows of simple white markers that represent the thousands of regular schmucks like us who paid the ultimate price for this country, in all of our conflicts since the Civil War (when the cemetery opened). We stood at what Steve calls “parade rest” for 2.5 hours in order to be in the very front row at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the laying of the wreath ceremony. No talking, no sitting, no gum chewing, no cell phones, NO horseplay allowed! He has waited years to see this event, and it was dimmed only by the fact that Dick the Fuehrer did the honors. He was whooshed in with his 1,000-car escort and political ass licks (see the film clip) and whooshed out right after, and Steve stated that it was a crying shame to see one of losers (the other one was in Texas) who never served (well, Bush did have a uniform, but couldn’t seem to make his National Guard meetings) and do NOT represent all of the veterans who did serve their country to be the one to have this honor (end of his political statement – however, this seemed to be the sentiment of a LOT of veterans from all the wars who were present), but at least Clinton wasn’t there.

The Viet Nam Memorial re-dedication was also an amazing experience. When you watch the video of the thousands of people there, one thinks of all of the anti-war riots and demonstrations that took place on that the Mall during the 60’s and 70’s. It was sort of ironic to see all of the old farts there (many of us who were against the war but did go when we got drafted or because we enlisted), with bald heads, grey beards, rascals, canes, grandchildren and families. This is the generation of Boomers who have now become senior citizens. There was even a large group of ARVN’s at the program. Steve remarked how some of the guys could still wear their jungle fatigues, and how many of them had kept all of that stuff for so many years after the war – Steve’s field jacket and a couple of fatigue (BDU’s for the younger set) shirts are still stuffed in a storage closet somewhere at home, but he told these guys yesterday he was truly sure he “couldn’t get his fat ass in any of them, and had never tried….”

The speakers were excellent, especially a woman vet who was a M.A.S.H. hospital nurse, who expressed a lot of the sentiments about her frustration and anger regarding the country, the military, treatment of veterans from all wars, the politicians, and her desire just to come home and resume an ordinary life Steve expressed he felt so often after he returned to the States after three years overseas. It seems like 30 years changes a lot, especially, when you have time to look at all of our wars, their impact, and the just plain simple folks who make up this country and actually have to fight in them. Click below for the speech from Colin Powell, it will make you cry whether you were in Vietnam or not.




Steve dedicates all of the Veteran’s Day filmed events to his Dad, son Dan, brother Dan, Fred Richard, Sherra Madding and every one else in our family and on our blog list who served in the military. It WAS a day to honor you and your service to country, and it was cool to see it done Washington-style.

From Williamsburg to Shenandoah Valley to DC!

Dateline: Washington D.C.
November 10, 2007

Another travel day, but our last for the next month. Yeah! We were out of the rack and on the road by 0730, after a stop (of course) at Starbucks for another photo op for Carol and breakfast. Other than Monticello and the University of Virginia, not a whole lot going on in Charlottesville, especially on a Saturday morning when the Virginia football team is playing an away game.

Based upon Carol’s brother-in-law’s recommendation, we both very much wanted to drive the Shenandoah Valley and Shenandoah National Park. We were most-certainly NOT disappointed, and we accomplished both, but in a way picked the wrong day. It was cold and misty in the Valley, but the fall colors were still very spectacular (see photos at the Shenandoah Photo Album on Google Picasa), and we ran into an old friend at the southern entrance to the park – snow and ice. The roads in the park were close in what they call the “south park” (not the show, Jenna), and when we arrived at the park entrance named “Swift Run Gap” (for those of you who are not Civil War – or the War of Northern Aggression is you still live in the Southland – fans a ‘run’ is another name for a stream, creek or empty streambed back in this country), which is at all of 2,600 feet, a little more than half of our elevation at home, but there was snow and ice on the ground, it was 30 degrees (f) and our little PT Cruiser did not have 4-wheel drive. So, we detoured down into the Shenandoah Valley and headed northward to where we could get into the park at a place called Mary’s Rock.

As a short aside, if you are in the market for a car and were ever interested in a PT cruiser, look no further. What a piece of crap! Glad we had a chance to drive one before ever thinking about buying one. Anyone wants more info, e-mail Steve!

We stopped and shot photos all along the way up the valley and then ran into another old friend – Yogi and Boo Boo Bear, and we were so excited to see Yogi, he gets top-billing on the blog space for today! For those with kids, this place (called the Jellystone National Park Official Camp Ground) would be a MUST. We cannot imagine the nightmare it must be during the summer months! Yogi and Boo Boo commercialized to the MAAX!

