LEAVING OUR RV LIFE FOR AWHILE APRIL 2-5, 2014

Our drive from Hunting Island to Raleigh, NC took most of the day and we arrived at Springhill RV Park just a little ways outside of Chapel Hill late afternoon. It was a perfect find! The park is secluded from the highway, in fact... enough so, that we drove right past the sign for the park and had to make a really hard u-turn in a parking lot to get back where we belonged! But, once we got checked into our site we were so happy to have such pretty place to be for the days leading up to our upcoming cruise.  

 The park is wooded and so very quiet.  Our first night there we had this stunning sunset! Later that evening we did some laundry in town and picked up a few groceries.

Our plan was to leave the motorhome here at the same park in their storage yard while we would be traveling for over three weeks; safe, secure and easy for us when we returned form our trip. But, finding a home for Foster turned out to be more difficult for us. It was a little stressful, as the person I thought would work out for us, just wasn't right, he had far too many dogs already at his home and we didn't feel Foster needed to join into the group.  So, with a few more phone calls we found a perfect solution for him.  He would spend the first 10 days with two wonderful young women and then he would move to another home for the remaining two weeks.  And, thank goodness it ALL worked out so well!!!

Once we had Foster's care all settled we did a little sight seeing around the area, including the North Carolina Botanical Gardens. This small cabin sits among the ponds and trails in the garden.

 My favorite find was this structure called The Storyteller's Chair. I loved the uniqueness of it.

 The last thing I needed to do was finish the packing for our journey, and that's never my favorite thing to do so it's always left until the last minute, but it does always get done. By Saturday morning we had everything packed and loaded into the car, including Foster. After dropping him off, we left the car at a hotel park-sleep-fly and then caught our 5:15 flight to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We always get to our destination a day before a cruise departs giving us a little extra time for any surprises that might happen.

We were up early the next morning for breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood when I saw this amazingly tall gardenia plant just growing in someone's yard. I've never seen one this large, but this being Florida, I guess that's just how they grow there.

 Our shuttle from the hotel to the cruise ship was such a great benefit and we were boarding by noon and set about seeing Holland America's beautiful Ryndam, our home for the next 15 days as we sailed across the Atlantic to Barcelona, Spain.

It was such a lovely day just to sit and enjoy the sun before our sail away at 5PM.

 We've learned never to eat lunch before getting on a ship, there's always so much available everywhere!  This was the Italian display on one of the decks.

 And then, the horn sounded and away we sailed out of Fort Lauderdale with the next eight days ahead for just relaxing and enjoying days at sea!  It's the part we love the most about taking a Transatlantic cruise!

Our first port of call would be Punto Delgado in the Azores.

SAVANNAH MUSIC & FRIENDS March 28 - April 2, 2014

The Savannah Music Festival is held the latter part of March each year and being only 40 miles away could only mean that we had to get tickets!  I started planning our 3 day trip several weeks before when a little surprise repair on the motorhome altered our original plans. A broken brake line meant we wouldn't be taking our house with us down to Savannah after all. I started looking for other places to stay but so much was already sold out, we finally decided we would drive down for the two evening concerts and return home afterwards. We went early enough to catch some of the free concerts in the squares and enjoyed dinner before the shows. Then wonderful evenings of jazz seeing Christian McBride and Cecile Salvant on Thursday, and the Friday night was a fantastic finale of the young high school jazz performers. Such wonderful music!!!

Saturday we did the drive once again towards Savannah but this time we were headed to meet up with Marcy Owens's sister, Lana, who had recently purchased a new property in Rincon, GA.  And what a property it was!!! This is the main house but not the only building on the large estate. 

 The fun was walking around to see it all and also catch a look at the remodeling work that her husband Russ, and son Tanner, were doing to the inside.

 It looks like the renovations will be on going for quite some time, but what an amazing house it will be when completed! I can't wait to get back for another visit maybe in this next year to see how this kitchen is transformed. It was such a lovely afternoon seeing Lana and her new digs as well as the little town nearby.

