New Year Fondue

New Year is not my favorite holiday. It sounds fantastic and romantic but rarely ever turns out that way. And around here it just feels dangerous to be out on the streets. I like to refer to it as amateur night. All of the folks who never leave their homes decide it will be fun to go out and drink it up, then they drive home. tsk, tsk, tsk.

Several years ago we started a new tradition of going out for a nice slow fondue dinner on New Years Eve. After we slow down, catch up and fill our bellies we head home early enough to be safe and ring in the New Year all comfy and cozy in our PJ’s. Columbia hosts a Famously Hot NYE street party on Main Street that I have attended a time or two and its fun but that is solely dependent upon the weather. We have driven to the river to watch the fireworks over the Capital Dome a time or two but have found that it can be just as much fun to watch on TV from home.

Fondue at the Melting Pot is always a treat. https://www.meltingpot.com/ Other places around town have tried it but nobody does it quite as well as The Melting Pot. We love their food, their service and the romantic atmosphere that they work so hard to create. NYE seems like the perfect time to enjoy as it’s a time to slow down and reflect on the past and dream about the future. I am not always one for traditions as I like trying new things, exploring new areas but this tradition is growing on me.

Sugar and I wish you a wonderful New Year full of pure joy and all of your dreams coming true.

We are WILD for Christmas at HollyWild

Hollywild is a nonprofit zoo located in Innman, SC that is known for providing a permanent home for retired “hollywood” animals. For years I have heard of this place and could not wait to take my niece, Sunshine. Well low and behold they actually open during the months of November and December at night with a drive-thru light display. The best part is that it ends by throwing you out into this field to feed the animals. Y’all, my friends did not fully prepare me for this experience. When they said you drive through the park and feed the animals I fully expected that the animals would be enclosed, maybe walk up to you from behind a fence. NOPE. They are just walking around in this large field which you drive round and round in and they come right up to your car window for you to feed them, with feed that is provided to you for a small fee when you enter the park. Seriously, you MUST GO!! We celebrated Christmas with my sister at her home in Chapin, SC and then jumped in the car and drove the hour and a half directly to the animal park. Put on your comfy clothes, dress the kids in their PJ’s fill the car with snacks (although you might not want to consume too many beverages before you arrive because you can’t get out of the car once you are in line) and head on up the road. https://www.hollywild.org/

There will be long lines of cars at the gate, so get there early to secure an early entry. I understand that the animals get full later at night and aren’t as interested in visiting your car. They only allow so many cars in at a time so pack your patience and use the restroom when you get off of the interstate as there’s not much between there and the gate. Once you enter through the gate you will drive through beautiful light displays following other cars, so there’s no opportunity to stop until the end. This and some Christmas tunes will keep you entertained until you get to the main attraction. Don’t get me wrong, the lights are great but once you see the animals at the end of the drive you will completely forget about all of those twinkling lights.

We packed our car full with 6 adults and 1 child so my sister and I were crammed in the rear. I say this to ask your forgiveness for the quality of the photographs that I am including. I was doing the best I could through the window that doesn’t open in the rear. Some of the pictures are hilarious with animal faces sticking through our windows. I cannot wait to go back so that I can sit in the front seat next time. haha. When that happens I promise a new post with better pictures. My niece was in heaven as she crawled from one adults lap to the next in order to get the best view and potential for feeding an animal. Seriously, it’s a bit overwhelming with these HUGE animals coming right up to your window and sticking their massive icky sticky tongues in your face. Definitely take some wet wipes and hand sanitizer to clean up before you enjoy snacks on the way home.

Holiday tours are November – December and you will need to purchase tickets and make a reservation in advance. Plan to pay for feed, provided by the animal park when you arrive as well. Check their website for the most up to date information on the Holiday Tours. This is another one of those events that works for all ages. The adults in our car were just as excited as the kid. Moorry Christmas.

This cow is almost taller than the truck. “Eat more Chicken”, could it be??

Oh YEAH, and you might want to also plan to take your car by a car wash on the way home or the next day, our windows were covered in animal slobber. tee, hee.

