Settling into a routine

Well, we've been away for about 12 days now.  We've settled into a bit of a routine which is working out quite nicely.  I wake up early and check out the sky and if it looks promising I wake up Ralph and we either head out and take a few pictures or I set up my tripod on the balcony and shoot a few shots.  The day is spent in many different ways. We walk,  I collect shells, go out and explore , golf or spend time on the balcony reading.  It's great!  We could get used to this.

Over the last couple of days we have gone to the Pier which is further down the beach to take some sunrise photo's. It's been really nice to do this.  You never really know what to expect when you get there. Will the sun come up with colour, will some nice clouds roll in?  Only God knows.  I can confirm though that the shelling at this Pier looks amazing, but I hold myself in check as I know I can only do one thing at a time.  Ralph has been capturing some long exposure shots which smooth out the water. I think they look really awesome!!

The above picture was also taken by Ralph. I love his creativity and how the sun shines as a starburst. It's so beautiful!!

The above pictures were taken on early Sunday and Monday morning.  We were certainly blessed with a great opportunity to photograph the Pier.

I'm back at work again (on my schedule) and I must say that I prefer my "current office" to my "old office".  What do you think??

Yesterday we played another round of golf.  Originally I thought we were going to Pawley's Plantation but Ralph found a better deal at Founders Club.  We enjoyed a nice round and the temperature was quite comfortable.  Tomorrow we're playing in a tournament at River Oak Golf Course. I'm looking forward to that.

Because we had golfed yesterday, I pushed my work into the evening not thinking it would take as long as it did.  As a result I worked until about 11:30 p.m. (my fault for not starting earlier) and we decided not to set the alarm to get up.  I'm a creature of habit and my internal alarm woke me up at about 6:45.  As I rolled over I glanced out of the window and jumped out of bed.  The sky was on fire!  I couldn't miss that shot.

I wasn't prepared at all and after a mad scramble,  I stood in my underwear on the balcony frantically trying to get my camera set up on the tripod and get dressed at the same time.  Hah hah, I think Ralph would have loved to see that but he was sleeping soundly. Thankfully we are on the 16th floor and no one looks up or was out walking that early in the morning.

After taking a few pictures, I went inside and nudged Ralph awake.  I didn't want him to miss this beautiful sunrise.  God has certainly blessed us with such a beautiful sight.

Early morning dance of the Terns

When I awoke this morning I saw stars in the sky.  Ah, I thought to myself,  it's going to be a perfect day to get up and see a nice sunrise.  There was only a thin line of clouds on the horizon so I knew it wouldn't be dramatic as some mornings can be but still it would be nice to see the sun after so many grey cloudy mornings.

I was surprised when I opened the balcony door.  Brrr it was chilly.  The wind was blowing directly off the ocean and the temperature had dipped significantly.  I checked the weather app on my phone and discovered that it was 11c.  That explained it.  With a sweater on and my vest on top, I was prepared to stand outside with my coffee and enjoy the sunrise.  I wasn't disappointed.  It took a long time to rise this morning (or so it felt like) but it finally came wth some beautiful colour.

While watching the sunrise I enjoyed watching the terns and gulls who fly in huge flocks as the sun was coming up.  They danced across the sky going up and down and around in circles.  It's beautiful to watch and I look forward to seeing it again tomorrow morning.

It was a relaxing day for Ralph and I.  I walked the beach looking for shells before breakfast. I came in with cold hands but had a healthy glow of colour on my cheeks from the fresh air.  Already we could feel the temperature warming up.  As the day progressed, it became quite lovely outside although the wind was brisk and chilly.  Our balcony was very warm and nice to sit on out of the wind wth the sun shining.  The temperature reached 14c but felt much warmer if you were out of the wind.

I went back out again later in the afternoon (Ralph was fully engrossed in his book) with camera in hand in an attempt to capture some of the birds that we have seen along the beach.  I'm amazed at the number that are either just sitting on the waters edge or floating away in the water.  It's quite interesting to see.

It was another beautiful day!!

