Jacqueline’s Jaunts

29 May 2025, Andersonville, Georgia to  Oak Mountain State Park, Alabama Jeeps- 2 We were up early. We needed to meet Cynthia Stormcaller at the Little Drummer Boy Museum to pay our Campground fee before we left this morning. She is the Curator of the museum, as well as the Director of Tourism for Andersonville. She also does tours at Andersonville National Cemetery and Park. Very knowledgeable about the area.  The museum is a treasure trove of original artifacts from the Civil War. The uniform display is a notable highlight. There are artifacts from Gettysburg, Shiloh, Andersonville, and other notable battles. There is a mannequin dressed in a full silk dress with the history behind it posted in front of it. All the displays feature a history of each piece. My favorite uniform was the Zouave Drummer Boy uniform. The uniform is in excellent condition. According to the card, there is only one other known uniform in the Little White House Museum in Richmond, Virginia. Another f...

12 May 2025, Boyd's Key West Campground, Key West, Florida Jeeps-12 We were up before the roosters today. Today, the four of us visited Dry Tortugas National Park by boat, and we had to board the ship between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. It is a three-and-a-half-hour ride, seventy miles off the coast of Key West. Our ship, the Yankee Freedom III , served us breakfast and lunch. At 1:45, the bar opened. They also provide snorkeling gear.  Jan and I took Dramamine, just in case we would get nauseous. We were OK on the trip there and back. Once we arrived and disembarked the ship, we went inside the fort to wait for Ben, our tour guide. He gave us a twenty-minute introduction about the place, which was very informative. He also did an hour tour, but we decided to go independently.  We followed the National Park signs around the fort. We walked all three levels. I cannot imagine living on the island so far from everything. When the fort was active, it had 100 cannons that protected Key Wes...