A Short Footnote

We spent today on the road and ended up in West Virginia after traveling through hours of beautiful desolation. I thought it would be appropriate to finish up our recent travels with a short summation. It’s safe to say that I’ve added a few pounds in the past month and a half, despite efforts to walk off the excess. In fact, for the better part of both trips I’ve felt relatively svelte. That’s because at least 20% of those on the cruise and much higher percentage of those in Florida were morbidly obese. I’ll skip the details, but America does have a big problem and kudos to Michelle Obama for making some noise about it. I talked about the moss-covered trees in the south, only to discover yesterday on our Charleston tour that it’s not actually a moss. Spanish moss does not feed on the giant oaks. Its genus is in fact more closely related to the pineapple plant.

Southerners who of course lost the Civil War still basically hold a grudge. They consider that war a war of Northern Aggression. To compare Savannah and Charleston, I’d have to say that the mansions in Charleston are grander and there are more of them, but Savannah’s multiple green squares makes the two historic districts look and feel very different. You’ve got to see both!

So, tomorrow we’ll be home and back to real life and some dieting. It’s been a blast!