After leaving the mountains, we traveled to the coastal area of South Carolina. We were hoping to get in a few good drives in and see a few coastal sights. The weather didn't cooperate much, but we got a few days of sight-seeing in anyway.
The first day, we decided to piece together a few scenic drives. We stopped and saw the Angel Oak. It really was a gorgeous tree and in such a quiet place.
The road just past the large oak tree was call Maybank Highway. It was a short, but beautiful drive through mossy oaks. With all the rain South Carolina has continued to receive, we saw a great deal of flooding. We only saw one home where the water reached the front door, but many had flooded yards and driveways. Like Texas, this area has been hit pretty hard by recent storms.
Another scenic road took us to the bay just across from Charleston. Here is Fort Sumter from quite a distance.
We also watched a passing schooner.
Still a third road took us along the Ashley River. There were several places to sight-see along that route, but we decided not to stop as it was getting late.
The next day rain was probably, so we decided to walk the nature trails in the town where we are staying. About a 1/4 mile down the boardwalk, water completely covered the path and we had to turn back. It was a pretty walk and would be interesting to see under better circumstances.
Our second driving day started off a bit scary. About 1/2 way to our first destination, the camera fell out of Susan's jacket pocket and bounced off the road at 55 mph then landed in the grass. The camera is a little banged up, but it still took pictures. It will need to be replaced soon because the dial will easily fall off. We will try to put that purchase off until next year.
Our first stop (after we stopped to retrieve the camera from the roadside) was an old church. This church had been around since before the Revolutionary War. It was surrounded by old grave markers with dates in various centuries. One wonders what this old church must have seen through the years.
The far end of our drive this day ended in Hunting Island State Park. We decided to walk out the pier. While Susan was purchasing our passes, Trey spotted a little family enjoying the day.
We saw more animals as we walked down the pier. Here you can see a gull with a porpoise surfacing in the background. There were many porpoises near the dock that day. We watched several dozen pass by.
I think this is the same gull as the previous picture. Most of my bird in flight photos were very out of focus because of the fog and poor camera skills. We were happy to get a good shot here.
We spent some time there watching the birds, fish and surroundings. The grasses along the shore moved with the rhythm of the waves as they came ashore creating a mesmerizing scene. Should have taken a video.
Before walking back to shore, we watched two fishermen land a shark.
We aren't sure what they planned to do with that catch, but the other fishermen along the pier seemed quite impressed.
Our final destination was another boardwalk.
The most interesting part of this walk were the number of fiddler crabs in the area - there were hundreds! We watched in fascination for a while then continued down the path only to discover more crabs. It would have been a young boy's dream to get down in the mud with these fellas.
We also spotted several water birds on our walk.
It was a nice day, but the fog in some places kept us from getting too much of a distant view. Of the ten days we have spent here, we've seen blue sky on only one of them. We had hoped to get more exploring in, but that will have to wait for another, drier, time. Even with our abbreviated explorations, we have seen some pretty nice things and enjoyed the little surprises along the way.