Fall get away to Old McCaskill Farm

Recently, Sugar and I ran across the old (from our childhood) television show, Green Acres, while tooling around one lazy afternoon. During the particular episode, Oliver Douglas explains to his Mother that he was born on a farm and has always wanted to go back, attempting to justify his reasoning for giving up his fancy shmancy Park Avenue Apartment for falling apart farm house in the country. His mother replies, that she went into labor early and that even though he was indeed born on a farm he was only there for a few hours. My life is a bit like that. My Mother was raised on a pig farm, her father died when she was very young, so the “farm” was long gone before I came along. The house, barns, acreage and the memories were still there though and for some reason my day dreams are obsessed with the farming life style. I married a City boy who is great at sitting behind a desk but not so much at manual labor. I am a mix of being a land lover, and great at manual labor but some days, I truly enjoy the conveniences that living in a “city” provides. Long story short, it’s highly doubtful that my day dreams of living on a farm would ever come to true. But I have found that visiting a working farm can fill that void for me, almost like holding a newborn baby for a few hours and handing it back can fill my need to “have a baby”.

For an anniversary weekend get away a few years ago, Sugar and I visited a working farm as a way of doing something different. Old McCaskill’s Farm located in Rembert, South Carolina was the perfect weekend farm get away. We stayed in their lovely farm house, where upstairs has been converted into a B&B and got a taste of farm life without actually having to do farm chores. The owner, Cathy, and her husband were amazing hosts. Warning, if you don’t love animals, this is not the place for you. We were immediately greeted by some of the sweetest animals around. We enjoyed tooling around their farm and meeting all of the animals then getting settled into our cozy farm bedroom before heading into Boykin for a delicious dinner at Mill Pond Steak Restaurant, which is a true experience all by itself. We highly recommend this restaurant even if you aren’t visiting the farm. Don’t be turned off by the outward appearance, it’s actually a draw once you see it. The restaurant sits on a pond and can be seen through the beautiful windows in the dining room or from their back patio. The food was out of this world and the service impeccable. Not at all what we were expecting. https://www.millpondsteakhouse.com/ Big City restaurants have nothing on this place.

After a cozy nights sleep in our farm house bedroom we were treated to the most wonderful breakfast downstairs in their amazing farm house kitchen. I seriously could have sat by that kitchen fireplace with a book and stayed for hours. Note: the bedrooms are furnished with farm house time pieces which means the beds are on the small side. We giggled when we saw it but slept just fine. The four bedrooms are adjoined by a shared bathroom in the middle of each but we were the only guests on our side of the house so enjoyed a bath all to ourselves. It had a claw foot tub y’all!! Around 4am I got up to visit the watering closet, as they used to say, and I felt like I was inside a fisher price toy. The morning moos, clucks and crows could be heard so well from the bathroom that I started laughing and could not stop. Eventually I nudged Sugar to get up and go take a listen too. We both decided that maybe farm life isn’t for us after all. Those were the noises of get up, we are hungry and all I could think was, maybe in a few more hours.

Everything you need to know about Old McCaskill’s Farm can be found here: http://www.oldmccaskillfarm.com/

You don’t have to stay overnight. They welcome day time guests and every Friday they feature a farm fresh homemade lunch that is so delicious. I have taken several friends and even my Mom to visit the farm because I just love these people so much. They have a general store that features items grown on the farm; eggs, meats, jams and jellies. A freezer section features meals made in their kitchen and are all ready just to grab and go. They also have household items and clothing. Last year for Christmas Sugar surprised me with one of their wool blankets made from the sheeps wool that live on the farm. It’s honestly one of my most prized possessions and meant so much to me that he was thoughtful enough to take a trip to the farm and pick one up for me.

Rembert, SC is not far from Camden so if you are ever in the area I highly encourage you to take a little side trip and pay them a visit. Sign up for their newsletter to keep up with all of the weekly on-goings. After a fun farm visit, amazing dinner, rest filled night and a wonderful warm breakfast, we packed our things and headed into Camdem for the annual Fall Colonial cup to meet up with friends. What a wonderful, fun filled fall weekend.

