Sat/Sun Nov 23/24th - Home Base - shopping - sea food.

Sat/Sun Nov 23/24th - Home Base - shopping - sea food.
A very late morning after staying up watching a movie until almost 2am.
This weekend the weather was supposed to be sunny and warm on Saturday and COLD on Sunday so we decided to stay around and enjoy the sunny day on Saturday with quick trip to Benny's for some fresh fish... we bought some local flounder and some more shrimp. Found a great grocery store (Harris Teeter's) and a shopping area called 'The Shops on Main'... after we got back we sat outside and read our books on the patio in the sun. Janice went to the gym while Derek did some prep for supper. He cooked up THE best meal.. Shrimp boil, followed by grilled flounder. MM MM MM!!!
To top off a great day the Leafs won!! On Sunday Janice got up early and headed back into the gym. Derek continued to flaunt his culinary skills and cooked up a light and delicious breakfast. (Egg white scramble, with turkey bacon and mushrooms) what a star. Most of the day has been taken up with getting some travel / RV research done and getting the blog updated. It is nice to have reliable internet for a change. The weather turned cold overnight and Sunday is cold but beautifully sunny.
Made a roast dinner and relaxed for the evening.

Fri Nov 22nd - Charleston South Carolina

Fri Nov 22nd - Charleston South Carolina

Patrick and Earl.. looking down Church St.

Beautiful lush gardens

Beautiful homes

 We decided that a 10:30am civil-war walking tour would be a good introduction to the city. As Charleston is a two hour plus drive, we were up early (for us ) and off we went. We arrived in Charleston just before 10.30am but missed the tour ... if indeed the one we wanted was running that day. ...lesson learned...pre-book wherever possible.

'Front door' of a Charleston 'Single' House

Stucco etched to look like stone blocks

Patrick and Earl

Janice and 'Earl'

Anyway we decided to do a horse drawn carriage tour and figured that all tours would originate at the Visitors' centre located North of where we were, so we began the mile+ walk up Meeting Road. At the centre we learned that the horse drawn carriage tours begin near the bottom of Meeting Road at the Market Place..Who Knew?? So we decided to take the free trolley back down... they are every 15 minutes! After 34 minutes it arrived and we took it back into the historic district where we had started.  From the trolley stop we hoofed it to the Carriage tour company to discover that next tour would be in 35 minutes. What a great start (not!!) ..we’d been in the city for over two hours and hadn’t even got started !

Interesting colour tree (Bark is light)

Same tree (anyone know what it is??)

Well the "Old Country" carriage tour turned out to be quite a good. Our driver was a student of architecture and we learned much about the building styles and stories of the past. We saw many of the famous Charleston Single Houses, so named because they are a single room wide. However they are very deep. The 'front door' on the street is actually fake as it leads to a long porch, half way down which is the real entry to the house. If the 'fake' entry door was closed it meant the resident was either out, or did not want visitors, if open, then visitors were welcome. We saw some of the last remaining wooden houses (most were burned down over the years in large fires in the city). The newer brick buildings were often covered in stucco and then etched to be made to look like stone blocks. After we said goodbye to Patrick (our carriage driver) and Earl (the horse) we toured the market on foot. Very interesting stuff including sweet grass hand woven roses and bowls, sesame wafers,  dried okra snacks, and lots of artisan jewelry.  Wallets intact we then went on our own walking tour of the historic district and waterfront by following a 'walking tour' guidebook we bought at the visitors centre. We  picked up most of the points of interest in the old historic district (slave markets, old taverns and homes etc. During our self guided tour we enjoyed a delicious Belgian Caffe Latte (Janice) and a phenomenal Pistachio ice cream (Derek) as we looked out over the harbour. After a couple of hours walking we decided some 'real' food was in order. We didn’t actually find the type of bistro the we were searching for, so gave up and decided to go to James Bay County Island for the Festival of Lights. 
The Festival was very reminiscent of Vancouver's Stanley Park Festival that we have been to a couple of times with Evan. We drove through the light display first in the truck. Then we parked and walked through the 'Santa Village'. We took the Santa Express Train through more light display areas (actually a john Deere tractor in disguise) and we ooooh’ d and aah’d our way around like a couple of kids while bobbing away to the Christmas songs. Finally, the Cheese/Jalapeno stuffed pretzels were something else. (especially as we had no lunch or dinner!!) The festival was a fun event, and we were glad to have been there. We drove home and arrived back at about 10.30pm, settled in and watched the news and a movie (Couples?) so to a very late bed.