We got back into the park, which was totally fogged in, with snow and cold winds all the way out to For Royal at the northern entrance to the park, but good photo opportunities all the way, and a nice cozy stop at the large lodge (warm bathrooms!!) and gift shop for yet another cheesy fridge magnet. Our refrigerator is going to need an addition to hold Steve’s new and improved collection of cheesy tourista magnets from every Podunk spot in North America. The boy is relentless! The road was so occluded and icy at one spot, we were thinking of putting ski’s on the PT, but hey, it was insured, so we took the challenge and took the drive.

We arrived in Washington D.C. right in the middle of a Viet Nam Vet’s parade, which was both good and bad for Steve. Note to Self: NEVER drive in downtown Washington D.C. when there are hordes of hell raising veterans marching along the streets around the Mall. Even the guys Steve’s age on Rascal’s (another chapter of “Hell’s Rascals” that must be affiliated with the S.S. Scurvy Group) and with quad canes were out-of-control. Anyway, after numerous detours and missed turns, teamwork persevered we found our apartment for the next month, and got settled in. We drove the car out to Reagan National, purchased Metro passes and began learning the ins-and-outs of getting around Washington D.C. via the tube, which is a LOT easier to comprehend than using BART. Works out to about $3 a day for each of us which around here is one Hell of a deal! For any one else coming here long-term, the apartment deal is the ONLY way to go. Hotel rooms here in our neighborhood are like $200 - $300 a night.

One of the really interesting things we have encountered in the apartment is the Washer/Dryer combination. Carol tried for almost 30 minutes to get the on button to stay on. Steve solved it with (yes) a nail file. Talk about necessity being the mother of invention!

For those interested in the geographic itinerary, we have now traveled just under 10,000 miles since leaving home (9,868 to be pretty accurate). We figure in another 3,250 we’ll be back in Pollock Pines, for a “Phase-One” total of 14,121 miles, with our trip to Australia yet to come! We hope to hit the “Around the World” mark by the time we are done.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Dateline: Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia
November 9, 2007

Oh My God! That is about all we can say. Never have we seen such an awesome display of intellect, science, architecture and American History as we were treated to today.

Per the suggestion of Carol’s brother-in-law (thanks again Freddie!!), we were up bright and early, loaded up, Starbucked up, and on the road by 0900 today, as we wanted to spend as much time as possible going through President Thomas Jefferson’s home, museum, science collection, and library, and we were not disappointed in the least.

This is our next-to-last travel day, and we are happy that we are going to be settling in for a few weeks in Washington D.C. Traveling is a lot of fun, but living out of a bag for 32 days can get a little old. We have changed our clothes in airports, railway cars, ferries, cars, airplanes and cruise ships, so if any one needs any advice on being a quick-change or “how to change in a closet” artist, we’re your source!

We traveled all the way across Virginia on Highway 64, and if you have never lived or visited this area of the country, the colors of the fall trees cannot be described. Steve has tried his best to capture the colors with his camera, but it is truly difficult to describe the vibrant and rich variety of greens, reds, oranges and yellows we were treated to along the freeway this morning. If you can think of the boredom of I-5 running down the middle of California, try to picture lush forests full of all of the above colored trees, along both sides of the freeway, as well as along the median, for as many miles as you drive! We are going to drive Shenandoah National park tomorrow morning and we have been led to believe it is even more beautiful. We’ll let you know in our next update.

Monticello is just an amazing tribute to early America. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, Secretary of State, Third President of the United States, scientist, architect, classical scholar, founder of the University of Virginia, plantation owner/operator, and “alleged” father of numerous bastard children with his wife’s household slave (we were told today that the DNA tests proved it was ‘Jefferson blood lines,’ but could have been he or any of his male offspring), but he indeed was a man of many talents and pursuits. I guess all one can say is that if he were alive today, he probably would have invented Microsoft, invented nuclear medicine, designed skyscrapers, hiked the Pacific Crest and Appalachian Trails, and studied with an electron microscope. And to top it off, he died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years to the day after he signed the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson was a very close friend of future President James Monroe, who moved in just “down the road” about 2.5 miles from Monticello. His place is called Ah Lawn-Highland, and it is a 535-acre estate, but it paled next to Monticello.

