Photo of the Day

Saturday, 30 March 2013.  Took this snap of our oldest grandson, Ben (8 yrs old), posing with the newest addition to the LynDenHaus motorhome, Toby.  We figured our trusted gnome companion, Obidiah, the Traveling Lord of LynDenHaus, needed a buddy from his own species.  We found Toby loitering in a North Myrtle Beach grocery store, looking for temporary housing.  He gladly accepted our offer to travel with us -- and Obi -- but isn't too happy having to stay outside the motorhome guarding our sign while Obi is quite comfy inside the RV.  Gnomes!  Not too grateful, are they?  Go figure.

Tanks, APCs, and a Huey

Sunday, 31 March 2013.  Happy Easter to everyone!   Here’s hoping that each of our blog readers had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying a fine spring – wherever you are.  We’re currently staying at the Camp Meade RV campground (again) -- near Odenton, MD -- and enjoying the hospitality of the Ft. Meade Army community.  Staying here also puts us quite close to our youngest son, Jamie, his wife, Lisa, and our two grandsons, Ben and Luke, who live nearby in Pasadena, MD.  We’ll be staying at the Camp Meade campground till sometime in early May, depending on how my knee responds after some minor surgery.  That’s scheduled for this coming Wednesday, 3 April, followed by a few weeks of rehab.  Hopefully everything will turn out just fine and dandy, and we can continue our travels in LynDenHaus.

We recently were thrilled to have Ben and Luke come stay with us for a few days in our motorhome here at the campground.  The weather was only so-so for the first couple days so we took in a movie (“The Croods”), played some games inside, and did some shopping for Easter and Lisa’s birthday.  As the weather improved, I was able to take the boys outside for a couple walks around the small lake near the campground, feed some ducks that frequent the lake, and just let them “cut loose” on a couple nice playgrounds near some Ft. Meade Post housing.  Believe we all enjoyed getting outside and I’m sure Grandma thoroughly enjoyed some “quiet” time!

We also planned to take Ben and Luke to the Ft. George G. Meade Museum while they were staying with us, but were counting on some decent weather since several of the displays are located outside on the museum grounds.  This small, but well-maintained museum was established to “collect, preserve, study, and exhibit historical artifacts pertaining to the history of Ft. Meade,” and is dedicated to those US Army members who died in the defense of freedom.  Visitors to the museum will discover a wealth of historic artifacts, photographs, documents, and paintings inside the museum, while outside on the grounds visitors are treated to an array of historic military equipment including tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) from WWI and WWII, and a Huey helicopter from the Vietnam era. 

I took loads of pics of both Ben and Luke outside with every tank and APC on display, and of course the Huey.  The inside offered more photo-ops and I think we got some pretty good shots of the boys enjoying their time exploring the museum.   Their excitement as they ran from one tank or APC to another was contagious, let me tell you.  And they especially love the Huey!

One last note before posting the pics: Ben helped me with the nomenclature of the pieces various of military equipment, and while I can’t verify 100% each piece of gear or hardware, I think we got most of them right.  Hope you enjoy looking at the pics of the boys at Ft. Meade’s museum as much as we enjoyed the whole experience of our visit.    

Ben & Luke posing with the UH-1H "Huey" at the entrance to the museum grounds

Monument to American POWs

Boys posing with Grandma next to the Huey

Close-up of Luke and Ben next to Huey cockpit

The "obligatory" rear view shot of the Huey, with a M113 APC in the background

After a good 20 minutes, and after thoroughly checking out this Huey, we decided to go inside and see what we could find -- and to save our exploration of the tanks on display outside for later.

The boys in front of a French Renault FT-17, WWI era tank.  The French outfit that fought with these tanks was called the "Five of Hearts" -- hence the red heart.

The boys posing with a couple of WWI Doughboys

The boys in front of a WWII display, showing an infantry soldier/rifleman (left) and a tank commander on the right, with some sort of radio in the middle.  Should have heard me trying to explain "shortwave communications" to Ben.  Boy, that kid has loads of questions!

Luke astride a full-sized replica of a cavalry horse.  I'm sure you weren't supposed to get into the saddle, but Papa swooped Luke into the saddle while Grandma snapped a quick pic

The museum had several replicas of WWI Doughboy jackets for kids to try on, so we put a couple on the boys and had them pose with a WWI "Mountain Howitzer"

Ben solo with the howitzer

The boys in front of a Civil War display, flashing the WWII "V" for victory sign, which PaPa taught them during our museum experience.  Flash the "V", smile, and snap the pic!