All in all quite the day, it started out with all sorts of delays, but we loved Charleston. The history, the architecture, the stories of the slave trade, plantations and southern belles.  The cobbled streets were made using rocks that were originally used as a ballast in the ships coming over from England, and deposited at the dock. The ships then refilled the space with indigo, cotton and lumber etc for the return trip.  The old buildings from the 1700 and 1800's. The stories of a bygone era, of hurricanes and earthquakes and those city fires that destroyed 200, 500 and 600 homes at a time. Yes Charleston is certainly a fabulous city today and yesterday!
ENJOY THE REST OF THE PHOTOS FROM OUR DAY:

Oldest Theatre in Charlston

 

Red light district... of old! House for sale ($1m)

 

Old slave market location

Narrow cobbled alleys

Ice cream smile

Aircraft carrier 'Yorktown' at marine Museum

Interesting sign

The fountain to 'wade in at your own risk'

 

 Large houses where split in two .. and renumbered

Rainbow Row

Interesting Trivia

The Pointsett Tavern

On the Santa Express

Janice in her element

 

St James Island County Island Park Festival of Lights

 

Thursday Nov 21st - Golf Rose Hill GC

Thursday Nov 21st - Golf Rose Hill GC
After a bit of a lazy morning we went to Rose Hill Golf Club (about 15 minutes away off-island). What a great day. At $25 each for 18 holes including a hamburger lunch and a golf cart, we were blown away, not only with the value, but the course itself. Not too long for Janice off the Ladies Tees and a nice distance for Derek off the mens' tees... some water, some sand, good condition and no-one pushing us from behind. Basically a great round ... considering we haven't played for a while. We sat and enjoyed a beer in the club-house bar 'happy hour' afterwards and enjoyed the view. The evening was spent watching the Leafs hockey game on the computer, but Janice flaked before the third period.

Didn't take long teeing off at the 17th Tee!!!!

Happy to be golfing in November

Wednesday Nov 20th --- Rig/Truck washing

Wednesday Nov 20th --- Rig/Truck washing
Today we decided to do something that badly needed doing, but we have put off for a while. It was a lovely sunny/cloudy/breezy day.. perfect to wash the rig and truck. So while Derek got started, Janice headed to the gym to have a workout and take a couple of photos.
When she was done she cleaned out the inside of the truck and then helped with the outside. After that she was pretty exhausted and sort of collapsed in a heap for the rest of the evening after supper.  We decided to book a golf game for tomorrow.

Pool and gym room (Restaurant upstairs)

Pool with harbour (Our RV spot behind trees)

The Gym

Tues Nov 19th - Exploring Hilton Head

Tues Nov 19th - Exploring Hilton Head

Lunch at the Quarterhouse in Harbor Town

View of Harbor Town

Because most of Hilton Head is comprised of private gated residential communities, it is not possible to explore the whole island, however there is a large private area called Sea Pines that charges $5 to enter and covers a large area of the island (the toe), and we decided to splash out and explore... The community has two areas with marinas, restaurants and shops. The first area is Harbour Town, which we had heard about. It is very nice but small and mostly just shops etc... we decided to eat lunch there at the Quarterhouse. It was a bit of a disappointment and the shrimp tasted positively questionable.... and Derek's pulled pork was ho-hum!! But we had fun and it was a lovely outdoor patio to relax on in the sunshine.
After we left Harbour town we drove to South Beach Marina and found a huge open log fire and a bar that looked lively and fun .. we didnlt stay but made a note for future reference. We drove round for most of remaining afternoon, checking out a couple of golf courses.  After picking up a few grocery supplies we headed back to base to cook up the fresh grouper we had bought at Benny's Seafood that morning.  Delicious.

