Happy New Year 2008!

Here's the last sunset of 2007, as seen from the balcony of our condo. What a view! I'm a little late in posting this record of our travels, but we were on the road and didn't have fast internet access for a while. So this is a catchup of our travel story.

We saw the new year in in style this year in a terrific restaurant over a salmon dinner, dancing, and general hilarity near our hotel. As we walked back to our condo, people driving by were honking and yelling happy greetings. It was balmy and pleasant, and we got back just as Kim and Robert arrived from their own party. We poured champagne and went out onto the balcony to watch the beach fireworks and stretch the special night out for a while. How wonderful to spend this special time of year with great people.

New Year’s Day was spent relaxing, then we ate the traditional good luck lunch of Hog Jowls, Collard Greens and black eyed peas. Delicious! Jim took off for a long beach walk, Robert napped, hoping to make his cold feel better, and Kim and I went letterboxing. Kim has been at this hobby for a while with lots more enthusiasm than I have, and we went together to find her 300th letterbox, along the beachfront north of Myrtle Beach. It was fun to be with her to celebrate that special find.
When we got back, Jim watched, I took pictures, and Kim ceremoniously put the last piece in this year’s jigsaw puzzle. Each year we put a puzzle out and sit around it for hours, putting it together as we visit and catch up on each other's lives. This year’s puzzle was a beautiful one, a spread of all kinds of shore birds, salt and freshwater. The next morning we said a sad good bye for this year’s wonderful annual visit and headed south. What a cold day! It was only 36 degrees as we headed out of town and everyone on the streets looked stunned. We actually saw a few flakes of snow about 10 miles south of Myrtle Beach.
We planned to visit the Charleston Market, and walk around the town to see that gorgeous city, but it was too cold for the vendors to even be in the market, let alone us to stroll around viewing the stalls. We actually heard the buggy drivers joking about how miserable it was to ride around in buggies. We headed on south, looking for warmer weather. We crossed into Georgia and spent the night at the campground of Skidaway Island State Park. It was cold outside, but we were warm and cozy inside wrapped in our sleeping bags with the electric blanket on top. We took some time in the morning for a beautiful walk through the trails of this neat barrier island. The salt water areas are mingled with small fresh water ponds, and palms, Spanish moss and palmettos everywhere. Very cold though, and Karren wimped out and went back to the motorhome, while Jim walked on to the long trail to see the earthworks left over from the Revolutionary war, and the whiskey stills.

We thought about visiting Savannah while we were that close, but really didn’t feel like visiting urban areas and hit the road to go on south to see family. This country sure is different to drive through. Long, straight level roads, with as much wetland as dry, and beautiful little white egrets dotting the water everywhere. Thursday night we were tired, so pulled into a motel to stretch out and watch tv for the evening.