Tag Archives: Travel

2023 Road Trip-Part 4

6 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 4 – July 18:  After breakfast with Max and Anita this morning, I packed up my things and headed west on I-64 to visit the Kentucky Derby Museum located at the famous Churchill Downs Racecourse in Louisville, KY.  This museum was established in 1875 as part of the annual Kentucky Derby race and displays a variety of artifacts, trophies, sculptures, photographs, and paintings that follow the history of the famous Kentucky Derby race from its inception.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

While I was there in Louisville, I visited the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory located in downtown Louisville.  I had visited this museum once before several years ago on another Road Trip and wanted to go thru this interesting museum/factory again.  I am not a baseball fan, but I find this factory fascinating.  The tour takes a person thru the various stages of how a baseball bat is made; from how a tree is selected and the wood is treated (aged), to how the wood is sculpted into a bat (per each ball player’s specifications), and how the bat is sanded and finished with paint or varnish.  The huge 120-foot bat outside the front of the museum/factory is made of steel, weighs 68,000 pounds (34 tons) and is an exact scale replica of Babe Ruth’s 34” Louisville Slugger Bat.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

After that interesting tour, I headed north on I-65 out of Louisville, and across the border into Indiana to visit the Freeman Army Airfield Museum located in Seymore, IN.  I knew the U.S. had captured many enemy aircraft during WWII and brought them back to Wright Field in Dayton, OH for evaluation and testing, but I had never heard of the Freeman Army Airfield.  I was surprised to learn that many German, Japanese and Italian aircraft were evaluated and tested here at the Freeman Field, and that after the war many of those airplanes were donated to museums across the country.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Continuing north on I-65 I next visited the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum located adjacent to the Columbus Municipal Airport in Columbus, IN. This large museum displays artifacts and memorabilia related to the history of mostly those airmen who served in the U. S. Armed Forces during the period from 1941 to 1970.   Also on display are large models of many of the aircraft flown by those brave airmen.  There are stories, photos, and artifacts of glider pilots, Tuskegee Airmen, Special Operation Forces, and many others from WWII to the Vietnam era.  The museum’s restored C-119 Flying Boxcar (City of Columbus) gate guard is very impressive and commemorates Bakalar’s participation with the U. S. Air Force 434th Tactical Airlift Wing.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

A little farther north on I-65 I stopped to check out the Franklin Depot Railroad Museum located in Franklin, IN.  This small museum is situated in the old 1909 restored Franklin Railroad Depot and displays many antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia.  However, the thing that got my attention when I walked in was the ice cream bar on the back wall of the museum, and I just had to have a cone of their hand-dipped Blueberry Cheesecake ice cream.  Perfect thing to cool me off on a hot afternoon.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Heading north on I-65 again, I had visited many museums and points of interest in Indianapolis, on another Road Trip, but wanted to visit the Stutz Auto Museum located in the old 1912 renovated Stutz auto manufacturing building in downtown Indianapolis.  But the museum was closed by the time I arrived at the location.  I was disappointed to miss seeing their impressive auto collection, so just took this photo and headed out of town.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Heading northwest on I-65, my plan was to visit the Linden Railroad Museum located in Linden, IN but here again, they were closed by the time I arrived.  So, I took a photo of their 1837 Norris 4-2-0 Steam Engine, coal car, and open train car displayed outside.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Since it was getting late, I gave Greta (My Garmin) the address of my motel for the night in Lafayette, IN and we headed for it.  However, as I was driving thru downtown Lafayette, on my way to the motel, I noticed this impressive building and just had to stop and take a photo of it.  As it turned out, it was the Tippecanoe County Courthouse.  Wow!  They spent some really big bucks on that building!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

When I finally arrived at my motel for the night, I took my things into my room and heated up my leftover Chili Relleno, Enchilada, and refried beans from the other night, and enjoyed that meal again.  The leftovers didn’t look as good tonight as they did in the restaurant, but they tasted wonderful.  With a full tummy, I tried to watch some TV, but couldn’t find anything worth watching. So, I recorded today’s activities and went to bed.  It has been a long day.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Our Trip to Maui-Part 3

3 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

The next day, being Sunday, we wanted to attend a local worship service.  There was a Baptist Church in Lahaina, and we decided to attend there.

