Garden City, South Carolina/ Family Beachhouse Vacation

All 18 of us in front of the 5 bedroom, 4 bath beachhouse rental

After Thanksgiving in Charleston, our little family drove up the coast just south of Myrtle Beach to meet our bigger family for a few days of memory-making times. The beach was a short walk across the street and we visited each and every day whether it was pleasant outside or not! Over the weekend, the sand was covered with relaxing persons and pets, but the rest of the week we had the beach strip to ourselves.

Shannon helped out on our breakfast meal by making a slew of pancakes to go with sausage grits casserole and fruit. My morning sickness tends to get better when I'm away from home, but I was still tired with an unsettled stomach, so kitchen duty is not my favorite. It was very nice to just have a couple meals to think about, then relax and enjoy the rest!

overflow seating

backyard view

Aunt Britney treated us out one evening. We drove around a bit in search of seafood, but those restaurants were all "closed for the season", so we agreed on Chinese, which did present some fish, shrimp, and crab on the buffet, and we all ate dishes to our liking...including cheese pizza and French fries for Brit. 

Since we wouldn't be together for Christmas, Grandma incorporated gifts in this week of fun times. The littles were so anxious to open the pretty packages stashed in the corner and the girls had their private gift exchanges and girly talky times. The ladies went shopping one day, while the men rode go-carts and flea-marketed. Another day Grandpa escorted the bigs to the outlet mall.

mostly matching pajamas from Grandma

The wind picked up. So did the waves. We enjoyed the body boards and other sand & water gear furnished at the house rental. We also enjoyed a walk down to the pier watching surfers of all ages test the waves.

Ahhh, the sweetness of sun, sand, and surf!

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, HIstoric Charleston City Market, Angel Oak

A last minute travel decision led us to the coast of Carolina visiting family and tourist attractions.

With Grandmama's as our home base, we trekked through horrendous traffic across beautiful bridges and waterways to one of the plantation homes of Charles Pinckney, an author and signer of the U.S. Constitution. My principal reason for choosing this national historic sight was because it was free, however it tied in nicely with our two high-schoolers' studies who are learning Government and the Constitution this year.

Before touring the house, we explored the trails outside. My nephews spotted and captured a couple of lizards. We read about the plantation slaves, and the farming in the area.

Inside the home, we browsed a bit, then watched the short documentary on Charles Pinckney, his family and the historical events during his lifetime. Of special interest was a Gullah Bible (sea island creole language of the African-Americans) lying on the table. We giggled as we tried to mimic the southern dialect as printed.

Charleston's market is a fun place to browse. Local artists of all sorts display their trinkets and wares. It is especially enjoyable at Christmas-time, when the holiday décor and music is abundant.

We slipped down a less-crowded side street to get back to our vehicle, and just had to pause inside this tempting candy store. The smells wafting into the air were marvelous, and they were even giving samples of gooey, melty, warm-from-the-oven pralines.

Our next jaunt of exploration (another fine southern winter day) was to Angel Oak, an enormous and very old live oak tree on Johns Island.

We popped by my uncle's boiled peanut stand for some regular and Cajun goobers.

Last, but not least, we gathered with the family for a Thanksgiving feast and fun.

Don't forget the brown rice, mac-n-cheese, collard greens, and fried cornbread!

Beach!!!! *big deal because it's 22 hours away from home*

We usually go to Folly Beach on our Charleston visits because that's where I went every summer with family during our summer vacation. This year we decided to cruise downtown awhile before hitting the beach, so we opted for Sullivan's Island.

We parked at the beach trail at the southernmost point and took a short hike through marshy woods before seeing dunes and hearing water. This part of the beach was mostly deserted, so we settled in our spot and let the littles play. While the bigs snacked.

Aunt Sybil was thoughtful enough to send buckets and shovels for fun fort building. Riley found a huge, dead horseshoe crab and slyly set it next to our beach seating to see who would discover it's gigantic scariness. (No large reaction, but sincere curiosity!)

We took naps. We took a walk north to the working lighthouse. There were many more people on this part of the beach; we felt pretty spoiled for our privacy on down the coastline. There were also lots of boats -recreation and barges- passing by on there way in & out of the harbor.

Though it was still May, the sun was toasty, the breeze was cooling, the water was warm, 

and we soaked up the beach!

Historic Fort Sumter is in the background with it's flag flying in the top right of this photo.

Farewell for now sweet Grandmama! 

We love your land, your people, your smile...and we love you!

Charleston City Scenes

As a continuation of our flying last-minute trip, we added a short 6 hours to see my beloved aging grandmama and her lovely city. How nice that my parents happened to be there on their summer visit as well.

After welcoming hugs, a night's rest, and a good southern cookin' breakfast, we set of for downtown Charleston. We drove past The Battery and stopped near Waterfront Park. 

candid shot under the arched oak pathway

missing Caroline who stayed with VA grandparents

watching for dolphins/porpoises in the harbor (not sure which it was we saw skimming by!)

City scape...sigh. Not your usual downtown skyscrapers.

Seriously, who simply could not fall in love with this genteel city of gated hidden gardens, rainbow-colored houses, patios set for entertaining, palmettos rustling in the sea breeze, carriage horses clip-clopping, and historic market vendors weaving grass roses.

Ahh Charleston.