 By Sunday we were down to our last three days of hosting at Hunting Island Park and trying to enjoy more morning walks with Foster. The 6 weeks had gone by so quickly!

 We all loved the beach and no one more than our little Foster.

 The last few days warmed up and we moved our chairs into the shade of the palm trees for a break from the sun. Spring break was also in full swing and the park was filling each night so we were really, really busy checking in new arrivals. With the warm days the bugs (no see-ums) also returned. I usually covered up head to toe, long sleeved shirts, long pants, hat and scarf just to keep from being bit.

 Finally it was our last morning and time to say good bye to this wonderful place and another wonderful experience!

 We pulled out of our Campground Host site early on Wednesday morning April 2nd.

 Hunting Island State Park had been an amazing experience for us but now we had a 320 mile drive north to Raleigh, North Carolina. In just three days we would be boarding a transatlantic cruise for Spain.

So, packed up and ready for a new adventure, off we went!

HUNTING ISLAND SUNRISES March 21-26, 2014

Our 44th Wedding Anniversary began bright and early with a stunning sunrise over the Atlantic. We had started getting up early enough to catch the first light of other sunrises once we realized we would usually have the whole beach to ourselves for a good long while with beautiful views in all directions.   Since we'd only be at the park for another week or two we didn't want to miss this great chance to watch the world wake up. It was chilly most mornings,  sometimes only in the high 30s so we made sure to bundle up. It also gave Foster a chance to be off his leash and run along the water's edge with no other dogs around.  

To celebrate the rest of our anniversary, we went into Beaufort mid day for lunch and then a lovely carriage ride all around the beautiful neighborhoods. Our driver pointed out the numerous houses and locations of the many films made in this very sweet southern town.

 The following day we took our bikes over to Hilton Head island and Sea Pines resort area for an afternoon of riding on the paths

and stopping for a refreshment along the way

 Using the map we received at the gate we wound around the area and found the beach access openings

 and a chance to ride our bikes a good long distance on the hard sand.  It was such a perfect day, warm and sunny and not too crowded.

 The flowers and rocking chairs were everywhere.

 As we drove back into our park I stopped to take a photo of our entrance sign which was surrounded by marsh lands.

 I loved getting more and more early photos of the light each morning on the beach.

 One of our last set of duty days was not spent greeting new campers at the entrance but three days of campground clean up, which we loved.  We worked from 10-2 just walking the park looking for any trash left in the campsites and getting a wonderful chance to visit with so many people along the way. It was surprising how even little pieces of bags or bottles soon filled our bags and it would be time for me to ride a basketful to the dumpster at the other end of the park.

 My favorite day was when we decided the park was plenty clean and we should clean out the fire pits as well. So, once we had it raked, Paul would set up his little pinecone sculptures for the incoming campers. The more he did, the more creative they became, too fun for us both!

 Since we had most of the afternoons free that week, we had a chance to spend time just hanging out at the beach.

 The dunes and grasses kept us protected from the cool ocean breezes.

 It was now our morning custom to walk to the beach for sunrise with coats and hats, and Foster ready for some leash free time.

 As we came over the knoll of the path we saw this group already there.  I loved the look of these five friends sitting on the log this early in the morning waiting for the start of the day.  I caught a few snapshots of them, then met up with them and got an email address to send the photos a bit later. They were college students on swing break from Ohio. What a surprise!

We were now down to our last week at the park and as often happens when time is running out, these beautiful mornings became even more special to us both. Getting out of a warm bed to walk out in the crisp morning wasn't so easy…but it was so worth it!