Boys in front of a marble monument to the Battle of the Bulge

Luke atop a M113 APC

Both boys on the M113 APC (and no, I didn't mistake the letters; the "ACP" above is written in Army-ese; stands for "Armored Carrier Personnel")

Astride a M41 "Bulldog" tank

Close-up of the Bulldog, with Luke about to slip around the turret!

Atop a M4-A3 "Sherman" tank

Last tank on display, a M47 "Patton".  Notice the boys are no longer posing on the tank.  

When we got to the Patton tank we "discovered" this nice little sign.  So glad the Army placed the sign at the END of the line of tanks.  Oh well, I think the boys had more fun the way we did it!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...so long Willow Tree

Monday, 11 March 2013.  Willow Tree RV Resort will soon be a fading image in our motorhome's big sideview mirrors. Sadly we will be departing this absolutely wonderful country setting on Wednesday and head north into the icy, snowy worlds of WV and MD.  It might not be quite that drastic a change, but it sure  won't beat the wonderful weather we've had the last couple days here in Longs, SC.  Brilliant sunshine, mid-60's temps, and bright blue skies.  And this is supposed to continue through the weekend.

Our initial journey will be a two-day trip back to Lost River campground (WV), near our son, Kip and his family in Mathias, WV.  We'll stay there through the weekend and help our eldest granddaughter, Skye, celebrate her big 13th birthday.  Then we leave on Monday to head over to Maryland where we'll once again be staying at Camp Meade RV Park on Ft. Meade -- only a few minutes away from our youngest son, Jamie and his family in Pasadena.   We're hoping we'll be able to watch our two grandsons, Ben and Luke, play some soccer. This will be Luke's first year playing and we're anxious to see this sturdy 5-year old in action on the soccer field.

The primary reason we're leaving the wonderful weather here in Longs this early in the year is because I have some minor knee surgery scheduled in early April.  Just a scope job and to clean out some of the arthritis on my left knee.  I had  arthroscopic surgery performed on both knees previously and the surgeons told me I'd most likely have to readdress the whole thing again in 10-12 years -- and it's been 17 years for my left knee so I guess that's pretty good.  About 3-4 weeks of rehab will follow the surgery before we can "hit the road" again and continue our journey with LynDen Haus.

We tentatively plan on heading first to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (or UP, as the locals call it) and spend a couple week in the region; we've heard great things about the UP and are anxious to see it for ourselves.  After that we'll head pretty much due west, crossing Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, the Panhandle of Idaho, and on into Washington State.  We'll stay in the Evergreen State for several weeks, visiting my Mom and sister, Carolyn, in Yakima, and also Lynette's folks and sister, Lori, in Wenatchee.  Lynette's parents are celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary this summer and we're gonna help them party in style!  But more on that in a future blog.

Before leaving Willow Tree, we wanted to leave our readers with a few more pictures of this very picturesque campground.  I took my camera with me on a couple walks and came away with a few photos that give a different perspective of the campground.  Hope you enjoy them.

View looking back across the lake toward the main part of the campground.

Taken from the other side of the lake, looking back toward the campground's cottages.

Looking down one of the side streets in the campground.

Main part of campground.  Lynette (blue coat) is walking back to our 

motorhome after picking up our mail at the office.  

The lake here at Willow Tree can turn to "glass" when there's no wind blowing. I'd seen it numerous times while we've been here, but never had a camera handy to catch the reflections of the trees on the far side of the lake.  While the foliage isn't that great this time of year, the reflections are almost perfect. Thought I'd share a couple of the better shots. 

That's a golf cart on the far right of this pic. No golf course here, but lots of people use the carts to go from one part of the campground to another.  Some, like this guy, seem to get a kick out of riding around the bike path the circles the lake.  For exercise?  Think I'd use my bike.

Our two resident geese.  They've been here since we arrived, and come and go from time to time.  We've seen other geese flying overhead but none ever landed on the lake.

   

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, we are sad to be leaving Willow Tree.  This has been the very best campground we've stayed at since we started our travels.  In fact, we've been so impressed that we've already signed up to come back next winter.  As of right now, we'll be staying here from December through end-March or early April.  We'll probably close up the motorhome for a couple weeks in December, hop in the car and head north to WV and MD to spend the holidays with our two sons and their families. But other than that, we'll be "wintering" once again in Longs, SC.

Will close this blog entry with a photo of our last campfire here at Willow Tree.  A huge "white man's" fire, just how Lynette like them!  Cheers to all -- catch up with everyone again soon!