Hello Myrtle Beach

We've been here now for a few days and have settled in nicely.  Yesterday evening we went to a dinner at the Sea Captains House which was hosted by the Caribbean Resort.  We met many long term guests who have been coming here for years.  They were so welcoming sharing their experiences on the first time they came down to escape winter.  We enjoyed a very lovely dinner and felt really welcomed.

Our days have been spent walking the beach (getting 10,000+) steps in along with shelling (me), reading and enjoying the hot tub.  There are aerobic's classes in the pool twice a week which I think I might join and Ralph has been invited to play poker (which he doesn't think he'll go to - lol).  We've been educated on how to book golf and get great deals and the best places to eat out for ridiculously cheap prices (or so we're being told).  We've been enjoying eating in and doing our own cooking although getting out once or twice is nice as well. The ladies hold a craft evening every Monday - I'll have to check this out as well and see what they're working on.

We finally made it to the Grilled Cheese and Crab Cake restaurant for the absolutely best grilled cheese sandwiches ever.  Yummy!  These are the best we have ever tasted.  Ralph had the grilled cheese with lobster and I had the grilled cheese BLT.  My mouth waters just thinking about it.

With all the walking we have been doing, I'm finding my muscles are pretty sore.  I guess that comes from all the bending (picking up shells) and walking in the sand that is stretching muscles I haven't used in a while. We plan to start working out at the gym since it is available to us.  We'll alternate the gym and walking to add some variety.

The shelling has been great so far. I'm very surprised at the number of shells I have been able to find. I wasn't expecting that at all given that it's the winter season.  The olive shells are very plentiful and the larger shells are so exciting to find we never see them in October. The sharks teeth are plentiful (I'm told) and I've tried to encourage Ralph to try to find some.  We're in our happy place right now and enjoying this time away.

Most mornings have been foggy so we haven't seen too many sunrises but this weekend is suppose to improve so I'm looking forward to getting out with my camera.

Farewell Charleston

I can hardly believe that we have left Charleston.  Have we been away for 6 days already? My how the time passes by quickly.

We've had a wonderful time in Charleston and have seen and done alot.  The Festival of Lights was a real treat to see and it filled us with ideas on how to decorate next year.  We spent time in downtown Charleston as well browsing through the Slave Market.  There were so many people that we didn't stay long. We did enjoy finding rainbow alley where they have these beautifully painted homes.

We enjoyed a round of golf at the Wild Dunes course on James Island.  The day was beautiful when we were golfing although a little overcast.  The course wasn't busy, so we were able to enjoy a leisurely round without feeling the pressure of someone behind us.  The course itself reminded us of the Pawleys Island course with lots of water and marshes surrounding us.  This course was also really narrow which meant a few balls were lost by both Ralph and I.

We also went to see the Angel Oak Tree which is on John's Island.  I had read about this on the internet and thought it might be interesting to see.  We went on Sunday afternoon however we were surprised at the number of people who also had the same idea.  We were one of the first to get there when it opened at 1:00 but within minutes there were so many people walking around that it made it virtually impossible to photograph.

This tree is thought to be one of the oldest living tree's east of the Mississippi River.  It is estimated to be 400-500 years old (I've read conflicting ages in articles from 300 years and up).  It stands 65 feet tall and is 28 feet wide and it shades an area of 17,000 square feet.  The largest branch reaches 187 feet.  It is amazing to see and so beautiful.  I said to Ralph that it reminded me of the story of Hansel and Gretel.

We decided to go see the tree again on Monday hoping it wouldn't be so busy.  The weather was calling for a heavy fog so we weren't sure what to expect.  We weren't disappointed as there was far less people and we were able to take a few more pictures before too many people got in the way.

While at the Angel Tree Ralph started speaking with another lady who was also taking photo's.  She told him about a fishing village nearby in Mount Pleasant.  It was called Shem Creek and has a lovely boardwalk to stroll along where you can enjoy watching the shrimp boats go out fishing.  There were lots of pelican's flying around and many people were out enjoying the weather.  It was still really foggy out but that added to the beauty of the area.  It reminded me a little of Murrel's Inlet as there was lots of marshland in the area.  We spent about 2 hours watching the boats and strolling along the boardwalk.

