For the last three days we have been in Adams County Ohio trying to find my roots. On Friday I spent time in the court house recorders room making copies of deeds of real estate that what I think was my Great great grandfathers. We know my Great grand father was born in this county but don't know for sure who his father was. All records were burned in a court house fire in 1910. I also spent time that day looking through what the public library had , which was not much. Saturday I spent the afternoon at the county historical center. I found a few tidbits but nothing earth shattering. This is some beautiful country that lies on the Ohio River and the east part of the county is in the Appalachians. we spent quite a bit of time just driving around and seeing what the country looked like, especially in the areas where my ancestors probably lived. Saterday evening they had a music concert on the court house squre as part of a car show. A local fellow did a pretty good job on some country music.

Today we started the day visiting what they call the serpent mounds - mounds built by the Indians between 1000 and 1500 AD. the mound is about 1300 feet long and some say they are related to the sun, moon and solar system. Pretty interesting . They have a tower you can climb to take pictures. This picture is taken of the head portion of the snake.






This afternoon we went to a car show in town where there were several hundred mostly local cars on display including this sunliner (I think)

Ohio

Father's Day brunch with Sharon and her family.













My sister and I having a good laugh. This made us feel like little girls again(I wish!) We were at a a Mexican restaurant and we just had to try out this big chair. Our trip over from DC went well once we found our way out of town, what a rat race. We have mainly traveled back roads so we have seen a lot of small towns. We arrived in Columbiana on Sat. and left there this morning. It was a nice visit with the family. Sharon did a good job of keeping us entertained and well fed. The weather is warm and humid, some rain in the area. Tonight we are at camp WalMart in West Union OH. On our way down we stopped at the Ohio Historical Archives/Library in Columbus. Flynn was looking for some info on his great grandfather but no luck. Here in West Union he is looking for info on his great-great grandfather. We will probably be here for the weekend and then on to Indiana.

Washington DC - Day 2

We thought the weather would be nice so we did the monuments on our second day of sight-seeing. Most of the day was good but we did get caught in a down pour as we made our way over to Lincoln's monument.










The White House was smaller than I expected it to be. We think we saw the Presidents motorcade, lots of back SUVs and sirens going.











Arlington cemetery was very moving. There are over 20 funerals everyday. We saw Kennedy's grave site and got to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown. We just touch on some of the highlights of DC but we really enjoyed out time there. We left there yesterday morning on our way to Ohio. Rain has followed us all the way. We arrived at my sisters this afternoon and have been visiting with her and the family. Tomorrow we will all be going out for brunch for Fathers Day.

Washington DC

The day didn't start very well, I think we were both thinking 'we made it through our life so far without seeing it maybe we can finish without seing it'. When we got to the first metro rail station, of five parking lots, every one was absolutely full. After driving through all lots we asked the station manager where we could park and he suggested driving toward town to the next station. Here is a picture of me standing in that station - happy again. (It looks like I need to start sucking my tummy in for pictures)











It was raining off and on during the day so we spent most of our time in Smithsonian Museums. We started in the Air and Space museum. This is a picture on a lunar lander that was never used. Those they used they left behind. We then went to the Natural History museum and saw lots of stuffed animals/bids/insects/fish and skeletons of prehistoric things.









Finally we went to the museum of American History but we got tired before we got through just a tiny bit of it. The jeep in the picture is in the World War II section. Truth be known, we just saw a small part of each of the museums we visited. Any one of them would take days to see and read everything. We're on our way back today and hope it doesn't rain as much so we can see the outside memorials and displays.

Colonial Williamsburg

Visitors center.














Blacksmith shop. They were making items for a new building that was being build in the village.















The governor's palace.

We took a day to explore Colonial Williamsburg and enjoyed it. There is so much history in this area that it is hard to absorb and keep all the dates and battles straight. Colonial Williamsburg is a 18th century village with some original buildings and others recreated in that time period. All the shop keepers and guides were dressed like they would have in the late 18th-century. We had a little rain in the am but cleared up and the sun came out for a nice day.

Blue Crabs

Well, the votes are in. The dungenous crabs on the west coast are are better in every respect than the blue crabs here.... Easier to clean, easier to eat, and taste better. Not to say the blue crabs aren't good, just not as good. We stopped at a roadside market and got a half dozen crabs for dinner .... They threw in 1 extra because a couple were missing a claw like the one in the picture. I used the one in the picture for the model because he/she was more docile and not challenging me. Anyway we had crab for dinner and maybe enough for a crab omelet this morning.


We stopped at the Wright Brothers museum near Kitty Hawk NC. The memorial was erected on Kill Devil Hill in about 1930. Kill Devil hill is a sand dune where the Wrights practiced with non-powered gliders until they perfected their design and flying skills. The first powered flight occurred at the base of the hill.







The park service has an excellent museum and visitors center at the location.












The 13th was Nancy and my 43rd wedding anniversary so we went out to dinner at the Captains Table restaurant in Buxton NC on Cape Hatterus. Very good meal.










