South Carolina

So we figured we'd finally update our trip to South Carolina. We had a blast the two weeks that we were there. There is just something about the South that is so beautiful and captivating. It was hot, peaceful, and restful. We enjoyed having breakfast every morning on Nana and Papa's porch, walks on the dock, days spent on the beach, thunderstorms, soft sand, warm water (and this time no jellyfish stings!), making sweet tea, and trips to the frozen custard shop. Here's some of the things that we enjoyed:

The Clouds.

We don't often get them like this. We could actually lay on our backs on our rafts in the ocean and say which shapes we saw.

The scenery.
You can't see it really in any of these pictures, but the spanish moss on the trees just gives the South it's own distinct feel. Along with the rivers/waterways, small islands, and wildlife, no other place compares.

Alligators!!

Yep, we saw an alligator again! It lives in a lagoon in my Nana and Papa's community. In the evenings it'd lay on a bank in the shade. We finally got a picture of it after scaring it before. It was about 6 feet long.

Lazy Days

It's true that everything runs a little slower in the South, including us. We loved how they had rocking chairs everywhere. Airports, porches, restaurants, and just outside of shops.

We went to a little community area that was on the river. There were gas lit lights lining the streets, Southern style homes, and the ruins of a huge mansion that used to stand there. There was a swing set that we enjoyed for a bit in the shade.

Even Nana and Papa got in on the swinging action

As we were swinging Doug suddenly jumped up and said, "Come on!" and took off down to the dock. I followed him and he pointed out two dolphins that were passing through. They were hard to get a picture of, but the best one we got is below. No, it's not a shark. It is a dolphin haha.



A really old, really pretty church on the river's edge in Bluffton.

Here you can really see the Spanish Moss. We took this path along the road to get to the beach.

Last year we tried to see the turtle nests hatch but we had no luck. This year there were a few nests that were ready to hatch so we thought we'd try again. We went out onto the beach to wait for nightfall and realized we forgot a book we were gonna read in the car. At first we were bummed we had to walk all the way back to the car to get it, which was about 4 blocks away. Upon returning though, we discovered it was a blessing in disguise. While in this parking lot...

We found this...

Now we know that it's a felony to touch them. At the most you can help them find the water by blocking out surrounding lights with a towel or something, but as you can see, it wasn't dark yet, we were 100 yards from the sand, and the sand spanned 300 yards to the water, and who knows how long he'd been wandering around the parking lot...

So we carried him back to the ocean

Only one in 10,000 of the turtles that hatch per year live to adulthood. Once they hit the water, they will swim to the gulf coast and then across the atlantic to the waters of Europe. They will swim down the coast of Africa to Morrocco, and then back across the Atlantic up through the Caribbean waters. The females will come up on shore to lay eggs, but the males never touch land again.

After the turtle discovered that he had flippers instead of feet that didn't work too well, he washed the crusty sand out of his eyes and then took off.






As we came back up the beach to set up our stuff by the nests we noticed another little guy upside down next to one of the nests with ants crawling over him.

Doug tipped him back over, but the little guy struggled to make it down towards the water; he was just too tired. Another couple who was also looking for turtles came over and after a bit the husband scooped him into a cup and carried him to the water. It took him a while to get past the waves, but eventually he made it out into the water also.

The night was definitely one of our highlights of the week.

We went miniature golfing with my Nana and Papa on the last day we were in town. Normally I don't like miniature golf, but I wanted to play...as long as we didn't keep score. So we didn't.

The courses were a little different than we were used to. Some of the edges didn't have anything keeping your ball from going over the edge into a pond, and others had water hazards in the middle of the greens, rough spots, bunkers in the middle of the holes, etc. But we did quite well if I do say so myself.

It was cool though cause the place seemed to be owned by a Christian. On the little stands that are there for you to use to write down the scores on each hole were Bible verses.

Birdie!

We can't forge the whole reason that we went out to South Carolina in the first place. We celebrated my Nana and Papa's 50th Wedding Anniversary. We had a cake made with their wedding picture on it, had flowers delivered that morning, and enjoyed a fancy restaurant dinner on the river that evening.

At the restuarant...



The guys...
(Dad, Uncle Keith, Papa, Doug)

The ladies
(Mom, Devonna, Nana, Rochelle, Aunt Barb)

Papa teaching me the tango pose

Doug and me practicing

Well, that's the trip in a nutshell. Now we're home, resting up, and getting back to life. We start school in two weeks, except for our ballroom dancing class which starts next week.
Doug moved into a new room at a house the day after we got back. He's still getting settled in.

That's about the news from us right now.

We'll try to keep you posted.

-Rochelle and Doug