Sugar Mountain for mine and Sugar’s Anniversary

Of course we packed a pic-nic before hitting the road. Our first stop on this journey was to Linville Falls where we first had lunch and then hiked. There are several trails and all are fairly easy. The views are amazing. Unfortunately the leaves were not quite a peak but it was still very pretty to see. https://www.visitnc.com/listing/n9wC/linville-falls

Our next stop, and this was completely unplanned, was to Linville Falls Winery. https://www.linvillefallswinery.com/ We spotted it on the drive and made a u-turn to check it out. We were not sorry. It was a relaxing treat to sit outside on their patio and enjoy the mountain air after an invigorating hike. The wine tasting was fun as they offered two options so we each tried a different one. Of course, we grabbed a few bottles to go for our mountain stay and to have at home.

From there we made it to our accommodations that we had reserved through Air BnB. I won’t spend too much time on this but we had a heck of a time with AirBnB. Our first host canceled at the last minute, which left me running around like a chicken with my head chopped off trying to find alternate accommodations during peak season. Our second host, thankfully was a property management company because they ended up having a maintenance issue. Long story short, they were able to upgrade us to an even better Condominium on top of Sugar Mountain. We were quire literally swinging from the tree tops. In fact, on the second night the wind was so intense we seriously thought we might wake to having been blown off the top of that mountain. We gave up on keeping the pilot light for the gas fireplace lit and just went to bed. The next morning we woke to frost and news reports of 100mph wind gusts having been recorded in our area throughout that night. The views from our balcony were breathtaking and the condo was quite spectacular.

The first night in town we had dinner at the Eseeola Lodge. http://www.eseeola.com/ It was a very romantic, warm atmosphere with top notch service. Of course I had the Trout special. What a TREAT!

The next morning we woke up to fog so thick we couldn’t see out our balcony at all. We enjoyed the fire place while I prepared a light continental breakfast and then got ready for the day. By the time we were ready to go the day had cleared and was gorgeous but still very windy.

We drove into Blowing Rock and spent the day shopping, having lunch and actually touring the famous rock. We also stopped at the original Mast General Store, at a trout farm and a few other Mountain spots that you just can’t drive by without stopping to check them out.

It was a long, fun day so we opted to head back to the Condo and enjoy a light supper by the fire. We also still needed to enjoy the top of our wedding cake that my Mom had saved all year.

Happy 1 year anniversary. Wedding Cake Topper.

This is the night mentioned above so we woke to FROST. Neither of us had packed appropriately for that. We had to check out of the condo anyway so decided to just out for breakfast before heading to the famous Woolly Worm festival in Banner Elk and then touring Grandfather Mountain. We opted for a small Mom and Pop for Breakfast called, Grandview http://grandview-restaurant.com/ While you could indeed see the view of the Grandfather on top of Grandfather Mountain from the road, you couldn’t really see it from the restaurant. The food was decent but they were so SLOW and we were anxious to get on with our day. Honestly we didn’t enjoy it all that much, which pains me to say it because I just love to patron local joints. This one did not impress us much at all and the staff were not seemingly interested in even trying to be friendly. ouch! We would give a different establishment a shot next time over this one.

When we arrived in Banner Elk it was A) Freezing and B) the Woolly Worm festival was in shambles. The wind the night before had knocked down all of their tents and displays and they were feverishly trying to clean up. While we walked around town a bit the festival leaders apparently decided they were not going to be able to clean up and successfully host so they called the event. That was a disappointment but we understood and I felt so very sad for them. As a plan B we had planned on taking the ski lift up Sugar Mountain to look at the views but when we checked in with them they stated the wind gusts were still too high therefore they could not put anyone on the ski lifts. We drove back into Grandfather Mountain where we had planned on ending our trip anyway. When we arrived we were told that while the park was open the path to the top of them mountain and the famous swinging bridge was also closed due to the wind. At that point we decided to just slowly make our way back home. It was fine, we stopped at a few road side markets, listened to our wedding CD we had given to guests the year before and just took our time home, enjoying the views along the way. This is such a beautiful area of the country that I am sure we will be back one day to do the things we were unable to check off of our list during this trip. While fall is peak season, I can imagine that any time of the year is great. Cool in the summer and beautifully covered in snow in the winter, (although that might require a 4×4 vehicle). Either way, it was fun celebrating year #1 with my Sugar in Sugar Mountain.

