Family photos

We ran out to the beach one last time before leaving Pawley's Island. I am standing with my Aunt, our hostess with the mostest. We made our way down to Charleston where we took a  Low Country cooking class at Charleston Cooks! The class was twice as large as I am used to at home but it was nicely set-up with a large video monitor. We learned about the basis of Low Country cooking and got a good recipe for fish or chicken.

We wandered around downtown Charleston afterward and it was crazy! Not sure if it is always like this on Saturday or if it was due to St. Patrick's Day. The bars were filled to the rafters and the action spilled out onto the street. Nonetheless, we savored the sunshine as we looked across the harbor at Fort Sumter while eating gelato. We ran into a student from the Citadel from Portland at dinner. He was thrilled to see Mr. Purse's Sunriver Hot Dog Company t-shirt! So I showed him some ankle with my Portland Running Company socks!

Brookgreen Gardens

We arrived at Brookgreen Gardens only planning to spend a few hours but ended up staying the whole day and STILL not seeing everything. The background of Brookgreen is similar to Hobcaw Barony: Wealthy individuals, Archer and Anna Huntington, bought and combined multiple former rice plantations for recreational use. However, the management and use of Brookgreen is quite different. Much of the property is highly manicured and serves as the setting for the largest collection of figurative statuary in the country. 

We took a pontoon boat tour of the canals on the property that were originally built when it was a rice plantation. This provided a chance to sit down while cruising on a beautiful day and hear some history about the plantation. The most interesting part was seeing several alligators along the way like the photo on the right. They were along the shoreline sunning themselves. Alligators go into a form of hibernation in the winter when they stop eating. Woe to the shorebird that miscalculates and walks by on the first day they start eating again.

There is also a small zoo on the property with local animals. We spent quite a bit of time in the marshland aviary watching the birds play as they were quite active. Perhaps a bit too much time as Mrs. Snootypurse caught a bird bomb from above on her left shoulder. I wonder if it's good luck like it is in Italy? The zoo includes a river otter exhibit where you can watch the frolicking above and below water. And frolick they did!

Murrell's Inlet and Myrtle Beach

Today we ventured north to Myrtle Beach pausing along the way in the small town of Murrell's Inlet. We strolled along their Marsh Walk and pier, watching pelicans and dispensing free advice to the dock crabbers. We saw one keeper after it was caught. It was much smaller than the dungeness crabs we catch at home.

We enjoyed an inexpensive, tasty low country buffet lunch at Prosser's BBQ. We got to try most of the Southern favorites including collard greens, meatloaf, black-eyed peas, pan-fried oysters, and peach cobbler. If you're ever in the area, don't miss this place! Then it was on to Myrtle Beach where we tried to push through our Prosser's-induced food coma.

We spent most of our time at Myrtle Beach near the boardwalk but the hotels, restaurants, mini golf courses, and beach shops stretched on for miles. We boarded the Skywheel in Myrtle Beach for panoramic views of the surrounding area. I'm not usually a fan of amusement park rides but this one was pleasant with air conditioning and a comfortable seat.

 

We wrapped up our visit with a round at Mount Atlanticus Minotaur Goff. No, this is not a typo. The course has seen better days but it runs up and down over 5 stories and was different our flat courses in Oregon.

We continued to be blessed with amazing weather and are enjoying the little things like falling asleep with the window open and eating meals outside.

Hobcaw Barony

It was snowing when we left Portland to escape the grey Pacific Northwest winter for a week. The local weatherman tells us we can look forward to a week of sunny weather in the mid-70's in coastal South Carolina. Works for us! We are staying in Pawley's Island with Aunt Snootypurse for a few days. We spent a good portion of our first day touring Hobcaw Barony, a 17,500 acre wildlife refuge between Pawley's Island and Charleston.

It's hard to describe this tour because it covered a wide variety of subjects. Hobcaw Barony was owned by Bernard Baruch and his daughter, Belle. Mr. Baruch was a powerful businessman during the Roosevelt and Eisenhower administrations so the most interesting anecdotes were those of the powerful people who stayed at the Barony during the WWII era. The Barony's is currently used as a research site for Clemson and USC. That's the University of South Carolina for readers from the West coast.

The top picture is of the saltmarsh where the universities are conducting research on sea-level rise and climate change. The middle photo is of the slave village. The Barony was originally a series of plantations and many of the "slaves" stayed as employees of the Baruch family. These small cabins had no electricity and it wasn't uncommon for up to a dozen people to share one. The final photo is the main lodge or Mr. Baruch's "hunting cabin". We saw a bedroom occupied by FDR just prior to his 4th presidential election.

We wrapped up the day with a visit to Georgetown, the 3rd oldest city in South Carolina. This is a pleasant town with several restaurants, shops, historical homes, and a walk along the inlet.