This is the lighthouse at Cape Hatterus. It is 120 foot tall and made of brick and is still operational. The amazing part is that it was moved about 1/2 mile from it's original location in one piece

No, we didn't go to an Alabama concert-we went to the Alabama Theater (Alabama probably owns it but only plays there twice a year). We did see a good show tho' called 'One'. This was in Myrtle Beach, SC another Branson look alike only bigger although fewer theaters. We also went to dinner at a place called Dicks Last Resort. Very Irreverent! They made all the diners paper hats that they wrote little sayings on: Mine said Viagra Junkie and Nancy's said Will Knit for Sex. Luckily we forgot to take our camera. Dick, they had a t-shirt that you'll have to explain to me some day. It said "You say dick like it's a dirty word".

We stayed at the Myrtle Beach state park which is on a beautiful beach. Here's Nancy walking/running on the beach.












Last night we stayed at a National Seashore campground on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is on a narrow strip of land that runs for about 100 miles just off the coast. We're going to explore this area more today.

Time to catch up on the last three days. From Pigeon Forge we headed into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately there are so many trees in the park you can't see anything but trees. Even at the scenic overlooks are grown up in trees so you can't see over them. Fortunately on the highest mountain in the park they have built an observation platform that you can see Nancy waving from.






This is a view from the platform. You can see why they are called the smoky mountains (Although it is actually fog caused by the high humidity)











The only wildlife we saw in the park although she wasn't very wild. I expect she is a "kept" hen by the way she came running up to the truck when I stopped to take a picture.










They did have a restored grain mill in the park that was very interesting. Here is Nancy standing beside some used grinding wheels.











Inside the mill that was grinding corn while we were there. The operator was selling 5 lb samples.











They also had a restored farmstead in the park complete with a log home, wood shed, Ash bin(used to store and make lye for making soap), apple storage cellar, corn crib, barn, hog shed (with two young pigs), Sorghum mill and furnace (for making molasses).
Took back roads to Charleston and saw a lot of neat productive looking farms and small towns.






We took a city bus tour in Charleston.. Most of the tour was in the historic district and I guess I saw more large homes than anyplace I've ever seen before. Seems the rural plantation owner got tired of rural life occasionally so they had a townhouse built so they could live in town in the winter and socialize.







Charleston is called the "Holy" city because of large number of large churches with tall steeples like this one.

















We then took a boat ride out to Fort Sumpter which was built along with 43 others to keep out foreign invaders after the war of 1812. Unfortunately the first shots of the civil war were fired here after South Carolina seceded from the union while federal troops were stationed in Ft Sumpter. After 34 hours of warfare the 85 federal troops surrendered. There were no casualties of that battle but it was the beginning of the civil war.

DOLLY

Dolly Partons statue on the court house square in seveirville TN is probably as close as I'll get to Dolly. Actually the only interest I have in her is we share birthdates; month, day and I believe year. We're in Pigeon Forge TN. For any that have been in Branson MO, this is the about same, theaters, motels, giftshops and resturants for about 5 miles down the main street. Gatlinburg is 3 miles from here and is more of the same. We tried to see Dollywood but it is up a hollow and you can't see it unless you go in. We're going to ride the trolly up the road to have breakfast and then head up to the Smokey Mountain National Park. We tried to make reservations in a campground in the park for tonight but everything is full. Probably a preview of what's to come in the higher populated eastern US.

Pardon me boy is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo

Today we spent the day in and around Chattanooga starting at the Choo Choo depot. We had breakfast in one of the depot restaurants. Very Good. Then rode the free electric trolley to the middle of downtown. They had lots of activities going on: Aquarium, Imax, museums. We walked about half way across the Tennessee River on what they were calling the longest pedestrian bridge in the world (or US). Then across a glass bridge to a sculpture garden that was quite interesting. They were setting up for what they called a Riverbend Music Festival. Willie Nelson was the attraction in the largest of about 4 stages along the river. They were expecting 100,000 people there tonight so we decided we didn't like Willie well enough to go through all that.






























A couple of the many sculptures in the garden.

Do You Know Jack?

Well we're working our way across lower Tennessee. Today we stopped in Lynchburg and took a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. No they don't have tastings like most winerys. In fact Lynchburg is in a dry county so you can't even pay for a drink. The distillery does have a special permit so they can sell a bottle of their product though. I have never acquired a taste for wiskey (I have enough bad habits) but it was interesting. Tonight we're in Chattanooga poised to find out tomorrow what they have to offer.

Our new Memphis home(s)

My favorite















No we aren't moving to Memphis. We have spent the last two days looking at investment rental property. I think we have looked at 10 houses. We have decided on these three but the broker may have others today. We will try to finish up today and be on our way to eastern Tennessee maybe stopping at Pigeon Fordge(Dollywood for Flynn). It is warm and humid here, warm is ok but the humidity is harder for us to handle.