On Sunday, May 1, we boarded an airplane that took us to Savannah, Georgia where we rented a car and drove to Hilton Head, South Carolina, about an hour north. We were traveling with Deon and Gary and staying at the Marriott Barony Resort on the island. The Fullers had an extra week with their Marriott time share that they were able to take advantage to get us a condo unit for the week. It was a beautiful resort right on the ocean and set among luscious tropical foliage.
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| Looking back at the resort from the beach access |
We arrived at the resort in the late afternoon on Sunday and, when we finally got unpacked and settled, we set out to shop and find somewhere to eat. After several U-turns, we found a Walmart for shopping and then a burger place, called Wayback Burgers, for dinner. By the time we finally were eating, anything would have tasted good.
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| We returned to this same restaurant for peach shakes the next day but found they weren't worth the $7 that they cost. |
Monday, we decided to stay on the island and discover what was there. We walked around the resort and then to the beach.
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| The resort's private beach |
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| The only alligator we saw - a metal one on the way to the beach |
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| On the boardwalk leading to the beach from the resort |
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| Funny thing about the latches on the gates at the resort - While trying to get through the first one, Deon tried to find a place to put her room key. After several minute of trying to open the gate, Paul walked up, pulled up a lever and surprise, surprise...the gate opened. No key required. |
After walking the property, we got in the car to drive around the island. We ended up driving to Harbor Town at Sea Pines, a private area requiring a $9 entrance fee. The attraction there was a lighthouse and some shops. We loved the many rocking chairs set around the inlet, probably catering to the more elderly persons who would be frequenting this area. We found a fun place for lunch, The Crazy Crab, where we had Cesar salad and fish and chips. A fun and relaxing day, especially when we ended the day with a swim in the pool, a dip in the hot tub, and dinner and a movie in our condo.
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| Enjoying the rocking chairs for old people |
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| It looks like even in South Carolina, they have the same staffing problem as we have in Heber. Definitely the new pandemic!!!! |
The next day, we traveled to Savannah to check out the beauty of this historic city. We first thought we could explore the city on our own but then decided to take a trolley tour of the city... a great decision. One this tour, we saw the many beautiful mansion in the area and the 22 parklike squares in the city. We drove down the original cobblestone roads along River Street with its rock walls and narrow stone staircases. At the end of the tour, our guide told us a bit of the history during the civil war in this area. This city was preserved when General Sherman came through. The Rebel soldiers had left the city to go fight another battle somewhere, so the city surrendered immediately. This is why there are so many antebellum structures still standing, unlike in Atlanta which was literally leveled from Sherman's forces.
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| The trolley - a must tour in Savannah |
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| First African Baptist church, used to shelter slaves seeking freedom in the North |
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| One of the 22 squares seen on the tour, each with a fountain or statue in the center. |
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| One of many mansions in downtown Savannah |
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| The Red Mansion turned into a mortuary but is now a restaurant. Meals are served in what was once the viewing room of the dead. |
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| This is considered a haunted mansion - it's rumored that a ghost of a child is often seen rocking in the front doorway and the ghost of a sea captain has been spotted on the balcony. This home had been on the market since in the 70's and hadn't sold due to the rumors of it being haunted. It only recently sold. |
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| Strolling along Market street |
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| We were trying to find a place for lunch here with no success unless we wanted fish again. |
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| Where we finally ate a late lunch |
On our third day in Hilton Head, we did some more exploring on the island. We drove to Historic Mitchelville in Freedom Park. This was a replica of the first self governing 'free' colored community in America. The union army had brought the former slaves to the area and set them up to govern themselves, fishing and farming to support their families. About 1500 former slaves moved to this town for protection from the Southern Rebel army.
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| Replica of the community's place of worship |
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| A typical home of the former slaves |
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| Their store |
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| Typical boat for fishing in the nearby ocean |
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| Over looking one of the salt marshes so prevalent in this area |
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| Of course, we had to find a good ice cream place, which we did after lunch at Subway |
That evening, we ended our day with a delicious dinner at the Skull Creek Boathouse. The restaurant sat right on the edge of the ocean, a beautiful setting. We all had filet and crab along with a salad. A great way to finish our day.
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| Notice the boat docked in the harbor. |
On Thursday, we drove to Charleston, South Carolina to check out that city. We were told to be sure and take the horse drawn carriages to tour the city. We found them at the big red barn. We were slightly disappointed in the tour, especially when we found out there were five different routes and someone from the city assigned the drivers which one to take. Immediately, we wondered what we were missing on the other tours. We felt like we saw a few old homes, a few churches, and the old market place but not much else. It was a unique mode of transportation, though. On our own, we drove down to the river and along the riverfront road, seeing more lovely homes then we did on our tour. We had planned to stop at a plantation near Charleston, about a 45 minutes out of our way. We would have arrived shortly before closing so decided it would not be worth it the time or the expense. Maybe another time.
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| One of many churches in Charleston, considered the 'Holy City' for the over 400 churches there. This church is leaning due to its sinking as a result of a 7.4 earthquake in 1880. |
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| A man made pond into which the frequent flood waters drain. It has a natural filtration system due to the 200,000 oysters in it. |
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| An old mansion |
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| The Old Market Place - once a meat market (not a slave market) but now a market for traders to sell their wares. |
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| Our guide |
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| Waiting for our tour to start. The horses used are retired Amish horses, used to working in the fields, so this is an easy gig for them. They drink 30 gal. of water and eat 40 to 60 pounds of hay per day. |
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| The Red Barn where we picked up the tour |
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| An example of where the less affluent person once lived in Charleston. Notice the door at the top of the stairs. This only leads to a porch area, not the main house. In Colonial times, if this door was closed, that meant that the home owners were not accepting visitors. They were probably in the house, in their bloomer, having taken off the 50 to 90 pounds of clothing that was fashionable to wear at the time. |
We decided to travel back to a city closer to Hilton Head island for lunch at Chick-fil-A. Gary was craving a Dairy Queen ice cream so we stopped for a cone a little later. After all we had eaten during the day, it was a light dinner at home then a walk on the beach.
On last day in South Carolina, we drove off the island again going to Hunting Island. We were told there was a great boardwalk where we could possibly see an alligator. We didn't see an alligator as all the ponds had dried up and the boardwalk was nothing different than the boardwalks through the salt marches we had taken in Hilton Head. We did see an incredible light house, though, with an interesting history. It was originally constructed of brick in 1875, but was destroyed during the Civil War. It was reconstructed in 1875 of interchangeable cast-iron sections which made it possible to relocate it. Due to severe beach erosion in 1889, the lighthouse was dismantled and relocated 1.3 miles inland to its current location. After leaving Hunting Island, we stopped at Olive Garden for lunch and headed home for a relaxing time in the hot tub.
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| This picture was taken on the salt marsh boardwalk to prove we had been there. The Fuller's son, had raved about the walk. |
Saturday, we packed up the car, had a quick breakfast, and left for the Savannah airport. We had an 11:00 flight to Dallas. During our 3 hour layover, we had lunch at What A Burger in the airport. Their burgers reminded us of what Burger King burgers were like when they first came to Dayton, Ohio way back at the time Paul and I were stationed there in the Air Force. The burgers were once huge and juicy. What A Burger burgers were quite large and very juicy and very good. We arrived home in Heber about 8:00 Saturday night. A wonderful trip to a part of the United States we had never visited before.
We got back just in time to celebrate Mother's Day with Todd and Kailee and their family. They came up for dinner. Dad cooked the tri tip and Todd stuffed the potatoes for a delicious dinner. The girl's gave me some bath bombs and a darling note written by Aria. Andrea sent me flowers and Ryan and Jon both called. A great day when I hear from all the children in some way.
While we were gone to South Carolina, we got word that one of our dear friends passed away - Merilyn McGuire. She was 92 and in failing health but it is never fun to see someone you care about leave this world. Her husband, Faye, has been our minister for years. Paul was in contact with him while we were gone to make sure he was doing as good as could be expected. Merilyn's funeral was the Monday after Mother's Day, fitting to celebrate a wonderful mother and friend.
And then there was snow....again!!!! By this time of the month we were wondering if Spring would ever come.
Gratefully, before we left for Oregon for Maggie's wedding, we were able to enjoy a week of blossoms on our crab apples trees - two white ones and three pink ones. It was nice to finally see some signs of Spring.