I must say we have been blessed with beautiful weather so far.  While the sun hasn't been out much, the temperatures have been great.  We have had a bit of rain each day but only for a short period of time and it hasn't bothered us at all.  The average temperature has been around 24c which is great. You can see that they have had a lot of rain though as there are puddles everywhere as the land is just saturated.  We hear on the news everyday about how much flooding there is and we were cautioned to watch for overflowing rivers and streams.

We enjoyed a nice dinner in downtown Charleston on New Years Eve at a restaurant called SNOB (Slightly North of Broad).  The restaurant was jam packed with people celebrating the coming of a new year.  Everyone was in very good spirits.  The food was delicious and we enjoyed a nice evening together.

Yesterday we packed up and headed to Myrtle Beach.  We are all settled in and unpacked.  It's nice not living out of a suitcase.  It's a cloudy overcast day.  The sunrise was very short lived but still pretty to be able to wake up and look out off your balcony and see the sun come up.  I love doing that.  After breakfast Ralph and I took a nice long walk along the beach.  I promised not to look for shells until we were almost back at the condo.  Just as we were finishing our walk we came upon an area filled with newly washed up shells.  We picked up a few, but I had been walking with a full bladder for quite some time and raced back to the condo.  The shells could wait for another day.

This afternoon we went golfing at Rivers Club.  There were only 20 golfers in total that had booked today.  Ralph and I were the last group and we tee'd off at 12:30.  We were done by around 3:30.  We felt bad that the people in the pro shop and the guy that looks after the carts had to wait for us to finish.  What a long day for them.  They told us that the locals don't like to golf when it's cart path only and because they have had so much rain, they simply stay home.  It was great for us, no pressure and no waiting.  It was a little cooler today (16c) and we did have a little bit of rain but nothing that lasted much longer than 5 or 10 minutes.

So far, we've been having a wonderful time.

Charleston - Festival of Lights

We arrived in Charleston around noon today.  It was a beautiful warm day with the temperature hitting 24c.  We loved not having to wear a jacket.  After getting settled into our hotel we went out exploring and getting an idea of where we were in relation to the things that we had planned while we were here.

We enjoyed an early dinner at a local bbq restaurant.  We had delicious smoked chicken.

Afterwards we headed to James Island where I had read about a "Festival of Lights" event that was taking place during the month of December.  It's a park on the Island that had 3.5 miles of "lights" decorating the drive.  It was absolutely amazing.  We were able to park and walk around to enjoy the lights and then later drive through the park to see the rest. Sadly it started to rain which limited how much walking we were able to do.

The pictures don't capture the absolute beauty of the glistening lights, but I want to keep this as a memory of a beautiful visit.  We arrived at the park at around 5:00 and stayed until 8:45.  We drove through twice and were amazed at how much more we saw the 2nd time around.

Sand sculpture

Escaping winter 2019

The time has arrived for us to leave for our vacation in Charleston and Myrtle Beach. We had a nice day yesterday celebrating Ralph’s 60th birthday. Ralph enjoyed the company and having Laura and Jay and the family down for a visit as well.

We went to bed early in anticipation of getting up before the sun comes up and packed our truck and hit the road before the morning traffic. We were on the road by about 4:30.  We were surprised at how busy it was at the border and experienced a 30 minute delay crossing.

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning and enjoyed amazing weather during our drive. The temperature was lovely as well sitting at 13c.

While driving we have been listening to an audio book by Lis Wiehl called the Newsmakers. It’s a great way to pass the time. We started listening to it at around 9:00 am and listened to it all the way to Charlotte. It’s nice for Ralph to enjoy it as well. We also packed a thermos of coffee which enabled us to keep our stops to a minimum. It worked out really well.

When we arrived in Charlotte we checked in right away at the hotel. We had a lot of construction along the way which probably added an extra hour to our drive. That’s ok though as it allowed us to finish the audio book we were listening too 😉. 

After checking in we went to Harry’s Grill and Tavern and enjoyed a nice relaxing dinner.