Charleston South Carolina Part 2

    On one of our walking tour days we came upon the Moon Pie store. Well we had to try one. It was just ok. Kinda like two soft cookies with a cream filling. Glad we tried it, but won't try another one. On the same day we walked through the old marketplace. Its is several blocks long.  Many craft items and southern treats.  See www.moonpie.com

    Since we had done several house tours in the passed we choose to tour the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. We had toured other plantations in the passed and this one rate down at the bottom of the list in our opinion. The plantation house was nothing at all like many of the other great homes we toured in the passed. It is one of the top 25 most visited historic houses in America. Don't know why. The house was nothing at all like other plantation homes we saw in the passed. The tour also included a "Nature Train". It was nothing more then a tram ride 45 minutes long, through the marshes and forests on the plantation grounds. Nothing special. Also included  "Nature Boat" ride. The ride was about 45 minutes. We saw a few alligators and some wading birds. But again nothing special. The gardens were not in bloom other them the camellias.  They do have a great advertising program. Just not worth the $68.. It was $78., but we both brought a item for their food drive and save $5. each. This is our opinion, others may have had a better experience. We were expecting a magnificent plantation home, and this it was not.
     The Coastal Carolina Fair was taking place while we were there, so we had to check it out. This was the 56 year for the fair. The day we went it happened to be senior day, so we got in for $4. each. We went because we wanted to see "The Village People".Well hurricane Sandy caused their flight to be canceled. So there was someone else filling in, and we never heard of him. We walked around for a couple of hours looking at all the different displays. It was one of the biggest midways of rides we ever saw. There were 62 different rides. We didn't count them, it was on a sign.
     While at the winery we saw a flyer for "The Angel Oak", the oldest tree on the east coast. Well it sounds like another "we should see that". Unforturnally it is closed at 5 and it was after 5. How do you close a tree. Duh! they close the gates to get to it. So the next day we drive out to see the "tree". It is in about a half mile on a sandy road. Wow is all we can say. You have to see it yourself. So check out the photo's. We did see a number of large Live Oaks, but this is among the biggest and bestest. I know that's not a word.

    While we were at the RV Park a Carri-lite RV very similar to ours pulls in right across from us.
We did strike up a conversation which lead to more conversations. They were also from Pennsylvina, the Lancaster area. We did encourage them to join the Carriage Club. And they did. We did get together one evening and spent a couple of hours talking about both our RVing experiences. They are also full timers. They invited us to go out to dinner one evening to a place their aunt told them about. The place was called Bowens Island Restaurant. The restaurant is only open from 5 to 9 daily. We got there at about 6 and waited about 45 minutes to get to place our order. Then you go and try to fine a seat. We did and in about 10 minutes they were calling our name. Our food arrived. It was a super seafood feast. Linda and I split a "Big Ol' Seafood Platter". It was fish, shrimp and crab cakes. Very very good and we had a hard time finishing the platter. See www.bowensislandrestaurant.com
       Friends we worked with at Dollywood were volunteering at the James Island county Park. We contacted them and they invitied us over for dinner and a chance to view their handy work. They were part of a large crew that put up the Christmas light on over 700 displays in the park. It is one of the top 5 Christmas light displays in the country. On the day they invited us over they were going to do a "hot test" of the lights. That is light up the displays and check for outages etc. What a wonderful treat. The display dosen't open until about a week after we were there. So we got to see the lights without the crowds. It is the 23rd year for the event. I believe there were 18 volunteer couples that help the county enployees. There are millions of lights. Linda's camera battery quit or we would have 700 pictures. See www.ccprc.com

   The fire truck holes shoot "water" with lights. The eagle is flying. many of the displays move in some fashion.

Saw these blocks in a store, very net. Most are not glued together. See www.kaplabus.com

        
    We did quite a bit of driving around the area. We visited many of the coastal comunities in the area .We liked the Edisto Beach area, as well as some of the other. In all we put about 300 miles on our car.

Charleston South Carolina Part One

                                                         PART ONE
   After two weeks in Myrtle Beach and a fun rally with friends from the Carriage RV Club we moved about 100 miles south to Charleston SC. We had been in Charleston before, but only for a day. We were staying for a week to see the area in more depth. Charleston is a super preserved Southern city.  We bought a city walking tour book of the historic area. We spent four days walking the historic area. Walking the main tour and the two additional alternate tours we probably covered 4 or 5 miles. Of course we had to stop and have lunch in between. We took several hundred photo's of many of the buildings. It will take us a while to arrange all the photo's. We took a picture of the plaque  for each building then several pictures of the buildings. We are arranging them in a digital file. The biggest problem with touring Charleston is parking. Each day we would drive the 10 miles from the RV Park and park at the visitors center or parking garage. The charge is a dollar an hour, with the max of ten dollars. Then we would take the free trolley to a different area of the historic area. Another problem was choosing what to see or tour to take.
       In between walking the historic district we worked in several other tours. We took a boat trip out to Fort Sumter. At the fort was a very good interpretive ranger. Her talk about the fort was very informative. Again we took many photo's. It was a windy day but we road the boat on the top deck for the best views of the harbor. We saw several large container ships making their way to port.