It was a lovely building – without air conditioning, of course – but there were open doors all around the building to let the cool ocean breeze blow through, aided by several ceiling fans.  It was a wonderful way to worship – almost like being outdoors.

The people were quite friendly, and we enjoyed the service immensely. 

After the service was over, we went to lunch at a cute little deli called The Gazebo.  We later found out that Fred’s sister and her husband didn’t even know about this deli – even though they had been to Lahaina for many years.  We sat at the back side of the deli, and could see the beach all the way around Napili Bay.

The Gazebo Deli

After lunch, Dad wanted to show us a sight he had seen before on Maui.  It was call the Iao Needle, and is an “erosional remnant” that was formed by wind and rain.  During war times, it was used as a lookout spot.  There was a way to get up to it – but it had 300 steps to it, so we declined that adventure!

The Iao Needle

Fred’s sister and her husband had raved about a restaurant on Napili Bay that they insisted we try at least once, so we decided to eat there for supper that evening.  It is right on the beach, and is called the Sea House Restaurant.  While at lunch, as we ate and looked about Napili Bay, we were amazed to see how quickly the coastline went from sand to large rocks.  The Gazebo was in the sandy area, and the Sea House was on the rocks.  Amazing.  But the food was good, and we enjoyed each other’s company. The restaurant was, again, all open-air, with ceiling fans to stir the breeze.  While we were waiting for our table, a “local” young man in Hawaiian garb, went running down the beach with a torch and set the island torches alight.  Very quaint!

Napili Bay, with the Sea House Restaurant 

Home and to bed – as we were still getting over our jet lag.