Blue Bikes

Recently Columbia, SC adopted the blue bike rental program. So many larger Cities around the Country have these already so we were excited to also have the program locally. Blue Bike stations are located all over downtown and for a small fee you can rent them via an app on your mobile phone. https://www.bluebikesc.com/

Neither of us had been on a bike in a while but wanted to give it a try. We stopped by Pita Pitt https://pitapitusa.com/ and grabbed 2 sandwiches and then headed to a local bike station. We chose carefully, one located in an area of town that doesn’t have much traffic on the weekends. Before you go be sure to download the app, that will save some time. It was a little cumbersome to get everything working the first time but we finally figured it out and picked two of the electric bikes. Look for the lightening bolt on the back fender, those are the electric powered bikes, the others are regular manual. Each bike has a basket, which was perfect for our sandwiches and beach towel I had thrown in, just in case we needed to pic-nic on the ground. Because we had stopped at the bike station off of Taylor Street closest to the township we decided to ride over to the Bull Street District. That seemed like a safe option as the Bull Street district is home of the Historic State Hospital Grounds and while portions of it are currently being developed for new growth such as the Fireflies baseball stadium, restaurants and housing, other parts of it are still basically a ghost town. We had the best time riding around and looking at all of the old vacant buildings. Some of them are super creepy! https://bullstreetsc.com/

We found an old pic-nic table to enjoy our lunch on and then got in a bit more exercise, further exploring the area before riding the bikes back to the station where we picked them up. You can rent them for different time increments and there’s a clock on the bike that counts the time down in order to help you keep track of the time. Note: that the bikes are for ages 18 and up but your children could bring their own bikes and ride along with you. You don’t have to drop them back at the same bike station that you picked them up at. You could indeed ride across town and drop them in a different bike station area. Returning them was super easy. You pop them back on the bike rack and plug them in, all set and good to go.

We had the best time finding out that it’s true “it is just like riding a bike”. We hope to try more of the bike locations and explore other parts of the City when time allows. Seeing your City from a different view (and not from a car window) is very interesting.

MAINE

My brother got married over the Summer in Standish Maine on Sebago Lake. While this is DEFINITELY not a day trip from South Carolina it is a trip worth documenting and may be slightly helpful should you ever be in the area.

Packing; It did get rather warm during the day but was a much more comfortable warm than we are accustomed to in the Summer. As soon as the sun went down and before it was shining brightly again it did get a bit cool. I agree with all other sites that recommend packing layers. Normal summer clothing for the day time and light jackets and long pants for the evening. Good closed toe shoes and water shoes are also recommended especially if you plan on doing any type of water activities.

We were fortunate to be able to stay in an old camp that is now converted into more of a resort along the banks of the lake. The water was beautifully clear. You could see all the way to the rocky bottom. The water temperatures were about 65 degrees which is super cold to this Carolina Girl and the only way it was possible for me to get in the water was to just JUMP. I rented kayaks from Sebago Trails Paddling Company (which I highly recommend) and stayed on top of the water during the majority of my trip. This rental company was top notch. For a small fee they will deliver which was very helpful to us so far from home without a vehicle. The equipment was in tip top shape.

We took a few side trips during the visit, into Portland, to do some shopping and to see the Maine Headlight of course but mostly we just enjoyed downtime around the beautiful lake. We took turns making dinner, played lawn games and sat by the camp fire. It was a super relaxing time. We did take a nice long side trip to Kennebunkport which other than the actual wedding was the highlight of the trip for me. I will tell you about that in a separate post.

But you MUST grab Lobster while in Maine. We ate that as many times as we could possibly fit it in. Do it!! DELISH.

Grits and Groceries

We are currently preparing for Hurricane “FLO”, Florence to hit the Coast of South Carolina and are expecting it to take up to 4 days to travel across our State, pounding the Capital City where we live with rain. Flooding is iminent. When you live somewhere your entire life you become accustomed to the hows and whats of preparing for natural disasters and can get ready quickly. So now I sit waiting on the rain thinking back to a few weeks ago when the skies were clear and the weather was warm yet perfect.

