September 17th
We left home at 8:15 for a few days at the beach. Our goal
was Hunting Island State Park near Beaufort SC.
It was not raining but there was thick fog hanging in the mountains as
we crossed Sam’s Gap. We drove through some rain showers off and on as we passed
on across to Spartanburg and Columbia.
We turned north up Interstate 77 at
Columbia to make a quick lunch stop at
Congaree National Park. It was one of
those parks that you always saw on the map and said “we need to go there
someday and get their stamp in our passport book!” Well today was the day! It was maybe 15 miles out of the way but we
crossed it off the list! A huge pine and
cypress forest and sometimes swamp along the Congaree River. We ate a picnic and browsed through the
exhibits in the visitor center. Since the mosquitoes were at level 5 on their
1-6 meter we skipped a hike on the raised boardwalks!
Back in the Sprinter we continued on back roads to
Orangeburg to rejoin the Interstate and head south towards our destination.
There were many crops ready for harvest including many cotton fields.
We reached Hunting Island about 4:00 and found our campsite.
We had read the internet map wrong when we selected the site and we were a bit
further from the beach than we had planned but it is a less than 5 minute walk.
We could have moved closer but would have had to move on Thursday for someone
who had a reservation for next weekend so we just stayed where we were. We have the correct sites circled on the camp
map for next time. Almost all the sites have water and electric and are well
separated with brush and trees. There is
one row of sites right next to the sand dunes that do not have power but
remainder are all serviced sites. There are 200 campsites but it seems much
smaller as they are really spreadout. We had a quick hot roast beef and mashed potatoes supper
before we begin our week of eating seafood.
September 18th
We woke up to rain – not much but a little. It was a very
windy day - blowing the rain out within
an hour. Jane walked to the beach and
watched the rather rough surf for a while. We enjoyed doing a lot of nothing
until lunchtime.
After arranging our evening with Jane’s cousin on nearby
Fripp Island, we set out to explore St. Helena Island. We drove past several of the original plantation
homes and saw a huge vegetable farm.
There was not much growing right now but there were huge trucks, buses
for migrant workers, and huge empty fields.
We visited Fort Fremont which is now only a ruin. It was built in 1899
to protect Port Royal Sound. Across the
sound is Parris Island which we may or may not have time to visit later in the
week.
We attempted to visit Penn Center which is a center
dedicated to preservation of the Gullah Geechee culture. It is the site of the
first school for black freed slaves in the country. It was 3:30 and the Center closed at 4:00 so
we plan to go back another day. We found
a hardware store back on Lady’s Island to buy a plug that Ben had forgotten. We
got back to camp just in time to clean up and head across the bridge to Fripp
Island and a visit with Jane’s cousin.
During childhood the two cousins along with two other cousins spent a
couple weeks every summer visiting grandparents in Kellogg Iowa. It had been a number of years since visiting
in person so a great visit was enjoyed.
True to our seafood promise – we had shrimp! Mmmmm Good!!!
September 19th
A good night’s sleep again – and we woke up to clearer
skies. We headed over to the beach and spent an hour or more just walking. Much
calmer surf since the wind was down. It
seems there is a sand bar that is stopping the shells – almost nothing on the
beach to collect. After some middle of
the day reading and resting, we ate lunch and headed out for a bit more
exploring.
We visited Penn Center. It did indeed have an impact on the
education of the freed slaves living on the Sea Islands . It began in 1862 even
before emancipation. Half days were
spent in educational courses and the other half
day spent in occupational classes.
Some of the students lived at the school and others attended the classes
daytime only. The center closed in the
1940’s as a school but has remained a vital part of the black culture. Martin
Luther King wrote part of his “I have a dream” speech here. Today the location
serves as a meeting site, a museum, and helps blacks in the area understand
their land rights and helps with passing on the Gullah Geechee culture. In 1976 it became a National Historic
Landmark.
We drove back into Beaufort and visited several art
galleries. We are both always looking for new ideas for casting metals or
beading. As we drove back to Hunting Island we stopped at one of several
seafood shops and bought some shrimp for dinner and some bait for Ben’s
fishing.
We had Shrimp Creole tonight and it was very good. I used a
mix from Zatarain – all I needed was a can of tomato sauce, the shrimp and
rice. Not sure about the TV reception –
we are watching a series of Jessee Stone movies that we brought on a hard
drive. The phone reception is spotty –
it will be a few bars 3G and then it will be 1 bar E. Jane the usual blogger is quite lazy and not
making the trek to the camp store to get WIFI to post! In fact has not even
written posts – is doing them all on 20th while Ben is fishing.
September 20th
Ben had a long talk with the ranger as he was setting up
traps to catch a raccoon. He has been bothering neighboring campers – evidently
he sets the traps and catches him with peanut butter and honey. Then the ranger
takes him away to another area of the park. Of course the raccoon eventually
comes back but usually not until the complaining camper is gone! We got up and had breakfast – the bad thing
this morning was the coffee pot failed. We have had this pot probably 10+ years – amazing it has worked this long…but
it is going to be tough to find one that is basic and fits in the space
allotted in the sprinter!
We bought a cup of coffee in the campstore as we headed out
for our day of adventure for Ben. He
first took the kayak out for about an hour of fishing and exploring in the salt
march from the north end of the island.
He had fun but caught nothing. We
ate lunch at the Nature Center and then Ben spent about 2 hours crabbing and
fishing along the inlet between Hunting and Fripp islands. The huge excitement during this time was the
dolphins that were playing in the water about 100 feet out in the water. They
were fun to watch but did not get a good photo.
What did Jane do? Read
a book, catch up on email and facebook since there was 5 bar 3G on this end of
the island! And Jane finally wrote the blog entries for this week.
After washing all the bug spray and sand away we headed out
to find a coffee pot and eat seafood in a restaurant tonight! The Beaufort Wal-Mart was all the way across
town – 17 miles – on the Hilton Head and Parris Island side of town. Thinking we might have problems finding a
coffee pot that would fit in our space we wanted to go to Wal-Mart where there
would be a variety. We were able to find
one without all the bells and whistles that fit in the space! And only $9.99 – wonder how long it will
last?
We came back across Beaufort and ate dinner at the Dockside
Restaurant. It was very good. We give
high marks to the Crab Cakes, Potato Crusted Grouper, She Crab Soup, and the
salads and sides. With a nice view of
the marsh and bay it was a very pleasant meal. We still prefer Maryland Crab
Cakes but these were very good.
Another Jessee Stone film and off to sleep! Jane is reading
a trilogy of books by Heather Graham set in Key West. They are historical fiction with a touch of
ghost culture and beach settings. They
are OK and do hold your interest.
Finished book two so should finish the third by the time we get
home! My goals for tomorrow are to get
the blog posted and read….can’t do much real work on our last beach day!
Glad this finally got posted - will probably do the remainder when we get home!
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