On to Savannah

 From Charleston, we drove to Savannah.

We passed lots of areas that looked like this.

And we had to cross this crazy bridge!

My friend Jenny, from I'm having a Thought Here told us that if we were in Savannah, we had to go visit the Bonaventure Cemetery, so we made that our stop before checking into our hotel.

Bob and I both find old cemeteries so interesting, and this one was beautiful, with live oak trees dripping in spanish moss.

There was a whole section that was Jewish graves, the headstones engraved in Hebrew. Most of them had pebbles on the headstones and around the graves.  Each pebble signifies someone visiting the grave.

I really liked this one.

This is a military section and was very touching.

Such beautiful stones and sculptures.  We could have spent a lot more time there!

The next morning we took a trolley ride through the city.  There are little parks all over.  This little park is the place where Tom Hanks sat on a bench and said "life is like a box of chocolates..." in the Forrest Gump movie.

We saw so many beautiful homes.

The capitol building.  Its dome is covered in real gold.

As we were riding around the rain started and came down harder and harder.

The water was pouring off the roofs and gutters.

We were scheduled to go on a river boat ride that afternoon, but it was obviously not the day for it so we headed back to our hotel to dry out, because even on the trolley, we had gotten very wet. When we got off, the parking lot was flooded and our shoes got soaked.

This is the drive back to the hotel.  We had to detour because roads were closed due to flooding.

Savannah ended up getting 6 1/2 inches of rain in 24 hours, so there was lots of flooding.

We went to the hotel, did some laundry and put our tennis shoes in the dryer!

When the rain slowed down, we made our way back into the city and walked through the Basilica of St John the Baptist.

Look at the beautiful ceiling!

We also checked out what is said to be one of the most beautiful streets in the city.

The brick streets, beautiful old houses and the trees hanging over it really are pretty.

We had supper at The Pirates House, said to be the oldest house in Georgia. It was built in 1734 as a home, but opened in 1753 as a meeting place for pirates and sailors.

We ate in the Captains room, where there was a hidden tunnel that went to the river.  They used to use it to smuggle in rum, and to smuggle out people that would wake up on a pirate ship and have to work on it.  

In spite of flooding, we really enjoyed Savannah.  Next up was a trip to Columbia, SC.

Vacation report

I'm back from a wonderful time away.  I'm going to do several posts so you don't have to deal with too many photos at once!
We left on Monday morning and drove all day to Charleston, West Virginia.  The next day we were up and, on the road, early to drive to Charleston, South Carolina.

As we left Charleston, WV, we saw their beautiful capitol building.

We were driving in the mountains at this time, and enjoying a little Fall color.

We arrived in Charleston, SC a little before 3.  One of the Nurse Practioners I work with has a daughter who lives there and said the best thing you can do is take a carriage ride through the city.  So we did that when we arrived.  It was such fun and we saw and learned so much about Charleston.

Some of the streets appear to be cobblestone, but our carriage driver said these rocks were actually ballast in ships coming from England. They decided to use them for streets.  When the English found they were being used and not just dumped, they started taxing them.

We saw lots of old buildings, heard about history and saw some of the beautiful places in Charleston.

We went to our home for the night, the Meeting Street Inn which was built in 1874. This is our room, we felt like we were stepping back in time.

We had a stool to get into the high beds.

There was a beautiful patio outside our door that we enjoyed that evening and again for breakfast the next morning.

Sitting on the patio and looking up.

The next morning, we went to the City Market. It stretches about 1/4 of a mile and is filled with vendors, many of whom sell hand made goods.  We found some good things here for our grandkids.

We walked through Battery Park

We walked along the park; the Atlantic ocean is out to the right, with Fort Sumpter barely visible.

Last, we walked over to Rainbow Row, a row of 13 houses built around 1740.  They had fallen into disrepair and would probably be torn down.  But one women painted a house a bright color, and others followed.  The houses were saved and are now a famous part of Charleston.

Our last stop in Charleston was to see the Angel Oak Tree. It's a live oak and is said to be one of the most beautiful trees in the world.  It's 400-500 years old, 66 1/2 feet tall, the trunk is 28 feet in circumference and it's longest branch is 187 feet long.

What a beautiful tree!

Next stop - Savannah.

A time for everything...

Today was my last day of work, I'm officially retired! I've worked as a nurse for many years; I worked for 10 years at a hospital on the ortho neuro floor, I then worked at a skilled nursing facility as a charge nurse for about 20 years, many of those years were part time and working nights as I had young kids at home. After my kids were grown, I worked at the same facility as a unit manager for another 10 years.  I loved my work there, but with increasing short staffing I was always on call and working too much. For the last 3 years I've worked in an office that works with geriatric patients, some living at home and others in facilities we oversaw.  This let me still work with the older patients I so enjoyed, but I got regular hours and no on call!  
But Bob retired, and the rheumatoid arthritis I deal with made me think it was time for me to retire too.
My office gave me a really nice send off today.

I'm the first one in the office in the morning and this is how I found my desk when I got there.

They brought in lots of food...

More food, and a sign that says retired, not expired...

Here's some of my coworkers; doctors, nurses and a social worker. We couldn't get everyone for the picture because some were still working.
I was touched that several people who've retired came in, and 3 doctors drove in from facilities they were working in, which just shows what special people I've been able to work with!
God has greatly blessed me all these years, giving me a job I enjoyed, the strength to do it and the joy of making friends with co-workers, patients and their families!

And now I'm going to take a blog break for a few weeks!  We are off on a fun adventure, including attending a special wedding!
I'll tell you all about it when I get back.