We left for Maggie's wedding on Thursday, the 19th, and arrived in Portland around 9:30 in the morning. Andrea and her family were not going to be in Portland until dinner time, nor were Ryan and Todd, so we took the time go and visit with Bill Ashdown, Paul's brother-in-law. He lives with his daughter, Cheryl. We had called Cheryl earlier in the week to make sure Bill was up for a visit. Cheryl even took off work to be there when we arrived. We had a delightful visit with them both and were glad to see that Bill was still very much with it mentally, although he isn't too mobile anymore. He broke his shoulder when he fell at the first of the year and is just now being able to do a few things for himself. I think they were both grateful that we took the time to come visit, as were we.
We joined Andrea's family and Todd and Ryan for dinner at Olive Garden that evening. The next morning, we met at the temple at 10:30 for an 11:00 sealing ceremony in the Portland Temple. Andrea asked me to accompany her and Maggie into the bride's room to help Maggie get dressed. It was special to be in the same room where I had helped Andrea dress for her wedding 25 years earlier. It was a beautiful ceremony as the bride and groom exchanged vows amid their tears of joy. After pictures, we joined both families at a local restaurant for a lunch. Todd and Ryan both returned home after the sealing and luncheon. Todd flew but Ryan opted to drive 15 hours to the Las Vegas airport to pick up his car and then 2 more hours to St. George. Go figure. He says he loves to drive.
We drove the 2 hours to Springfield, checked into the Holiday Inn Express, and then met Andrea and Casey at the Stockford's home where the reception would be held on Saturday evening. A huge tent had been set up and Casey was stringing lights while Andrea and the rest of us organized things for the next day's set up. When it was all done, we met Andrea, Casey and Charlotte at Mod Pizza for a late dinner.
On Saturday, we were assigned to pick up the food for the reception and take it out to the Stockford's, about a 20 minute drive up the McKenzie river from Andrea's home. We started with the macaroni salad from a Hawaiian restaurant and veggie trays from Albertsons. We put the veggies in Andrea's refrigerator and took the salad out to the Stockford's, along with some ice to keep it cool. After eating lunch there, we left to pick up Jimmy John's sandwiches. As we were driving to Andrea's to pick up 3 fruit trays before heading to the Stockford's again, Andrea called to called to say we could just drop the sandwiches off at their home as they could get them all in one of their vans and take it out when they returned. That saved us a trip and some time. We went the our hotel, rested for a bit, changed clothes, and headed to the Stockford's one last time for the reception. It was a wonderful affair, all done in yellow and grey. There was a buffet table, a lemonade stand, and a cake table all beautifully displayed as well as lots of food for everyone who came. About 45 minutes into the evening, an amazing program was presented. The Lightheart family sang a song as did the Westover girls. Maggie and Kasey then sang a song together, followed by the bride and groom dance, a father and daughter dance, and a son and mother dance. The evening ended with the remaining guests being invited to dance. Maggie and Kasey seen so happy to finally be married after a 5 year courtship, as they started dating in high school.
The next day, we didn't fly out of Portland until 7 pm so we had sometime to explore. We first drove to the Hendrick's Rhododendron Garden. We had heard it was beautiful and it didn't disappoint. The blooms were amazing, although, we were probably a week late for them to be at their peak. We walked the trails and enjoyed the beauty. After that, we drove back out past the Stockford's to see the burned areas from the fires of two years ago. Those fires wiped out the whole town of Blue River. It was sad to see all the destruction but good to see some homes being rebuilt along the river. It was then time to head to Portland for our flight back home.
As at the end of every May, we celebrate Memorial Day by putting flowers on Paul's parent's graves. On the Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend, we drove to Provo to pick up Jillian from a 3 day training to be a FSY counselor this summer. We had picked her up from the airport on Tuesday and then dropped her off at BYU on Wednesday. She was done on Saturday so we picked her up before heading to Pleasant Grove to decorate the graves. While we were in Pleasant Grove, we gave Jillian a bit of a history lesson by driving her to see the home where Paul was raised. It was then off to lunch at Culver's before returning to Heber.
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| A pretty sobering thought |
That's it for the happenings of the month but I must leave you with a few more memes.
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| The new disease threat this month is Monkey Pox. This meme tells it exactly like it is. |
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| Biden actually said the Maga Trump supporters were the most extreme political group in history. Go figure |
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| At the end of the month, inflation was close to 9% |
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| Biden's campaign slogan was Build Back Better. So much for doing exactly the opposite of what he said he would do. |
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| The Democrats are threatening to create a disinformation board which is basically to eliminate free speech for the opposition. Every dictator in modern history has had such a board. Not a good thing for America. |
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