Life's a Beach!

We've just returned from our recent trip to the beach...Pawleys Island, SC via Charleston...possibly our most-favorite family vacation spot. No matter where we've lived, we always seem to return to this general area when we need to play in the sand and surf and soak up some history. We started going to the Litchfield Resort when we moved from NC to Ohio back in '90 and fell in love with it. Our time in NC had taught us that most folks from the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem area headed to the Myrtle Beach, SC, area when they wanted to go to the beach. Seemed odd because NC has beautiful beaches, too. But, we found that Myrtle was just a bit more commercialized than we wanted to contend with...on vacation. So, we began to spend a week each summer about 30 miles south on Highway 17...and a complete world apart from Myrtle.

Pawleys Island is said to have been one of the first "vacation" retreats in this country, serving as an escape from the heat and humidity of the interior rice and indigo plantations for the planter famlies. And even though Hurricane Hugo devastated several of the beachfront properties on the Island, there are still many Arrogantly Shabby homes from 100-150 years ago, in the National Historic zone! As a matter of fact, that's probably one of the reasons we feel so at home here...there is so little pretense. While I can't even begin to list the changes that have happened in the few years it has been since we were there last, thankfully most of them were good ones.

We took a Shelling and Lighthouse Boat Cruise on the Carolina Rover out of Georgetown, SC, enjoying a wonderful 3-hour tour to North Island. We collected what we thought were conch shells, but learned later from the guide that we actually had whelks. This is the largest shell I've ever picked up on the beach...I've seen them in the gift shops, but I had never seen them "in their natural habitat."

One of the reasons I was so excited to have found so many beautiful shells was that I wanted to create a shell "sculpture" to submit to the World Beach Project, which is being sponsored by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. While they haven't begun accepting submissions yet, I do plan to send one or two in soon. Here (photo) is a one view of the shell project I created on Pawleys Island Beach on Thursday, May 24, 2007. Note - the flip-flops with the SC state flag symbols!

Of course, we didn't spend all of our time in the sun. We knew that there were several knitting shops in the area from Myrtle to Charleston, and we were able to visit 3 of them. Woo-hoo! Here's a shot of our favorite one, called simply "Knit," located at 87 Wentworth St. in downtown Charleston. It was a fabulous place for two yarn-a-holics such as Maredith and me! She reminded me that she had purchased more British yarn (mostly Debbie Bliss) on this trip than she did on our trips to either England or Scotland!

Of course, all good things must come to an end... Why is that? I've heard that saying all of my life, but I still have trouble with it. I'm not entirely certain that I agree with it.

For instance, we've just celebrated our 31st anniversary...and we are hoping that the end's nowhere in sight! We were back in MO by the 29th, so we celebrated at a local restaurant, JBucks. Mmmm, tasty! You know, it's been a great ride so far, and we're looking forward to heading into our sunset years together. [I took this picture (left) of the sunset on our return trip from North Island to Georgetown, SC. Thought it was appropriate to the discussion...]

So, with Memorial Day, our anniversary, and our beach trip in the rearview mirror of 2007, it's time for Summer to "officially" begin!

We're still working on the bridge, the pond, and the waterfall in the back yard, and the garden is looking pretty good. I hope to post some photos of the finished products soon. Stay tuned...!