Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Beaufort, South Carolina

St George, South Carolina – Jolly Acres Campground

Chatty remains at the veterinary emergency animal clinic.  We have been happy with the service we have received, and we really like his vet Dr. Jeremy Libby.  He called me twice every day to give me an update, and address all of my concerns.  He transferred care over to the surgeon this morning, and Chatty is scheduled for surgery sometime today.    It’s a pretty big surgery (and boy could I post some interesting?  “the end” photos if I wasn’t afraid of grossing everybody out!

Since we had no ill kitty to care for, we decided to do some more sightseeing.  We expect we will be tied to the house/rv after Chatty is released from the hospital.

Our first stop was to visit a Thousand Trails park in Yemessee, St.    It’s located right off I-95 between Charleston and Savannah.   We were unimpressed with this park.   We so much prefer campgrounds that are privately owned and managed.   We sure hate to see all the permanent residents that you see at so many parks.

This is a good example of one of the permanent residents  of this Thousand Trails Park.  I sure don’t want this “view.”

The Oaks at South Point, Yemessee SC  Thousand trails park

It was a wooded park with lots of shade.  Getting a good satellite signal would be an issue.  There were a lot of pull through sites and we felt we could get our big rig into them.

The Oaks at South Point, Yemessee SC  Thousand trails park

There were some big rigs.

The Oaks at South Point, Yemessee SC  Thousand trails park

We were not extremely impressed, but with our TT membership we could stay for $3.00 a night.  If they would mow and get read of the eyesore trailer with all the tarps, it wouldn’t be so bad.

The last time we used our TT membership at Vero Beach, we were told TT only allowed them to offer 4 sites to the TT members with the Max Pass option.  The problem with that is that we couldn’t not have fit into two of those sites.   We decided to ask at the Oaks to see if they had that same new rule.  The lady at the office said they didn’t, and we had access to any available site.  We then asked about sites where we could get satellite.  She said the site numbered in the low 30’s might work, but they generally only offer them to overnighters.  So much, for us being able to pick any site, huh?   We left, not anxious to return.

We decided to head back towards the beautiful little city of Beaufort.  On  the way, we discovered Beaufort National Cemetery.

Beaufort National cemetary

Beaufort National cemetary

It was full of beautiful old Live Oak trees covered in Spanish Moss.

Beaufort National cemetary Live Oaks covered in Spanish Moss

Beaufort is a beautiful small town.  We would like to go back and explore it some more, but we ran out of time.

We discovered this very old church and graveyard.

You don’t see too many churches that were established in 1712.

Parish Church of St. Helena, EST 1712

 

Parish Church of St. Helena, EST 1712

IMG_4333

Parish Church of St. Helena, EST 1712

Parish Church of St. Helena, EST 1712

Next stop was Hunting Island State Park.

We had heard a lot of great reports about this place and wanted to check it out for ourselves.

The roads were fine until you got to this very narrow old bridge leading to the islands.

VERY narrow bridge to Hunting Island State park, SC

Trust me, it’s much narrower in person than it looks in this picture.  I would sure hate to meet another big rv coming the opposite direction!

The campground is right on the beach behind the sand dunes.   It was shady and there was a wonderful cool breeze blowing.

Hunting Island SP, South Carolina.   narrow roads, not big rig friendly but there are a few sites for larger rigs

The sites were situated this way and that, and they were pretty full on this Labor Day.

Larger rigs would have to be careful where they parked.  There were many narrow and curvy roads.

We were not allowed to get out of the car on our tour, so we didn’t take many photos.

We headed home after realizing there were some strong thunderstorms heading our way.  We ended up about 86 miles from home, so we had a long drive back!

Our campground had a Labor Day cook out last night at 6pm.  They had steaks and everyone was to bring a dish.  We had stuffed ourselves at lunch, at the Golden Corral buffet, but decided to walk over to the cook-out and at least be sociable.  I ended up with a plate of potato salad, macaroni salad, cucumber and I even splurged and had half a deviled egg.  Boy was it good!  That was my first egg in 6 weeks as a vegan.