Please checkout the photos of all we were allowed to take photos of at Monticello Album on Google Picasa. As usual, Steve bent a few rules to sneak some (no invasive to the historical artifacts of course!) photos of his amazing collection of all kinds of neat stuff.

We walked the grounds, visited Jefferson’s grave, and then headed down the hill to Michie’s a tavern that has been in continuous business since 1784. It was a pretty cool place. They served local Virginia-style southern food and we ate family style at long tables. We then headed to the indoor museum of Jefferson artifacts, and spent another three hours looking at all of his numerous inventions and other items of his life.

We experienced our first rain of the vacation today, but it was nice. Not a hard rain, but an on-and-off light rain, but you do know you are on the East Coast, as the high today was about 45 degrees, and they are calling for light snow in Shenandoah Park tonight, which will make our drive tomorrow fun! However, there has been so little precipitation in this area all year; the people are REALLY hoping we get some wet weather for awhile. We are hoping they get their wish, as soon as we arrive in Washington and get moved in!

Until then, stay in touch….

Jamestown and the beginning of Colonial America

Dateline: Jamestown Settlement, Virginia
November 8, 2007 2140 hours

We are amazed to find that we have been on the road for a full month today! We left Carol’s sister’s home yesterday morning after having breakfast and receiving some extremely good advice about the trip up here and what to do from her husband (Thanks Freddie!!!). It was a long drive, even by California standards. We passed through three states. As we approached within 40 miles of the South Carolina border we began seeing all of these HUGE and colorful roadside billboards for this place called “South of the Border.” I mean, one sign every half-mile on each side of the road with some slogan or other (The BIGGEST hat shop in the world!; The BEST miniature golf course in the world! (everything but the infamous 13-foot gator and gator head whirligigs)). So, of course, being dumb touristas, we decided to stop there for lunch. We FINALLY got to the border and the place is out-of-business!! Locked up tighter than a drum. Must have spent too much dinero on road signs, Mate.

Right outside of Charleston we noticed the temperatures began to chill quickly. As we moved through North Carolina “South of the Border” was replaced with “JR’s DISCOUNT EVERYTHING STORE!!” at the North Carolina-Virginia border. However, one of the things they were advertising was deeply discounted high quality cigars, which got Steve’s attention pronto. Okay: Think a cross between K-Mart and the cheesiest flea marker you have ever seen on steroids, and you got the idea (check the photos at our Google Picasa photo album. However, the place WAS open, and Steve said he has never seen so many cigars in a humidor room in his life. He scored very well, according to him. You can also check out some of the other photos we took after driving way too long!!! But it was fun, as always!

We rolled through Virginia, and it is surprising how different all of these states look to the visitor. Florida is FLAT, FLAT, FLAT. Georgia is beautiful in its own way, and the state is undergoing road construction from one end to the other. South Carolina has this very cosmopolitan look about it, even from the freeway. North Carolina, on the other hand, is one trailer park after another for miles and miles. Virginia is a mixture of all of the good parts of California, excluding the mountains. Rolling farmlands, beautiful back country roads (again, thanks Freddie!) and quaint small towns and villages, large acres of hay and other crops, horses and cattle. We rolled into the little Berg of Scotland Virginia just as the sun was setting, and boarded the ferry that would take us across the James River into Colonial Williamsburg. It was just loading as we got to the dock, so we drove right on-board, and in another 15 minutes we completing our 7.5 hour journey from Hanahan. We checked in, did laundry, and treated ourselves to a nice dinner.

It dawned cold and partly cloudy this morning, and we headed out to (where else) Starbucks for breakfast. Colonial Williamsburg, in our humble opinion, is highly overrated. We did enjoy the William and Mary campus, and walked around a bit through the town, but decided to go our to the Jamestown Settlement park and drive the Colonial Highway in search of Fall Colors. It was a GREAT choice! We had been advised to cut our days in Williamsburg a day short and head to Monticello for a full day, which we will do tomorrow. Steve says he apologizes for the many photos he took that look like school projects of the Jamestown Settlement, but our granddaughter Alyssa is a fifth-grader, and of course that means colonial history, so grandpa decided to help her with her homework with a photo essay of England’s first (sort of) successful colony. One comment, though…. If you saw the photos we took at sea of the affects of being in the North and South Atlantic during rough seas on a ship that is 1,000 feet long and weighs 109,000 TONS, consider the dimensions in the photograph of the “Susan Constant,” which is the ship the settlers came over here on. It is 116 feet long and there were 24 crewmen and 50 passengers on that ship, and it took the almost FIVE MONTHS to get from England to America!! The balcony on our stateroom was larger than this ship. What strong and determined people. The museum is quite impressive, and the artifacts from the 1500’s and 1600’s (which we could not photograph) are simply priceless. The quality of the hand-drawn and hand-written script in books that are 400 – 700 pages in length had to take years to publish just one single copy. It just whetted our appetite for Monticello.