   The fort, the flag that flew over the fort during the siege, see the size of the cannons.

The cannon placements, the USS Yorktown, the new bridge.

     We also took a tour of the only tea plantation in the country. The Charleston Tea Plantation. Unfortunately they only harvest tea in the spring and summer so the factory was ideal. But we did get to see all the equipment used in harvesting and making tea. There was a good video showing the entire process. Its was very interesting. Learned there is a lot more to tea then dunking a tea bag in hot water. Of course we walked away with a box of each of their flavors. Couldn't pass up a good deal, buy five boxes get the sixth for free. What a deal. See www.charlestonteaplantation.com 

     The tea plants, the factory and warehouse

 

The special tea harvesting machine, the only one in the world,Check out theses trees, the store, propagation story.

      On the way to the  tea plantation we saw a sign for a fish hatchery. It was the Bears Bluff National Fish Hatchery. It was a few miles off the main road, but what a super find. It is located along the North Edisto River. We had a super informative tour with a young fishery biologist. You could tell he really enjoyed his job. One of the Hatchery's main projects was working with Atlantic Sturgeons, a "species of concern".  They also work with red drum. We were the only visitors and spent at least an hour learning about the hatchery projects. This was one of those super finds. We then walked a short trail around the hatchery.  They have a great web site which explains a lot about their work. See www.fws.gov/warmsprings/bearsbluff
      Atlantic sturgeons-13 months old, the underside mouth, two week old, a 200+ pound female, about 10 years old

      Tanks with young fish, side view of the sturgeon, large tanks for older fish, Linda on the trail around the hatchery.

   The young man at the hatchery told us about a winery and distillery about a mile from the hatchery.
WOW, double wow. This was another "shut the front door" find. The winery was Irvin House Vineyards.They make about 7 different Muscadine wines. There is a small charge for tasting, but you get to keep the glass. The wines were very good, each one better then the last, or is that the effect of the wine. Anyway  we left with a few bottles. Part of the winery is the Firefly Distillery. WOW triple wow. Its six dollars to  taste six different blends of vodka, rum and bourbon. But you can keep the shot glass. Good thing Linda is the designated driver. The Sweet Tea Bourbon is not your grandma's sweet tea. The flavored vodka's and rum's etc are wonderful. After six "shots" I was feeling good. But the hostess would bring out another bottle and say "this is my favorite", there no extra charge. This happened twice. The six of us tasting were having a good time. So I picked out a mix of 4 different vodka's and liqueurs. Wait, can't do that. The law states you can only buy 3 bottles. So I buy 3 and my "DD" buys 1.  What a great finish to a great day.  See www.fireflyvodka.com  and
www.irvinhousevineyards.com

     The wine in the fermenting tanks, a happy Bob, and is the picture blurry or is it just a very happy Bob.

Touring South Carolina

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” --Mark Twain

       In the passed year September to September we drove the truck towing the 5th wheel about 5,400 miles. The truck averaged 10.1 miles per gallon. We drove the car about 19,975 miles. The average mpg for the year was 28. On the highway we average from 38-40 mpg. The 3 months we spent in Pigeon Forge TN really brought our mileage down with the heavy traffic in the area. These averages were for the passed 12 months.

      What a surprise, we got gas for $3.25 a gallon. Then it went down to $3.21. Disel was $3.61.  When we left PA we paid $4.19.

      We spent two weeks in Myrtle Beach. While there the town of Loris had a Chicken Bog Festival. What is "chicken bog" you ask. Well it is chicken, sausage and rice. The chicken and sausage are cut up into small pieces. The rice is cooked with the meats and different type spices to make the "bog". This is "low country" cuisine.There was a contest where we bought a ticket to test 14 different entries. They were quite different. Most were very good, a few bland tasting. The festival was very busy with many booths with different craft items. There was also a large car show with some really neat restored cars. Here is a recipe, but there are many many variations.
Traditional Preparation

A coastal South Carolina delicacy with chicken, sausage, and rice - This authentic recipe was contributed by the Loris Chamber of Commerce.

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups water

• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (3 pound) whole chicken
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 1/2 pound smoked sausage of your choice, sliced
• 2 tablespoons Italian-style seasonings
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon

PREPARATION:

Place water, salt and onion in a large pot. Add chicken and bring all to a boil; cook until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.
Remove chicken from pot and let cool. Remove skin and bones and chop remaining meat into bite size pieces.
Skim off fat from cooking liquid and measure 3 1/2 cups of this chicken broth into a 6-quart saucepan. Add rice, chicken pieces, sausage, herb seasoning and bouillon to this saucepan. Cook all together for 30 minutes; let come to a boil, then reduce heat to low, keeping pan covered the whole time. If mixture is too watery or juicy, cook over medium low heat, uncovered, until it reaches the desired consistency. Stir often while cooking.
    A large pot of Chicken Bog,

 The first photo shows the winner, our pick also, large crow tasting, Bob getting a sample

Some of the many cars

      We also toured many of the beach towns in the area. Then we moved over to the beach to Ocean Lakes RV Resort. We were parked less then 100 yards from the beach. The resort has about 3500 sites. One of the largest RV parks we stayed in. There are about 900 transient sites, the rest are permanent or Homes on stilts. A very nice park.
    The county were Myrtle Beach is Located

    A beautiful river walk

     Just reduced, beach front, anybody want to go half?

