Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Brief Vacation Update

Today we went out to Folly Beach so I could photograph the Morris Island Lighthouse. The weather was beautiful: clear and sunny, but hot. Humidity wasn't too bad, so the heat was at least bearable. I took lots of photos of the lighthouse, not too sure how they'll look until I get them home and load them into the desktop computer there. In my netbook here the lighthouse looks out of focus in some of the shots.

The beach from which you photograph the lighthouse is easy to reach, but requires a few hundred yards of walking. You park at the last public beach access, then take the paved road (gated off from vehicle traffic, pedestrians ok) to the beach, walking the last fifty yards through a path in the dunes. There were several people out there fishing when I got out there, but no houses or other developement there. Some old house foundations can be seen in the area; I'd guess that they mark sites that were wiped out by Hurricane Hugo back in 1989.

After photographing the lighthouse I walked back down the beach itself to the area where we had parked the car, beachcombing along the way. Folly Beach is one of the better shelling beaches I've seen in the last couple of years; Sara actually found a complete sand dollar.

After leaving the beach we did some antique shopping in the area, then had lunch at a Greek pizzeria; I had a pizza, Sara had lasagne. Both delicious.

After lunch we drove back to Mt. Pleasant and visited Boone Hall Plantation, the most famous of the Charleston-area plantations. We toured the house and the grounds, took some photographs, and overall had a nice time; Sara had especially wanted to see a plantation while we were in the Charleston area, so this satisfied her desire.

After leaving Boone Hall, we visited a Barnes & Noble, then had dinner at Melvin's BBQ for the third time in four days. Melvin's has a great menu, folks, and you're missing out on something special if you don't eat here during a trip to Charleston. Today I had the hamburger that Emeril Lagasse has praised, along with great onion rings (they make them with a sweet fritter batter, so they are fat, chewy and delicious); Sara had the smoked turkey, and some more of the banana pudding that Melvin's does so well. Melvin's vegetable side dishes are also wonderful, Sara reports, although I was less than happy with the result of her eating the collard greens: chemical warfare would not be describing it inaccurately.

It's our last night, tomorrow we depart for home. We'll be stopping for a visit at Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery, on the way home tomorrow morning.

No comments: