Beautiful Beaufort by the Sea

Yesterday we headed out for Beaufort, South Carolina.  We took the scenic Savannah highway and stopped at a rural pie shop on the way.  We bought a small homemade peach pie to add to our picnic lunch.  

We stopped at the beautiful Sheldon Church ruins a little ways outside of Beaufort.  The Sheldon church was built in the mid-1700's, burned by the British during the revolutionary war, rebuilt in the early 1800's and burnt again by the Union troops during the Civil War.  It was such a peaceful setting with all the big oak trees dripping with spanish moss. 

We enjoyed a quiet picnic lunch among all the quiet guests of Sheldon church.  Our homemade peach pie was yummy!

We arrived in Beaufort and checked in to the Beaufort Inn.  It is a beautiful bed and breakfast with big wrap-around porches.  After walking around the downtown area of Beaufort near the waterfront, we had afternoon tea on the front porch.  Definitely not hot tea - iced sweet tea.  I finally got to enjoy tea on the porch of a beautiful, southern home. Eric enjoyed napping on the porch.   

We had dinner at one of the restaurants in Waterfront park.  We met an artist having dinner at the same restaurant and he and Eric started talking.  One thing led to another and he signed a pen and ink drawing that he had done and gave it to us.  It is really good you can hardly tell that it is not a photo. 

restaurants at Waterfront Park

One of the big debates in packing for this trip was whether or not to bring our bikes.  We took Rex's excellent advice and brought them and have been so glad that we did.  Beaufort is made for biking.  the streets are lined with huge oak trees that keep the street shaded until about 11:00 am and there is not much traffic.  It also let us get a great up-close look at some of the beautiful homes in "The Point"area of Beaufort.  This morning we biked for 3-1/2 hours looking at all the homes.  We even biked to the National Cemetary here.  Here are some of the sites from our morning bike excursion.

The man at this house told me this tree was probably about 300 years old.

Boats on the Beaufort waterway

This was the house were they filmed the movies "The Big Chill" and "The Great Santini"

Saint Helen's churchyard.  The oldest grave was from 1724.  They even have a couple of British officers from the Revolutionary War buried here.

Saint Helena's church steeple.  The church was built in 1712 and is still in use.  They are celebrating their tricentenial this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some tea on the porch, Eric and I are headed out tonight to the Dockside Grill on Lady Island which is just across the Waterway.  We get to cross the big cantilevered bridge that swivels to allow the tall-masted sail boats through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olympic weekend

It's been a full weekend of Olympic action, starting with the opening ceremonies on Friday.  Friday night I made Mexican Layer Dip and we all vegged out in front of the tele watching the opening ceremonies. 

We have decided Charleston is a city of restaurants and shopping.  Saturday we went antiquing.  Sunday we had brunch at a highly rated local restaurant - Triangle Gill & Bar.  $1 Mimosa's made the wait to get in bearable.  The food was incredible!  We had stuffed french toast, biscuits and sausage gravy, and chicken livers with poached eggs and grits.  We've already picked out a restaurant for next weekend's food adventure - soul food at the Glass Onion. 

Jonathan, Elissa and Eric at the Triangle Grill

Here we are waiting at Triangle Grill.  We decided this was the place to been seen by the young, local crowd.  Elissa and I saw a lot of current trendy fashions while waiting to get in. 

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Fountain outside of the Triangle Grill

Edisto Island, Cemetary and Plantations

Edisto Island Beach

We had a great day of touring starting at Edisto Island Beach.  The beach was very nice and quiet.  The island was comprised mostly of weekly rental beach homes.  We spent about an hour and a half reading and walking along the beach.  After we left the beach, we headed back toward Charleston.  Along the way, we stopped along the roadside and talked to a Gullah woman making sweetgrass baskets.  She showed us all her materials and how she made them.  The drive was very pretty with lots of live oaks hanging over the road.  We also stopped by the cemetary at the Edisto Island Presbyterian church.  The church was founded in the 1600's.  We spent a lot of time walking among the headstones.  It was amazing to read the stories on some of them and to look at the names and dates.   We stopped at a roadside produce market and picked up some sweet corn and cantelope. I also got an ice cold Cheerwine - my new obsession. 

Sweet grass basket making by the roadside

Edisto Island Cemetary

Drive down Ashley River Road

Middleton Place Plantation on Ashley River Road

 When we got close to Charleston, we headed up the scenic Ashley River Road.  We stopped at three plantations along the road.  Drayton Hall, Magnolia, and Middleton Place.  We walked around the gardens at the plantations. 

Drayton Hall Plantation on Ashley River Road

 

Coffee day

On Wednesday, we had a quiet day.  We went for a bike ride again.  Eric went 6 miles, I went 5 miles.  After lunch with Elissa, we headed to Summerville for coffee.  After awhile we got a bit hungry and went in search of a snack.  We found a nice mexican restaurant, La Carrita with a margarita and taquita special.  It was great for an afternoon snack.  We've been eating lunch very early with Elissa and dinner very late, so an afternoon snack has become essential.  

Mt. Pleasant, Sullivan Island and Isle of Palms

Today we took another nice bike ride around Elissa's neighborhood.

After lunch with Elissa, Eric and I took off to explore Mt. Pleasant, Sullivan Island and Isle of Palms which are about 30-40 minutes away from Goose Creek.  At Mount Pleasant, we went to Patriots Point at the base of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.  We saw the USS Yorktown and a recreated Vietnam War naval base.  