[2023 – we spoke with Fred’s sister and her husband recently, and they told us that the Lahaina Baptist Church survived the devastating fire!  Praise God!  And Napili is quite a way’s from Lahaina, and the structures there survived, as well]

~~~~~More to come~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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We Don’t Fly

31 Aug

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

What do you say when someone offers you a free cruise to Alaska? Thank you, yes would have been the expected response. In our case our first response was, “but we don’t fly.” And the cruise terminal in Vancouver Canada is a L O N G road trip from Florida!

We both took some deep breathes and decided we can do this, well as long as our daughter flew with us. She is the one who invited us on the cruise. My husband was so excited. Visiting Alaska was a life long dream.

My husband and I have both had an unfortunate incident on our one and only flights, his for work and mine to visit family. Since then we have been avid road trippers. I am a pro at planning a road trip. I love collecting information, planning the route and choosing our nightly stops. Easy peasy. Planning a vacation that didn’t involve car transportation was a whole different adventure.

The hardest aspect of the trip for me mentally, was how do we arrange transportation from the airport to hotel after a red eye flight? Would there be any Uber or Lyft rides? Vancouver is proud of its public transportation system and I explored that option. You Tube videos extolled the ease of taking the Sky Train directly from the airport.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Of course since I didn’t choose a hotel downtown, we would then have to transfer to a bus. Somehow I couldn’t picture us corralling three suitcases and 6 carry on items on public transportation at midnight. I had to look for other options and I was able to book a car pick up fhrough Viatour. We had a free day in Vancouver before the cruise and we did use the public transportation. I was extremely thankful we didn’t choose to use it from the airport.

In Florida we live less than an hour from the cruise terminal. When we have gone on a cruise in the past, we could carry as many pieces of luggage we felt was needed. For this trip we had to pack most everything in a single suitcase a piece plus two carry on bags.

We were in North Carolina at our mountain home for the summer and my husband began packing a month in advance. He nearly drove me crazy with questions I couldn’t answer. What kind of clothes to take, will our suitcases be an acceptable size, should we buy new jackets? Meanwhile I was silently stressing over getting a mental grip on how to get around Vancouver without a car. Renting a car was not pracitcal.

Since we would be flying together from Florida, we finally, we came to an agreement that we would put into our suitcases everything we even thought we might want to take and let our daughter, an experienced traveler, straighten us out when we arrived at her house. She was ruthlessly kind straightening out our chaotic suitcases. Once she was finished, everything was neatly packed and we even had some small spaces should we purchase souvenirs.

Photo by SHVETS production on Pexels.com

Before leaving North Carolina we had a check up with our doctor. We explained that we were offered a fabulous vacation opportunity but were anxious about flying and would like a short term anti-anxiety medication to take before the flight. Because, after all, we don’t fly!

Hopefully, more next week.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2023 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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2023 Road Trip Part 3

30 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 3 – July 17:  After a good night’s sleep, and breakfast with Mike and Alta, I headed north through portions of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, passing thru Waynesville and picking up I-40.  Continuing north on I-40 (skirting the Great Smokey Mountains National Park) I passed thru Newport and across the border into Tennessee, where I visited James White’s Fort located in Knoxville, TN.  This “Fort” is a representation of an 18thCentury settlement that began in 1786 when James White built his 1st fortified log cabin in this area.  Other settlers soon built around White and by 1791 the Southwest Territorial Capital was moved to White’s Fort and renamed Knoxville.  The antique cabin furnishings and other historical utensils and equipment make this a living museum of late 18th Century pioneer life.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

After that brief trip back in time, I headed northwest on I-75, across the border into Kentucky where I visited the Harland Sanders (KFC) Museum located Corbin, KY.  This museum is the home of the very first Kentucky Fried Chicken Café started by Harland (The Colonel) Sanders in 1940 and where he created his famous ‘KFC Secret Recipe’. Sanders had his ups and downs with fires, highway route changes and recessions, but in 1960 he began selling KFC franchises, and his business began to boom.  In 1990 the original building was renovated and opened as a KFC cafe and museum, where visitors can enjoy their favorite KFC meal and visit the museum which displays a replica of the Colonel’s office, kitchen, and other Colonel Sanders artifacts and memorabilia.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed north on I-75, skirting the Danial Boone National Forest and passing up the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Museum in Mount Vernon, KY (I had visited that museum on another Road Trip).  I by- passed Richmond, KY so I could arrive in Lexington in time to spend some quality time with my friends Max and Anita in Lexington, KY.  When Greta (My Garmin) had me exit I-75 I just figured I was getting close to my new destination.  However, that was not the case.  I was taken on a superius route for miles thru farmland, on back roads, and finally thru neighborhoods before I finally arrived at my friend’s house.  What was that all about?

Photo Credit: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/garmin-drive-52

Max and Anita laughed and told me a lot of other people had the same problem, and there didn’t seem to be a logical explanation for it.  Our family had been church friends with Anita’s family from the mid-1960s and Anita was one of my daughter’s best friends in junior high and high school.  We had a marvelous visit and Anita cooked so we didn’t have to go out for dinner.  After that delicious meal, we spent a lot of time reminiscing about our family’s activities during the early days of the nation’s Apollo space program in our hometown of Titusville, FL.  When we were all talked out, they helped me get my things into their guest room where they put me up for the night.  They warned me that the local 2:00 am train whistle might wake me, but I never did hear it.  I must have been in a deep sleep when the train went by.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Our Trip to Maui-Part 2

27 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

After we left Costco, we drove about 45 minutes to the other side of the island, to Lahaina.  Fred’s sister and her husband had told us about the Lahaina Cannery Mall, so we stopped there.  It was an old pineapple cannery that had been made into a mall of sorts.  It was rather miniature compared to some in the States, but it was indoors with lots of shops and eateries.  There was even a Safeway grocery store in there! 

Maui

We had lunch there, before heading out to our time-share at One-Napili Way. One-Napili Way was in a lovely setting – lush green shrubbery, palm trees, and some of the most gorgeous exotic flowers imaginable!

Maui
Orchids Growing Wild
Maui
Bird of Paradise
Maui
Hibiscus Growing on a Rock Fence

The unit we were in was nicely appointed and fully stocked.  It had a living area (with TV) that opened out to a lanai.  The kitchen (which included pots, pans, dishes, dish soap, towels, etc.) looked out over the living area.  Dad gave us the master suite, which included an attached bathroom, and another doorway to the lanai.  The second TV was in that room.  He took one of the other bedrooms – it had a double bed in it, while the third bedroom had twin beds.  There was a second bathroom down the hallway between those bedrooms.

We were surprised to find that none of the units had air conditioners!  We thought we would surely melt – especially at night!  But each room had a ceiling fan, and there was a screen-covered set of louvers that had the fresh ocean air blowing into each bedroom.  We could always open the lanai doors and let the air into the rest of the rooms, as well.  We were quite comfortable with that – even at night!

We seldom had a fully rainy day while there.  It did rain, but the short, small rains were more just heavy sprinkles.  Dad, having lived in Hawaii for a while, said the natives call it “pineapple juice.”  Cute.  On the one day we did actually have rain, we saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky.  Everything about Maui was beautiful!

Maui

Not only were the flowers gorgeous, we also saw a tree that Dad called a “flame tree” around the island.  It really lives up to its name!

6

Fred’s sister had told us be sure and partake of a particular fish there.  There was a small take-out-only hole-in-the-wall deli that served the best presentation of this fish – Ono.  This deli serves this white fish in a delicious sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, capers and mushrooms.  With sautéed vegetables and rice on the side – yum!  We managed to have this meal from this deli several times during our stay.

