We woke up on day 3 of vacation with a lovely pink beach sunrise.
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I have to say it’s not a bad way to start the day.
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Our first adventure found us at Botany Bay Heritage Preserve. A 4,000 acre property, open everyday and free to the public. Originally two cotton and timber plantations, it’s now a haven for wildlife and a wonderful place to explore by car, on foot or horseback.
Upon entry, it’s all about the trees.
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A mile long dirt road of nothing but glorious live oaks dripping with Spanish moss.
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In spots they form a stunning canopy…
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And it feels like you’re stepping back in time.
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When I think of the south?
This is the image I see.
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They truly are magnificent things.
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Driving the loop trail through ruins and fields, we eventually found the water.
Next to the cypress wetlands was the Port Royal museum. We love small local museums run by resident volunteers and always try to support them when we can.
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This local didn’t share any history with us, but he was all about a good neck scratch.
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Not St. Augustine, Florida.
Nope. That’s a common misconception. The Spanish actually settled Port Royal first, but it was abandoned a few years later due to lack of funds.
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This museum was tiny but filled with interesting things.
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Megalodon teeth… that you can apparently scavenge for on local beaches. Sign me up!
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15 million year old clam? That too.
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The docent had absolutely no idea what this was, but I’m there for it as well.
We’d had a busy day, and since I had one more waterfront walk on the schedule for the late afternoon I tried to hurry the husband along.
I think you can guess how that went.
Just when I almost had him out the door, the lovely lady who runs the museum suggested he might want to look at some military photo albums donated by a resident.
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Yes, they were interesting.
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Filled with heart warming pics…
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As well as the horrors of war.
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Most were taken during WWII and Korea. And while I appreciated her sharing them with us, I wasn’t as thrilled with the hour long conversation that followed.
Vacation time is limited!
Schedules must be kept.
As the sun was going down, I finally dragged him out of the building and we headed for the boardwalk.
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Tiptoeing through the seagulls we made our way forward.
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It’s a popular fishing spot next to the marshes and offers a long stretch of easy walking with a viewing tower.
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Of course it was getting dark and the wind had ratcheted up to a howl which made it less than comfortable.
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We only climbed to the first level of the three level tower…
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The higher you went… the stronger and colder the winds. One quick picture and I called it good.
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The sun was setting and we needed to get back on the road.
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As you can see, our giant rental beast dwarfed all the other vehicles in the parking area.
The only place on Parris Island that really sparked my husband’s memory was the parade deck.
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It was a cold and windy day but he wanted to walk the entire thing.
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The fancy grandstand wasn’t there in his day.
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But he remembers being drilled and marched until he couldn’t see straight. D.I.’s screaming, recruits passing out from the heat, being overwhelmed and overtired, getting slapped when he said yes sir.
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He swore he’d forget his mother’s name before his drill instructor’s.
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The required selfie, wind blowing so hard I had hair in my mouth.
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I walked around the Iwo Jima Statue and left the husband alone with his memories.
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Those bricks he’s looking at are memorials. Engraved with the names of fallen Marines. A lot of the boys he went through boot camp with never came back from Vietnam. I think my husband sometimes wonders why he was the lucky one…
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A while later we finished our tour of the base.
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And decided to stop at the PX for a bite to eat.
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Naturally, the food court was closed. But I was cold and wanted to buy a sweatshirt so we shopped.
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The husband really wanted this funky bottle of vodka for the man cave bar.
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We even tried to find a small box and some bubble wrap to smuggle it in his suitcase on the flight home… but no luck. The saleswoman said we could order it online but in Maine it’s illegal to mail liquor.
Boo to that.
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Moving on, the husband checked out the price of Dress Blues.
And when we passed the challenge coins? I had to laugh.
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Two full rows of Trump still for sale, while Obama and Biden were almost sold out.
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It was a good morning.
My husband always wanted to go back and I’ve always wanted to see the place he talks about with such reverence.
Our home base for the anniversary trip was a two bedroom condo at Wyndham Ocean Ridge on Edisto ( Ed-iss-toe) Beach. Mid way between Charleston and Hilton Head…
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It’s a quiet, laid back mostly residential beach community without all the tacky water parks and touristy crap cluttering most southern coasts. It’s the undiscovered country and that’s just how we like it.
When we arrived at the resort and checked in, we were given a unit on the golf course. We travel through our timeshare so sometimes it’s a crap shoot where we’re placed. But seeing that my husband has the gift of gab and makes friends easily, we were quickly reassigned to one of the deluxe units in the best area. (Me dropping the 40th wedding anniversary bomb may have had something to do with it as well. 😉 )
If it hadn’t been January, in the height of the off season this wouldn’t have happened. The Bay Point association is the primo spot of the entire resort and people book them two years in advance.
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The peninsula itself is Edisto Beach with private homes all around. The areas in green are the resort and it was a crazy set up. One second you’re on the resort, the next you’re on a private road. As you can see by my arrow we were right at the tip on the water.
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Our condo was in the middle on the top floor, which in reality is only the second but you have to climb 4 flights of stairs to get there.
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It was clean and spacious.
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With a decided seaside decor.
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It was newly remodeled with carpet that looked like waves.
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And had a pretty sweet view from the bed.
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And speaking of views…
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One look out the balcony and I was a happy camper.
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Off season with an entire beach to ourselves. It doesn’t get much better than that.
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Second bedroom. No, we don’t use it… but if you book a two bedroom unit you get two baths and that my friends is the key to a long and happy marriage.
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Master bath. This was mine in case you were wondering.
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We settled in and unpacked.
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Very pleased with our South Carolina home for the week.
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❤️
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 