THREE DAYS AT MURELLS INLET, SC MARCH 9-11, 201

After seeing much of the Beaufort area around us we took our next three days off, loaded up Foster and a suitcase in the car and drove north 4 hours to Murrells Inlet, SC. I used Air BnB and found us a two night stay at Murrells Inlet Cottage. Perfect for us as the owners, Chris and Paul, welcomed dogs in their little rental. We left by 9 Sunday morning and had a beautiful ride along Highway 17, a four land highway with very little traffic and fronted with pine forests. We took this bridge as we left Charleston and continued on to Murrells Inlet.

As we drove away from the busy-ness of Charleston we returned to the beautiful drive and saw a sign for Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, so a little detour.

The park is set back off the main road on a rutted and bouncy dirt road. The park is also dog friendly so we set out to see the remains of a once very prosperous rice plantation. First visit was this brick chimney from one of the slave quarters.

For some reason Paul and I both thought that cotton was the only major crop grown on southern plantations.  Rice was introduced in the South Carolina Low Country in the early 1700's was labeled Carolina Gold. It was an important crop for more than 130 years, and the wealth it created we saw in  the grand homes much like this Hampton Plantation.   According to our Ranger's talk, no other commercial crop grown in South Carolina during this time could match the success and wealth of rice.

 On our tour of a near by plantation we also learned that many times a plantation owner would have more than one plantation and often as many as ten or more…kind of like a corporation today with a few owners holding the majority of the wealth.

The house is well preserved by the state and it's tucked away among live oaks like this enormous "George Washington" tree and magnolias.

The house began as a modest frame structure built by a Huguenot settler and grew into the large Georgian country house.  I was so surprised to see the bright colors in the rooms but these have been verified as original to the house.

Just a little south of the main home was the Kitchen House.

Since Foster couldn't join the tour of the house and it was too hot to leave him in the car, Paul sat on the porch and I did the tour by myself.

It was such a beautiful day, a cool breeze with bright sun so I just had to wear my newly purchased cowgirl boots that day.

And always nice to have a chance to have the top down on the car, no rain in the forecast.

We got back on Highway 17 north, stopping in Georgetown to have lunch along Winyah Bay.

Such a wonderful lunch at The Krazy Fish restaurant then we walked the harbor walk to see more of the sweet little town.  Even though it has the second largest seaport in SC the industrial area is across the river and not really noticeable in town.

We only had another 20 miles to drive to Murrells Inlet. We checked in then took Foster for a walk along the marsh boardwalk. Great day for bird watching.

The main reason I had chosen this area for our getaway was to see the nearby Brookgreen Gardens, noted as one of the top gardens of America. So, it was our first day's outing.

We were a little early in the season, so there were only a few of the flowers in bloom, so disappointed we missed the amazing azaleas that would be blooming a few weeks later. In addition to it being a beautiful garden, it is also the historic property of a former rice plantation. We took a tour which was wonderful, (only us and a driver)to see the outlying areas of the slave quarters and the family cemetary. We didn't get a chance to do the pontoon boat ride which rides along the waterways of the rice plantation so I must be destined to return to this place another time.

We walked the property to see as many of the sculptures which are spread all over the gardens.

The daffodils were blooming and there were trails everywhere to walk.

While I kept looking at the flowers, Pk caught a little nap in the sun.

The gardens are committed to the collection of American figurative sculpture, especially those that work well when in a garden setting. The collection contains more than 1200 works by 350 artists! Amazing, and I'm sure we only saw such a small part of them.

Though I didn't get the azaleas, we did see the lovely trees in bloom.

We ended our day with dinner back along the boardwalk, then set out first thing next morning on our bikes to visit Huntington Beach State Park, with a look at the little bay and

passing this oyster shell recycling center.

i loved this house we passed on the bike path, a  gorgeous orange shuttered home.

A look across the marsh at some of the restaurant and shops.

We headed home Tuesday morning and passed these beautiful roadside stands selling the local seagrass baskets. There must have been at least a hundred different little stands lining both sides of the roadway.

After a stop at Trader Joe's, our first in months, we were back to our park by early evening and ready for work the next morning.