Al ended up eating a steak.   I encouraged him to go ahead and have a steak if he wanted,  since he wasn’t interested in any of the other side dishes.  He liked it, but it didn’t leave him craving another anytime soon.

That was the first meat he had eaten in 6 weeks.  Neither of us is craving meat or dairy products.  We have given ourselves permission to eat whatever we want, but so far we aren’t really wanting these things.  We both like the fact that we’re losing weight and are never hungry.  (of course after all that we ate yesterday, we probably gained a pound or two)

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Touring Charleston

St. George, South Carolina

We had to end up taking Chatty back to the vet on Friday.  He was backed up again and unable to urinate.  Long story short, he ended up at an after hours veterinarian clinic (think big bucks) and is still there.  He is going to have surgery on Tuesday (think more big bucks).   The procedure is called a perineal urethrostomy and basically Chatty will be peeing like a girl.   In case anyone is really interested I provided the link, but I warn you, it’s pretty graphic.

We are sick about putting Chatty through this, and sick about the cost.   After the money we spent last year with Squeaky (unsuccessfully) we swore we weren’t doing that again.  However, it never starts out to be so expensive.  They $500 you here and there and then you have to do something to prevent your pet from suffering.  We hope this turns out better.  At least this time, we know what is wrong and there is something that can cure/manage it.  We actually had this procedure done on another cat many years ago and it worked quite well.   Poor Chatty is in the vets with a catheter stuck up his penis, an iv in his leg and an Elizabethan collar on his head.   He looks pretty miserable.  This hospital has 24 hour care though.

So, we’re not leaving the Charleston area anytime soon.  We’re still hoping to head up to Asheville as soon as he is released and able to travel.  We’re only about 200 miles from Asheville, North Carolina, which is our ultimate goal.  It’s really hot here, but the temperatures are much cooler in the mountains of North Carolina.  They are having low 80’s in the day and 60’s at night.    sigh

We decided since  Chatty  is hospitalized and we didn’t need to hang around to care for him, we would tour Charleston.

Yesterday we toured Fort Moultrie.  It’s right across the harbor from Fort Sumter, which was where the Civil War began.   We figure Fort Moultrie entered the Civil War about 2 seconds behind Fort Sumter.  We had planned on touring Fort Sumter but it cost  $35 for the boat ride and parking, while Fort Moultrie was free with our National Parks pass. 

Fort Moultrie was amazing and well worth the time.  It had been there since 1776, and had been rebuilt many times.  We’ve seen a few forts and this one was by far the largest and most interesting.

Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC

Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC

Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC

It’s so large the pictures don’t do it justice.

Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC

This next picture is Fort Sumter, which is right across the harbor.

Fort Sumpter, Charleston, SC

This morning we went into Charleston early.  It’s been so hot that we felt morning would be the best time. 

Here are the row houses in the Battery.

The Battery row houses Charleston, SC

Many buildings have been there since the 1700’s.

Charleston, SC park

Pretty architecture.

Charleston, SC park

Interesting parks

Charleston, SC park

Lots of shopping and bars.

Charleston, SC

We stopped at a little bakery and had breakfast.  Al was a bad boy…can’t you tell from his expression?   (he had a biscuit with and egg on it)

Al hiding an egg bisquit

He’s trying to hide the evidence.   Smile  It’s okay though, he’s been eating very healthy all the rest of the time.

Once it started to get hot, we decided to end our walking tour.

I wanted to go see The Citadel while we were here and seeing a few Cadets at Wal-Mart reminded me.  It’s a prestigious military college of South Carolina.

It’s quite an amazing and large campus with 300 acres and some 3000 students.  It was started in 1843.  There was a female cadet guarding the gate.  We weren’t sure we’d be allowed to enter, but she waved us on through. 

The Citidal, Charleston, SC

The Citidal, Charleston, SC

There are a lot of buildings that look much like this one.  There are handsome young cadets all over, either in uniform or in the standard exercise gear.

 

The Citidal, Charleston, SC

Our internet here is free, but sporadic.  I’m not sure when this will get posted.