~~~~More to Come~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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2023 Road Trip-Part 2

25 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 2 – July 16:  I began today’s activities with a visit to CSS Hunley Museum located there in North Charleston, SC.  The CSS Hunley was a one-of-a-kind Civil War submarine that was the first combat submarine to sink a warship (USS Housatonic) on 17 February 1864, but sank shortly after the historic engagement killing all eight crew members.  The H. L. Hunley was lost on the bottom of Charleston’s outer harbor for 100+ years, before finally being discovered by E. Lee Spencer in 1970.  However, it was another 30 years before the historic submarine was raised from its watery grave, in 2000, for investigation and its preservation.  It is now submerged in a special tank of a sub-critical water solution where the iron structure is being neutralized before it can be exposed to the open air for all to see and touch.  The photo below is of a replica of the H. L. Hunley on display there at the museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I had planned today’s activities so I could end up spending as much time as possible with some good friends in North Carolina.  So, after leaving the Hunley Museum I headed northwest on I-26, by-passing Columbia, SC (I had visited Columbia’s museums on my last road trip) and continued northwest to visit the Sigal Music Museum located in the old 1930 Cocoa Cola Bottling Plant in Greenville, SC.  This museum (formerly the Carolina Music Museum) has recently been expanded with the addition of the Marlowe A. Sigal collection.  The museum displays a variety of musical instruments dating from the 17th century and interestingly has recordings of many of those instruments for their visitors to hear in their special listing rooms.  The museum’s library also has a collection of over 1000 individual rare record albums and sheet music.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I wanted to visit the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum while I was in Greenville, but I got to the house where Joe Jackson lived and died too late to visit the museum.  However, Wikipedia tells me that Joe’s house (also the museum) was moved to its present location in 2006 and given the number 356 Field Street in honor of Joe’s lifetime batting average (.356).  It also informed me that Joe got his nickname in 1908 at the local game between the Greenville Spinners and the Anderson Electricians when he removed his new spiked shoes that were hurting his feet; and after hitting a home run, he ran the bases in his stocking feet.  As he headed for home plate, an Anderson fan yelled, “You shoeless son-of-a-gun!” and the name stuck. Joe Jackson (1887-1951)

Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/Shoeless+Joe+Jackson+Museum