Please take a close look at the autumn colors pictures Steve shot today. The colors are simply fabulous! By the way, we have had a number of requests for copies of these photos. Steve has the following message: The photos are taken with his Nikon digital camera, and the originals are shot at 10.2 megapixels, using very high quality lenses that are computerized – he has a 200mm zoom lens that is an f2.5 (whatever the heck that means) – so the bottom line is if you want a photo to make a huge copy of for a wall print or whatever, he says these can be blown up in increments of feet! Seattle Film Works makes all of his and they do a super job on the very large ones. All he asks is that you give him credit for his work. If you have other questions please send them to us via email and he will get back with you.

So, until the next blog update, we remain…..

Steve, Carol, Charleston and Alligators

Dateline: Charleston, South Carolina
November 5-7, 2007

After lunch with Dee and Doug we left Savannah and headed towards South Carolina, Charleston and Fred and Soni’s house. We followed the GPS and after two and a half hours we found we had taken the “scenic route” and finally found ourselves in Hanahan, South Carolina, which is a suburb of Charleston.

Hanahan is a small town within the Charleston area and it was so very wonderful to see Soni and Fred. Soni is as beautiful as ever and Fred is just as I remembered him, funny, good natured and good looking (what a combination!). We were joined by Soni and Fred’s sons Randy and Rodney and their families. We got to talking and realized we had not seen each other in almost 30 years. Randy surprised me by telling me he is almost 40 years old! I remember when he was just a little boy and I still remember the story about Rodney taking his clothes off in church! We had a huge family BBQ and shared stories late into the night. Even stories about 13-foot alligators in the lake outside Soni’s backyard; Steve was pretty excited after being bummed about the alligators in Florida!

Soni and Fred are truly amazing people; they moved to Charleston with nothing and have created this wonderful community within their church. Their church has grown from a very small church with 25 people in the congregation to a church that has a congregation of over 2,000, a school complete with programs for children from infant to high school. They have created a community which is a testament to the two of them. The church recently burned down and the amount of work that has been done since then is phenomenal. If you want to see people who are the salt of the earth and see how to make a difference in your world, you need only look at the people of Northwood Assembly Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

I am very fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life. Soni and Fred have talked the talk and they have walked the walk. Their family, Randy, Rodney and their families have spent time in third world countries ministering to people in prisons, working in orphanages with children who don’t deserve the treatment they are receiving. Rodney and his wife Tracy and their daughter Sarah told us stories of helping babies who are covered with sores and crying, taking people to stores with their last few dollars to buy them rice and beans and ministering to the youth of Charleston to help them find a better life. We all talk about what needs to be done to help the poor and less fortunate, Soni, Fred and their family are actually doing something about it and Steve and I are honored to call them family. We will always remember the courage, faith and fortitude Soni and Fred have shown us.

We finally had to leave but have promised to stay in touch and are looking forward to our next visit. Fred and Steve mapped out the best route to Williamsburg,Virginia, we packed up the bus and headed out.

Savannah Georgia and our Southern Family

Dateline Savannah, GA
November 4, 2007

Part One: On the Road

Life was good to the Steinbrechers and we were amongst the first 50 people off the S.S. Scurvy November 3rd after she tied up in port at 0730. We traveled over 4,000 miles on our sea voyage, experienced a close shave with a hurricane and saw some amazing parts of Canada and the United States. Our total trip distance to date is 8,639 miles, give-or-take a foot. Steve, of course, had to make a last visit to Jimmy where we porked out at breakfast, as we knew it was going to be a long day. We snagged our luggage, cleared customs (Steve wrote on the custom’s form he had brought in one “bottle of Jack,” and the custom’s agent laughed and told us, “If you guys brought in Jack and that’s how you declared it, I know I can trust you two. Welcome back to the States)…” This was a good thing because Steve did not want to declare the illegal Cuban cigars in his bag… We boarded the shuttle bus to the Fort Lauderdale Airport and were in our rental car blowing north through the State of Florida by 0950.

