Our Blog - US Vacation 2021

It had been a couple years but we finally made it back to the US since COVID hit. We did a bit of traveling, including 3 countries (if you include start/end/transfer), 10 planes, 6 US states, 4 rental cars, and 5 hotels. Not tons of pictures, but the trip was really to visit with family and friends instead of seeing places/things. But I do have a few from a couple key places.

Chanute, Kansas is where my mom was born and grew up, and where some of my relatives still live. These first ones are from a little family reunion with my brother and his girlfriend, Tom & I, my cousins Heather and Amber along with Heather's family, as well as two uncles Sam and Junior, and Junior's wife. I have to give credit for these pictures to others (Kristi and Heather's neighbor)!

Chanute was founded in 1873 and named after an aviation pioneer, Octave Chanute. I actually didn't know this until we were talking with my uncles, so I had to do a little bit of research! According to Wikipedia (the fountain of all knowledge :-) ) the area started being populated in the 1850's. Four different small towns sprang up but they all were in a dispute over which town would claim the right to house the railroad's new land office. The towns were unable to settle their differences until a French-American named Octave Chanute came to town, who was the Chief Engineer and General Superintendent of the LL&G Railroad. In 1872, he suggested the towns merge to end the bickering. That happened the following year and the town was named for him. He was also an aviation pioneer who provided many budding enthusiasts, including the Wright brothers, with help and advice. An interesting piece of trivia: he is present in a Frieze in the Capitol Rotunda, which includes Leonardo da Vinci, Samuel Langley, Octave Chanute, and the Wright Brothers. There is one of Octave Chanute's gliders, circa 1896, on display in downtown Chanute.

As we walked around downtown after breakfast with the gang, we saw some really nice architecture in the old buildings.

We also spent a couple days at the beach in North Carolina with a friend, and had an opportunity to take a nice walk on the beach. She has an amazing view of the water from her deck!

Then down to South Carolina, where Tom's brother took us for a little outing on his boat, down the river and out as far as the open ocean at Hilton Head Island. We saw a few dolphins peeking out of the water and tried our hand (unsuccessfully I must add) at shrimping.

And we met up with an alligator at the golf course! Tom's brother took the last picture, as I wasn't very close to him ... the guy working at the course estimated he was a 12-footer. Trust me, we didn't feed or harass the alligator!