Virginia Again

We arrive in Portsmouth on Friday 30^th October. Everywhere is full of Halloween stuff; houses with pumpkins, skeletons and witches on the porches and in the windows; ghost tours around Portsmouth Old Town; trick or treaters roaming the streets. It’s much more of a celebration here than in the UK, but then we have Guy Fawkes Night.

By coincidence, Ralph and Kelly are moving house this weekend, so we can be truly useful. The old flat is too small with a new baby, so they’ve gone for a three bedroom semi less than a mile away. Here’s the new home, the right hand half with the U-Haul self-removal van in front. 

 It’s a really nice house dating from 1900 with solid wood floors and plenty of space. This is me and Ralph moving in a bed/settee that appears to be specifically designed to trap your fingers.

This wouldn’t be complete without a moving family photo! Ginny was as good as gold during the move, so most of the time we were all able to attack the packing.

Monday 2^nd November we head for Claire’s. The weather’s turned warm again, an unseasonal high 70’s even for Virginia, and it’s very pleasant. We go for some lovely walks and the State Park nearby was showing its autumn colours, as can be seen from the following two photos. First one is Claire and Jane, second is Claire and me.

The park even has a narrow sandy beach where there was a landing stage in use up to the time of the Civil War. It’s where the Potomac River starts to widen out before reaching the sea at Chesapeake Bay. On the far shore is the neighbouring State of Maryland.

Many residential areas are located in the enormous amount of mixed woodland still remaining in most States. Of course, it’s a mixed blessing with all those leaves to clear up at this time of the year. Claire’s street- her house is first on the right- is a typical example of these rural neighbourhoods.

Our return flight leaves Washington at 8.30pm on Thursday 5th November and arrives at Heathrow at 9.55am on Friday 6th. It's been a lovely trip.

Camping near Miami

We stayed at a campsite run by Dade County, called “Larry & Penny Thompson Campground”. In the US, they often name places after noteworthy local people. In this case, it’s clearly after local benefactors Mr & Mrs Campground.

It’s a spacious site, and much cheaper than privately run ones, so when the season gets going from November onward, it’s totally full. We noticed strange fruit growing on the trees. These turned out to be avocados; we think the site must originally have been a fruit farm. They fall from the trees so could put quite a ding in your camper roof, but at least they’re not coconuts.

 Larry & Penny, as everyone calls it, is part of a complex that includes a large public park and lake, and Miami Zoo. This is part of the extensive park walking trail; if you get lost, any passing gorilla will be pleased to direct you to back the campsite.

The park is also something of a wildlife haven. We saw a pair of bald eagles, one perched and one flying. No camera, unfortunately (they all say that), but I did snap an osprey on another occasion.

Even the small fry are different from UK varieties. Look at this large cuddly caterpillar. 

Now for some signpost trivia. Is this sign saying, “mums-to-be are round the bend”?

Or this one, “millipedes this way”?

I think we’re losing it- time to catch the plane back to Virginia.

Miami Beach

Miami Beach conjures up jet-set sun bathers and cool dudes with big shades, something like the photo.

 It’s a long, wide beach, of which there are three, with fine, white sand. All are open to the public, even including that lady in the foreground wearing the kiss-me-quick hat who’s thinking about going for a paddle. She says it’s not a patch on Skegness- there’s no bingo, candy floss or fish and chips.

Bathing in Paradise has a few drawbacks, like this jellyfish. I’m not sure if this type is a stinger, but a few days after our visit a swimmer was badly bitten by a shark.

The beach is separated from the town by a grassy promenade, complete with dossers. The first few rows of buildings along the front are all Art Deco design, built mainly in the 1920’s. Many of our UK cinemas are Art Deco design as they were also built in the 1920’s.The photo looks at the seafront buildings, from the promenade.

Here’s another typical Art Deco building, of which there are hundreds, chosen not just for the architecture but also for the two classic cars outside.

There were an immense number of restaurants along the front, most somewhat off-putting not so much from high prices but from loud music and odd menus and drinks served in chamber-pot sized glasses with contents to match. We found a café round the corner with Miami ambiance, but without the yuppie bits.

We found Miami Beach an interesting time capsule because the architecture was almost all of the same elegant type, and was well maintained. The beaches were huge and uncrowded, and the town had a classy feel. I suppose that film and TV programmes about Miami Beach lead one to expect something more, something unique and fabulous, which we didn’t see in it, but It was still a splendid day out.