Edist-“O Boy, It’s a Vacation”!

Two words come to mind in describing time away from home. First, there is travel and second, there is the vacation.  Most of our adventures, especially those involving Gracey, our RV, are best described as travel because we tend to move into a new location every three or four days on average. Our trip to Edisto Beach, however, is a pure vacation.  Helen (adorable wife) is recuperating from knee replacement surgery and wanted some downtime in the sun and surf. Her right knee gets the same treatment in about a month and she wanted to straighten out a few kinks before the next surgery. I’m always up for some time on the road less traveled, so I readily agreed that a vacation was a good idea. In addition, our route would take us near enough to Charleston to pick up our granddaughters and take them along for their first camping trip. As I wrote last week, we loaded them and their stuff quickly and we were off. Edisto, here we come!

My first impression of Edisto Beach, SC is that it is very low-key.  There is very little commercialization other than a medium size supermarket and a few small shops and restaurants but, other than that, it is primarily beach and beach homes. The second impression is that the area is beautiful.  Our home for the week is the Live Oak Campground within Edisto Beach State Park. We were assigned campsite 111 which sits under some large Live Oaks and across an unpaved road from a very scenic marsh.  The beach is about a two-minute drive away, but we can hear the surf pounding the shore while seated at our picnic table—very relaxing.

The girls were all a-twitter at the camping experience and scampered about the campsite looking for sharks teeth under the picnic table.  They found three…don’t ask me how they got there. Later, and after much resistance, BeBe (Helen) relented and allowed the girls a few minutes on her iPad to play a few games.  Soon, three little girls walked up and were hit immediately by iPad stun gun rays and got sucked in.  This picture describes the scene but, in all honesty, their activity was a lot of fun. The next afternoon, their parents arrived to pick them up. While there, we prepared one of the best shrimp boils I have ever enjoyed.  Regretfully, I have no pictures to share but, trust me, it was delicious.

On the second day, Helen and I walked through the Environmental Learning Center adjacent to the campground.  The center features displays of the plant, animal, and aquatic life found around Edisto and does a fantastic job of it. We spent about an hour viewing the displays that were extremely informative.

I loved the wildlife displays and the turtle aquarium. Finally, we pulled ourselves away from the Center and walked along a trail to the estuary that surrounds Edisto Island. During our walk, a deer startled us and ran away before I could get the camera in position. We were the only humans on the trail at the time. When we arrived at the estuary we were welcomed by a lively pod of dolphins chasing a school of fish.  I was able to get a picture of the dorsal fin but these fellows were moving fast.

One of the displays in the center gave information about the shell rings found in the area and the trail we took led to one of them. Briefly, shell rings are composed of shells and bones left by the ancient Native Americans when they occupied the area several thousands of years ago. A larger shell ring is located at nearby Botany Bay and is currently being studied by archeologists.  Helen and I also visited that site and will feature it in next weeks Easin’ Along so come back. Shell rings are fascinating.

The rest of the week moved all too quickly, but isn’t that usually the case with vacations? We devoted much time to beach sitting and beach walking.  We determined that Helen’s knee is mending well and that salt water must be good for it.  I am nursing an ailing hip and spent a lot of time people watching.  A couple of teenage boys held my attention with their skill on a skimming board.

The threat of rain was present every day, but Edisto was spared and we enjoyed near-perfect skies the entire time.  Unfortunately, the rains came as we packed up to leave but, by then, we were sun-filled, relaxed, and refreshed. We love to travel, but vacations ain’t bad. This one left us ready to continue…Easin’ Along.