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Grits and Groceries is a small restaurant located in our upstate that I have heard so many mention over the years. This day road trip initiated by concert tickets for my husbands birthday was also planned around eating lunch at this adorable spot. Y”ALL!!!! the food was scrumptious. But before we even get to that it is simply the cutest little place sitting in the middle of what felt like nowhere, Belton, South Carolina. (Seriously, these snapshots do not do it justice) You MUST go, it’s worth the drive. Promise! We drove along a country road, came to a four way stop or crossroads as us country folk like to call them and sitting there in front of us was this precious little white house with a red tin roof. How SOUTHERN!! A LARGE chicken sits out front beckoning all who pass to stop. Before we even got out of our car a gentleman was on front the porch saying howdy and asking if we wanted to sit outside or in.

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We chose to sit outdoors under their separate covered patio and ended up at a pic-nic table with other guests. That might seem a little weird but interestingly enough it was kind of fun. We all discussed the menu, talked about where we were from and what brought us to the area and then had fun looking at everyone’s orders as they arrived and listened to each wonderful review. It was really hard not to stick my fork into the peach stuffed french toast that the lady sitting to my left had ordered. Sugar and I started with their famous Ham Balls as an appetizer. OHMERGOSH! I have never eaten anything like that in my life and it was UNBELIEVABLE. The order came with three crumb hushpuppie-like balls filled with pimento cheese, cream cheese and ham. They were piping hot and topped with the tastiest southern chutney. Do not skip these if you go. I opted for another appetizer as my meal, an individual sized tomato pie, DELISH and Sugar had the Fried Chicken Brunch special that included a fried chicken breast and an egg served over creamy grits. Yes, I tried his as well and YUMMO. From the looks of our table mates plates and their reactions I seriously don’t think you could go wrong with any item from their menu which you can find here: http://www.gritsandgroceries.com/

Before we arrived at Grits and Groceries we stopped at the Anderson Jockey Lot. Oh MY! If you want to look for a bargain this might be the spot for you. I am talking acres of vendors. We were there for an hour and hardly scratched the surface. We saw everything from T-shirts being printed to your specifications, baby chicks and puppies, fresh fruits and veggies to a lot of pure junk. Sugar dug through boxes of old CD’s (he just loves his music and is always on the hunt for a bargain) while I browsed books, antiques and household goods. I found a beautiful LARGE picture frame and talked the vendor down to $6 bucks, brought it home, touched up some imperfections, removed the artwork and replaced it with a couple of our wedding pictures. Having pictures framed and matted can be quite expensive. I am in LOVE with this flea market find!!

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I just love a nice drive on a country road and enjoyed all of the scenery along the way. We also stopped in the town of Belton and took a look at their Historic Train Depot. There we found a small museum that seems to house mostly grade school students research projects, a tennis museum that was closed (so we have no idea) and a rental space for parties. It was a lovely building of historic architecture. The houses in this area were to die for. As we drove by I let my mind slip away to a time when I might be able to own a beautiful antebellum home and open a bed and breakfast in a charming small town such as this one. http://beltonmuseum.com/

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Our after lunch adventure took us to the Happy Cow Creamery in Pelzer. This is a locally owned working farm and creamery with a SMALL store for locals to pick up products. You can see the cows out in the fields as you pull in and apparently at certain times a day are able to watch as they herd them in for milking. There are no public tours and the folks working in the store were unfortunately not equipped to answer any of our questions about the process. Perhaps there are more knowledgeable folks on site during the week. Their products (milk, cheese, ice cream, meats, dips, canned goods) are quite tasty, we have them in stores around home but did pick up a few items that wouldn’t spoil in the car. Also note that they have porta-johns and no public restrooms. Overall we were disappointed with this stop and talked about ways they could make it more of a destination such as offering scooped ice cream instead of only having gallons of it. Maybe someone could be onsite during certain hours of the day to answer questions even if it isn’t appropriate to offer tours. They could have pictures or a video of the process and have little areas set up for family photographs. They could even have a “fake” milking station for children like they have at the zoo.

If you are in the area it is worth a stop but in our opinion it is not a destination. Definitely pick up their products if you see them in the store because I am all for supporting the local farmer. http://www.happycowcreamery.com/

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And just a short drive later we landed at the busiest little winery I think I have ever seen.

