Blog#24-From South Carolina back to Georgia

Off schedule and heading to St. Marys, Georgia

Woke up to perfect weather here in Edisto Beach.  And I had to leave, because I didn’t have a campsite there tonight. I gave up the rustic one and hastily decided I wanted to get away from this area due to the storm. But as they always do, storms pass.  And then I wished I could have stayed.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Laughing Gulls

I walked the campground before leaving and there were lots of birds moving, but difficult to see in the Spanish Moss.  Behind the wooded campground is a huge marsh that I didn’t even notice before.  Funny how a little thing like a tornado can throw off your attention to other details.

Edisto Beach

Before leaving the island, I had a leisurely stroll on a very nice Edisto Beach with few other souls on it. Just me and the shorebirds. The dunes are protected for turtle nesting, but the turtles have not yet arrived.

Tons of shells, but mostly cockle type.  I’m holding out for Sanibel Island when Brian and Amelia will be with me to hunt for the trophy shell.

I stopped at King’s Market on the departure from the island and was impressed with this little store that is on the owner’s farm.  She is growing berries, tomatoes, etc.  And the market sells the produce as well as homebaked goods.  I bought some killer chicken salad(with pecans-I’m in the South, after all) and a Granny Smith “apple hand pie”.(Looked like a calzone)  Delicious–breakfast and lunch. 

Out back of the store and over the fields there are ~30 gourd birdhouses hanging on a customized stand.  I think she is attracting the swallows to keep the bugs from eating her crops.

Eastern Bluebird (more white on the belly). Believe me, he was ambitious in trying to eat this guy.

I went from Edisto Beach to ACE basin (“One of the last great places”) NWR.  It is an old rice plantation from before the Civil War and the only one of three that Sherman did not burn on his March to the Sea.  The main home has been restored and is open to see.  It threw me off, because there is no signage to tell you to come in.  You just open the back door (the front of this beautiful home faces the rice fields, and you arrive at the back).  Inside are fantastic rooms with photo and history displays, brochures and maps. There is a sweeping staircase that winds up–looks like the one Rhett carried Scarlett up.  On the 2nd floor is the office for the park headquarters, with a woman behind a desk who never looks up. Very happy in her work, I could tell.

The Plantation House

The staircase continues, but it is roped off.

The house is well worth the visit.  The land and home were acquired by the National Park Foundation with aid from the Nature Conservancy.

Before leaving South Carolina I stopped at a roadside store and bought some gold rice. Because little known to me, Charleston is the birthplace of rice in America.

On the house adjacent to the roadside store of the family run business where I bought the rice.

I continued on into Georgia to Crooked River State Park outside of St. Mary’s.  I was lucky and they had a tentsite with electricity for one night.  No mosquitos, just some no-see-ums that for the most part, let me be.  This campground was lovely. On the river, near to town.  My complaint there was there was one bathroom for the entire campground (they are in the process of building another) and it was 1/4 mile from the tent sites.  Also, the shower opened directly into the common area of the women’s bathroom and the clothes hooks were inside the shower area itself. PPP, as Brian would say.

This campground caters to the birders.  It is part of the Colonial Coast Birding Trail.  It has birdblinds and feeders.  I’m still too early to see the migratory songbirds, but I did see some night herons (no good photos) and more of the cardinals and warblers.

Another nice thing about this campground–it has a large playground for kids and a miniature golf course.  If only there were someone to carry my clubs.

I went into Kingsland, the closest town, and bought a cheap clip-on light for my car.  I was worried about it getting too warm, but it is LED and perfect for my home away from home.  I also bought a book I knew would be better reading than the freebie I had taken from Okefenokee.  Dan Brown’s new book, Origin.  Amelia is a big Dan Brown fan, so I figured I can finish it and give it to her when she and her Dad fly out to join me for a few days.  Dan Brown certainly likes to focus on religion.  I wonder why that is.

I am getting very excited to see my husband again.  I wish he were on this journey with me.