Heading pretty much west out of Greenville, I soon briefly crossed the border into the northeast tip of Georgia before crossing the border into North Carolia.  I was looking for the town of Otto, NC where my friends Mike and Alta lived, and some of those winding mountain roads could make a person dizzy.  The roads got narrower and steeper till I finally had to stop and call Mike for directions.  Come to find out, I was within 500 yards of their driveway and Greta (my Garmin) didn’t know it.  We had a great visit and ended up going to one of their favorite Mexican Restaurants in Franklin where I had a Chili Relleno & Enchilada plate with yellow rice and refried beans.  Yummm!  Back at their house, after dinner, Mike and Alta regaled me with their black bear story.  That’s kind of a scary bedtime story, but the cool mountain air put me right to sleep.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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2023 Road Trip-Part 1

16 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 1 – July 15: 

 At 9:00 this morning I said goodbye to my wife, DiVoran, who wished me “Safe Travels” and our cat Thea (who wanted to go with me) and headed north, out of Titusville, FL on I-95 to begin my 2023 Road Trip. I was driving my 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan that had made my last two Road Trips so enjoyable and comfortable as it allowed me to take all the daily necessities I was used to with me.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

My first stop today was a visit to the Living Legends of Auto Racing Museum located in the Sunshine Park Mall in South Daytona, FL.  This museum is filled with a revolving collection of racing cars from many of the different types of auto racing dating from the early days of auto racing.  Most of the cars were raced by well-known drivers who have been part of creating the Legends of Auto Racing.  The museum’s collection of signed photographs and auto racing memorabilia is very overwhelming.  The museum also hosts periodic local Race Car Shows & Parades along highway A1A in Daytona Beach.  Check out the Parade Video on the internet.

Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/Living+Legends+of+Auto+Raing+Museum

Continuing north on I-95 the next museum I visited was the Classic Car Museum located in St. Augustine, FL.  The 1950s Gas Station replica at the front of this museum started my memory clock ticking, and as I entered the museum the memories just kept coming.   I was impressed with their oldest automobile, an 1895 Rochet Snyder Roadster that has been beautifully restored for all to enjoy.  This large museum displays 80+ beautiful classic cars and sports cars dating from the early 1900s to the 1980s.  They also have a large selection of photos and related auto memorabilia from over the years.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

My next stop was to visit the Brumos Auto Collection located in the Jacksonville Beach, FL area.  This large collection consists of many vintage open cockpit racers (oldest; 1894 Peugeot) that competed over the years, and Porsche race cars that were raced in many major racing events from 1953-2017.  There is also detailed information on each of the race cars on display in this marvelous collection.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

After passing over the St. Johns River and crossing the border into Georgia, I stopped for a photo at the Florida-Georgia Railway Museum located in Kingsland, GA.  This museum is housed in the renovated 1915 former sawmill building and is also the home of the Kingsland Station Players who perform there on a regular basis. It is also the central train station where one can buy a ride on an 80-minute open-air sight-seeing train ride or have dinner in their famous Silver Tureen Dining car train ride.  I didn’t have time for any of those options, so just took this photo and was on my way. 

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

It was another hour drive north on I-95 to where I stopped to visit the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum located in Pooler, GA.  I had visited this museum a few years ago, and wanted to see how they were doing on the restoration of their B-17G (City of Savannah).  Representing the 5000th airplane processed thru Hunter Field, Ga in 1944, it took some 60,000 man-hours (7.6 years) of dedicated volunteer work, but the City of Savannah has now been beautifully restored to its 1945 war-time configuration and is open to the public for review.  My hat is off to the fine effort this museum has expended to restore this WWII warbird.

Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/Mighty+8th+Air+Force+Museum

Now it was another hour or so north on I-95 passing over the Savannah River and crossed the border into South Carolina before I arrived at the North Charlston Fire Museum.  This was another fine museum I had visited on another road trip and wanted to see their great collection of antique fire trucks and firefighting equipment again.  Sadly, they were closed by the time I got there, so I just took this photo and set out to find my motel for the night.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

As I was heading for the motel, I passed a Waffle House, and since it was late, I decided to just stop and have one of their 2-egg breakfast meals that comes with hashbrowns, sausage links, and toast.  Yuuum!  I can enjoy a breakfast meal any time of the day, and this one hit the spot with a hot cup of Earl Gray tea.  After that delicious meal, I found my motel, got checked in and recorded my days activities.

Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/2-egg+with+hashbrowns+%26+link+sausage+Waffle+House&  

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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62 Years and Counting-Part 5

13 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Day five of our seven-day cruise was another day at sea.  Again we spent most of the day walking the ship, eating and resting.  Up on the Cabanas deck, there is the swimming pool and places for the sun-worshipers.

Above the pool is a huge screen, and it is usually running either a movie, or something for the children to enjoy.

There is also an area that is just for adults – no one under 18 is allowed to swim, sun-bathe or eat in that area.  It is quiet, mostly, and very relaxing. (some of the following pictures are from other cruises we’ve taken, not necessarily on the Fantasy)  Also on that deck is a salad and wrap stand,

a hamburger stand,

a pizza stand, 

a dessert stand,

 and the soft ice cream stand, as well as the soft-drink fountain drink dispensers.  So it’s kind of nice to get an ice cream and just sit and people watch.

The final day of the cruise takes us to Disney’s island in the Bahamas – Castaway Cay.

 We have always – always – enjoyed our time on the island.  While we don’t participate in the water sports, we have frequently taken the glass-bottom-boat ride.  And occasionally we have rented bicycles and taken a ride around the island.  But this time, we did neither of those things. 

We just walked around and enjoyed being on the island.  Instead of walking our way down to the “adults only” beach, we took the tram – it’s a LOOOONG walk.  It actually looks like it could be a runway for a small airplane!  Fred was told once that it is about 8,000 feet long – and we’ve walked it before – there and back to the main part of the island.  Whew!

While we were down at that beach, it became time for lunch, and they were serving BBQ that day.  So we loaded up our plates and found a picnic table.  Some of the ship’s servers always go onto the island to help with the meal, and so we get to meet other servers.  This particular day, after sitting down, one of the servers came to talk with us.  I didn’t catch his name, but noticed that his name tag said he was from Brazil.  I asked him if he enjoyed working for Disney, and he replied, “it’s a job.”  He said the thing he missed the most was his child back in Brazil.  He had just come off a vacation, and was a bit homesick.

We talked about other things a bit, and then he needed to tend to something else in the eatery area.  And then we spoke with another server who was from the Philippines.

All that to say that, during our last night’s meal in the Royal Court Restaurant, I spotted that young man from Brazil, serving another table near ours.  Since I’m sure he sees hundreds of people each day and each different cruise, I was convinced he wouldn’t remember us or our conversation from that afternoon.  As we were leaving the restaurant, the doorway was next to a staging area for the servers.  This Brazilian young man was exiting the staging area, saw us, and his face split with the biggest grin!  So he did remember us!  Perhaps it was because we had taken the time to talk with him…who knows.  I didn’t see many other guests talking with the servers on the island.  Whatever it was, we had made a favorable impression on him.  It made my heart glad.

So that concludes our cruise.  We sailed overnight back to Port Canaveral, arriving in time to have a quick breakfast, then disembarking the ship and go through Customs.  It’s so convenient to have our car parked right there at the port – just hop in and drive that hour’s drive home!

Our bed felt VERY good that night!

~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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2023 Road Trip Prolog

9 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Every year for three years now, I have been researching and preparing a road trip that included time for visiting museums in different parts of Canada, but the Covid-19 pandemic has kept those borders to our northern neighboring country closed.  In 2020 I had planned to fly to Seattle, WA and renting a car to tour museums in several of our U.S.  northwestern states and British Columbia Canada.  That didn’t happen because of Covid-19 Canadian border restrictions. Bummer!

