On our last evening in Umatilla, we hosted a happy hour for several of our snowbird friends spending the winter in the park.

We headed north the following morning.  We had a nice relaxing drive and decided to spend the night in Walterboro, SC in the Walmart parking lot.   

The next night, we stayed at Fayetteville RV Park so we could spend some time with our friends, George and Rosetta Person.  A short ride home and it was time to put the rig back in the barn until the next trip.

Here is a picture of my birthday present from my kids, a box of candy that was popular in 1947.  I already ate the Good & Plenty.  And no, the candy wasn't made in 1947, it was fresh.

We visited Blue Springs State Park to see the manatees.  There were only ten that were sighted that day so we had to search for them.  We were able to get some photos of a mama and two babies.  

We visited the Turnby house.  The Turnby family owned the land that is now the state park and the family's history is displayed in the home.

The trees covered with Spanish moss were beautiful.  

We had a nice picnic lunch before we left the park.

We visited The Villages and took a trolley tour of the property.  It was quite impressive.  The population of The Villages is 120,000.  There are every conceivable sport and activity available to the residents.  

We met some of our RV friends at R J Gators for lunch.  It was good to see our snowbird friends. Some of them have become permanent Floridians.  

We ordered their famous dessert, the gator tail.  The big one has over a half gallon of ice cream in it.  

At four o'clock, all drinks in all the bars and restaurants are two for one.  

We'll spend Tuesday at the park visiting.  We pull out on Wednesday and head for home.  

On Thursday, we spent the day at Kennedy Space Center.  It was a full day with so much to see.

These rockets sitting under a beautiful blue sky invokes a deep sense of pride in American ingenuity.

   

Everywhere, there are tributes to the original seven astronauts.

We boarded a bus that took us on a tour of the launch pads.

This is the assembly building.  It's no longer the world's largest assembly building but it is the world's largest one-story assembly building.  This is where the shuttles and rockets were joined together atop one of the crawlers that would bring the whole assembly to the launch pad.

This eagle is among the wildlife we encountered along the path. Alligators are abundant here but I couldn't get a photo.

This is one of the two crawlers that transport the rockets to the pads for launch.  

Here is a launch pad used by Spacex to launch satellites into orbit.

This is the external solid fuel rockets and external fuel tank used to lift the shuttle into orbit.  The fuel tank would go from full to empty in a matter of seconds.  The rockets were retrieved to be used again and the tank would burn up upon re-entry.

The shuttle Atlantis is on display here.  You walk between the rockets to enter the building.

Atlantis made 35 flights into space to work on a variety of satellites including the Hubble telescope and the International Space Station.

This is the control station for the shuttle arm.

Here is a T38 jet used by astronauts for training and transportation.




Vickie can't pass up an opportunity to stick her head in one of these.

There is a Saturn 5 rocket on display.  It's suspended horizontally overhead and separated into stages so you can get a feeling of the size.  

The five main rocket engines of the first stage.

Stage one.

Stage two engines.

 Stage three.

The Lunar Module (LEM) that was tucked into the rocket behind the command module.

There was so much to absorb and so many more things that we saw.  We arrived at the visitors center at 9 AM and left at 6 PM.   We stayed in the parking lot, tailgating because there was going to be a launch at around 7:40 PM of a rocket taking communication satellites into orbit.  After an hours delay, the launch was scrubbed so we headed out.  We left the campground at 7 AM and got back at 10:30 PM.  A long day but a terrific experience.  

On Sunday,  The Sessoms, the Hubbards and Vickie and I went to Stars for brunch.  It is a very nice, classy restaurant in downtown Charleston and we dressed accordingly.

Monday we visited with old friends that live in Mt. Pleasant, Gary and Cindi McManus; thanks for a great dinner, we had a wonderful time.

Tuesday were relaxing down days.  Just the way I wanted to spend my birthday, visiting and mellowing out with campfires in the evening.

Wednesday was a travel day.  We headed to Olde Mill Stream campground in Umatilla, Florida where we will spend the next week visiting some of our snowbird friends spending the winter here.  We stopped at a rest area with John and Shirley Kohl for lunch.  I love pictures like this.

We settled in at our home for the week and we're off for more adventures.

We left home on January 11th and headed to Charleston, SC for my birthday week trip.   We got a late start due to a dental appointment and didn't leave until 10:30 which put us at James Island County Park around 4:30, later than our normal arrival time.  We got set up before it got dark so it all worked out.  Eight other rigs are here to celebrate my 70th birthday with us.

Thursday was a day to do some house cleaning.  We started out having breakfast with Larry and Pat Sessoms at the Holiday Inn.  The restaurant is on the top floor of the hotel and has one of the best views of Charleston.

 I started washing the outside of the truck and trailer since both were filthy with road grime while Vickie took care of the inside.  Now we can spend the week in a clean rig.
We ended the day with a campfire at Scott and Pati Luciano's site. All in all, a nice first day.  It's good to be out in the rig again.

Friday was a day to continue with trailer washing (you need to pace yourself) and visiting with friends.  At 2:30, we went to the Citadel for a short tour led by Larry and Pat.  Two of their sons graduated from here and are now Colonels in the Army.  Then we sat in the bleachers on the parade field and watched the Summerall Guard and Silent Drill Team practice for their performance at the Presidential Inaugeral Parade on the 20th.  The Citadel is a beautiful place to visit and it's very impressive watching these young men and women who attend the college.

After the Citadel, we all met at California Dreaming for dinner.

I got ice cream for my birhday celebration!

On Saturday, after having breakfast once again at the Holiday Inn restaurant, we went to the downtown market.