100th Blog

Wow, is it possible that this is our 100^th blog? That’s what Blogspot says. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been on the road for 11 months and we’re only on the east coast. There is still so much more of this wonderful country to see and explore. It looks like it’s going to take us another six months to get back to Washington.

Bob and I watched the air temperature rise by 20 degrees on the drive from Asheville, NC to Charleston, SC. It’s great to be in a warmer climate. We had a wonderful campsite just 100 feet from a large pond ringed by palms and trees covered in Spanish moss. Just looking out the window made me feel warm.

Downtown Charleston is a lovely old city with many historic buildings. We spent an afternoon walking the streets and along the waterfront where we found many cobblestone and brick roads. The large old homes on Battery Street are gorgeous and the restaurants offer shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp!

We are staying in the Mount Pleasant area and there is a wonderful beach town called Isle of Palms out on the Atlantic coast. Most of the spectacular beach houses must have been built after Hurricane Hugo (1989). The beach is broad and flat and not developed with the tacky boardwalks and businesses that we have seen in other beach areas.

Cypress Gardens is about 50 miles north of Charleston and a great place to spend a day. We chatted with their parrots and cockatoos, visited the butterfly house, toured the Swamparium and hung with their three large alligators. We also hiked one of the nature trails and paddled a flat-bottomed boat through the Cypress swamp. It was great to be on the water and encounter turtles, vultures and even a few wild alligators.

We also visited Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery that was not too far from Cypress Gardens. Bob and I enjoyed the beautiful gardens and quiet, but were too late to get a tour. The monks have been on this 3,000 acre, 18^th century rice plantation since 1949 and in addition to fruit cake, they produce jellies, jams, candies and creamed honeys.