Our last few days in South Carolina

It’s hard to believe it, but we spent the entire month of November in South Carolina.  We explored many great areas – Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Charleston . . . and we spent the last few days in Hardeeville, just a few miles from Hilton Head and Savannah, Georgia.  We took advantage of the dry days later in the week to explore both.

Savannah

It was just a short drive to Savannah from the RV Park, and we made our way to River Street to walk along the river and do a little window-shopping.  Just love these street-level entrances and cobblestone roads!

The shops and the streets were all decorated for Christmas, and with just a few other people walking around, it was quite nice.

 

Lots of fraser firs in south Carolina . . . and not quite as pricey as they are in Michigan!

 

 

 

 

 

Walking along the riverwalk, we saw this huge cargo ship on it’s way to port (at least I think it was going towards the port – maybe it was leaving!).

The little Tug was behind it at first, but quickly moved up front as the big ship approached the bridge!

It sure didn’t look like it was going to fit under the bridge . . .

but it did – no problem!

We wandered into the Savannah Candy Kitchen for the free samples,

and left with a bag full of treats!  I think I’ll need to add a line for treats/snacks to my 2013 budget, so these purchases don’t keep messing up my grocery budget!

 

At the next candy store (where we didn’t buy anything) we were just in time to see the Candy Maker make some saltwater taffy!

First, he added the colored stripe to identify the flavor (lime).

Then he set it on the rollers which twisted and twisted until the dark green was a spiral stripe through the lighter green.

 

 

After he stretched it out some, he fed it into the machine which cut it into little pieces and wrapped each individually.

And then we got samples!!  Nice, soft taffy, but lime isn’t a flavor we would choose!

When we reached the end of the riverwalk, we climbed back up to street level and ventured over to City Market.

Here there were more shops and restaurants, and little outdoor eating areas.  We walked around but didn’t buy anything.  Making our way back to the car we passed City Hall,

and the Old Savannah Cotton Exchange,

 

 

 

 

along with several historic squares and parks.

By the time we were done walking and shopping, we were pretty hungry, so at the recommendation of numerous people we decided to go for “Savannah’s best BBQ”.

The boys and I all had pulled pork, and Tom had beef brisket and pulled pork.  All of it was delicious, but the pulled pork was the best!  We even bought some frozen pulled pork to take with us (since I currently have an empty freezer!).

We took “the long way” back to the campground, but we got there, and in plenty of time for Survivor!

 Hilton Head

On Thursday, we decided to take a drive up to Hilton Head . . . totally different that Savannah – nothing historic at all, just tons of shopping and hotels, and golf courses.  We drove the length of highway 378, and ended up at the beach.

It was low tide, so the beach was huge!  There was a little river that ran out of the ocean, and Bryce kept jumping back and forth over it.

The water was pretty warm and the sun was nice, but with the wind it was definitely chilly – too chilly for the beach! 

No ships out there!

We made our way back to the car, and started back towards the mainland.  We stopped at a waterfront marina/shopping area and walked around a bit, admiring the boats.

This one is really nice!  I think it’s bigger than our RV!!

Nicolas kept watch from up above . . .

We could definitely tell it was off-season, with many of the shops closed until February and hardly anybody else walking around.  Tom did have a chance to pose with a god . . .

We decided that Hilton Head is a little too ritzy for us, and probably a zoo when all the snowbirds are here!

On the way back to Hardeeville, we stumbled onto the Farmer’s Market in Old Town Bluffton . . . definitely more our style!

I’m amazed by the amount of fresh produce you can still find down here . . . it just seems strange!  This little shop was all decked out for Christmas!

Back at the RV, Tom got a fire started while I cooked dinner. 

We haven’t been able to have fires for the whole month of November, so it’s nice to burn some of this wood we’ve been carrying around since Kentucky!