We are now 1 week into a three week adventure in Barcelona, Spain.

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Regards,

    Harry & Marsha

1. Visiting Family and Friends (Indianapolis, Dalas, Houston, Spring TX, New Orleans, Sarasota, Beaufort SC)
2. Visiting Louisiana: Cajun, New Orleans pre-Mardi Gras, Plantation, Northern
3. Florida Panhandle which we have been to before and love
4. Marco Island with our cousins, Linda and Dan Chessman for 3 weeks
5. Miami area for ethnic culture 

​Glad to have you along for the ride!

​We crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge into New Jersey and travelled through the parts of the state that do not bring to mind the descriptive “Garden State”.
 
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Two hours of driving brought us to the Edison National Historic Park in E. Orange, New Jersey. This particular site has been on several of our return trip itineraries over the years but its location just 4 hours from home meant that we bypassed it in favor of sleeping in our own beds that night.   We specifically planned our schedule this time to allow for a visit here and a to still be home at a decent hour.    
 
This site was the last and largest of his laboratories.  It was here that he perfected his phonograph, motion pictures, the nickel-iron alkaline storage battery and enough other inventions to boggle the mind.   His home Glenmont is located just down the street.   We will return and visit this site on another trip.
 
Edison’s first laboratory was at Menlo Park was too small for the growing number of Edison Enterprises.   Building began here at this site in 1887.  There are 14 buildings in the complex although the visitor only tours one building and the visitor’s center.    The Edison archival collections are among the largest of the National Park Service.
 
Just as his friend Henry Ford revolutionized the process of assembling automobiles Thomas Edison invented a process for invention.    This was in essence the first research and development laboratory.  Once an idea came to light you could go to the library to do research and check for previous patents, then requisition the materials you needed from the massive stock room or have them fabricated in the machine shops, teams of chemists, and engineers could help refine the design and perform tests.   In one building the idea became the product, which then could be manufactured in other buildings nearby.
 
Thankfully much of this building and its contents are much as they were when Edison died in 1931.   It is very evocative of the man and his time.

​That's 82,762 at the end minus We started with 75,718 miles on the odometer and ended with 82,762 miles. We left at 8:13am on January 4th 2016 when it was 29º and arrived back home at 7:28pm, March 2, 2016 when it was 3º warmer for a total of 59 days and 7,044 miles driven.

A driving day – starting on Interstate 95 and the last 2 hours crossing bridges and islands to the Outer Banks.  We arrived in time to take a walk on the beach and then to have a glass of wine on our hotel room balcony before the sunset.

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Central street and the surrounding streets in the charming town of Fernandina Beach has an architectural treasure trove of late 1800 and early 1900 buildings and homes.   Some beautifully restored and others awaiting TLC.  
 
Here is some interesting historical information that we learned on our wanderings to American Beach, the Amelia Island History Museum, Fort Clinch State Park and while walking and driving through Fernandina.
 
Naturalist William Bartram of Philadelphia recorded the flora and fauna of Amelia Island during his visit in 1777.
 
In 1861 former U.S. senator David Levy Yulee opened a railroad line that connected Fernandina on the Atlantic Coast with Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast.  When the Civil War began the confederates seized the railroad line.   Union troops convicted Yulee of treason for advocating that confederates seize railroad lines and forts and was sent to a Boston prison.
 
Union soldiers occupied Fort Clinch during the civil war.   Those returning soldiers spoke of the island’s fine beaches and many returned to open hotels and shops. 
 
In the 1880s weekly steamships from New York City brought tourists to the Islands elegant hotels. 
 
In the early 1900s Henry Flagler’s coastal railroad opened the Island to tourists.   
 
During the Jim Crow era and segregation African Americans were not allowed to swim at public beaches.   In 1935 Florida first Afro American millionaire, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, opened the American Beach.   Historic markers tell the story beach community it’s visitors and residents
 
And the rest is ...   

From Wikipedia:

"American Beach is a historic beach community popular with African-American vacationers. It is located north of Jacksonville, Florida on Amelia Island. During the time of segregation and the Jim Crow era, African Americans were not allowed to swim at most of beaches in Jacksonville, and several black-only areas were created. American Beach was the largest and most popular, and was a community established by Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida's first black millionaire and president of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company."

In our observations, American Beach is more authentic, closer to the natural beaches of Florida (like the Panhandle), and attracts interesting people, unlike the overdeveloped places that Florida is noted for.  As a result, we spent a little more time poking around to see what we could find.

From Wikipedia:

"Fernandina Beach is a city on Amelia Island. It is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast. The area was first inhabited by the Timucuan Indian tribe."

It is the principal public downtown tourist area of Amelia Island.  Even more so than on Marco Island in Southwest Florida, there is a preponderance of expensive resorts on the Island which dominate the ambiance of the touring culture of Amelia Island.

This is a lovely little museum with lots of interesting things to see.  They had excellent visitor (of all ages) engagement techniques, some of which are shown in the photographs below. Good place to visit.  After visiting the museum, we took a self-guided driving tour to see the houses of Fernandina Beach.

From Wikipedia:

"Fort Clinch is a 19th-century masonry coastal fortification, built as part of the Third System of seacoast defense conceived by the United States. It is located on a peninsula near the northernmost point of Amelia Island in Nassau County, Florida. The fort lies to the northeast of Fernandina Beach at the entrance to the Cumberland Sound (Florida), in the northeast part of the state. Today it is included within the boundaries of Fort Clinch State Park."

We did a lot of things on Amelia Island and came away with the feeling that there was lots more to see around here as well as going north for the other Sea Islands of Georgia.  Next time...

We drove the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) to Miami.  We arrived ah hour before our stomachs were ready for lunch, so we looked up interesting places to go on TripAdvisor and found Sentir Cubano, a store devoted to Cuban gifts.  What a place!  Wait to you see the surprise in the men's room.  Let's just say they are not fans of Fidel or any other members of the Cuban Revolution

Then it was time for lunch at El Mago de las Fritas.   This was our second visit to this Cuban Burger Joint.   It was actually better than we remembered.   Really tasty food and great staff it’s a happening place.  We missed Obama's visit by several years...

​Today was last full day at Marco.  

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Then it was time for our farewell to Marco dinner at the Old Marco Hotel.   The hotel was built in the 1880’s and although extensively remodeled over the years it still retains some of its old Florida charm including the Audubon prints on the walls.  It was a delicious dinner and after three weeks together with Linda and Dan we were still enjoying each other’s company.   We are very lucky to have them as family and friends.