Exploring Augusta and meeting up with cousins

We just kindof stumbled on Heritage RV Park when we were looking for a place to stay in Augusta at the last minute.  The owner is in the process of renovating some of the sites and adding landscaping, and we got one of the completed sites.

It’s probably one of the most attractive sites we’ve had!  There’s no pool bath house or laundry, but they do have cable tv and really fast internet . . . and it’s conveniently located to everything you could need in Augusta.

We got all set up on Friday, and then went downtown the next morning for the Augusta Saturday Market.

There were lots of food vendors, live music, fresh produce, and some arts & crafts.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t buy much, but did pick up a few fresh vegetables.

 

 

From the market, we walked along the river.

Augusta is on the banks of the Savannah River, with South Carolina on the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful morning, as we walked along the river, enjoying the cool shade of the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We reached the end of the riverwalk, where we climbed the stairs up to the riverwatch level.  This is another walkway along the river, but at a higher level, where you can see across the river, and downtown as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Augusta has an interesting mix of old and new architecture in the downtown area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little did we know, Augusta was the hometown of James Brown.  We passed through James Brown Plaza on our way back to the car.

 

They have a cool thing set up where you can stand there with the James Brown statue, send a text to a number on the light pole next to the statue, and a camera on the light pole takes your picture and texts it to your phone – pretty slick!

We didn’t try it, though . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon, Tom’s cousin Andrea, along with he husband and younger daughter stopped by for a visit.  The last time we saw them (on our way to Disney), the kids were a lot younger . . . I guess we were, too!

We had a nice visit, and then ventured back downtown for handcrafted burgers at Farmhaus Restaurant . . . and then we went all the way to South Carolina for ice cream!

We had a really nice time, and were so glad they stopped by for a visit!

Back in Charleston for a few days

From Myrtle Beach, we travelled back to the Navy base to get Nicolas back in time to start T-track.  This is the waiting time he’ll have until he starts his next school in early July. 

It won’t be all time off, though!  For the next few weeks he’ll be on the watch billet, which means he’ll be schedule to stand watch somewhere on base for 12 hours, and then off for 24 hours.  After the first few weeks, there will be more classes graduating and joining his class in T track, and then he’ll have more free time.  He’s hoping to get a little camping in on the weekends!

We got back on Monday, and he took his things back to his room, caught up with a few friends who were also back from leave, and then came back to the campground to have dinner with us and watch a movie.

He officially reported back on Tuesday morning, and while he was working we busied ourselves with laundry, grocery shopping and changing the oil in the car.  He was done in the early afternoon, but had to stay on base until 4pm, so he came over to the campground and hung out with us in the afternoon – another benefit of staying at the base campground!

 

This little tree was between our site and the one we were on before our vacation – it smelled SOOO good!

 

 

 

 

Tuesday was my birthday, and Wednesday was Tom’s birthday, so Nicolas was taking us out to dinner.  He’s been hungry for Cracker Barrel, so that’s where we went.

 

We had a very nice dinner . . . Thanks, Nicolas!!!    

When we got back from dinner, Nicolas and Tom changed the oil in the truck, and then he headed home so he could get up in time for his 5am watch duty.  That’s early!!

On Wednesday, I did a little more laundry and made spaghetti and meatballs for Tom’s birthday dinner, and Nicolas joined us when he got off watch.  Another yummy dinner followed by apple pie and ice cream!

After dinner, Nicolas drove us to the recreation area on base.  It’s where they can have picnics or go fishing – they also have hunting areas there, and mountain bike paths through the woods.

It’s a nice area . . . but lots of mosquitos and no-seeums!

Nicolas watched TV with us for awhile, and then home to bed.  He promised to stop by in the morning when he was done with muster, to say goodbye.

 

He arrived just as we were getting hitched up, and leant a hand one last time.

We were really glad that we have the flexibility in our lives to be able to stay on base and spend time with him.

We’re so proud of what he’s doing, and glad we can be here to share his accomplishments with him!

 

We love this guy so much, and after 3 weeks of being back together, it was really hard to say good-bye and drive away!  We had hoped he might get Memorial Day weekend off and be able to come up to the RV-Dreams Rally for a couple days, but it looks like he’s going to be on watch. 

