If you've been wondering, "where in the world is the Robbins' Family."
We've been everywhere...
Or at least that's what it feels like. I believe we left off in Altus, OK. On Sept. 17th, almost exactly a month from when we got to Altus, we rolled out of town, heading south east toward Hulbert Field on the panhandle of Florida. John had his final training for the deployment there for a week. We had some beach time, some visiting old AK friends time, and some date time (the first real one since we've had our little monster) (pictures to follow).
After finishing up at "Hurby," our next "had to be at" destination was Norfolk, VA on Oct 2nd. So we took our time heading up the East Coast. Our first night on the road, we were intending to get to Savannah, GA, but due to a torrential rain storm we decided to call in quits for the night and ended up finding a delightful little island off the coast of Georgia called Jekyll Island. Keep in mind that we got there in the pitch dark of night during a rain storm, so it was pretty neat getting up the next morning and figuring out where we were. Apparently this is the island where all the hoity toity people from back in the day came to vacation, such as JD Rockefeller. And before that there was a large plantation inhabiting the island. The island is also home to Georgia Sea Turtle Center where they rehabilitate and/or house injured sea turtles.
Moving along, we did make it to Savannah the next day, which was only a two hour drive. Savannah was a charming southern town. We were able to tour one of the old historic homes, the museum and take a walk along the riverwalk.
The next day we headed to Charleston, SC. This was about a 4 hour drive. We started off with meeting some more old Alaska friends for lunch. Sydney got to meet a new friend and see an old one too! After that we went to the Boone Hall Plantation which was just on the out skirts of town. It is very interesting to see some of that part of our nations history. For dinner we headed downtown to Hymans, had some good southern cooking(complete with hush puppies and gritsa) and then walked around for a while (great downtown area). The next day we took a tour of Ft. Sumter, which was a strategic location for the Confederates during the Civil War.
Next we headed to North Carolina and the outer banks. We had a plan for staying as far east as we could, which meant taking a few ferries between islands on the outer banks. Well, we found out from a lovely lady at a gift shop we just so happened to stop at, that one of the ferries was closed due to hurricane Irene. So that changed our plans a bit, but we were still able to see most of what we wanted. We stopped in this quant little town called New Bern, NC. It has some really neat old churches and buildings and is the home of Tryon Palace. Next stop is Kitty Hawk, NC.
We made it to Kitty Hawk pretty late in the night. In the morning we got up and headed to the Wright's Brother Memorial. John had never been, so it was pretty neat for him to see where the first flight had taken place at. It was funny to think that something these two guys did so long ago, would effect our lives so directly. Next we headed to Currituck Lighthouse. We climbed all the way to the top and I have to admit, I was a bit scared once there. The wind was blowing pretty hard and we could kind of feel the lighthouse moving with it. The adventure continued as we set out in search for wild horses. Yes, there are a few islands on the east coast that are still home to wild horses. But to get there we had to drive on the beach and through the island which only had sand roads, no gravel, no pavement. We were a little nervous, as we really could not afford to get stuck out on this beach somewhere. Well, come to find out it really wasn't too big of deal and this island is very much inhabited by humans and not just horses. It kind of reminded me of spotting moose in people yards in Anchorage. After we found our "wild" horses, we took some time to soak in some sun and some beach. No sooner did we get everything out, everyone in their swimsuits, then a massive rain cloud rolled in and down poured. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes and we were able to enjoy the beach one last time.
On to Norfolk, we rolled in late in the night again. That seemed to be the pattern of this trip, we couldn't get into our hotel before 10pm to save our lives. As we drove closer and closer to Norfolk, I think both John and I were starting to feel the weight of it all settle in. But we tried to put that behind us as much as possible and enjoy the time we had. The next day we spent some time in the parking lot organizing and repacking car once more. We took the afternoon and went to Williamsburg. We actually got there later that we intended and only had a few minutes to check out Old Williamsburg. However, as short as it was Sydney still managed to make more friends and get into a little trouble. We had a lovely dinner and then headed back to the hotel for some sleep and to prepare for an early departure.
We've been everywhere...
Or at least that's what it feels like. I believe we left off in Altus, OK. On Sept. 17th, almost exactly a month from when we got to Altus, we rolled out of town, heading south east toward Hulbert Field on the panhandle of Florida. John had his final training for the deployment there for a week. We had some beach time, some visiting old AK friends time, and some date time (the first real one since we've had our little monster) (pictures to follow).
After finishing up at "Hurby," our next "had to be at" destination was Norfolk, VA on Oct 2nd. So we took our time heading up the East Coast. Our first night on the road, we were intending to get to Savannah, GA, but due to a torrential rain storm we decided to call in quits for the night and ended up finding a delightful little island off the coast of Georgia called Jekyll Island. Keep in mind that we got there in the pitch dark of night during a rain storm, so it was pretty neat getting up the next morning and figuring out where we were. Apparently this is the island where all the hoity toity people from back in the day came to vacation, such as JD Rockefeller. And before that there was a large plantation inhabiting the island. The island is also home to Georgia Sea Turtle Center where they rehabilitate and/or house injured sea turtles.
