Goodbye Charleston Area, South Carolina, USA

It is time to say goodbye to the Charleston area and start heading back towards home in the Northeast.  It has been a great two months of weather, experiences, and people.  I hate to stereotype but, folks in the south are different - not in such a hurry, more friendly, more willing to smile, not so quick to honk their car horn and/or give the one-finger salute - it's a nice place with nice people.

Here are some last photos from the trip - sort of a "catch-all" of images that I didn't fit into any other blog post.

Mt. Pleasant has a very pleasant park on Pitt Street with views of Sullivan's Island, Charleston Harbor, the distant Ravenel Bridge, and the saltwater marshland adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway. A nice place for a walk, jog, saunter, mosey, amble, or kayak - or to just sit a spell and enjoy the sunset.

A clever bumper sticker seen in Mt. Pleasant.  It is available for sale from an animal rescue and adoption proponent, LoveYourBuddy.com.

"Timbo's Hot Boiled Peanuts" roadside stand - I won't ever see that in New England.

These are some brightly colored shoes.

Why so many metal roofs in this area? Seems like using metal is more common than using asphalt shingle.

At least you won't see this sign beside any New England lakes and ponds.

I like towns where shopkeepers put out water bowls for thirsty dogs - and it's only February.  That suggests lots of water bowls when it really gets warm.

An entrance door on an alley in the French Quarter.

A restaurant, Husk, in downtown Charleston. Outdoor tables when the weather permits. I don't know about the food - we didn't eat there - but I like restaurants in old houses.

Among Azaleas, Spanish Moss, and Crepe Myrtle trees,  this Unitarian Church cemetery in downtown Charleston looks like a beautiful place to spend eternity.

Low clouds during a storm.

I have a feeling of connection to this area - through two months of wandering and visiting, talking and walking.  My visit was enriched in very large part by concurrently re-reading three of Pat Conroy's novels during my stay, "South of Broad," "The Great Santini," and " The Prince of Tides." He is perhaps the most powerful writer of fiction I've ever had the pleasure of reading.  And reading him again while walking the very streets and towns where he lived and where many of his themes and ideas originated has made for a more complete local immersion. By almost any criteria, Charleston and the "Lowcountry"are great places to visit on this planet.  Goodbye!! 

Last Look, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

It is time to say good-bye to this fine island.  We have had a very enjoyable stay.  It feels good to be here - the beach is beautiful, wide, and flat, the houses are cared for and look welcoming, the people smile and speak, and the dogs are jubilant and friendly - Isle of Palms is an all around great place on the planet.

I enjoyed one more beautiful sunrise before leaving.

The Isle of Palms pier.

Ocean Boulevard - closest street to and parallel to the beach.

A modern house that combines current lowcountry style with a hint of the old Charleston piazzas (porches) on both the first and second floors.

Kitschy, cute, or tacky - you be the judge - it's a large oceanfront house available for short term vacation rental at about $12,000/week in the summer.

Even the birds live well here - a housing development for Purple Martins.

There's a reason I'm sitting here alone on the beach - it is rather chilly, the wind is blowing about 20 knots, and the swirling dry sand feels like sand blasting - sensible people are indoors - but I did run into a couple from Maine shortly after this photo - they were both in T-shirts and shorts - hearty folks those Mainers.

One of the reasons the Isle of Palms beach is so clean is they make it convenient to throw away your trash. The beach is lined with these 55-gallon drums just for trash. The barrels above are awaiting their duty assignments. I wish they had chosen a less garish color but they are hard to miss in bright yellow.

And on a stormy day, the beach looks and feels transcendent by the light the storm clouds create and the reflective mood they evoke.

But then the clouds move on, the tide recedes, and oh, what a beach - flat, hard-packed sand, and great for walking miles and miles with nothing but crashing waves, whistling wind, and mindless random thoughts.

I have never seen a gull dancing along the leading edge of small waves until this one. It seemed like a game of some sort. Maybe he was soaring the face of the wave like the pelicans seem to do or, maybe he was just having fun.

My months here have reminded me that beauty is almost everywhere - I am remembering how to slow down and look for it, find it, and really see it. Goodbye, Isle of Palms!!

Middleton Place, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Middleton Place is a National Historic Landmark and home to America’s Oldest Landscaped Gardens. Centuries-old camellias bloom in the winter months and azaleas blaze on the hillside above the Rice Mill Pond in the spring. In summer, kalmia, magnolias, crepe myrtles and roses accent a landscape magnificent throughout the year. The Gardens have been planned so that there is something blooming at Middleton Place year-round. Built in 1755, Middleton Place was home to a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

This is our last tourist outing in the Charleston area. Soon, we head for Williamsburg, Virginia on our slow way home.

This is a photo of their bulletin board near the entrance. It is also on the website linked above. It wasn't quite so green when we visited yesterday being winter.

Sheep graze in the greensward. (See if you can use "greensward" in a sentence and not sound funny - me neither - I don't remember ever even seeing that word before.) 

This little lamb better pay close attention to his surroundings..........

.........when critters like this one are lurking not very far away.

Southern live oak.  Supposedly, the term "live oak" refers to the members of this tree family which retain green leaves all year.

Crepe myrtle trees - sort of reminds me of eucalyptus and/or sycamore bark.

Azaleas starting to bloom will soon blanket this hillside.

The camellias already bloomed and then, by mutual agreement, hurled themselves screaming from the bush while still whole.........

....while the tulips danced nearby smirking with their blooms still firmly attached.

Imagine being given a block of marble and then trying to carve (chisel) something.  Here's a foot from one of the statues. Extraordinary.

And there were even beautiful young nymphs frolicking about in the gardens on this summer-like warm day in February........

Twelve Stack Diamond Stunt Kites, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

What better way to re-kindle childish glee than with a kite - even better is a fancy twelve-stack stunt kite.

Each panel is roughly three feet long on each side with a 100-foot long tail.

Here kiteman flies two twelve-stacks at the same time. It looks like a challenge to keep both kite stacks separate while crossing lines and performing stunts - not to mention it requires four hands - for that reason he wears a  harness to hold two of the lines and his hands hold the other two.

He even receives a bit of an upper body workout when the wind is strong.

You can get an idea of the force the wind is exerting by the angle of his body.

If ever there was call for a video clip, this is the time.  Still photos just don't do justice to showing the graceful movement of kites slicing through the breeze.

But they sure are pretty, and they make a great swooshing sound as they dance in the wind!



Mike's Bikes, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, USA

I have driven past Mike's Bikes more than fifty times in the past two months, each time observing the vivid colors and linear arrangement but - I was not able to stop for one reason or another.  I finally stopped with just a few days remaining before I left South Carolina.

Nice place, cool bikes, friendly people.



Audubon Swamp Garden, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Audubon Swamp Garden is a 60-acre cypress and tupelo swamp adjacent to Magnolia Plantation near Charleston, South Carolina. At one time, the swamp served as a reservoir for the plantation's rice cultivation. Today, the swamp garden includes native flora but also non-native, exotic plantings and is home to herons, ibis, turtles, otters, alligators, and other wildlife. It is a beauthiful, preserved, wetland park.

Tupelo trees and duckweed.

An alligator sunning on a platform.

A pair of Red-shouldered Hawks.

This tree is the most popular roost around - for many current and past Great Blue Herons.