Florida is an interesting state. They have freeways that are better maintained than California’s, more outlet malls and golf courses than any other state in the union, and their rest stops along the highways are the best we have ever experienced (along with Idaho’s). They were clean, patrolled by ARMED security people, frequent and had vending machines that actually work. We do not believe there is ONE hill in the entire state. It is FLAT! The woman who ran the gas station we stopped at ($3.09.9 for regular) was missing half her teeth, so we felt right at home being from Pollock Pines.

Other than that, Florida has to be known for two things – football stadiums and the infamous “13-Foot Gator!” Every larger city we passed through has VERY explicit directions on how to get to the local college football stadium (especially along “Bowden Drive”) and they have this product called “Indian River Fruit.” Every single place we passed through from about the middle of the state north to the Georgia border advertised, “Indian River Fruit, Gator Head Whirligigs, and See the 13-Foot Gator” in attendance. Either that Gator is darned fast, or that puppy be stuffed and mounted on the wall of each of these places. Steve was extremely distraught with Carol, because he was suffering from Jimmy withdrawal, and she refused to stop at even ONE of these wonderful tourist attractions to see the 13-foot gator, and Steve was really Pining for a Gator Head Whirligig.

We hit Savannah right on schedule per the GPS at 4:40 p.m. and began searching for our hotel. We drove around and around Bay Street on the Riverfront looking for 199 East Bay Street, and the place did not exist. Come to find out that Holiday Inn Express (our preferred hotel for road trips) will not be completed until December of this year or January of 2008. No worries, though, we called the Holiday Inn people and they put us up at a very nice “Old Savannah” establishment called the Mulberry Inn, gave us a handful of drink tickets and free breakfast and parking for our stay in Savannah. Steve and Carol recommend becoming a “Priority Club Member.” Holiday Inn treats its customer’s right!

We hit town for some Red Beans and Rice and cold beer, and life was good. We woke up several times during the night to find our king sized bed rolling at sea still….

Part Two: Savannah

Unless you have read the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” Savannah probably has nothing much of interest for you. For us it has what we have read in the book, plus it was Carol’s first chance this trip to meet her relatives on this trip that she has not seen in many years.

Savannah is a place of amazing American history, dating back to Colonial times when James Oglethorpe founded the Colony of Georgia, through the American Revolution, the Civil War to present day. When you check out the photos we have taken out at our Savannah Google Picasa Album, we have spent a lot of time documenting the architecture of the city, the monuments contained in the city’s 21 squares, Forsyth Park and the Colonial Cemetery, and of course, Paula Dean’s “A Mother and Her Son’s” restaurant.

Steve was here in 1997, and was really surprised to see how much the city had succumbed to tourist-oriented growth. There are tons of new hotels along the waterfront, across the water at the port, and around the city itself. Saturday night was the Savannah Seafood Festival, and there were hordes of drunken college students crawling through the streets raising hell, which made us feel right at home. The city still has a quiet southern charm about it which we realized Sunday evening, when every business in town (including Paula Dean’s restaurant) closed their doors at 5 p.m. Imagine that in California!!

During the American Revolution (as shown in a lot of the photos) Savannah was held by British troops from December of 1778 through July of 1782. The French and Colonial troops, some 3,500 strong, won a fierce battle that spelled the beginning of the end for the Brits, over 22 days of fierce fighting in what is now downtown Savannah, in October of 1779. Many of the monuments in the city squares, as well as the graves in the Colonial Cemetery here, are testaments to the bravery of the men who fought for America’s breakaway freedom from Britain.

The homes range in date of construction from the late 1600’s to the Victorian era, and are just magnificently restored to their original grandeur. We could have photographed every home in the historical district and still would not do justice to them.

Our last day in Savannah was a TOTAL shut-out. We went out to Bonaventure Cemetery to film the famous “Bird Girl” (on the cover of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and she has been moved downtown to the art museum. So, off to Wormsloe Plantation to film the mile-long driveway of oak trees and the buildings which were made in 1733. Oh, sorry. The exhibit is closed on Mondays! So, off to downtown to the art museum to get a shot of the Bird Girl, even in captivity. Oops, sorry… the museum is closed to\day for a special function. Steve was ready to hit the road right now!