Gemütlichkeit in Myrtle Beach --- Plus sehr gute schnitzel, spätzle and wurst!

Friday, 8 March 2013.  As a former Air Force German linguist, I can tell you that the proverbial German gemütlichkeit might be difficult to explain, but you won't be too far wrong if you think of good food, good company, a drink or two and plenty of time to enjoy it all.  English synonyms include friendliness/friendship, brotherhood, cordiality, goodwill, good-fellowship, kindliness, and neighborliness.  From our travels in Germany, we remember all too well of walking into the local Gasthaus in a little village and immediately feeling the gemütlichkeit that permeated throughout the entire inn.  Virtually guaranteed was a most wonderful evening!  This was the feeling we had when as we walked into the Horst Gasthaus in Myrtle Beach for dinner last night.  The place just looked and felt like we were back in Germany – or at the very least, in one of the fine German restaurants found in the small alpine town of Leavenworth,Washington.

Described as “a taste of Bavaria brought to Myrtle Beach,” Horst Gasthaus features a menu that offers a wide variety of German dishes including several schnitzels (a breaded cutlet, usually veal or pork), spätzle, and a good selection of German beers and wines.  We decided on a Bratwurst appetizer (absolutely delicious) and also ordered a bottle of Piesporter Michelsberg Qualitätswein wine from the Mosel River region for dinner.  Lynette ordered the Wiener Schnitzel with spätzle and mashed potatoes, while I opted for a Jäger-Schnitzel (literally translated as a "hunter's cutlet") smothered in brown gravy and mushrooms, accompanied by spätzle and warm red cabbage.  Lynette said hers was quite delicious.  I'd rate mine as very authentic and extremely mouthwatering.  The servings were quite substantial and we both brought some schnitzel home with us.  

We topped off the evening with a warmed up apple strudel for dessert, along with coffee.  As we ate our dessert, we were treated to some live entertainment -- a one-man band playing a variety of German folksongs on his accordian -- everything from "Edelweiss" to "Muss I Denn" to that infamous Bavarian drinking song, "In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus" (loosely translated as "In Munich there's a Royal pub house") with its stirring chorus of Eins, zwei, g'suffa (literally "One, two, drink" or in Bavaria to chug your drink).  We got caught up with the whole atmosphere and were soon chiming in with great gusto on the Eins, zwei, g'suffa...and perhaps just a wee bit too loud!  But we certainly had a great time.  

All in all we spent a wonderful evening at the Horst Gasthaus.  Good food at reasonable prices, good German wine, and fun music.  All in all a wonderful atmosphere of German gemütlichkeit.  If you're ever in this part of SC we'd highly recommend an evening out with Horst at his very authentic German restaurant.

Dining on Calabash-style seafood in the Carolinas

Wednesday, 27 February 2013. Ever since we arrived in this part of the Carolinas we've heard about "Calabash-style" seafood -- and the best place to find a decent seafood restaurant was in nearby Calabash, NC, just across the NC-SC state line from North Myrtle Beach.  So, we finally decided today was the day and drove the 20 minutes from our campground in Longs, SC, to the waterfront region of this little fishing town.

Calabash (pop. 1800) is located on the southeast coast of NC and is the southern most city in NC bordering SC.  It’s about 25 miles north of Myrtle Beach, SC and 50 miles south of Wilmington, NC. Calabash prides itself as the Seafood Capital of the World and boasts literally dozens of "Calabash-Style" seafood restaurants that offer a distinctive style of fried seafood. Calabash-style seafood is lightly breaded and then fried – and is invariably accompanied by the ever popular side dish of hushpuppies.  Corn meal is used instead of flour to give the seafood a light coating and the seafood is then fried in hot oil until it becomes golden brown.

After performing a fairly thorough internet search of local seafood restaurants in Calabash -- and reading numerous reviews -- we narrowed our selection down to two restaurants: Ella's of Calabash and the Dockside Seafood House that was located right at, yep, you guessed it, dockside of the town's fishing pier.  Opting for the Dockside, we arrived fairly early, around 4:30 (I was hungry for seafood and only had an orange for lunch), and asked for and got a window table overlooking the waterfront area and the estuary of the Little River Inlet.
  