Moving along, we did make it to Savannah the next day, which was only a two hour drive. Savannah was a charming southern town. We were able to tour one of the old historic homes, the museum and take a walk along the riverwalk.
The next day we headed to Charleston, SC. This was about a 4 hour drive. We started off with meeting some more old Alaska friends for lunch. Sydney got to meet a new friend and see an old one too! After that we went to the Boone Hall Plantation which was just on the out skirts of town. It is very interesting to see some of that part of our nations history. For dinner we headed downtown to Hymans, had some good southern cooking(complete with hush puppies and gritsa) and then walked around for a while (great downtown area). The next day we took a tour of Ft. Sumter, which was a strategic location for the Confederates during the Civil War.
Next we headed to North Carolina and the outer banks. We had a plan for staying as far east as we could, which meant taking a few ferries between islands on the outer banks. Well, we found out from a lovely lady at a gift shop we just so happened to stop at, that one of the ferries was closed due to hurricane Irene. So that changed our plans a bit, but we were still able to see most of what we wanted. We stopped in this quant little town called New Bern, NC. It has some really neat old churches and buildings and is the home of Tryon Palace. Next stop is Kitty Hawk, NC.
We made it to Kitty Hawk pretty late in the night. In the morning we got up and headed to the Wright's Brother Memorial. John had never been, so it was pretty neat for him to see where the first flight had taken place at. It was funny to think that something these two guys did so long ago, would effect our lives so directly. Next we headed to Currituck Lighthouse. We climbed all the way to the top and I have to admit, I was a bit scared once there. The wind was blowing pretty hard and we could kind of feel the lighthouse moving with it. The adventure continued as we set out in search for wild horses. Yes, there are a few islands on the east coast that are still home to wild horses. But to get there we had to drive on the beach and through the island which only had sand roads, no gravel, no pavement. We were a little nervous, as we really could not afford to get stuck out on this beach somewhere. Well, come to find out it really wasn't too big of deal and this island is very much inhabited by humans and not just horses. It kind of reminded me of spotting moose in people yards in Anchorage. After we found our "wild" horses, we took some time to soak in some sun and some beach. No sooner did we get everything out, everyone in their swimsuits, then a massive rain cloud rolled in and down poured. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes and we were able to enjoy the beach one last time.
On to Norfolk, we rolled in late in the night again. That seemed to be the pattern of this trip, we couldn't get into our hotel before 10pm to save our lives. As we drove closer and closer to Norfolk, I think both John and I were starting to feel the weight of it all settle in. But we tried to put that behind us as much as possible and enjoy the time we had. The next day we spent some time in the parking lot organizing and repacking car once more. We took the afternoon and went to Williamsburg. We actually got there later that we intended and only had a few minutes to check out Old Williamsburg. However, as short as it was Sydney still managed to make more friends and get into a little trouble. We had a lovely dinner and then headed back to the hotel for some sleep and to prepare for an early departure.
 |
| While in FL we were able to be there for our friend Jessie's (right) surprise 30th birthday party |
 |
| Beach time |
 |
| And for our first date, we wanted to do something we couldn't do with Sydney, since usually we can pretty much bring her anywhere, so we decided to go parasailing |
 |
| All the way up, 500 ft. |
 |
| View from up top |
 |
| the rain storm |
 |
| Jekyll Island Club, pretty posh, wouldn't you say? Notice the couple playing croquet |
 |
| My dorky hubby |
 |
| the sea turtle |
 |
| and our little turtle |
 |
| this style of bridge was very popular, we saw it a couple times, makes some pretty neat pictures |
 |
| checking out our new digs |
 |
| playing dress up at the Savannah Museum |
 |
| beautiful rainbow during sunset |
 |
| Friends from AK, Emma(right) was born a few months before Sydney and Avery(middle) was born a few months after |
 |
| drive up to Boone Hall Plantation, interesting trees |
 |
| the house, this was not the first house however, this one was built in 1936. |
 |
| slave homes |
 |
| this was an interesting sign in downtown Charleston, just thought it was kind of funny |
 |
| Ft. Sumter |
 |
| Church in New Bern |
 |
| Tyron Palace |
 |
| Wright Brothers |
 |
| the memorial, Sydney's really excited |
 |
| Currituck Lighthouse |
 |
| driving on the beach |
 |
| our first horse spotting |
 |
| a few more |
 |
| cleaning the naked baby |
 |
| we saw these ones on our way out, kind of neat |
 |
| repacking, where's Sydney |
 |
| I know you've seen this one before, but it's too funny |
 |
| we had some trouble too |
 |
| the crowd that gathered around Sydney while we were getting our picture taken, how funny |
 |
| family photo |
 |
| last supper with dad |
2 comments:
okay...so this was a ginormous post! And I very much enjoyed it all. I love how you have fun no mater what. You seem to go for everything, expect nothing and learn and laugh along the way. What a blessing you are to so many and God is definitely delighted by the Robbins family.
PS I know ginormous is not a word, but chose to use it anyway :)
wow! you all are my heroes! i aspire to be like your family, you adventurous souls ;) miss you all! hang in there with john's deployment. we're praying for you both!
Post a Comment