Sunday - Monday Nov 17/18... Catch up time

Sunday - Monday Nov 17/18... Catch up time
The weather has been a bit cloudy and cool so we have taken the opportunity to catch up on some admin work, sort clothes out that we brought with us. We decided to start going to the gym to get back in shape (other than round!!!) and we did a few loads of washing. We caught up with the 'kids' and tried to do some planning for the rest of our time here in South Carolina. We plan on going to Savannah again, as well as Charleston, Boone Hall Plantation and some golf. The resort is having a Thanksgiving pot-luck so we may decide to participate in that.
We do like this area, and Hilton Head is a good place to be able to reach both Savannah and Charleston. But Hilton Head Island itself would not be a place I could see enjoying as a vacation spot, unless you are totally involved in golf ... there is not much else to do here, other than eat at the many restaurants.  Renting a beach front condo may be a possibility, but don't come for the night life.

Saturday Nov 16th - Savannah, Georgia

Saturday Nov 16th - Savannah, Georgia 

The road out of the RV Park

Lovely old homes

Day tripping to Savannah. It was a little further than we had expected ..close to an hour drive. We had booked a "hop-on, hop-off" trolley ticket so we could see the main sights at our leisure. We went most of the way round and got off in the main riverside area, exploring stores and just enjoying the area. Savannah is a city just teeming with history... but mostly centered around the revolutionary and civil wars, and the era of plantations and southern belles. It is built around a system of "Squares". there are 22 remaining squares left out of the original 24, and each square is named for a famous historical figure or an event... the plaques make interesting reading for history buffs.  The homes in the historic centre of Savannah are stately and well kept, the streets are lined with live oak trees, dripping with  spanish moss,  occasional palms and other lush vegetation. The people are very friendly. We saw sites from the filming of 'Forest Gump' (the bench etc) and 'Midnight in The Garden Of Good And Evil'. The trolley tour took quite a while and we learned much about the history of the city.  When we got off the trolley at the riverside, we walked for a while before deciding to have a bite to eat at Tubby's on the riverside, which was recommended to us... and with reason. We waited for a table while enjoying a cold beer at the bar and struck up a conversation with a local couple. They were really informative and we had a great conversation about the area and what it is like to live there. When we got a table we ordered a couple of salad's .. Janice had fresh local shrimp ... delicious, and Derek ordered ahi tuna on a spinach Salad.... his was amazing.... a huge piece of ahi tuna that was cooked to perfection... just seared on the outside... it was fabulous... definitely a place to go back to. After a great meal we walked a little more enjoying the sights and sounds of the area (including live music on the riverside). Hopped back on the trolley and headed back to the truck for the drive home... We decided to take in  'full moon party' at a restaurant/bar close to our resort (Skull Creek Boathouse) and totally enjoyed sitting outside watching live music, eating gumbo, chowder and peel 'n eat shrimp under a  beautiful full moon. A fun end to a  very successful day... . . . .

Beautiful day to explore Savannah by 'trolley' bus

Trolley boarded by pirate... cheesy but funny

Original basement used to store bounty and rum

Live oaks (with Spanish moss)

Next door to '"Fanny's your Aunt"

The steps from Riverside to town are REALLY steep

Steps from the top

Riverboat ride anyone?

Interesting squares (and historic plaques)

Another square

I love the Spanish Moss

The Old Cotton Exchange

Cannons from the revolutionary war

 Characters board trolley and tell historic stories

Full Moon shining above our table at Skull Creek Boathouse