Calabash waterfront

Waterfront area as viewed from the Dockside restaurant

Caught this pelican on a pier post just before he spread his huge wings and flew across the estuary

After ordering a bottle of St. Michelle Riesling and a cup New England clam chowder, we began to peruse the extensive menu. Lynette went with fried shrimp and deviled crab, while I opted for a combo platter of fried shrimp, fried scallops, and deviled crab. Pretty straight forward seafood preparation, except the deviled was a mixture of crab and (too much) stuffing that contained some type of seasoning we couldn't place.  The waitress had told us the breading had onion and green peppers, but there was still something else.  It was "Ok" but I've had better.  Guess we're spoiled on Maryland's famous crab cakes!  After ordering, the waitress brought the soup and a basket of absolutely delicious warm hushpuppies. Dipped in butter, they were WAY TOO GOOD since we ate far too many of them before our main meals arrived.  Needless-to-say, we both ate only a small part of our dinners and came back to the motorhome with enough shrimp and scallops for lunch tomorrow.  We topped off dinner by sharing a slice of key lime pie (can't pass that up) and coffee.

Looking at the far end of the pier dockside Calabash waterfront

All in all, a nice evening out for dinner at a previously un-visited location in this area for us.  I think I'd rate the whole experience a "6.5" (out of 10).  But once again, we've probably been spoiled by having grown up in Washington State (salmon, King Crab legs), living in Alaska (salmon, King Crab legs, and halibut), and enjoying Maryland's crab cakes for over 25 years -- and they're the best in the world!

Bonus Feature: The chef at one of the local seafood restaurants offers the following recipe for the breading that goes into Calabash-style seafood.  First, of course, always start with the freshest and best fish or seafood that you can find.

Calabash Breading

·           - - 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

·           --  Cup of bread crumbs

·          --  1/3 cup cornmeal

·           -- 1 egg

1.  Combine flour and cornmeal and place on a plate.  Place the breadcrumbs on another plate.

2.  Scramble the egg with a little water (about 2 teaspoons) to make the egg lighter.

3.  Rinse seafood and pat dry.

4.  Dip dried seafood in egg, then cornmeal mix, then egg mix, and lastly, bread crumbs.

5.  Fry for about three minutes on each side.

6.  Serve with cocktail or tartar sauce. 

The Swamp Fox, the South's Georgetown, and Hush-puppies!

View of Georgetown from the entrance to the tidal basin.

Friday, 22 February 2013.   Dreary, rainy day here along the NC-SC border – overcast, with virtually no sunshine.  Temps are in the low 50’s with the potential for severe T-Storms later in the day.  Figured it might be a good day for another blog entry, this one covering our day trip yesterday to the historic seaport town of Georgetown, SC (population 9,000), which is about an hour or so from us on SC’s coast.  

Yesterday’s weather was much better than today with clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine.  Light jacket/sweater weather, but certainly nice enough for getting out in the fresh air for some sightseeing in this quaint little town with its 300-year history.  And we were most certainly not disappointed with the quiet afternoon we spent in this charming little town that sits on the confluence of the Great Pee Dee, Waccamaw, and Sampit Rivers; Winyah Bay; and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  Founded in 1729, few other areas in America can boast more history or charm than Georgetown.  From its earliest beginnings as a probable site of the first European settlement in North America in 1526 – and as SC’s third oldest community – Georgetown has long been known for its warm hospitality and Southern charm.  And boy, does this place exude charm: From its picturesque historic Front Street with one little boutique shop after another to a variety of restaurant selections to its Live Oak lined streets (one Live Oak is over 600-years old – and still thriving) to the many well-maintained and/or restored historic homes (some from the early 1730’s) to the town’s tower clock that commands one’s entire attention on Front Street’s northern edge.  Georgetown's "Town Clock" sits atop a Greek revival market and town hall that was built in 1842 after a fire destroyed many of the wood frame buildings along Front Street. An open-air market occupied the first floor and the town hall the second floor. 

View of the town clock, looking northeast on Front Street

Close-up view of the town clock.      

To complement the whole quaint and charming atmosphere of Front Street, Georgetown’s historic downtown area even features a grassy waterfront park and a newly renovated Harborwalk.

Lynette under the Harborwalk sign along Georgetown's tidal base waterfront.

Another feature of Georgetown that I found utterly fascinating as a history buff was its rich colonial and Revolutionary War history and significance.  For example, the town played an active role during the American Revolution by sending Thomas Lynch and and his son, Thomas Lynch, Jr, to the Continental Congress where Junior was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  When British troops occupied Georgetown from July 1780 to May 1781, a true American hero, Francis Marion – the infamous Swamp Fox – fought British troops in-and-around Georgetown County in what can only be described as one of the first uses of guerilla warfare in colonial America.  The status of this true American hero has been codified by various US military and Revolutionary War historians as one of the “fathers of modern guerilla warfare.”

