Lynne joined me at my home so that we could begin another one of my northern trips (fourth one in less than a year). This trip was to try to collect some back rent (use and occupancy) from our former dirt bag tenants via a small claims suit. Another three thousand miles added to my poor car. Oh, well.
We left Sunday morning around 7:30 am. Our goal for the evening was just north of Lake Marion in South Carolina. Normally with Steve we make the trip with only one overnight. But Lynne and I decided we wanted to mosey north. So, we planned on three overnights. As mentioned in some earlier blogs, Steve and I often use one of the travel clubs—Evergreen
By the time we hit the Georgia/South Carolina border, we knew we were wayyyyyy too early. Oh, Gee! That might meant that we would have stop and check out some of the local attractions/places of interest.
The first place we stopped was the Frampton House. It was an antebellum homestead that was mostly gift shop and partly museum with many mostly Civil War era relics. Two wonderful ladies were behind the counter and gave us samples of cherry cider and peach cider. The cherry was a tad tart, but quite yummy. It is much too early in the trip to start spending money and lugging stuff around. So, we bought the peach and said we would get some cherry on the way home. The cider came in glass jugs…an amazing feat in this day and age of plastic everything. The grounds were very pretty with huge live oaks. An old reaper welcomed one near the entrance way. Lots of neat local chotskas to buy. Leaving the ladies in laughter over some of my silliness, we hoped to be able to stop on our way back.
Continuing up I-95, we discovered the town of Walterboro with a wonderful arts council co-op. The logo for Walterboro is a red rocking chair, and its motto "Back Porch of the Low Country."
One’s craft has to be juried in order to be displayed/sold. The crafty Lynne always likes to look at other peoples’ works. Since most of the town was closed due to the fact that it was Sunday, it seemed natural to spend some time viewing the artisans’ crafts. Lots of sweet grass baskets (Lynne, the basket weaver always likes to see the work of others in this field). Gourds in various designs (Lynne does gourding too). Beautiful pieces of turned wood including burls. Paintings. Jewelry (Lynne does this as well). And, some of my personal favorites were blown glass bowls—beautiful shapes and coloring. Locally blended and packaged tea was available. When we first walked in, I told the lady behind the counter that I wanted one of each. Usually that brings a laugh or at least a smile. Her face remained like stone. Guess my weird sense of humor had stayed in Florida.
The court house had a stone Confederate monument.
We continued our journey north, stopped at Shoney’s for supper. Our wait staff member was from California—could tell immediately that he was not a local for several reasons—the accent, of course, was off. But this dude actually got my warped humor. The only problem is that at the end of the meal, Lynne asked to take her unsweetened tea to go. He brought back a paper cup of tea for her. When she took her first sip—the sweet syrupy taste shouted at her. Lynne uses sugar in extremely limited amounts and almost spit it at me. In the south coffee means it hot; tea means that it is iced and sickening sweet. No other words can be added to this for the true southerner to get this right. Blah! The only food/drink item that comes out of the south that I don’t like is their sweetened tea. Ick, ick, ick!
We called our host after dinner to get directions. We found her house on a canal off Lake Marion. Bucky had to go to work, but Sharon showed us around and made us very comfortable. The evening was still young. As time went on the most beautiful red sun presented itself. Their house is two story with a widow’s watch balcony above whereby one can catch a most beautiful view, especially with the red ball of fire peeking through the tall conifers to the west (the sunset).
Our room could be approached from an outside door. We settled in for the night and found all kinds of amities, microwave, fridge, coffee pot. Bucky and Sharon are from Minnesota, but certainly knew southern hospitality.
No comments:
Post a Comment