South Carolina

Saturday 7/19/08 – 7/21/08

We left the Brauch house early Saturday morning and drove straight through North Carolina to Conway, SC. We had chosen a campsite from the internet before leaving Virginia Beach. The owner said he had room and just come on over and he would take cash only. Conway is about 25 miles from Pawley’s Island where Marilyn and Gainard Sisti live (friends from Livermore). The road we traveled was the same road that goes to Myrtle Beach and it was very crowded. It was filled with families heading to Myrtle Beach for vacation. We were quite surprised by the traffic. We were able to get off that road and made our way to the campground. We drove into the campground to see a swamp running through the campground. The pictures really looked good on the internet but when we saw the RV’s there, they looked about as old as the swamp. The sign said stop here and call the office. We called the office and got a recording to leave our number and someone would call us back. We waited for awhile all the while getting a better look at the area. We saw some other RV’s a little down the road so we thought maybe that was where we should be and drove over there. That was a neighborhood and there was no office over there. We called again and still got no answer. I think it was about that point that we looked at each other and said KOA here we come. We stopped and called the KOA in Myrtle Beach and they had one spot left and off we went. We had to get back on that road that was bumper to bumper traffic. We were averaging about 9 miles an hour. We finally made it to Myrtle Beach, unhooked and raced off to the Sisti’s who were patiently waiting for us for dinner. We arrived there about 9pm. We had a delicious dinner and visit and made plans to go to church and sightseeing with them on Sunday.
The Sisti’s picked us up on Sunday morning and we went to church. After church we drove out on the actual Pawley’s Island. It is a vacation spot with many rental homes. We stopped for lunch near the water. We thought we would eat outside but we soon realized it was too hot out there and moved inside. After lunch we walked round the pier and then continued up the coast to Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach is a family vacation spot filled with hotels, water parks and miniature golf places. It reminded us of Santa Cruz. We went to Broadway at the Beach a place with many restaurants and shops and walked around for awhile. It was very hot and humid. We decided to get out of the heat and go see a movie so we went to see Mama Mia. By this time it was early evening and we decided to call it a day because the next day we were going to Charleston. The Sisti’s dropped us at out campsite and we decided to go swimming at the camps swimming pool. We would not call the water refreshing but it felt good anyway.
Monday morning we met at the Sisti’s house and headed for Charleston. On the way we drove through Georgetown and looked at all the old homes. Before Charleston, we stopped at Boone Plantation. We toured the house, slave cabins and the grounds. At one of the slave cabins, we had a presentation in the Gullah language translated into English. The Gullah language is the language the slaves made up using many different languages. She was a wonderful story teller and our group was among the lucky ones to take part in the story. After about 3 hours we moved on to Charleston.
In Charleston, we stopped for lunch at 82 Queen. This is an old, well established restaurant. Again, we decided to eat inside as it was too hot outside. Lynn had her first crab cake and Ed had grits with his meal. As we were having lunch, it started to rain. It rained for a few minutes but by the time we were finished eating, it had pretty much stopped.
We started walking downtown. We went to the Market Place. This is the market place where the slaves purchased food for their masters. We walked down to the Battery, on the way seeing Rainbow Row. This is a row of houses that are painted in pastel colors. The homes in downtown are all very large homes with gardens hidden behind walls. We looked out over the water and we could see Fort Sumter. Walking around Charleston was very hot and humid. We decided to get some dessert and take it home. We got some Hummingbird cake, which is similar to carrot cake without the carrots and a delicious chocolate cake. We went back to the Sisti’s and enjoyed the AC and ate cake. We had to say goodbye to our great South Carolina tour guides and continue on our journey.