This is the Angel Oak. It's a live oak that's over a thousand years old. It's near Charleston, SC. That's me hugging it so now I'm an official tree hugger.

Tomorrow I'll be at the Kennedy Space Center. I'm recharging my camera's batteries. With full batteries, I can take hundreds of pictures. Fortunately for those people following my blog, I try hard to limit the number of photos I upload to twelve or less (usually four or less) per day.

 

 

 

 

The road to Charleston, a bridge in Charleston, and some houses in Charleston. Sam and Jackie took me on a tour today. They've been very gracious hosts, and I've enjoyed my stay with them immensely. I'll be heading south tomorrow. Lunch in Savannah, Georgia and dinner in Titusville, Florida. The day after tomorrow, the Kennedy Space Center.

Wildlife in Sam and Jackie's Neighborhood

 

I wondered about all the wildlife in Sam and Jackie's neighborhood, but it's really quite safe because they have these signs. Presumably, as long as the people don't feed or bother the alligators, the alligators won't chew the legs off the people.

Sam's photos, taken right in his neighborhood

 

 

 

 

This visit with Sam and Jackie is quite interesting. They have a salt marsh right outside their house, and the denizens of the salt marsh live right in the neighborhood. So, while I have no idea why the alligator crossed the road, Sam got some photos of that, and some other animals right in his neighborhood. He generoustly emailed some of his photos to me so I could put them here in my travel blog. (see above) The top photo is of the bobcat that lives in his neighborhood walking along the street. Next there's a pelican who stopped for lunch across the stream from his house. Then you see the big (approximately twelve feet long according to Sam's estimate from a respectable distance) crossing the street. And, finally, the little alligator (Sam's estimate, six or seven feet, also from a respectable distance) sunning himself on the grass across the stream from his house.

Near Charleston, SC

 

 

 

 

The people I'm visiting, Sam and Jackie, live near Charleston, SC. This morning, we took a walk along the beach and along a salt marsh. Here are some photos.

Party

Well, I started my trip west today. My first stop was at a party in Virginia. The young lady was one of my daughter, Kathy's, roommates in college. Kathy's friends all call me "Pop." So when a young lady who's been calling me Pop for the past twenty years invites me to her party, I go. The old white haired guy in the background is her actual father. She calls him Dad. The young, good looking guy is her husband.

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

This past Monday, my brother and I went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The top picture is a tsunami simulator. Next, there's me sitting in a model of a San Francisco cable car. The actual cable cars in San Francisco, still carrying commuters and tourists, are the only movable national monument in the US. Next, there's a just hatched chicken. Finally, there's a full size model of the Wright flyer. The Wright brothers were not merely the first human beings to actually perform a heavier than air powered level flight with a human on board (model planes, birds and pterodactyls were earlier). They were the first people to describe how airplanes needed to have control of their pitch, roll, and yaw. They also were the first to build a gas engine that was both light enough and powerful enough to fly itself, a pilot, and the plane.

With all that, the plane they designed must have been very difficult to fly. People keep trying to build a model flyer that actually flies, but they find the design extremely difficult to control. The Wrights were lucky they didn't get killed while trying to fly.

At the museum, we saw a sign that the museum is having a contest. The winner gets to literally live in the museum for a month, play with the exhibits after closing time, and become a representative of the museum to the public. When I read about that contest, I realized that the person they're looking for is me. I'm working on my contest entry materials. All I need to do is to convince them that I'm the best person for the job. I already know it. I'm working on getting some stuff together so I can demonstrate to them that I'm their guy.