After a wonderful visit with Ivy's brother and his family in Atlanta, we headed south and east to Savannah for our first real stop by the Atlantic Ocean. Our whole trip since leaving California has been inland, so we're looking forward to spending time at the other ocean. On the way, we made a brief stop in Macon at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. I really liked this place - it celebrates all the famous popular musicians that have come from Georgia, and there are really a lot of them. The museum is set up like a small town, with pretend cafes and theaters, each of which is devoted to one phase or another of popular music.
After a brief visit and lunch on the road, we headed down to Savannah. We stayed on Skidaway Island in a state park by the water. We knew we were in the south for sure as we were surrounded by palm trees and large oaks dripping in Spanish Moss. It felt like we had finally arrived close to our wintering grounds, after running south ahead of the frost for so many miles. We were also seeing a lot more winter water birds like egrets that are very common down here. The RV park was lovely, with lots of space and a number of trails through the nearby wetlands, which we took advantage of on our bikes.
But the best attraction was the city of Savannah itself, with its lovely, stately houses and churches dating back to the founding of the state of Georgia and running up through the Civil War and Victorian periods. Along with many other tourists, we opted for a walking tour with a local guide, Savannah Dan, who entertained us for a couple of hours with stories about each building and square that we encountered. It was well worth the cost, and our later strolls around the city were much better informed for it. We had lunch in a local seafood restaurant (very colorful, but a bit disappointing) and also enjoyed a local ice cream spot, there for almost a hundred years. One of the family members that owns it, has become a Hollywood producer, and the store was papered in movie posters from films he had worked on, including ones like The Sum of All Fears and Paycheck. Entertaining.
Moving south, we headed to St Augustine, Florida, where we meet up with some friends from Vashon who were spending time at a family condo in Palm Coast. We left our RV at the Anastasia State Park, a wonderful beach park, and drove a short distance south to stay for a couple of days at the condo. It was a lovely visit and it was great to see friends from home again. After such a long time on the road, both Ivy and I were feeling a bit over-traveled, and it was good to touch base again and think about a more extended stay in Florida over the winter. Picking up and moving every three or four days was starting to fray our attitude, so moving toward a more stable stay was a welcome goal.
Betty and Richard are good friends, and we share interests in beaches, good food, and movies, so our stay was a wonderful break from our wandering. We sampled a local restaurant, wandered the beaches, and just loafed around and chatted for hours. The weather was a bit cold again - down in the forties most of the time - so we felt sorry for our friends who only were there for a relatively short time seeking
sun. But the visit was terrific.
After a brief tour of St Augustine, we headed south to the home of my stepmother in Melbourne Beach for a visit. She is amazing - hugely energetic and active, though nearing 90 years old. Her daughter Xochi was having an art show that weekend, and we dropped by there and picked up a couple of treasures. We also went to the local Children's Christmas Parade - those are always charming and fun.
Our next stop was Tampa, Florida, where we made our preparations for our return to Seattle for the holidays. We put the RV into a repair shop to have some needed work done, and we checked into a hotel/condo by the bay for overnight. They agreed to let us park our car there at no cost while we were in Seattle, which saved us airport parking. They even shuttled us to the airport the next morning. A very accommodating place! We had a very nice lunch in a well-known Cuban restaurant in the old city of Tampa, called Ybor. The Columbus restaurant has been there for over a hundred years, and the food is terrific, and of a kind we don't get in Seattle. Next morning we hopped a plane for the long trip home.
Riley is reaching that golden age when the baby teeth come out and get replaced. We had a lot of dealings with the tooth fairy over the holidays. And she had been practicing her song for the school holiday pageant. Here she is singing with her classmates. 
Some friends from Canada came down for a visit, too. We had a pleasant afternoon together, and then in the evening we went to see the garden of lights that the Bellevue Garden Club does every year. I was very impressed with their work - it brings holiday lighting to a whole new level. They recreate gardens, ponds, waterfalls and streams, and of course plants with the lights. It takes them all year to put it together, and the last couple of months before Christmas is dedicated to setting it up. A lovely piece of work. I don't know how we missed it all these years.
