Woke up to a very nice day here in the Savannah area. Had decided yesterday that it was smarter to stay here at least one extra day, rather than to get on the road today and find myself fighting snow and ice later on as I tried to make my way into the highlands of Virginia. Turns out that it was a good idea as that area, and everything east of there, have been hit by a big snow storm today. Of course now it is looking like there might be even more delay, as it was raining and blowing like crazy right outside of where I am sitting just a little while ago. I guess it will be a matter of getting up early tomorrow morning and deciding what to do.




   As for today though; it was very nice here for most of the day. Sunny and warm this morning with the temperature climbing into the high 70's. It began to cloud up this afternoon, though it remained warm, until about 6:00 when it started raining. Right now it has stopped and I'm not sure it is done yet as I haven't seen a weather report for some time now. But it was quite nice while the warmth lasted, so I headed over to the Georgia Railroad museum and spent several hours wandering around all the exhibits there. Lot's of interesting engines, cars and other equipment to look at. The museum is located in the old Southern Railroad Yard and Roundhouse. Of course the roundhouse, and adjacent shops, were a great exhibit all on their own, but there is still plenty of work they need to do to make it into a first class museum. Still, it is still really worth going to see right now if you like trains at all.




   Other than doing that for most of the afternoon there hasn't been a lot else going on for me today. I did finish up another book a little while ago. So I guess I'll be needing to find another one to read soon. But right now I'm just going to finish up here and then go and find some peanut butter since I ran out of that this morning. Below you will find the second sample of pictures I took while down in the Caribbean a couple weeks ago. I kind of wish I was back there right now laying on a beach.

St Croix Contra Dance Week - Feb. 2014

Rima and I decided to take one tour while on the island and the one we picked visited a few of the local island tourist places including this spot, the local botanical gardens. At the entrance is one of the old plantation buildings still left on the island from when nearly all the land on the island was planted with sugar cane.

I like old buildings... they look neat.

Our tour guide said this fruit was known as 'Starvation Fruit', because it is evidently edible, but really tastes awful. It does look neat though. I didn't taste it.

The interesting thing about these seed pods, which I can't remember the name of, is that they are used to provide the color in many of the commercial food products you buy and consume. The main one that comes to mind is Doritos.

Rima found a nice bench to sit on while we waited for some of the others on the tour.

Isn't this cute.... It's the start of a pineapple.

A closer view of the pineapple plant. I remember that pineapples are some type of plant that is a bunch of separate fruit pieces (drups ?), that join together into one large fruit as it grows larger. Here you can see all the individual pieces before they join together.

A little green anole sitting on a kapok tree root.

One of the biggest century plants I've ever seen.

What was once the slave overseer's house on the sugar plantation.

Inside what remains of the building. A batch of local Mexican Fruit Bats use the roof as their roost. These bats don't actually eat the fruit, but rather the nectar of the flowers, thereby pollinating the flower.

 A closer view of the fruit bats.

One of the other stops on the tour was the Cruzan Rum Factory. Here is a view of one of the warehouses were they stored some of the brew. All that rum.... so little time.

So there is a bar up in the rain forest where they have a couple of pigs that will take a can of beer, O'Doul's, out of your hand, open it up, by crushing it, and then drinking it all up. This is one of those pigs.

Another one of those flowers I don't know the name of.

It was evidently Cindy's birthday on this day, so her and a couple friends were helping to celebrate it with lunch and drinks out. Note the magic wands that just make any meal better. (In the photo, L to R, Brenda, Cindy, Charlotte and Karen).