On many beaches i had noticed them but here on coquina beach there were quiet some: Treasure hunters. With professional metal decectors they comb the beaches for lost treasures. I asked one of them if he had already found something today: „A penny!” I asked another woman if she already had found something today and she answered “nothing yet”. I told her about the penny which was found by her competitor and she promptly replied “Oh, so he’s ahead of me”. © n.g. © n.g.
For 20 million american turkeys thanksgiving meant the sudden end, for the americans , however, it means a happy families come together in order to eat them up .
With Emilio Martinez I had exchanged a few e-mails ( stay tuned for his art !!! upcoming on this blog) and as soon as we met him, we were invited to celebrate thanksgivingwith his family. What a great experience to be welcomed as foreigners, to bash with the family and to leave the house as friends. Thank you Walter for the delicious buffet and thanks to the whole family for your generous hospitality .This evening with you was very special for us! © n.g.
We had distributed all of our “botanical ark books” (see also my blog contributing: suzi & alan) as presents and needed replenishment. Suzi & Alan promised remedy, organized to send a big package with books to alans brother randy in florida.
Sabrina and Randy, you have welcomed us as friends, even though we did not even know each other. Thank you for your great hospitality and that you showed us some of your favorite places. We enjoyed the two days very much. © n.g.
The best place to investigate the rumors if the americans had been to the moon or not is of course the space center.
In cape canaveral the kennedy space center is very impressively and absolutely worth a visit. Here you see an original saturn 5 rocket together with a used and burned return capsule, the only item which returned to earth. The event to access the exhibition hall of the original atlantis shuttle is stunning and ends with a “wow” effect. With simulators you can try to control the moon landing ferry or you can land the shuttle on a tarmac runway.
The development of space-suits can be seen up to Alan Shepards used work-clothing with real dust from the moon. You can explore huge walk-in models for example the international space station and some spaceships, the hubble telescope, lots of original rockets and there are also great 3d movies on display from the iss (international space station) and from the universe. And even there is the opportunity to touch an original tiny moon rock. Does it need further proofs? Here is the ultimate one: inside the adjacent restroom everything worked! (see also blog-contributory: https://blog.guthier.com/?p=947)
Wow. The americans had been really on the moon. :-) © n.g.
I had written in my blog contribution about the drayton plantation in charlston (see: https://blog.guthier.com/?p=1051) that only little information was given about the the slavery. This information I got today in a very impressive way. Many display boards reported and showed this outrage at that time and an audio guide gave additional background information. An absolute must, and highlight, if you visit this corner of the world.
Even the driveway through the marshes of north-florida is an experience and also there is no entrancefee. ©n.g.
And here comes the moving story of the kingsley family: Zephaniah kingsley relocated to spanish florida in 1803 and became a successful merchant and planter. His african wife, anna madgigine jai, was from senegal. Kingsley purchased her as a slave in havanna, cuba in 1806. He freed anna and their children in 1811. In 1814 he moved his family to fort george island. Anna took advantage of spanish views on race and society, which enabled her to own her own plantation and sclaves. She also was her husband´s business parnter.
When spain lost control of florida in 1821 legislators in the new united states territory quickly enacted laws that greatly reduced the civil liberties of free blacks, such as kingsle`s family members. His campain to keep a system of sociesty where people were judged by class, and not by color, was largely ignored. By 1832 the harsch lays restricting he rights of all „persons of color“ became intolerable. Faced with the reality of his family losing theri freedom upon his death, he began looking for a country where they could live without restirctions ….
© from the info center brochuredevine Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/timu
While we were waiting for a service-on time for our truck, we had breakfast at the blue moon diner (bring something to eat on sundays, because it takes time until breakfast will be served. But it’s worth to wait).
Mercedes doesn’t support trucks in america, so they sent us over to the truck garage of chevrolet. The mechanical maintanance could be done but with our „hill starting problem“ we were referred to mr. pantops . With his truck from the last millennium he is on the road since many years as a car trouble helper and he even had the matching plugs and the right software for our Atego on board. Read error, software reset, ad-blue refill, bingo. On the road again.
During our stay on the nearby campground we experienced the american hospitality „at it´s best“. thanks folks. © n.g.