Image Credit: www.istockphoto.com/vector/facepalm

I ended up flying to Denver, CO and renting a car to tour museums in 6 states including Colorado, Wyoming, S. Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.  Then in 2021 I had planned to fly to Detroit, MI and renting a car to tour museums in several our U.S. northeastern states and Toronto, Canada.  That didn’t happen because of Covid-19 Canadian border restrictions. I was really disappointed!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I ended up driving my van on my 2021 Road Trip on a long 17-day trip that included visits to museums in 13 states including FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, PA, NY, OH, WV, KY, RN, AL, and back thru other parts of GA to FL.  Then in 2022, I had planned to fly to Buffalo, NY and renting a car to tour museums in several more of our U.S. northeastern states and Ottawa, Canada.  Again, that didn’t happen because of Covid-19 Canadian border restrictions.  I was beginning to wonder if the Canadians were ever going to open their borders to visitors!

Photo Credit: www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/disappointed

I

ended up driving my van on my 2022 Road Trip to visit museums in 11 states from Florida thru GA, AL, MS, TN, MO, IL, IN, OH, KY, TN, NC, and back thru other parts of GA to Florida.  Finally in 2023 Canada lifted their Covid-19 border restrictions so I planned to drive my van to visit museums on the route thru the 17 states shown in the photo below.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

In my researching, I have found that Canada has some very interesting museums, and the one that piqued my interest for this year’s Road Trip was The Royal Aviation Museum in Winnipeg, MB Canada.   I am looking forward to seeing that museum’s great collection of beautifully restored military and civilian aircraft.  There are many other unique museums in Winnipeg that I want to see while I am in that city.  There are friends and relatives to visit along the way, as well as the many museums and points of interest in each state from my home in Florida to Canada and return.

—– To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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62 Years and Counting-Part 4

6 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

The first two days were days at sea, so we just walked the ship, ate our way through each meal, and saw great entertainments.  

One of the entertainments was a ventriloquist.  What she did was familiar to us, and perhaps she was on another Disney cruise with us.  In any case, she was excellent.  I have a difficult time realizing how she could do all those different voices.  It was a hilarious performance, and we enjoyed it greatly.

The second show was a magician.  He was excellent in what he did, and again, we were greatly entertained.  Both shows included people brought up from the audience.  Seeing their willingness to participate – and some of the fun poked at them – was a highlight.

The third day was a day in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.  We had not planned any excursions around the island, so decided just to walk around a bit and see the island.  We had not been to Tortola before, so it was interesting.  Here are a few pictures we took that day.

The entrance to the shops at the port.

A statue of some dignitary – I didn’t get close enough to see who it was

The temperature was what I call “beastly hot” there, so we didn’t stay very long before returning to the ship.  We have really become accustomed to air conditioning!

That evening we watched a movie in the main, large, Walt Disney Theatre.  It was “The Little Mermaid,” starring Halle Bailey.  I know that “The Little Mermaid” Disney-style (as in animated) has been around for a very long time, but this is “live action” and many times, while watching it I thought, “how did they DO that???”  It is, truly amazing, and well worth watching.  Very well done.

The following day we docked at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. 

 We had purchased a shore excursion for this island – a “bus” tour of the island.  The driver, David, told us that it was an air-conditioned bus – the faster he drove – the cooler it was!  As you might have guessed – not only was it NOT air-conditioned, it had no windows – all open air.  But it was an enjoyable trip, and we enjoyed David’s comments.

The excursion took us up to a high mountain, and at the top was a store that also considered itself the origin of the banana daiquiri.

Quite interesting – and if one wanted to purchase a banana daiquiri – they were available.  We didn’t partake.  We walked around the shop and outside some.  

Here is a picture of Fred and me beside the bus – David took the picture. 

 When I wanted to have one of him, he insisted that he take it beside me with Fred taking the picture.  He then said that when we got home, I could tell everyone he was my island boyfriend, and my husband took the picture!  Unfortunately, the picture didn’t take, so we don’t have that one.

Once we were back to the pier, we once again got on the ship, as it was “beastly hot” again.

We’ve just about decided that if we make another cruise to those islands again, it will NOT be in summer!  We have a difficult time tolerating that heat!

As a footnote here – the ship was offering the movie “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” but it was never at a time where we could see it – we were either at our scheduled eating time, or way after we had gone to bed.  So we have yet to see that one.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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