Charleston

We woke up this morning to a pretty sunrise. After an early breakfast we headed off to Charleston. It's about a 1.5 hour drive. We listened to a good sermon from Pastor Rand while we were driving.

We took a walking tour this morning which was 3 hours long. It was very interesting and we learned alot. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then went to see the SS Yorkton which is a very large ship that is anchored in the harbour. What an interesting tour. I know that I couldn't live on a ship or submarine after seeing how confined they are on these ships. I have a new appreciation for the Navy!

Tonight we'll relax, maybe take another hot tub and get ready for our golf tomorrow.

Oh what a night

Our first day/evening and we decided to go out for dinner at the Carolina Roadhouse. It was busy there and we had to wait about 1/2 hr to get in. That was ok, we enjoyed a glass of wine/beer outside while waiting. Dinner was really delicious.

What better way than to spend the end of the evening in the hot tub. We enjoyed the weather and finished off the evening with some awesome fireworks on the beach.!

We're here

We got up to a shroud of fog. Our drive was good and uneventful! The weather warmed up nicely as we were driving and it was 76 degree's by the time we got here. We arrived at 5:00 and made good time.

We're all unpacked now and thinking about where to go for dinner! We're looking forward to an awesome week.

Southbound

It's 3:00 p.m. and we're ready to to roll! We are certainly looking forward to a weeklong vacation. The drive was good, the weather was clear. We had some problems finding a hotel along the way. It was a busy week for Universities and all the hotels were booked. We finally at 12:30 a.m. found a hotel in Bridgeport, West Virginia. We were all snuggled up by 1:30.. boy was I tired. My day was a busy one as was the previous day and I worked till 1:00 a.m. on Thursday night/Friday morning and was up again at 6:15.

Only two more sleeps

I can't believe that it's almost October. Can you? We're headed to Myrtle Beach on Friday with Teresa and Lawrence and looking forward to a wonderful weeklong vacation. We have 5 days booked for golf and we're praying for sunshine!

We hope you follow along with us as we explore the sunny south!

Sunday - Doral

We have a beautiful room in Lodge #6. It's a corner unit and it quite large. We have our own balcony with chair's where we can sit and relax.

Sunday started off as a beautiful morning. We headed off to Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and enjoyed a wonderful sermon and Lord's supper today. What a "HUGE" church this was. It was a two hour service, but went by very quickly. We were all packed up and headed south to Doral. We checked in our new hotel at the Doral Golf resort. By this time it was raining and rained for the rest of the day. So much for going to the beach today. We spent a quiet day enjoying our hotel room and relaxing.

This is a beautiful resort, very much geared to customer service. They really try to make you feel welcome and at home At checkin, we were advised that our one reservation on the Jim Mclean course, was cancelled due to poor conditions so we were upgraded to the Blue Monster. What a way to end our vacation! Tomorrow we will golf on the "Great White" course and then Tuesday on the "Blue Monster". Ralph is on cloud "9"... Should be fun!! We hope that the rain stops - it's not heavy, but a soft rain...

Culinary Tour - Art Deco District Miami Beach

Grace Della is our tour operator. She is originally from Argentina, who then moved to San Francisco and then Miami. She is very knowledgeable of the South Beach area. I would definately take another tour with her. She is very personable and loves to share her knowledge.

This was our first stop at D. Rodriguous Cuba where we experienced plantain chips with a cuba salsa, along with empenada's with crab and a slow cooked beef brisket. Yummy. It was very good. Here is a good example of what Art Deco is. It follows the rule of three's. That is if you split the building in half - they would be the same, and you would also see "eyebrow's" ove the windows.

The chef explains his dish.

I promised myself that I would try everything, even if it meant eating fish. Well this restaurant served a fish marinated in hers with a rice dish with edame and vegetables along with a large shrimp in a tomatoe base marinade. It was awesome!

Grace did a draw for a special bottle of Olive Oil with a value of $50.00. A lady from Winnipeg was the lucky winner.

At this hotel we enjoyed slow cooked beef burgers with chips. They were amazing.

The ceiling in this room is only about 6.5 feet and is mirrored by a vinyl sheeting. it was amazing as you didn't know - it created such an illusion. This was soooo cool. This restaurant is famour for their steaks/burgers.

Jerry's Famous Diner was our first stop for dessert. This building is a true example of interior art deco with lots of glass tiles and designs.

Enjoying Chilean coffee at a local "hole in the wall". This coffee is very strong and served in a very small cup with lots of sugar. The taste is very smooth. The cost to buy a pound of this coffee is about $3.00. Well worth another visit. The Clay Hotel is where Al Capone used to spend his time with his gang....

Our last stop on the tour was to taste Gelato icecream hand made on the premises. We were given two small cones each sampling different flavours. A refreshing ending to a wonderful tour.