We also checked out the old village of Mt. Pleasant on Shem Creek.  The porches on these coastal homes look so inviting.  I was ready to stop for tea on one of them.












We went across a long, high bridge to Sullivan Island and Isle of Palms.  They were very pretty with lots of gorgeous homes.  It was funny to see how they built the first row of homes in from the shore high enough to see over the dunes to the ocean and then the next row of homes back would have to be even taller to try to see over the first row of homes.  As we went over the bridge on the way back, we saw the big container ships being loaded with all the containers of goods.

Our first friend in South Carolina

On Monday, we took a bike ride around Elissa's neighborhood.  It was so nice riding on a flat, smooth surface.  After lunch, we went to the Food Lion to purchase some groceries to fix dinner for Elissa and Jonathan for the next couple of evenings.  When we parked, we noticed a billfold in the parking space next to us.  We peaked in it and it still contained ID and credit cards.  We turned it over the the manager in the Food Lion and asked if she would try to reach the person.  She said she couldn't go to the trouble and would just put it in the safe.  After we got our groceries, we did an internet search for the wallet owner and found that she lived close by.  We drove to her house and told her that we had found her wallet and left it with the manager at Food Lion.  She was so relieved because she hadn't even realized that she had lost it.  She said that she had been really down about people in general that morning and that we had renewed her faith in people again.  She was very nice and we visited with her for awhile.  She runs a dog advocacy program for people who have found they don't have the time or energy to deal with their dogs. It was nice to to be able to put our extra time to good use. 

First visit to Charleston

Today we went to church with Elissa and Jonathan in West Ashley.  They go to Good Shepherd Lutheran.  It is a small congregation that meets in the sanctuary of a Seventh Day Adventist church.  I was impressed by the economy of this arrangement.  Their pastor is in the Naval reserve and is currently deployed. They've made friends with another Navy couple in their church and we got to meet them.

After church, we headed to historic downtown Charleston for lunch.  We ate at the Southern Brewery and Smokehouse.  We had a delicious lunch of brick-oven pizza.  After lunch, we checked out the harbor, wandered around Charleston and browsed through the Charleston Market. 

This is the Pineapple fountain near the harbor.

This is the entrance to the City Marketplace. 
I love all the architectural details. 

Summerville

We went into Summerville with Elissa and Jonathan on Saturday.  It is just about 20 minutes from Goose Creek.  It is a pretty town along the banks of a river where the Charleston elite used to spend their summers because it was cooler and had less mosquitoes.  We had lunch at Franks's with every imaginable kind of hotdog.  Elissa and I walked around the old downtown section and visited a few stores while Eric and Jonathan checked out the historic pub.  On Sunday, we are planning to go to church and then into Charleston.
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South Carolina at last!

We slept in on Friday, before heading out to finish our drive across Georgia.  We stopped in Augusta, Georgia to get a peek at Augusta National Golf Course.  A peek is all we could get.  We couldn't see any of the course, but we did get to turn around at the clubhouse.  It was in a very pretty area. 

When we entered South Carolina, we stopped at the visitor's welcome center for brochures, sweet tea and boiled peanuts.  I think if South Carolinians would eat some nice roasted peanuts like those Max and Sherry sent with us for trip snacking they wouldn't touch those soggy, boiled peanuts again.  We decided to get off the interstate and drive the shorter, but slower route through several small rural towns to get to Goose Creek.  We really enjoyed the drive.  We even saw an old plantation-style home with the family cemetery beside it that was surrounded by oaks dripping with spanish moss.  It was picture perfect.

We finally made it to Elissa and Jonathan's!  It was so good to see them after all this time.  We had a nice dinner together at their favorite restaurant in West Ashley.   

Talladega drive by

We got a good day of driving in today and made it about 30 miles east of Atlanta.  We took a quick detour to go by the Nascar mecca of Talladega Super Speedway in Alabama.  We saw a barn by the speedway offering $5 hot showers.  I can only imagine what a race weekend there is like.  Eric has been once and says it is unlike anything he has ever experienced.  We've got about a 5 hour drive tomorrow to Goose Creek where Elissa lives.  Willie is traveling like a trooper.  He nestles in under my seat while we drive and pokes his head out when we stop.  He is roaming around the hotel room now checking things out.  We are excited to see Elissa and Jonathan tomorrow!
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Heading out on the Mother Road

We finally got on the road!!  We finished the last of the house cleaning and loading the car Wednesday morning and hit the road about 10:30.  Not bad.  We pretty much drove straight through with stops once an hour to exercise our legs.  We couldn't stop anywhere very long with Willie the cat in the car and the temperature climbing to over 100 degrees.  We made it to Olive Branch, Mississippi (just southeast of Memphis) and spent the night. We had a little snafu getting into our room.  They gave us keys to someone else's room.  When we unlocked the door, we could see feet in the bed.  We hope they were just watching tv :0  

Our drive went pretty smoothly with the only hiccup occurring in Tulsa.  Some Google maps person must have thought it was funny to detour us to Route 66 for a bit.  When we read the instructions, we thought perhaps there was construction we were avoiding, but after seeing it, we don't think so.  Oh well, we started our trip with on jaunt on the Mother Road.
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