South Carolina

 April 15 – 21, 2010

 

We were really glad to leave Georgia behind because we knew we had an abundance of good stopping places in South Carolina.  Our first stop was in Port Royal, which is right next to Beaufort, SC.  

 

The people at the marina were so hospitable, and it seems that everyone who lives in Beaufort loves Beaufort like no other place on earth.  In fact, our friend Matt Rodgers contacted his mother to let her know we would be in her area for the evening.  Edie Rodgers, who formerly served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and on the Beaufort City Council, is the epitome of grace and southern hospitality.  Edie picked us up at the marina and brought us to her home where we enjoyed a wonderful evening with her.  I wish I had taken pictures!  The azaleas in her yard were in full bloom and I think her yard should be a noted arboretum.  Edie drove us around Beaufort, showed us all the historical homes and whipped together a delicious shrimp salad plate for dinner.  Neither Roger nor I wanted to leave!

 

The next day we had a long one – 70 miles to Charleston, SC.  We stayed for two nights at the Charleston City Marina.  When we arrived, the dockmaster told us on the radio that “the current is ripping.”  Oh great….. and we had to dock between two rather large and beautiful and expensive boats.  The stress was worth it, because Charleston is my favorite place so far.  If it weren’t for the heat, humidity and no-seeums, I could live there!  The restaurants and shops were less than a mile away, and we walked and rode our bikes throughout the city.  On our second day, we watched the Blue Angels practice for their air show the next day.  How uncanny was it that we just saw them in Pensacola in November!  

 

On to Georgetown, SC  --  another long day of 67 miles!  This is another quaint southern city of only 9000 people.  Nearly everything is closed on Sunday, but we found a breakfast place called Aunny’s that we loved!  Lucky for us, my sister-in-law Sue Spitale was on spring break vacation with my niece and nephews up in Myrtle Beach, less than 40 miles from Georgetown.  Sue and my niece Andrea drove here to see us on Sunday.  What a treat!  

 

On Monday, we had the boat hauled out of the water so that we could get the rudderstock repaired; a pretty easy fix and we needed to get it done one of these days.   So this was the place to do it, and we also contracted to get the boat waxed and buffed.  The marina guys put the boat on jack stands and plugged us in to their power so that among other things our refrigerator would keep running and also so we could stay on board.  I have to admit that I was less than enthusiastic about staying on the boat while it was out of the water.  Ok, if you ask Roger, I was being really difficult about it.  But in my own defense, I really didn’t like it.  You can see from one of the pictures, that we had to climb up and down a ladder to get on and off the boat.  Not such a big deal for one day, but it ended up being 3 days.  The good thing was that there was no rocking motion because the boat was stationary.  But it took “some getting used to” because it was so different.  On Tuesday, I rented a car for a day and drove up to Myrtle Beach to see Sue and the kids.  I loved seeing my family and it was also a nice change of scenery from the boat yard!

 

Georgetown, SC is where we will leave the boat again for about 2-1/2 weeks while we go back to Indianapolis.  So we’ll take a blog break until we get back on our way again during the second week of May for more points northward.