Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge to Charleston, SC

Wednesday morning, bright and early, all four of us piled into J and B's car for a day trip to Charleston, SC.  We passed Brookgreen Gardens (an attraction sister J and I enjoyed later in the week), Pawley's Island - famous for their rope hammocks and one of the oldest summer resorts on the East coast, and Georgetown as we traveled down to Charleston.

The route took us over the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge, the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  The bridge spans the Cooper River and is an impressive sight both while traveling across it and viewing it from afar.  The weather cooperated for our day trip and while traffic was heavy at times, brotherinlaw B knew his way there and around the city.  After crossing the bridge, we parked in a parking garage and began our tour of some of Charleston using the benefit of walking, free trolley rides and a boat ride out to Fort Sumter.

Check back for those pictures.  Until then...

The Parson's Table

This past week was incredibly busy.  Prior to the trip here to Myrtle Beach, brotherinlaw B, made reservations at a restaurant called The Parson's Table http://www.parsonstable.com/ for Sunday, February 14th, Valentine's Day.  Our table was not quite ready when we arrived so we made ourselves at home at the bar.  The building is a church constructed in 1885 as the Little River Methodist Church and later converted to a restaurant.  The stained glass windows in the church come from various buildings and there is a Tiffany lamp that came from an old farm house in Atlanta.  Unbelievably the four of us were seated at the same table we occupied two years ago when we made our first visit.  The ladies were presented with a red rose in honor of Valentine's Day which set the fellows to questioning why only the gals received a token of the day.  The food was excellent as was the company of my sister J, brotherinlaw B and Mr. P.

I promised a few pictures of some sights sister J and I see when we take a 4 mile round-trip walk each morning to get the daily newspaper.  We pass a lot of the same folks out taking a walk each day and everyone here is friendly and hospitable.  The house in the picture is the one I asked Mr P to purchase so we can move down here.  I absolutely love the porch across the front of the house.

I'll be back later in the week to share highlights of the day trip taken to Charleston, SC mid-week.  Hoping all is well wherever you are.  Until next time...

Cool but busy week...

 

I find the changes in the tides here at the beach here fascinating.  High tide leaves very little expanse of beach for walking and hunting shells.  Low tide provides a big expanse of beach, tidal pools and different pockets of shells to explore for the keeping.  Each morning the first thing I do is look out the sliding glass doors in our living room to check out the tide.  The sunrises and sunsets here have been spectacular all week long.  

While temperatures here this week have been cool and some mornings downright cold, they're nothing compared to the temperatures back home in Pennsylvania which are downright brutal.  Sister J and I have managed to get out walking each morning and often again in the afternoon.  I'll include a few pictures next time of parts of our route taken at our morning walk.  There is a stop along the way back to pick up the morning newspaper and we often see the same folks out taking their morning constitutional as we are each day.  

There are two taverns close by where we've all enjoyed happy hour occasionally this week.  Spankey's and down the road from there is Finn McCool's http://www.finnmccoolsmb.com. We're hoping to try out the Irish food at Finn McCool's before the month is out.   Sister J posed in one of the cutouts that sit outside Finn McCools under the trees draped in Spanish moss for me.   During Lent, Boardwalk Billy's http://boardwalkbillysnmb.com/ has a fish fry every Friday and sister J and brotherinlaw B took us there to enjoy a most delicious meal.  The huge piece of fried fish was accompanied by fries, hush puppies and coleslaw washed down by the beverage of your choice.  Yum!

The guys golfed twice this week and one of those afternoons, sister J and I made a stop at the Tanger Outlets that are nearby.  Thursday evening, brotherinlaw B drove us all to Sam Snead's Tavern for dinner where I had a delicious chopped salad but the best part of that salad was their grapefruit vinaigrette that I could have drunk by the glassful.  Afterward, we traveled on to Coastal Caroline University to watch Coastal Carolina play High Point in basketball.  They lost to High Point by one point making for an exciting game.  

We've enjoyed taking turns making dinner for the group each week followed by some madcap pinochle games.  Brotherinlaw B is quite the pinochle card player and let me just say I'm glad sister J is my card partner.  

Tonight brotherinlaw B made reservations for all of us to have a nice dinner at The Parson's Table http://www.parsonstable.com/ in honor of Valentine's Day.  We had dinner there when we came down with them a few years ago and it's a lovely intimate setting.  I'm looking forward to going there again.  

Well, sister J just asked if I wanted to take a walk on the beach at 10AM (we didn't go out at 7AM because it was so cold) so I need to wrap this up and get ready to walk.  This week there is to be a warming trend and we can't wait.  Until next time....

Nasty End to the Week

 

We left 33 inches of melting snow and 57 F early Monday morning in Pennsylvania and drove south following sister J and her husband B to South Carolina.  When we arrived at Myrtle Beach, our destination, in the afternoon the temperature was 74 F and the sun was shining brilliantly.  At the end of our day-long drive, the cars needed unloaded and groceries bought.  After a bite to eat, we were all ready to hit the sack.

The weather all week, until today, has been nice.  There was a day the week with some showers in the morning which let up early that morning and some days where the temperatures have been cool, requiring some layering of clothing but nothing we can't all handle.  Sister J and I have been able to walk through the neighborhood here early each morning followed by a long walk each afternoon on the beach.  We were out two hours one afternoon walking and picking up shells that washed in with the tides.  High tide here leaves very little space on the sand to walk but low tide reveals great expanses of sand and lots of different shell "lines" at different levels on the beach.  People walking the beach with other people or walking their dogs are always out during the day.  The exception is today.  The temperature today is in the high 30's F with rain and a fierce wind.  The weather reporter on the local news gave what seemed to be bad news in that there would be no snow!   Not bad news for us, but it appears that folks here get snow so rarely they look forward to the white stuff even though it paralyzes everyone and everything because they aren't prepared to deal with it.  The upcoming week is to be cool but as long as it isn't raining sister J and I will make every attempt to get out walking and maybe doing some sightseeing.

I've included a few pics of the unit Mr P and I are staying for the gals that I volunteer with at the library.  We have two bathrooms and another bedroom and lots of closets.  The balcony off the living room can be seen in a couple of the pics above.  We certainly couldn't ask for nicer accomodations.  Sister J and her hubby B are on another floor in the same building/tower and while the layout of the units is the same the decorating is different.  Our unit has a beach feeling while theirs is more formal.

Mr P and brotherinlaw B have golfed three times since our arrival and they've taken us to some nice eating spots around town.  We had dinner with J and B on Thursday evening followed by card playing; last evening, we prepared dinner, again followed by cards.  Tonight they will be joining us to watch Super Bowl 50.  I have a crockpot of chili cooking and they are bringing subs from a local sub shop.  

We would all like to see Peyton Manning win another Super Bowl since this may be his last season  playing football and Cam Newton, at 26, has many more chances but we'll just enjoy getting together, eating and watching the game. The gals are hoping we can catch tonight's airing of Downton Abbey later this week so we are on target for next Sunday.

Hoping you are having a good weekend wherever you are.  Until next time...