Day 7, the last full day of our southern anniversary vacation started like the previous 6… with a card.
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This trip was our gift to each other so I opted for a card a day instead.
I’m thoughtful that way. 😉
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It also started with the malfunction of my very last can of (the now reformulated and totally awful Aussie instant freeze… may a pox fall upon their houses and render every last one of the executives bald) hairspray.
Oh, the horror!
With my drastically unsecured hairdo, we headed out that morning to buy a thank you gift for our neighbor who was caring for Lord Dudley Mountcatten in our absence. On the way out of the store I chuckled at the appropriate license plate of the elderly owner.
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And speaking of moss…
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We decided to make the most of our last day and return to the Botany Bay preserve to fully explore Boneyard Beach at low tide.
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Passing under that gorgeous canopy of trees again on the way in.
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It never got old.
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Our previous two trips to the beach were shortened first by loss of daylight and then by rising tide.
We hoped for better viewing this time.
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I know the pictures don’t do it justice…
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But you have to trust me, this place was amazing in person.
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Even with bad hair and high winds.
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The skeletal remains of all those trees made it feel like another planet.
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Or maybe this one after some kind of Planet of the Apes scenario.
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Look…
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My husband smiled, so you know it was special.
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I swear if I lived in this area I’d be here everyday…
After an interesting but not nearly long enough tour of Fort Sumter, we disembarked the ferry and spotted a resort with a highly recommended restaurant called the Fish House.
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Arriving at 4:00pm since we’d skipped lunch…
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We had the place to ourselves for a short while and moseyed up to the bar.
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One Harborview with Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka, Lemon Simple Syrup, Prosecco, and fresh basil in… things were looking good.
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The view on one side was the USS Yorktown… which I wanted to tour but with only an hour before it closed and $100 for two tickets the husband said no. He’s lived on those ships and had no desire to pay to see another.
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Low country shrimp appetizer? Yummy.
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A Siren’s Mule with Mount Gay Rum, Ginger Beer, Lemon Simple Syrup, Mint Leaf, Lime and Blue Curacao?
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Even better.
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We had to laugh at the menu typo and passed on the She Carb soup.
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Husband had the lobster ravioli which he said was wonderful and silly me… who thought since I was down south I should try local seafood… ordered the tilefish.
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Word of advice – do not order the tilefish.
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The sauce? Flavorful. The risotto? Creamy. The charred lemon broccoli? Perfect.
The tilefish?
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I think this fish made out of actual tile in the rest room would have tasted better.
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This one as well.
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Yup. Those too.
Lesson learned? If you don’t know what it is, don’t order it.
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Bad fish aside, it was a nice place.
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It must have been because we stayed until after dark and the beast of a Lincoln was lighting our way when we left.
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At least we had good timing for some beautiful Charleston skies on the way back.
Or more precisely over the locally famous Ravenel bridge …
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To Patriots Point where we had tickets for a ferry. We arrived early as traffic can be tricky and stumbled on a press conference in the parking lot with the USS Yorktown in the background.
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The mayor and two other officials were rambling on about an upcoming spring yacht race…
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Which we wouldn’t be in the area for nor cared anything about, but my husband being my husband…
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Had to stand there and listen to the whole thing because at the end there was a question and answer period and he asked a question. Why? Because the man has to talk.
While he was doing that I looked around and took photos…
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The bridge from Patriots Point.
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The memorial and half of the Yorktown. I wish I’d known the ship was here, I would have scheduled time to tour her.
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Our ferry.
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The harbor.
And since my husband was still standing at the press conference? I checked out the gift store.
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Where the gifts were decidedly low brow.
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As well as deadly.
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This was absolutely bizarre to me. You’d never see ammunition for sale like this in Maine. It was just sitting there on the floor, in open boxes… where any child could take one.
WTH?
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Press conference over, we boarded our ferry.
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Under the watchful gaze of some pelicans.
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Who pose quite nicely for tourists.
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The ferry had two decks but it was a cold and windy afternoon so we went downstairs to cut the breeze.
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Charleston.
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A U.S. Park ranger gave an interesting lecture on the history of the place we were going to see.
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And though it was an overcast sky…
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It was still a lovely ride once I dragged my wind beaten spouse upstairs to the open deck.
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After 20 minutes…
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There it was.
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Sitting at the mouth of Charleston harbor.
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We disembarked…
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And walked on the very ground where the Civil War began.
Returning to the condo after Boneyard Beach, we met the nightly herd of neighborhood deer.
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They wander the area at will, not the least bit scared of cars or people.
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Southern deer are much smaller than the ones we’re used to seeing up north.
To me these are basically large dogs.
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We wondered where they slept in this area… it’s a beach after all, crowded with houses and very little undeveloped woods.
Did I mention we had dolphins in front of our resort twice a day? Two hours before high tide and two hours before low. They follow and drive the fish and we loved seeing them frolic.
Of course every time I tried to film them they stopped. Pay close attention here and you’ll see one break the surface.
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And speaking of sea creatures, Edisto Island is all about the turtles.
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Brightly painted and prominently displayed.
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Some of them were quite creative.
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On the main drag?
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The sand seemed to be gaining ground.
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And every time we drove by this rental house? We laughed.
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Oops. Major parking dimension miscalculation there.
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Another balcony selfie, slightly squinty as I was looking into the sun.
I’m not sure my vocabulary contains enough adjectives to properly describe how sublime Boneyard Beach at sunset can be….
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Mysterious.
Spectral.
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Otherworldly.
Striking.
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Wondrous.
Captivating.
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Preternatural.
Glorious.
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Exquisite.
Magical.
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In other words… fan-flippin-tastic!
We really didn’t want to leave but the tide was rolling in fast and there are warnings everywhere about being trapped, so we headed back down the marsh land path.
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Where the sunset was also pretty sweet.
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As we left, I knew if we had the time I wanted to come back at low tide and walk the whole beach.
River's world..... 