As far as our afternoon in Georgetown, we opted to kick off our visit by taking a guided tour of the town with Swamp Fox Tours, a local outfit that provides a 90-minute leisurely journey of the many historic homes, churches and museums.  The $15 per-person cost was well worth it as our guide provided an assortment of background facts and historical tidbits on Georgetown, its early history, its significance for SC and early America, as well as local color such as where’s the best place to eat along the town’s waterfront. Following the tour -- and after taking a quick peek at the town's Harborwalk and tidal basin -- we decided to have a bite to eat before exploring more of Front Street's many shops and continuing our sightseeing adventures. 

On the Harborwalk, looking east toward the mouth of the tidal basin. Restaurants -- and many businesses -- along the Harborwalk have entrances on both Front Street and from this boardwalk, many with outside seating.  Nice waterfront view on a nice day, but, unfortunately, not ours.

View from the Harborwalk of the various boats anchored in the mouth of the tidal basin.

After our quick look at the waterfront and the boardwalk, Lynette let me know she was hungry and in the mood for some seafood so we opted for the River Room, located right on the town's Harborwalk.  

The lunch menu had a limited selection but we both ended up with some excellent seafood fare: Lynette had the Big Fish Sandwich (it WAS huge) and a glass of German Riesling wine while I treated myself to some delicious New England-style clam chowder and a tuna sandwich.  I was also delighted -- and surprised -- to find a Allagash Belgium White beer (traditional Belgium wheat style beer spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel), on their beer menu.  Bottle only, not on draught, but still brought back memories of when I first had this beer - with my son, Jamie, and his wife, Lisa - in Kill Devil Hills, on NC's Outer Banks during one of our many summer vacations.  I don't often find it available in restaurants, so my choice was really quite easy.  Delicious as ever!

I took almost 70 photos during our brief visit here (thank goodness for digital cameras) – and a subsequent sidetrip to Pawley’s Island on the way back to our campground – and have tried to include only those shots that I feel best represent our overall impression of the whole Georgetown experience, especially among the many photographs I took of the old colonial homes.  For those who would like to view more photos of our Georgetown daytrip, I’ll be posting an “album” on my Facebook page over the weekend.  You can check out additional photos there.  Cheers!

View of one of the many Live Oak-lined residential streets in Georgetown.

A 600-year old Live Oak -- still alive and magnificient!

Following are several of the "better" shots I took on our guided jeep tour of Georgetown's historic homes. Hopefully I've captured the architectural aspects of the early 1730's through early 1800's when many of these homes were constructed.  Our guide mentioned that one family line has been living continuously in the same colonial home for 240 years.  The home has been remodeled and updated, of course, but still.....

The infamous Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, once lived in this very house.

One aspect of virtually all these historic colonial homes that impressed me were the wide, spacious porches -- often on more than one level and also wrap-around.  Also notice on almost every home the shutters -- must have come in quite handy during hurricane season!

The next photo is a shot of the last remaining colonial "kitchen" in Georgetown.  Originally every colonial home had a kitchen, usually built off the back of the home and connected by a walkway.  The cooks, usually slaves, would prepare meals and then carry them into the house.  The smell of cooking bacon, sausage, and other foods would often bring stray dogs to the kitchen, and they would often bark until the cooks threw some tidbits their way to stop the barking noises.  A favorite tidbit was a bit of dough rolled into a ball and then deep-fried in bacon grease.  The cooks would toss the fried tidbits to the dogs and yell, "Hush, puppies."  The rolled dough soon became known by the same name we know today, hush-puppies. Oh, BTW: I really didn't want the SUV in the photo, but this old colonial kitchen currently serves as a garage for its present-day occupants.

After leaving Georgetown we headed north along the coast on SC State Route 17, which took us by Pawley's Island, a famous resort town.  Curious about any similarities with NC's Outer Banks region -- where we used to spend a week's vacation every year with our two sons, their wives, and our grandkids -- we took the turn that led us out to the island's residential area.  Separated from the mainland by a wide salt marsh, Pawley's Island isn't quite as extensive as the Outer Banks, but nevertheless, had some fine looking homes -- many obviously of the rental variety.  We drove to the southern tip of the island, which turned out to be the only public access to the shoreline on this end of the island.  We got out to stretch our legs for a few minutes, did some quick beachcombing and watched the Atlantic Ocean waves pound the shore.  And to answer any questions out there, "No," I did not pay the fine!