23rd September 2018

Dear All,

Well it might not have been the ideal time to visit the east coast of the USA! We were due in Charleston the same day as hurricane Florence and this caused a few adjustments. We were actually in Savannah a hundred miles to the south of Charleston when Florence eventually reached the coast of North Carolina and, of course, the TV stations went into meltdown! Our tour company decided that we should stay an extra two days in Savannah to see how things developed then we headed inland to try and circumvent the effects. This meant a long two days and between 800 and 900 miles via Chattanooga and Roanacre before getting back on schedule at Richmond. We did encounter some fairly severe rainfall and when we were in Richmond we were hit with one of the tornadoes on the tail of the hurricane. Apart from that it was a very interesting tour and we know much more about American history than we did before!

The tour started at Atlanta where we visited the Olympic park, the Martin Luther church, museum and memorial, Margaret Mitchell’s house, Stone Mountain, the CNN complex, Coca Cola tour and the top of Westin hotel tower at 72 stories. Atlanta was better than we imagined but dominated by some serious skyscrapers!

Atlanta from the top of the Westin Hotel

Next stop was Savannah on the coast of Georgia. The town was laid out on a grid pattern with a series of squares. The old centre is largely unchanged but it is a very busy container port as well. It was very hot and humid, perhaps enhanced by the proximity of the hurricane. We had a horse and carriage tour of the town, walked most of the squares, visited the cathedral and most of the museums in town, took a trip up river on a pseudo paddle steamer and were upgraded into the rather grand Hyatt for our two extra days. It is an interesting town but we were running short of things to visit after four days!

The Georgia Queen

At Chattanooga in Tennessee, we took the Incline Railway to the top of Lookout Mountain and visited the Choo Choo station – now a hotel. Next day was a gruelling 524 miles in 11.5 hours to Richmond – the sort of day which makes you need a holiday to recover from!

On the Road

The Incline Railway

From Richmond in Virginia, we visited Jamestown, the site of the first European settlement and Williamsburg an important town in the Revolutionary war which has been largely preserved in its former condition. We started a tour of Richmond but this was cut short by the arrival of a tornado which demolished a building or two accompanied by more serious rain.

Williamsburg

Next it was Monticello, former home of Thomas Jefferson and his famous vegetable garden – which was one of the main reasons we signed up for this tour. It was very interesting for me having prepared a biography presentation on Jefferson last year. The garden was OK bit a bit soggy and wind blown due to the recent weather.

Monticello, Jefferson’s Garden

We headed for Washington DC that night and had a conducted tour next day including Arlanda cemetery and JFK’s grave, the Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam wall  and Korean 19 soldiers garden, the Washington monument, the White House (Donald was not at home!), Lafayette square, the National Mall and the Capital. In the afternoon we showed ourselves round three of the Smithsonian museums: Air & Space, Natural History and American History all of which were excellent.

The Capital, Washington DC

Next day we called in on an Amish settlement at Lancaster en route to Philadelphia. We visited two farms and saw them harvesting maize for silage using mule drawn equipment which was both interesting and bizarre. In Philadelphia we stayed at the “Embassy Suite” where our three room accommodation was just like home!

Amish Maize harvesting

Our final tour took in the Liberty Bell, City Hall, Benjamin Franklin’s Printing works and Logan square before heading towards Newark airport and home. We managed about an hours sleep on the plane so now it is catch up time. All in all a very interesting tour but one requiring a certain amount of stamina to enjoy!

Love

Mike & Kate