Sabbatical (Part 1a)
Well, it certainly has been awhile since my last post…sixteen months by my meager math abilities. This set of posts kind of skips ahead a bit when it comes to the travelogue. We were fortunate to visit Sydney and Tokyo earlier in the year but those adventures were not captured here at the time. Perhaps I’ll fill them in later.

I think I’ll separate these entries into five sections; Southeast in general, Cumberland Island in particular, Cuba, and Kauai. As many of you know, Amy has put in a lot of years at work and was given some much-needed and much-appreciated time away…six weeks give or take. We decided to start our journey in Atlanta to visit Matthew, and then take a big road trip throughout the Southeast culminating in a cruise to Cuba from Miami.

Amazingly, and with Amy’s good planning, everything worked out pretty well with very few hitches.

Our Jumping Off Point
This is where we begin the journey with a visit to Matthew, to see his apartment, and to play some golf. His apartment is very nice…much nicer than anything in that price range available in San Francisco. Atlanta is nice but very hot and humid in the summer (now I know the reason for the ubiquity of sweet tea), and the traffic strikes me as much worse than it ought to be. It seems to be as godawful as 880 during commute hours, or the 405 in LA during just about any time of day or night. Surprising.

Just as Don Quixote had his horse Rocinante for transportation, we had our mighty Chevy Arcadia rental car…kind of mom-type SUV. It drove like what it is; a truck. But after getting used to the steering, AC controls (very important), and cruise control (maybe more important given the amount of Georgia State Troopers per mile), it was perfect for the job at hand; to carry us and our gear—golf clubs included—many hundreds of miles in relative comfort.

Our first stop after Atlanta was Madison, GA, a small town whose claim to fame was that it escaped the ravages of Sherman’s torching of the South during the War of Northern Aggression (just keeping things local). It’s in the middle of nowhere but a nice middle of nowhere with friendly folks who are rightfully proud of their historic town.

Charleston was our first big city stop, but we were fortunate to have friends along the way, and stopped in Aiken, SC for a ‘visit’ with Amy’s classmate Doug and his wife Kathy and their daughter. It was nice to get off the road and have a good meal (blue cheese wedge…yum) at their club. On the way back to the highway the next day, Waze routed us onto every back road imaginable, but that was a good thing. We were in no hurry and it gave us a chance to see the ‘real’ country. Very beautiful, very hot, very green.

Once I figure out how to add photos to this post (it’s been so long, WordPress changed the back-end UI) I will post for your viewing pleasure…onward.

Amy and Matthew in his spacious Atlanta bachelor pad.

The Standard Club outside Atlanta. The course was awesome; the thunderstorm not so much.

Madison, GA. Kind of out of the way for most Yankees, but a nice place to be.

An old Madison mansion.

Adrian’s Place in Madison, GA. It’s like being in someone’s living room. Excellent peach cobbler and sweet tea.

We stayed with Doug and Kathy in Aiken, SC. Doug and Amy are ND classmates. Beware the crab.

The grounds of Magnolia Plantation just south of Charleston.

It’s not called the ‘low country’ for nothing. Lots of marshes, rivers, and lakes. This area used to be a boat landing for visitors and goods to Magnolia Plantation just a few miles from Charleston.

Christ Church north of Charleston where my sixth great-grandfather, Peter DuBose was married to Madelaine Rembert in 1725.

One of the original parish buildings next to Christ Church.

I just liked the weird light and cool sky.

For all of its historical significance, Fort Sumter is actually very tiny…only a few acres. At low tide it looks like you could walk over the mud to the shore (out of frame at right) just a mile or so.

Standing guard at Ft. Sumter in the middle of the Charleston harbor.

Most of the old houses had hurricane shutters.

Lots of brick, lots of moss.

A lot of the Charleston homes in the old section had gas lanterns in front.

Tree flower-snow…reminded me of the cherry blossoms covering the streets of Tokyo.

Just a nice brick detail and a nice color for this house in Charleston.

A nice church in Charleston.

Both Charleston (here) and Savannah were filled with beautiful, colorful trees and flowers. And the Spanish moss everywhere gave the towns a “Pirates of the Caribbean’ feel.

Gotta love porch dogs…

More cobblestone…this time after a cooling rain.

As far as Amy could tell, this lot (now a park) is where Isaac and Susanna DuBose built their house on a lot purchased by Susanna’s mother in 1688.

Not sure why old graveyards are so interesting. There were lots of them all over the South.

Lots of plaster homes as well as brick. This one is on a very old cobblestone street.

We were caught in a number of thunderstorms. This one in Charleston was very loud with lots of lightning and thunder. Tradd St. is where my relatives bought a house in 1690 or so.

The door of the beautiful old house…love the ivy under the steps.

A beautiful, old house in the old section of Charleston.

Live oak and Spanish moss in Charleston.