Last Friday I jumped on a plane for North Carolina. I was met at the airport by Kerri and Suzanne. They moved out here a year ago and this is the first time I have been out to visit them in their beautiful new home. Their house is lovely; a large soft yellow exterior two story dwelling with three bedrooms on the second floor, a large living, dining, and den area and a sweet open kitchen and eating room. I accidentally left my card reader at home so pictures will be posted later
I spent Friday night in NC and on Saturday morning we drove two cars to Charleston (Kerri loaned me her BMW) so the three of us could hang out for a long night and day in SC. The drive was about four hours but it was so beautiful it just flew by. The three of us went out to diner at the Noisy Oyster in Downtown Charleston on Saturday and then spent Sunday milling about the area. It was so unbelievably hot there that whenever you walked into a store the sweat would just pour off of you. Not an attractive day for me.
Charleston is beautiful. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. The one eerie thing is in the middle of downtown there is a huge semi-enclosed market where vendors sell all sorts of junk (emphasis on the word junk). The market was previously used to sell slaves and it was difficult for me to ignore that. It made my skin crawl. Sometimes the South holds nothing but beauty for me, other times I can still feel the days gone, especially when confederate flags still wave on poles and as tattoos on the rednecks shoulders. Sigh.
Mid-afternoon I headed out to Edisto Island while the girls headed home. My family (dad and step-mom) had rented two houses on the beach for a family reunion. The family is my step-moms. A lively and large (20 plus) group of mostly southerners who eat, drink, chat and really know how to have a good time. The reunion was for several monumental birthdays; Grandma's 90th, my uncle Ned's 75th, and my aunt Judy's 60th. Cake every night, yum.
The house on the beach was amazing. A huge screened in porch overlooking the ocean that was never colder than 80 degrees. Dolphins swimming so close you could see their facial expressions (if they actually had any). Logger Head Turtle nests that would come to life late at night as the newborns tried to reach the ocean.
My cousins and brothers and I would sit on the porch late at night drinking beer and playing games. Well I would drink beer. Hunter and Jake, my brothers, 17 and 15, my cousins Lauren and Jordan, and Lauren's wife, Nancy all had drinks of their choosing (I was very stingy with my Stella). Sitting outside in shorts, feeling a breeze coming off of the ocean, stopping on Palmetto bugs and slamming back beers, life was good.
I spent five days hanging out with the family. On Tuesday we took a boat out into the Edisto Ocean/Lake area. For a good long while we were surrounded by dolphins, jumping in groups for show, bobbing their heads up and showing off their newborns. It had me awed. The captain of the boat stayed close to them for my benefit but the rest of the group wanted to get going so we headed out to look at the various islands and plantations on our 2 hour tour.
The remainder of the trip was spent lounging, beaching, drinking and eating to the point of silliness. I was able to read a book in two days, that's how lazy it was. Glorious and sloth-like, as vacations should be.
On Friday morning I headed back to NC. It took me six hours to arrive back at K and S's house where they greeted me with pizza and beer, thank the gods. Now I am sitting on their back deck in the heat watching the cats play in the yard and drinking coffee. I could live like this.
I spent Friday night in NC and on Saturday morning we drove two cars to Charleston (Kerri loaned me her BMW) so the three of us could hang out for a long night and day in SC. The drive was about four hours but it was so beautiful it just flew by. The three of us went out to diner at the Noisy Oyster in Downtown Charleston on Saturday and then spent Sunday milling about the area. It was so unbelievably hot there that whenever you walked into a store the sweat would just pour off of you. Not an attractive day for me.
Charleston is beautiful. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. The one eerie thing is in the middle of downtown there is a huge semi-enclosed market where vendors sell all sorts of junk (emphasis on the word junk). The market was previously used to sell slaves and it was difficult for me to ignore that. It made my skin crawl. Sometimes the South holds nothing but beauty for me, other times I can still feel the days gone, especially when confederate flags still wave on poles and as tattoos on the rednecks shoulders. Sigh.
Mid-afternoon I headed out to Edisto Island while the girls headed home. My family (dad and step-mom) had rented two houses on the beach for a family reunion. The family is my step-moms. A lively and large (20 plus) group of mostly southerners who eat, drink, chat and really know how to have a good time. The reunion was for several monumental birthdays; Grandma's 90th, my uncle Ned's 75th, and my aunt Judy's 60th. Cake every night, yum.
The house on the beach was amazing. A huge screened in porch overlooking the ocean that was never colder than 80 degrees. Dolphins swimming so close you could see their facial expressions (if they actually had any). Logger Head Turtle nests that would come to life late at night as the newborns tried to reach the ocean.
My cousins and brothers and I would sit on the porch late at night drinking beer and playing games. Well I would drink beer. Hunter and Jake, my brothers, 17 and 15, my cousins Lauren and Jordan, and Lauren's wife, Nancy all had drinks of their choosing (I was very stingy with my Stella). Sitting outside in shorts, feeling a breeze coming off of the ocean, stopping on Palmetto bugs and slamming back beers, life was good.
I spent five days hanging out with the family. On Tuesday we took a boat out into the Edisto Ocean/Lake area. For a good long while we were surrounded by dolphins, jumping in groups for show, bobbing their heads up and showing off their newborns. It had me awed. The captain of the boat stayed close to them for my benefit but the rest of the group wanted to get going so we headed out to look at the various islands and plantations on our 2 hour tour.
The remainder of the trip was spent lounging, beaching, drinking and eating to the point of silliness. I was able to read a book in two days, that's how lazy it was. Glorious and sloth-like, as vacations should be.
On Friday morning I headed back to NC. It took me six hours to arrive back at K and S's house where they greeted me with pizza and beer, thank the gods. Now I am sitting on their back deck in the heat watching the cats play in the yard and drinking coffee. I could live like this.