VACATION: Tuesday

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Yep – this vacation has a purpose behind it. It is my birthday trip. For several years I always took a nice long trip on my birthday. Sometimes to the beach, sometimes to the mountains, few times to TRA, a cruise & even once to Washington DC. But I haven’t done it in a few years, and I decided that I needed a break.

I got up bright and early today & did yoga (sorry no pictures LOL). Then went for a walk around the campground & down to the beach.




I then walked up and down the beach for an hour – thinking about the past year & to be honest thinking about the past 36 years. I came up with a yearly milestone for every year – from birth to graduation to surgery to transformation.

I then did a little bit of spell work and let the ocean wash all the negative away.


After a long walk and a refreshing shower I decided to check out Brookgreen Gardens and WOW let me tell you – this place is beautiful!!! And if you stop & think about it a really good deal. $12 per person ($10 if you are staying at the state park) and the ticket is good for 7 days.




And I can not wait to see the OTTERS!!!! (My favoritist animal on the whole freaking planet)

When you enter Brookgreen Gardens – they give you a map & a schedule of events. Leave the Welcome Center and head out and around the gift shop (the circle of life statues are here), next up the St James Triad and then a stretch of hot unshaded walkway and next up the Lowcountry Center. Once around this building you are on your way to the Lowcountry Trail.

(While I was wondering the trail my dad called and sang me Happy Birthday, he can’t sing – but he tries so hard. A for effort, Daddy-O.)

You walk a shaded pathway that literally takes you through a rice plantation Archaeological site. You can stop and listen to a “recorded blips” about a day in the life of a Southern Rice Plantation at several different locations. And then you reach the Barn area. They have Red Devon cows, Marsh Tacky horses, and Tunis sheep. All of these are “rare” breeds because the animals have been SOOOOO cross bred. No one wanted to pose for any pictures. *pout*

Then on to the Lowcountry Zoo. And you guessed it – OTTERS!!!!!! I probably spent an hour just watching and talking with these funny little clowns. Now I’ll be honest I saw other animals – alligator, fox, bald eagle, owls, swan, turkey. But in truth – the otter footage “ate up” my camera batteries. Oops. After walking the Zoo, I walked all the way back up to the welcome center.

So I figured I deserved a break & decided to go check out *A Novel Idea* used book store. I was not impressed. It was across the street from Krystals and let me tell you that was temptation city, but I prevailed & overcame the overwhelming desire to eat a slider or two (or three) and drove down the road to Books A Million. Now usually I am not a big fan of chain anything while I am on vacation, but hey, free internet is free internet & I wanted to get at least Monday up and running.


On the way back to the campground – I got curious and decided to stop at the farmers market & I am ever so glad.

This store more than made up for the crappy used book store. They have abso everything there. Fresh veggies, pasta, coffee, meat, cheese – you name it. And the staff, well I can not say enough good things about the staff of this little joint. If you are ever in the area you must check in with Scott & Sketch (and try some of Sketch’s Chicken Salad YUMMY!!!!). This is the kind of store that I love going to.








Then it was back to my home away from home for a delicious dinner of chicken parm with fresh mozerralla & a salad.