Edisto Beach

So I know that you all are probably tired of hearing about our trip, but I just want to tell you about the beach part, because it was really pretty cool.
Gabriel took a turn at the wheel first to give me a little bit of a break.

I liked this on the car next to us...'cuz I personally love grits and a lot of people don't even know what they are!

Anyway, we drove for what seemed like forever down this little 2 lane highway and then turned off on onto an even smaller road that went by this:

 

 
...and I knew that we were in the country, and Jimmy wondered if this was really where we belonged.  It was actually kind of intimidating with all the local people looking at us like we were intruders...with money, which is kind of what we were.  We were there to vacation and support their local economy.

But then we went farther and crossed the bridge onto the island and turned down our dirt road to our cabin.  The landscape and foliage was incredible and stunningly beautiful.  For all the days that we were there, I still didn't get used to seeing this:

Live Oaks draped with Spagnum Moss with palm trees and fronds tucked in between them and pine trees sticking out, too.  It was like a tropical forest that had been untouched by human hands (well, when you weren't looking at the road, that is).

Then we went to eat and I picked up a paper and saw this article about the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial which was really kind of interesting because we were pretty far from home, but this is the same project that we had been working on and that we had just left behind.  They were talking about our stuff!  Wow.  Sometimes I think that when you are in a big city, you forget how much that big city's actions impacts little places all over the country.  Of course MLK was important in this southern state with roads called Harriet Tubman Freeway and Freeman's Court!  This is what MLK was all about, and our fingerprints are all over recognizing him and his work in the fight for freedom.

Then there was Daddy time...

 Which always brings smiles...

 And there was all-alone-in-the-sand time...

 And surf time...

 And brother-sister time...

Which brought smiles to everyone's faces!

Some of us were braver than others.  Can you guess?  Liz going way out, Gabriel holding onto Daddy's hands but out in front and our Jo hanging onto his shorts for dear life and hiding behind his legs!

 We took hikes...

Went to the end and back...

 And had a blast doing it!

 Like I said, the foliage and forest were awesome.  I have never seen anything like it. 

 The ocean was wonderful and we went in the late afternoon or evening, so we mostly had the beach to ourselves to fly and kite, play in the sand or waves, or just relax and minute or two.

 Gabriel and Daddy chose our paths with care and led the way...looking for where there may not be so many bugs!  But they were horrible!  I did ask one of the local park rangers what kind of bugspray to use and he told me to get a natural one made in that area called Evade-A-Bug, so we did and slathered ourselves in it and got relief.

 One morning Elizabeth got up early to make us all pancakes, which were a big hit!

 And many fun games were played in our awesome cabin.  The cabin was huge with 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a full kitchen and a big screened in porch across the back with rocking chairs on it.  All this in a state park!  And we got it for a great deal because we were willing to rent it for the days in the middle of the week when no one else wanted it because  it was rented for both surrounding weekends!

 (Seeing these shoes lined up like this made me realize just how many feet there are in this family!)

 We also took some time to go to the Serpentarium...basically a snake zoo with turtles and crocs, too.  It was interesting and we got to see the turtles being fed.  I was not much interested in sticking around to see the other animals being fed!

 We also found some of our own wildlife!

 And then we went from this (above...and yes, pretty much the whole cabin looked like this!)
To this (below) in and hour and a half, getting everything packed up and ready to go to come home

But we wanted a family picture before we left, so Jimmy set the timer and....

 So Jimmy set the timer and...

Ok...wait...so then Jimmy set the time and...

 Ok...last time...

So then Jimmy set the timer and...



 





 Here we are!

Thanks so much for joining me on my trip back through our trip!  I hope you enjoyed it!