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Out front was the coolest pizza food truck, inside they were offering wine tastings and on the back patio we found an acoustic guitar player and people milling around with their wine socializing.

The Grapevines were in plain view right out the back door and if you take a short walk around the property you will find a few animals here and there that apparently LOVE to be petted. Have you ever seen a pig on a leash? Note: if you plan to visit and would like to partake in a tasting definitely make a reservation ahead of time. We added our names to the list, ordered a glass of wine each and just tooled around while we waited. Oddly enough we ran into some friends from Columbia and enjoyed sitting on the back patio catching up with them. The owner was walking around chatting with people and said that every single Saturday is just this busy. Sugar and I are not big drinkers and know practically nothing about what makes one Wine better than another so I can’t tell you if their product is the best or not but I did like the two we tried and we brought a couple of bottles home to try later because we do believe in paying patronage when we visit these small locally owned businesses. We needed to leave before we were able to participate in the tasting which was fine. It was an enjoyable afternoon. They did offer small plates on the menu but will also allow pic-nics on their property if that is something that interests you. https://cityscapewinery.com/

Our final destination of the day was to a concert we had purchased tickets for months in advance. The concert was scheduled to take place at Heritage Park Amphitheater in Simpsonville. I have seen quite a few shows there and highly recommend the venue. It’s a small spot with clean facilities. The Parking lot is grassy but is a short walk to the front gate and is attended by plenty of people ready to assist you with anything you might need. The concessions are much less expensive than other venues but we highly recommend packing a pic-nic and tailgating, the lot always opens 1 hour before the gates open which is plenty of time to throw a few chairs in the grass and have dinner. I have only purchased lawn seats so cannot speak to the actual seats closer to the stage but the lawn is a really great spot for the price and they are not super strict about the type of blankets/lawn chairs that you bring in like some other places we have been. Don’t forget your bug spray and I highly recommend dressing in layers as the weather changes quickly in SC and there isn’t much to stop the cool wind from whipping through this big open field once the sunsets. https://heritageparkamphitheatre.com/

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This was one of our longer day trips. We left home around 8am and didn’t get in until well after midnight. It was also a little more costly than some of our others but exploring a few places in our upstate that we had never visited was a great use of time before the planned concert. Life is short and there are not nearly enough Saturdays in my opinion so making the most of one even if it means being exhausted on Sunday is worth it.

Labor Day 2018 – Sullivan’s Island

This year Labor Day fell on September 3 which is actually 19 days before the official beginning of Fall, September 22, 2018. With that being said we decided to milk summer a little longer and head toward the beach. It was projected to be a 90+ degree day after all.

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The Isle of Palms is an easy drive up I-26 East for approximately 100 miles before taking I-526 East for another 12 miles, hopping onto Highway 17 and crossing over to the IOP Connector. In 2 hours, give or take, you can be looking directly ahead and into the Atlantic Ocean. We were a little unsure about the 60% chance of rain they were calling for that day but lucked up and only got into one small shower on the drive in. The clouds quickly cleared and it ended up being a beautiful, windy beach day.

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We packed the car with beach essentials, chairs, towels, books, music, a cooler full of frozen water, PBJ’s for lunch and a change of clothing for later. As you enter onto I-526 the air changes to a heavy salty scent and the scenery of the Marsh scattered with fishing boats and kayakers will take your breath away.

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Isle of Palms has several public parking options to choose from. In addition to their metered street parking you can pull right into The Isle of Palms County Park where you will find a public beach access, public showers, restrooms, vending and on occasion food trucks or other vendors. The fees vary depending on the time of year and day of the week. Everything you need to know is here: https://www.ccprc.com/60/Isle-of-Palms-County-Park  In addition to this parking area you will also find another pay by the hour lot located just a block from the County Park. This lot is across the street from the beach but close to restaurants, shops, public beach access and rest room facilities. The lot is self service with boxes along the parking rows where you can choose how long you plan to stay then place the timed ticket in your windshield.

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Because of the holiday IOP was SUPER crowded, more so than I have personally ever seen. We opted to keep driving a short distance into an area known as Sullivan’s Island and lucked up to find a parking spot on the side of the road a block from a beach access and board walk. Sullivan’s is less popular with the tourists because there are no public facilities. But IF you plan accordingly you can make it work. There are some amazing beach houses along this stretch. Where does one buy 10 foot tall flamingo statues anyway?