As most of you know, Carol has been finding out about her roots and one of the highlights of this trip was the opportunity to see my sister Soni and my cousin Dee. I haven’t seen Dee since we were both 15 years old. We saw each other in the lobby of the hotel and immediately knew we were related. It was like going back in time. We started talking and it was as if we had never been apart. Dee’s husband Doug and their son Brock joined us for lunch and we had a wonderful afternoon. My only complaint was that it was not nearly enough time. We traded family stories, including ones that involved my uncle Hubert (Dee’s father) driving in the mountains of Denver and a severe case of car sickness, shopping for groceries with my family (three shopping baskets full for the month), the fact that I wanted to be a lawyer when I was young and stories about growing up, having kids and now grandchildren.. My how time goes by. What was interesting was to find out how much our lives are the same!! We plan to stay in touch and Dee and her family have been added to the ever-growing travel blog! I am looking forward to tomorrow as I will get to see Dee and Doug, get on the road and visit with my sister Soni and her family when we get to Charleston

Hurricane Noel, Steve and Carol

Dateline: Saragossa Sea, 51 Miles east of Florida
300 Miles West of Hurricane Noel’s Eye, 1305 hours

This will be our last blog from sea. We were going to wait on this until we got back to land, but Hurricane Noel has changed our plans. Take a look at the Picasa photos and the Video link at the seas we are passing through to see what we mean.

The Captain has the con, and has given two updates already today, as a lot of people are seasick, and some are freaked out. As we suspected yesterday, he reported we are 300 miles due west of the eye of the storm, some 50 miles off the east coast of Florida. We awoke this morning to a corkscrewing ship that has been moving up and down some 30-feet in each direction. We are getting hit with 20-foot seas and winds of up to 35 knots from right behind the ship (which is the worst place to get high winds from), and this is 300 MILES away from the hurricane’s most-destructive power! However, it sounds like the people to the north and northwest of the storm’s center are getting pounded the worst. As usual for us, we got out of Dodge just in the nick of time. All of the places we have visited since Monday are in for quite a beating tonight and tomorrow, and they have been issuing alerts for a lot of the East Coast airports on the ship. Quite an experience for a couple of land lubbers like us. Anyway, because it is most difficult to walk along the decks and impossible to jog on them at this point, we decided to get a couple of lattes and hit the Internet lounge and finish the at sea portion of our stories. We will then adjourn to the inside Sun deck for some reading time.

Here is a video of the force of the sea:


As it was rough last night after dinner, we stayed in the room and enjoyed the seas from the balcony. It was a nice night for a glass of Jack (or wine for Carol) and one of Steve’s Cuban cigars. With the patches and two weeks acclimation, the seas are not bothering us at all.

We got dressed and headed out for Jimmy (NOTHING keeps Steve away from Jimmy!), and Squeaky Deck (see earlier blog) BE JAMMIN’ BIG TIME. In fact, it is interesting to lay in bed at night and just listen to the ship flex. Steel, artwork, furniture, stairways, everything moves and groans, squeaks, pops or in some other way let’s us know the stresses hitting this big object. We cannot imagine what it was like for those people coming across the Atlantic in 100-foot ships. In fact, while we were eating breakfast, we were talking with a crew dog who came across with this ship from England about a month and a half ago, and was in that same storm we wrote about the other day. He said at that time all of the deck chairs and tables were being thrown all across the decks, and that he was actually scared. Nothing close to that here.

Well, until we hit land this is the last update for us. Please enjoy all of the photos and movies. It has been a wonderful 16 days and we are sort of sad to leave the ship, but we have a lot of adventures to come along, so stay with us!

Charleston, South Carolina - A Walk through History

Dateline: Charleston, South Carolina and at Sea
November 1, 2007 2155 hours

The ship docked in Charleston at 7:00 a.m. we heard the overhead announcement and went back to sleep. We were awakened by someone scratching in the stateroom next to us and decided the gods were trying to tell us something. So we pulled some clothes on and headed out to explore Charleston, South Carolina…

As we mentioned before, last night was formal night and we had dinner with our friends Tim and Cindy and Steve took some pictures of us all dressed up with no place to go! You can check out the pictures at our Google Picassa Photo album! Don’t we make a cute couple?

