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My husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary last month and decided that milestone needed to be marked with a trip.

(Bet you didn’t even notice I was gone. Yes, I’m that good. 😉)

And my husband being my husband… that meant getting up at 1:30am to fly out of Portland at 5:00 in the morning. It’s an ungodly time of day to travel but landing in DC at sunrise made for some pretty spectacular photos from the plane.

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We arrived in Charleston, South Carolina late morning and while the airport itself is well laid out and efficient.. the path to the rental cars is anything but. I’d reserved and prepaid for a mid size luxury SUV with Avis… but upon arrival was told there were none available. Not an auspicious start to our vacation to be sure.

The agent tried to pawn off a four door sedan on us but I wasn’t having it. After some polite but firm no’s from yours truly… we were upgraded. Which must have ticked him off because he gave us these directions.

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Which were as clear as mud so naturally we got lost. Dragging our luggage in and out of elevators and searching parking garages. We had no “space” and there was no red tent. Good times.

A kind woman took pity on us and told us we were in the wrong building altogether as the rental cars had moved. 20 minutes after we started and cursing the rental agent quite colorfully, we finally found our vehicle. A (holy crap that thing was big!) Lincoln Navigator. I’m not kidding when I say it had every bell and whistle imaginable.

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I’m also not kidding when I say it took us a good ten minutes to figure out how to run it.

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Did I mention it had cooled as well as heated seats? Be still my little hot flashing heart.

More about the beast later, but just so you know?

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This was not an inexpensive vehicle.

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Driving south from Charleston we headed for our resort in Edisto Island. (Pronounced Ed as in Sullivan… iss as in hiss… toe as in the appendages at the end of your feet. Say it with me … Ed-iss-toe. The natives corrected me numerous times so I want you to start this vacation saga on the right foot, so to speak. )

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We passed under and through magnificent live oaks dripping with Spanish moss.

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For a northern girl like me this is heady stuff.

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45 minutes later, we reached the bridge to the island.

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And entered the heart of the low country.

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Marshes.

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Inland waterways.

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And numerous sea islands. Rich in history, natural beauty, fresh seafood and Gullah culture.

This is an area I’d always wanted to explore and I was looking forward to a week full of adventures.

To be continued…

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Work began on the living room door replacement and a plastic barrier against the cold was erected.

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And as with every simple repair or renovation in my cursed housed, it didn’t go smoothly.

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I was shooting through the plastic here, but you can tell once the carpet was pulled back, the sub floor was wet and damaged.

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And once that was ripped up, it looked like the mice had been busy in the insulation.

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Black mold?

Yup. That too.

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On both sides of the bottom of the frame..

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And on the top left.

More work. More time. More money. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but I always am.

Sigh.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten?

He’s plotting how to get around the barrier and out the door to freedom.

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