We’ll be back around in the fall to spend time with him again, though!

Until then, bye-bye, Sailor-boy; we miss you!! 

 

Four Midwesterners survive Tropical Storm Ana

Back when we planned our vacation for Nicolas’ leave, we figured that a few days at Myrtle Beach with a nice pool would be a great way to wrap it up. 

We didn’t plan on the first named storm of the hurricane season joining us there!

Now, I must say, the National news was making a MUCH bigger deal out of the storm than the local weather forecasters were . . . to them it was just going to be “some rain, some wind”, nothing to really worry about.  So, even with the bullseye directly on Myrtle Beach, we made our move. 

We packed up Thursday afternoon so that we could get an early start on Friday and hopefully be set up before any rain moved in.  We arrived at Pirateland Campground around noon, and pulled onto our site just as a downpour hit us!  Two minutes later, it was over and we proceeded to get set up.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was still pretty windy and stormy-looking, so we took Casey for a quick walk down to the beach before it rained again.

There wasn’t much going on at the beach!

It started to rain again, so we had some lunch and took a quick run to the store.  By the time we got back, the rain was gone and the sun had come out!

 

One more quick walk for the doggie, and then we headed to the pool . . . we figured we might as well take advantage of it while we could!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The swimming area at Pirateland is beautiful – with a huge pool, lazy river, and a kiddie splash area.  There were a few kids in the splash area, but nobody was braving the chilly water of the pool or lazy river.

We did, though!

With the sun low in the late afternoon sky, and a pretty good breeze, it was chilly floating on the water, but we had fun!

The boys tried out single tubes, then double tubes,

and then stacked double tubes!

When we finally needed to warm up a little, we headed over to the indoor pool and hot tub!  Overall, not a bad day at all!

Saturday was predicted to be more of the same – periods of rain alternating with periods of sun – as the tropical storm was getting closer, but still offshore. 

The surf was definitely getting rougher, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were hoping it wouldn’t get too bad, since we were pretty close to the beach!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a walk along the beach,

and spotted a few jellyfish washed up on the sand.

We also watched groups of pelicans as they flew in formation over the waves . . . it was pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was really neat to watch, and we were amazed at how low they flew – even with the surf as rough as it was!

Walking back along the beach, we saw another group of pelicans flying over the waves!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s hard to believe that such large birds can be so graceful!

After our walk on the beach, we took a drive through downtown Myrtle Beach.  It’s looking a little rundown, and is really just made up of bars, restaurants, mini golf and giant beachwear shops.  We didn’t see anything that made us want to stop and look around, so we just went back to the campground and over to the pool again.

Most of the afternoon was pretty nice, and after a couple hours at the pool we decided to go out for pizza (I didn’t feel like cooking!).  We went to a little pizza place in surfside beach, and it was really good . . . and much nicer than Myrtle Beach!

By the time we got back to the campground, it was almost time for sunset . . .     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we went to sleep Saturday night, the rain had arrived and the wind had picked up quite a bit . . . we learned that Tropical Storm Ana made landfall just north of Myrtle Beach sometime during the night. 

We slept right through it!

It was raining pretty hard Sunday morning, so other than going out for mass, we stayed in all day.  I did manage to get down to the beach between rain showers to get a few pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched movies all day, and I got Mother’s Day presents from Nicolas,

and Bryce.

 

 

It was a nice day, even if we couldn’t get outside!

Later, after dinner, the rain finally stopped and the sun started to peak out between the clouds.  We went out for a walk, and were treated to a rainbow over the ocean!    

The remaining clouds made the sky look really dramatic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sunset was pretty spectacular, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that was it . . . we survived the first named storm of the 2015 Hurricane season, and our first tropical storm ever!  It wasn’t so bad!

Monday morning dawned beautifully – with a crystal-clear blue sky!

Figures – it was time for us to end our vacation and get Nicolas back to the base so he could start work on Tuesday!  Oh well, it was a nice day to pack up and drive!

We had a great vacation, and we were so glad we could give Nicolas some “family-time” with lots of rest, relaxation and fun!