As most of you know, Steve and I walk everywhere and we come up with our own tours but today was going to be different. We had found a tour about slavery in Charleston on the Internet before we left for this trip; we booked the tour and were really excited about walking through Charleston and hearing the history of the slave trade. In preparation for our trip to the South Steve recently re-read the “Classic Slave Narratives,” as many of the great heroes of that book were brought ashore, lived in or around, and escaped to freedom from Charleston. As we got off the ship there was a vendor signing up people for a horse drawn carriage tour of historic downtown. We decided to try that and quickly signed up. Our tour was set for 12:00 noon, we knew it would be cutting it close as the other tour was set for 1:30 but we figured we could make it work. We had an hour to go before the carriage tour was set so we thought we would walk through town. Charleston has a five block “Market” otherwise known as a TUPAS (totally useless piece a __it) factory and we walked through looking at all of the souvenirs available. Steve was taking pictures and he happened upon a woman weaving a basket, he took her picture just in time for her to start yelling expletives at him and telling him to take his camera and get the heck out of dodge. Pretty interesting…I just walked along and waited for him and the lady to work things out!

After that encounter, we wandered away from the market and found some really beautiful examples of southern architecture and no screaming people and Steve took pictures to his hearts delight. We finally meandered back to where we were supposed to catch the horse carriage and after about 20 minutes, we realized we weren’t going to be able to make that tour and still be on time for the slavery tour so we went back to the vendor and got our money back. Our day was not going as well as we thought but we decided to persevere and we were rewarded for our efforts.

We met Mike our tour director he proceeded to explain the “real” version of the slave trade in South Carolina. It was certainly an eye-opener, you could tell he has done his research and having been born and raised in Charleston he really did know what he was talking about. Some of the facts that you are not told about in history class were fascinating. We were given the opportunity to see where the slaves were kept while waiting for the auction block, many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were heavily involved in the slave trade in Charleston, while we all were taught that cotton was king during the 1800’s the fact is that rice is what really fueled the slave market, we also learned that of the 19 million slaves brought from Africa, 7 million died and only 500,000 were brought to America. The rest of the slaves were in Brazil and scattered in Haiti and Barbados. We also learned that because of some of the “back-room” politics that went on while the Constitution was being written, Virginia and South Carolina controlled the office of the President for 24 years, gives one something to think about when you think about the current resident of the White House and some of those who are looking to be President next November. We also learned that Eli Whitney watched his wife clean her hairbrush with a comb and invented the Cotton Gin which made it possible for people to produce cotton more efficiently. Charleston was the largest and most active slave port in North America for well over one hundred years and the City had one of the larges free black populations of any southern city prior to the Civil War. Another big surprise was that of the 3,000 “free” Blacks in Charleston, more than 400 adopted the horror of their white counterparts and owned slaves of their own! This tour really enlightened both of us about the horrific life suffered by the slave population and really put into perspective the idea of the “good old boy’s network” that began LONG before we were here.

Finally after the tour we found the Charleston City Hall building and had an opportunity to go through the Council Chambers. What a wonderful place. Built in 1801, we found a docent who explained all of the paintings and artifacts found in the room. There were half dozen signed and dated ORIGINAL oils of our early Presidents. We wish the photos we took of these priceless paintings had come out better, but there was a strict rule about no flash photography in the room. Enjoy the pictures on our Google Photo Album. Included in this room was what remained of a picture of Queen Victoria touching her crown, the rest of the painting was destroyed during the 1866 earthquake. I didn’t realize they have earthquakes here but they do, usually a dozen a year. But the big natural disaster they endure is fires, followed by hurricanes. Speaking of, we are watching carefully Tropical Storm Noel. Although it appears it will miss us, it looks like it is going towards the Bahamas and then heading north to New Brunswick. Maybe everyone will get a real life perspective of a hurricane from a couple of Californians but we hope not!!

We managed to get back to the boat in time for the “sailing party” and Steve got some great pictures of Fort Sumter, and the cityscape of Charleston and we called it a day. We put away the camera and headed up to Jimmy (otherwise known as the Horizon Court Buffet). We have decided that Princess should build a shrine to honor Steve as he has become a glutton! With so many choices you can pretty much have a 15 course dinner without really trying! We are open to ideas of what the shrine should look like, if you are creative and would like to help us with the design send us an email. We’ll post your design idea in a future blog. If you can draw the design, that would be even better. Steve is thinking of a large white cross with “RIP Steve” and a perpetual candlelight vigil at our favorite table, with a large bowl of cinnamon ice cream and some peanut butter cookies.

Steve has also been working on the beginnings of a new mystery book. It begins with a gang of old people riding Rascals…the rest is history. When we go to dinner there are hordes of Rascals parked all over the 14th deck by Jimmy. If I were you, don’t take a cruise for a while. Last I heard he was talking about “Hell’s Rascals” taking over a cruise ship and making plans to take on George and Dick! More when he finishes his Cuban cigar!!