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We got on the beach just before 11am and stayed there until close to 3pm. During that time we walked to the lighthouse, watched the wind surfers (which are pretty amazing btw), enjoyed our small pic-nic and just relaxed in the cool breeze. My husband who I will often refer to as Sugar loves music and I enjoy reading. Sitting quietly for a few hours just to enjoy our hobbies is a rare treat.

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You can see the Sullivans Island Light House behind the dunes in the distance. From this stretch of beach you can also see the Morris Island Light House that sits off the coast of Folly Beach at the opposite end of Charleston. There were a few locals scattered about on the beach but for the most part it was rather quiet, just like I prefer it to be.

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Around 3pm we packed up and headed back to the car. In an effort to not create a huge mess, sandy items went into trash bags in the car trunk. We wrapped up with our towels and headed back into IOP just a couple of blocks away. There we paid $1 for an hour of parking, hit the public outdoor showers getting as much sand off as possible, used the public restrooms to dry off and change into clean clothing and then enjoyed an Ice Cream from the cute stand on the boardwalk under Coconut Joes Restaurant. They had a reggae band on their rooftop which we enjoyed while tooling around a few of the local shops.

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Since we had a rather small pic-nic we opted for an early dinner and stopped at Poe’s Tavern on Sullivan’s Island for burgers. Edgar Allen Poe lived on Sullivans for a short time while enlisted in the military. You can see their menu and read the back story here. http://poestavern.com/sullivans-island/  Their burgers are famously delicious and if you go I highly recommend their homemade coleslaw with blue cheese. That was unbelievable Y’all! After eating we drove a short distance to Fort Moultrie and walked off our dinner before getting in the car to head home.

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The Charleston area is gorgeous with so much to see and do. I couldn’t possibly do everything I wanted to in a week much less a day. Because of this I decided on a different route home that took us through Shem Creek (another famous area full of delicious local restaurants, worth checking out for sure) and over the famous Charleston Ravanel Bridge. We jumped on I-26W from there and were home in less than 2 hours, somehow missing all of the afternoon summer evening storms.

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Experiences are everything

Thank you for joining me on day trips and other adventures.

Don’t just listen to what others have to say. Go see for yourself.

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Introduction

When I was growing up both of my parents had demanding jobs. Other than our annual Summer vacation that was always more fun than the summer before we typically stayed close to home. If we went anywhere on the weekends it was to visit my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. That was FUN but I just knew there must be more places to see and things to experience.

It wasn’t until I was a young adult that I met a person who had taken day trips as a child as his parents had never wanted to pay for overnight accommodations. He introduced me to the idea of visiting the beach just for the day, taking a pic-nic lunch, changing clothes in a public facility and driving home all within the same day. I discovered that to be a fantastic way to explore my State and others around me. The bug hit me and I have been planning day trips approximately once a month ever since. There are no shortage of new places to see, things to do and experiences to be had.

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I love to take photographs and typically share a few from my day trips via my personal social media pages. Friends have caught on and not a week goes by that I don’t get some type of question from people about an area they think I may have visited; Do you remember if there are any cute Bed and Breakfasts in that mountain town? Who has the best Shrimp along the Coast? Was the xyz museum worth the cost of admission?.

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I recently married and my husband now tags along for some of my day trips. Several times he has commented about how much thought goes into my adventures and that I should consider sharing the information somehow. So, here we are. Writing isn’t my gift, please excuse the grammatical errors but I do hope someone will enjoy the beautiful pictures and become inspired to perhaps jump in the car and take a road trip of their own. There really are so many things to see and do that sitting at home every single weekend just shouldn’t be allowed.

My trips typically involve a tank of gas, my GPS and a pic-nic lunch. Some are shorter than others and a few here and there might require an overnight stay depending on your location. The mileage I will be providing always begins in West Columbia, South Carolina near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport just off of I-26 but google maps makes it so easy for anyone to determine Mileage and travel times that I am certain you can plug your own personal whereabouts in and create your own plan. Easy Peasy!

Happy Exploring!! The Southern Curious Itinerant