7/19/2010 - Sightseeing

Makara is still on dry land. I hope by the end of the month to get her back into the water. In the mean time, we have been spending some time visiting along the south eastern coast checking out the various cities and towns. So far we have been to Charleston three times, Savannah once (there will be more) and Jacksonville. We go to Jacksonville primarily for the large West Marine Flagship store, i.e. BIG, and this last time discovered an old friend called Café Laredo very near the West Marine store. Café Laredo is a very good Mexican restaurant. There are several around including one that was virtually right next door when we lived in Dallas Texas. We were pleasantly surprised and immediately decided to hang around Jacksonville for dinner. One of their signature dishes is guacamole made fresh at the table, yummy. When we were in Charleston this time around we checked out several restaurants, all excellant, and spent some time walking the downtown area including the large outdoor market. In reality it is in a covered pavilion that occupies several blocks and reminds me more a bazaar than a market. We then walked out to the eastern waterfront and enjoyed the view. Later we went over to Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant to pick up a tour to Ft. Sumter. Unfortunately we just missed the boat (literally) so had to pass on that. Fortunately the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) is moored there. The Yorktown is a very historical WWII era carrier that is now a floating museum. I couldn't resist that so we went onboard. There are walking tours of much of the vessel and a large number of historic aircraft to view. For those of us who lived through the early space program the Yorktown was one of the recovery carriers that plucked Mercury and later Apollo capsules from the ocean when they returned to earth. We had a really good time and also toured a late WWII era submarine that is also moored there, the USS Clamagore. All in all we found a good way to relax while Makara is indisposed and enjoy Charleston, a wonderful resource virtually in our backyard here in Atlanta.