A Little bit of THIS and a whole lotta THAT

Just some stuff we found this week messing around.

Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum.

This large block of oak was found at the bottom of a well, they were placed there so when the bucket was lowered into the well it sat on the block of wood and didn't stir up any sand or sediment.

This is what's left of a statute that was at the Carnegie mansion on the island, the picture is what it looked like when it was in the garden.

 This display of uniforms is to let you know about their part in the war of 1812, we always heard that the last battle was the Battle of New Orleans, fought after the treaty was signed.  well even after that the British attacked the Battery Point Peter at the mouth of the St Mary's River.  Since they out numbered the garrison 1500 to 80 it wasn't much of a battle, but it was the last fighting of the War of 1812.









St Mary's River Front

 The Nation Park ferry that takes you to the Island, you need to make reservations during the busy season.  If you're lucky you'll have to stop and wait in the river while a Trident Submarine enters the port.  Really something to see,they're escorted by gun boats, helo's and have a SEAL team on deck.

Show how windy it was this day and I like this picture.

Fountain in Riverside Park.

National Park Headquarters, nice pace to work.

Map of Cumberland Island.  If you go to the island take a backpack with plenty of water and food, get the early ferry and plan on spending the day.  But don't miss the last ferry or they leave you there for the night and you're on your own.

The tide is out so these are stuck in the mud.

a semi tall ship at the end of the harbor but you can't get out to it.






SUGAR WORKS RUINS
                                                  

Click to enlarge and read.

Just down the road and across the street from the main gate to the submarine base.

Part of the Sugar works ruins.

more ruins

and even more, this was a very large operation.

Close up of the Tabby wall, a mixture of sand ,lime and sea shells, the walls are about 18 inches thick.

This trees old enough and looks like it might have been an Indian trail marker tree.









WOODBINE AREA

We parked at the Satillia Riverfront Park and took the boardwalk, about 1/2 mile over to the Bird Sanctuary.

The board walk takes you under the Hwy 17 bridge and connects with part of the Georgia Coast Rails to Trails bike path.

Walking along the path and spotted this grave, it had a stone but we we're wondering why it was here all by it self.

and then we found out the rest of the story.
Click to enlarge and find out for yourself.

Here's a picture of Cathy and I, might use it for our Christmas card since it's a reflection in a Christmas bulb.

Continuing down the bike path.

Ended up in a little city park, already for the Holidays.

More ruins, the ruins of Woodbine Theater, not as old as the Sugar Works.

Under the Hwy 17 bridge on the boardwalk.














SIGNS WE FOUND

So it's OK to Treaspass before the sun goes down.

The building was collapsed but what a great sign.

At least they're honest about it.

And that's it for St Mary's.

Jacksonville - Sally Corp

We finally said good-bye to Savannah and drove down to Woodbine/St Mary's, about 7 miles north of the Florida state line, we're staying at the Walk-About RV Park. This park changed owners about a year ago and is now owned by a nice young couple from Australia and their 4 kids. They have made a lot of improvements and are a real pleasure to deal with.

Today we drove down to Jacksonville, our first stop as always when we're here was Penzey's Spice shop  to replenish our spice rack, if you've never been to a Penzeys then you don't know what you're missing.

After getting our spice fix we drove downtown to the Sally Corp.. They make animated robots and such for amusement parks, private corporations and any one else that wants one. We had called ahead and they said that they could squeeze us in with the noon tour, you must make reservations for a tour, we ended up being with a small (20 4^th grade kids) school tour. At first we thought that it was going to be geared towards the kids but it was very interesting for the adults also.

This company has been here for 30 years and has their robots all around the world. Our guide explained that it got it's start when three students at Wake Forest had a project which required them to give a talk on stage in front of an auditorium full of people. They were all very shy and none of them wanted to give the talk, so they bought a mannequin, ripped the head of and put a few motors in the head that would make the mouth move when ever they pushed a button. Then they had a lady friend record their speech for them. When it was time to give their talk they placed the head on the podium, turned on the tape and started pushing the button to make the mouth move with the speech. They all passed and that was the start of Sally Corporations, why Sally well that was the name of the mannequin and she's still employed there.

This was a fun tour and lasted about an hour and we were amazed at the great questions some of the fourth graders asked.

The first stop showed some of the different characters they have made.

The tour guide putting on a mask of LBJ, if you've been to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, this is the mold that they used to make the robot there.

Mark Twain

A sample they used to show the different movements.

They  just finished this one and it's going to a Temple in India.  It was made from the photos and measurements of the real person.

They use human hair on the robots and each one is placed in individuality, it can take this girl up to 20 hours to set all the hair  in this beard.

T-Rex breaking out of his crate.

At the end they have an animated shooting gallery for the kids to try their shooting skills at.

Savannah Waterfront

Just a few pictures of the Savannah Waterfront. We decided to head over and walk around since it was a nice day and we were hoping everybody else would be shopping Black Fridays at the mall, NOT.

We're at the Hardeeville RV Park so it's only a ten minute drive to downtown, the trick is to exit onto Hutchinson Island right when you start to cross the bridge and park at the Westin Hotel or at the Convention Center (Free) then walk between them to the free ferry dock. The ferry runs every half hour and it's about a 5 minute ride across the river to the waterfront, you can get off at either end of the waterfront.

It was a little crowded and most of the restaurants and shops were full so we just wandered around for a couple of hours then grabbed the ferry back to the island.

One of the Ferry boats

 Savannah Waterfront

Click to enlarge and read about the Olympic Cauldron pictured below.

Convention Center on Hutchinson Island

Shops and Restaurants

More shops

 and more

Narrow street and it's one way for the cars but the trolley goes both so when it's coming at you, you better get out of its way.  When the cars are right up against the curb there is only about 6 inches clearance
.

 One of the busier restaurants

Fountain, the real ship is in the river and open for tours.

War Memorial

Waving Girl, waiting for her lost Sailor love to return to Savannah, he never did.

Walkway between buildings leading to the second level.

Second level, the stairs take you to the third level and the main streets of downtown.

We walked around the main street area and a few of the squares then headed back to the ferry.  There is so much more to see and do here I could write another 30 pages and post a few hundred more pictures.

Over the years we have spent about 8 weeks in the Savannah area and still always find new things to do and see.