Our Nest on Wheels

by Jane

(Well, it was the fifth day of Christmas when I started this post . . .)

These wreaths and other door decorations have become such a fixture in CW that people come from all over the country, some every year, to see them, and the style has become known (at least according to CW) as "Colonial Williamsburg door decorations" (catchy name, that). And I have to say, I find them totally charming.

(Side note: I learned from Agatha Christie that the collect for the Sunday before Advent begins, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people," and was known among cooks as "stir up Sunday," the day to stir up the plum pudding and let it marinate in brandy until Christmas Day.)


Even during the 12 days of Christmas, colonists likely wouldn't have any decorations on their doors; more likely, any decorations would have been centerpieces on the dining table. In fact, I've heard tell that one historical interpreter, charged with making door decor, placed forks and spoons around his creation as a subtle way of insisting on historical integrity.

And as for the fruit and vegetables that are the hallmark of Colonial Williamsburg style, "no one in the eighteenth century would have been caught dead with real fruit tacked to his front door. Anyone hanging fresh fruit outdoors in the middle of winter to rot or be devoured by squirrels would have been thought, at best, highly eccentric by his neighbors"—so write M. M. Theobald and L. H. Oliver in "Deck the Doors," a short article well worth reading. And apparently the squirrels do indeed devour the fruit in the wreaths; one CW staffer told us that the fruits and vegetables are replaced daily! 

Some of the decorations reflect the nature of the shop they adorn. These two with oyster shells are from a tavern and a restaurant.


This wreath hangs on the door of a shop that sells, among other things, toys.


Look closely at this swag over the dressmaker's door, and you'll see that her fruit and vegetables are sewn of fabric.

It's the middle of December, and we are now in Florida.  While we're here primarily to get away from snow and cold, we are also here to change our residency to Florida.  One common misconception that people often have regarding full-time travelers is that they don't have a home state.  Well, actually everyone has to have a state they call home, and a legal address.  You need it for your tax returns, if nothing else.

So we have decided to make ours Florida.  There are 3 main states that full-timers use:  Texas, South Dakota, and Florida.  Coincidentally, none of these 3 states have an income tax.  These states are also home to mailing services that full-timers use to get their mail.  As we don't own property in any state, we can pick our state of residence.  We also don't rent any property, not even a storage unit, except that we do rent a mailslot in Florida.  So, it makes sense to use Florida for residency purposes.  Here's our mailslot:

This is the mail forwarding service that we use.  Our mail comes here, they then let us know what was received, and we tell them where to send it.  Works really well, but it can take an extra week to get stuff.  In any event, this little mailslot constitutes our legal residence now.  In Crestview Florida.

We went to the Florida equivalent of the DMV.  In Crestview, this is the Tax Collectors office.  The nice thing is that they handle everything all at once.  We got new drivers licenses, vehicle registration, vehicle titles, and voters registration.   And since a lot of full-timers use the mailing service in Crestview, the folks at the Tax Collectors office are very familiar with those of us that only have a little mailslot for a residence.  In any event, we got everything taken care of in one visit.  It did take a couple hours. but the office and people were so pleasant that we didn't really mind the time.

We had allowed ourselves 3 business days in the Crestview area to take care of our license, registration, and residency changes.  That way if there were any glitches, or missing documentation needed, we had a couple extra days to sort things out.  As it turns out, everything went swimmingly, so that left us a couple days to kill.

We decided to go to Pensacola.  We've never been in this area before so we checked TripAdvisor to see what there is to see.  The number one attraction in Pensacola is the National Naval Aviation Museum, which is on a Navy base.  The base where the Blue Angels train.  Well, it turns out that this is a terrific museum, with an absolutely amazing collection of aircraft and really well-done displays and videos.  And it's free. They have everything from World War I era biplanes

and everything in between.  Including many historically significant aircraft, such as the plane that landed George W Bush on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in 2003 to announce "Mission Accomplished".  And planes flown by John Glenn, as well as a Russian MIG.  There are so many planes inside the museum that it's really hard to keep track of them all, or fully take it all in.  After a few hours, I started to feel overload, just from the sheer volume of all that there is to see.  And then in addition, they have a back lot where there's a whole bunch more planes and helicopters parked.  You see that via a trolley ride with a guide who narrates and tells stories about some of the aircraft.  All free.

"The Battery" is the site of a fortified seawall on the southern-most part of Charleston (or, more accurately, what's known as "historic Charleston," as opposed to "current sprawling Charleston"). You can see it at the very bottom of this map (courtesy of Travelor of Charleston magazine).

map source: http://travelerofcharleston.com/maps/

The seawall is still there, as are a bunch of cannon, presumably no longer operative. (Side note: I'd love to hear your opinion on whether the plural should be cannon or cannons. Which just goes to show what a grammar geek I am. So indulge me.) Once upon a time, that tip of the peninsula was called Oyster Point because of the shells that washed up there. The name evolved into White Point (the oyster shells presumably being white), and the park now nestled in an angle of the seawall is called White Point Gardens. Not only is it a charming park with great sea views; the road between it and the seawall has FREE PARKING—a commodity not easily found in the city.


I am totally enamored of live oaks.



 Yes, we are in the South:


Sunset (and view of FREE PARKING!) from White Point Gardens:

Amazing Houses

One of the main things to gawk at in Charleston is the architecture of the houses. So gawk we did. These houses are mostly "south of Broad"—Broad being the street that you can see on the map above roughly even with the words Cooper River on the far right.

These next few houses border White Point Gardens, which is a pretty good place to start if you want to gawk.




This next one is actually an inn. I was dying to see inside, so I made up an excuse to go in. In case you're wondering: no; they do not host wedding receptions. (In case you are also wondering: no; no one in our family is currently planning a wedding. I told you I was dying to see inside.)



I'm pretty sure this one must have been owned by the founder of Pepto Bismol:



Colorful houses are not uncommon here. This next photo is of "Rainbow Row" (you can see it on the map), but the one after that apparently doesn't merit any designation; it's along the seawall near White Point Gardens.

Fountains

Historic Places

A few seasonal photos

More Photos