We dropped our pilot at the Atlantic and are heading south again into the Saragossa Sea. The wind is negligible, but we have some pretty big swells rocking the ship tonight.

At Sea in the South Atlantic

Dateline: At Sea, South Atlantic Ocean Steaming into the
Saragossa Sea

Part One
October 31, 2007, 1400 hours

Bonjour Halloween!!

Today is our next-to-last “sea day” in which we are completely out of sight of land. What a difference 12 hours makes! We awoke this morning to 75 degree sea and air temperatures, much higher humidity, and gently rolling swells (which have been increasing all day, but more on that later). We are sitting out on our private balcony enjoying the warm sun while reading and drinking sodas. We have now covered some 3,000 miles on this voyage, and it seems like we just left Quebec City yesterday. We have seen sea and air temperatures go from right at 39 degrees F to the mid-70’s, with the 80’s promised by the time we leave the ship.

Tonight is the last “formal night” on the ship, so we will be primping later for dinner with our good friends Tim and Cindy Stockman. Other than that it is laundry day, kick back day, and of course, a four-mile run day. We (well, I can only speak for myself) have been spending WAY too much time with Jimmy (buffet), whom we introduced you all to earlier in the voyage. Jimmy just has a way of tempting bad Stevie with WAY too much in the way of porking out. So, as sort of a whining defense, whenever we are not walking on the beach, we have a rule of a “must” four mile run, which is 12 laps around the ship on the promenade deck. It was special today because of the warm sun and gentle breezes blowing across the decks. Last sea day we were running in parkas and long johns.

One of the magicians on the ship (who is an excellent entertainer by-the-way) is a HUGE Harry Houdini historian and fan, so the four of us went to listen to his special Halloween Tribute to Houdini. Being a huge Houdini fan myself, I was really stoked when Tim told us about this presentation the other night. We found out a lot of amazing stuff about Houdini, including the fact that he is the first person to ever achieve manned flight in Australia (write that one down Matt Knowles!!) and is so honored by the Aussie government and people for that feat; he did die on Halloween, and although it has never been proven, highly suspect of poisoning him were a group of “Mediums” (read the fake Séance people), who Houdini waged war with and ridiculed for a number of years before his death, and although he was the most famous person on Earth at the time (150,000 people showed up in Providence, RI to see him escape from a straight jacket once – how the Hell they could all see in that crowd without T.V. and Jumbotrons beats the shit out of me) he lost his entire fortune trying to establish a motion picture company. This magician has the best Houdini artifact collection in the world, and it was really cool to hear him speak with such passion, knowing that he is a professional illusionist himself.

Big talk on the ship right now is some sort of nasty-assed hurricane that is parked off the east coast of Florida and coming out of the Caribbean, and it is supposed to be moving up this way over the next few days. We dock in Charleston tomorrow and will be inside the Bay all day, but then we are back out at sea all day Friday before we disembark in Ft. Lauderdale Saturday morning. It just may be a coincidence, but the seas have been increasing all day, and even though the wind is only Force Six, the seas are now running 12 feet. There is a squeaky handrail going down the stairs on the 8th deck (three below us), that we have nicknamed “Squeaky Rail,” and any time the seas get over about eight feet it begins squeaking as the ship moves through the swells. Squeaky be getting’ it on right now as Steve went down to load the washing machine, so we know it is getting rougher. Time for Mr. Patch to visit once again.

Part Two: November 1, 2007 (0000 hours)

We have just seen Halloween out with a superior “Broadway-type” musical as the finale from the ship’s acting company, called “Do You Wanna’ Dance.” We have seen a lot of Broadway shows in our time, and the costumes, lighting, choreography of this group is second to none. The entertainment on this cruise has been excellent every night.

Following the show we enjoyed the “champagne waterfall” (with free booze for all of course) to finish the day, so it’s off to bed. Sea is very active but there is NOT ONE single breath of wind out there. It has turned hot and humid under the cloudy skies, and it is so still that the ship’s exhaust just hangs around the ship as it moves through the water. What a change from a week ago!

Finally, Kathy Young, we received your message but are out of wireless contact with the world until we dock in Charleston tomorrow. We fixed the password problem yesterday, but it is apparently back. We’ll do our best to fix it as soon as possible.