       The reason for the move to Ocean Lakes was to attend a Carriage Rally. There were 28 Carriage rigs that attend the Rally. We had a great time reconnecting with some friends we haven't seen since last February at another rally. We had a great time playing dominio's, pot luck dinners, breakfasts and of coarse going out to eat. We also got in some great beach time. The weather was perfect, but the water was only 72-74. Too cool for us, other then getting our toes wet.

       Here comes hurricane Sandy. We were only 100 yards from the beach so we had to decide what to do. We were glued to the TV weather channel. We saw Sandy was about 350 miles off the coast so we decided to stay. We had rain all day on Saturday and soon heavy winds. At high tide we went to the beach and watched the waves coming in. The waves almost covered the beach. Just a small area of sand above the waves. The waves almost came up to the dunes.
We were asked about making our pictures larger. You can, just click on the photo and it should enlarge to fill your screen.
      Murrells Inlet

Dave, Pat, Linda, Bob, Lance and Andrea, celerbrating Lance and Andrea anniversity at the "Dead Dog Saloon in Murrells Inlet

A BBQ we ate at in Roanoke Rapids NC

     Saw this licence plate on the road

"On The Road Again", to quote Willy Nelson

   WOW we are finally on the road again. After several delayed starts we left the Lancaster area of PA. After two days of very hard travel, covering about 800 miles we are now in South Carolina low country. We usually only travel about 2-250 miles a day, but we took off as if something was chasing us. We spent 6 long months in PA.  We did make some good friends while there. We did have more family time then we had in the passed 6 years. So now we are looking forward.
       An unsuspected surprise, friends Glenn and Carol from our old camping club came to the RV Park for a weekend. It was great getting together with them. We did go to a great all you can eat chicken pot pie dinner at a Mennonite church with them. As usual, we ate to much.
     The passed week a camping club from Oregon came into the RV Park. There were about 20 rigs in the group. They were on a around the country trip.
      We are now at a RV Park in Yemassee SC. The park is part of Thousand Trails and about a mile off  I95. Today we toured the town of Beaufort. A pretty southern town. It is home to Pat Conroy, author of "The Boo", "The water Is Wide", "The great Santini", and others. The town was also host to several silver screen movies, like "The Great Santini", "The Big Chill", "The Prince of Tides" and many parts of "Forrest Gump". This is also shrimp country. We did go down to the docks and purchased some fresh shrimp. As we got there they were loading up fresh shrimp in the store. A few hours before they were swimming. Can't get much freshier. We are ready for a shrimp low country boil.
     We also toured Port Royal and some of  The Sea Islands. There are more then 200 islands in Beaufort county. We toured Hunting Island State Park and walked on the boardwalk out into the marsh.
     We enjoyed the area so much we decided to stay a total of 3 extra days. We are back in travel/tourist mood. We took many pictures and will upload some when we get a better wifi connection.
     We will be touring Hilton Head while here. Look for updates and photo's.

Playing tourist is tough work. We get up by 7AM and hit the road running by 8:30. Many tourist places don't open before 9. When viewing wildlife or hiking we get an even earlier start. Imagine that. Days touring means we usually miss our afternoon nap. But we make sacrifices. The first four pictures are The Marsh Boardwalk trail at Hunting State Park.

The following pictures are from Port Royal. The tower is the "Boardwalk Observation Tower" and gives you a great view of the surrounding area. That's Linda on the boardwalk, taken from the top of the tower. There are 68 steps to the top. The last picture is looking at Paris Island Marine training base.

Shrimp boat being unloaded. A live shrimp, note how long the antenna are. A retired fishing boat.

Pictures of some of the great views of downtown Beaufort

St Helena's church and graveyard. Some of the grave stones, the ones like square boxes were used for operating tables during the Civil War. There are both Union and Confederated soldiers buried in the graveyard. For some reason it is called a graveyard, rather them cemetery. Maybe because of the age.

Can you believe the price. This was at almost all the stations.

Our own low country "boil". We steamed fresh shrimp, crabs, corn and potatoes.

On the way down to SC Linda's car averaged 38.1 mpg, and the truck averaged 10.1 mpg. Hopefully it will get a little better here in the flat lands.
Today we toured Hilton Head and were disappointed. The homes and area is beautiful. But many of the roads are private and to get to some of the beaches, restaurants and shops, etc you have to pay a toll of $5. Now that's pay to shop or eat, besides the price of the food etc. ! Not for us. We did get to one of the public beaches and it was super.

Though for the day;  we spent most of our money traveling.....just wasted the rest