Friends and Family

We are so enjoying our stay at Huntington Beach!!  We've had a fun week hanging out with friends Gin and Syl and Nancy and Bill.  We've shared meals, biked many many miles, played Sequence a few dozen times, and just sat around and talked....and laughed and laughed and laughed.  One of the bike outings that we had was with Bill (Nancy was unfortunately working).  We rode to the boat landing to Sandy Island.  Sandy Island is within the boundaries of the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge.  There is no bridge to the island and many of the residents that live there are descendants of slaves who worked the island's rice plantations prior to the Civil War.  The residents go back and forth to the island with boats that look like they have seen better days. We also saw the school boat that is used to transport the kids.  We'd like to kayak to the island and hope that the weather cooperates soon! 

We also pedaled up to Murrells Inlet with Gin and Syl.  We stopped at a two boat landings along the way to have a look-see about the possibility of launching the kayaks there one day.  Now all we need is warmer weather!   Back at the campground, we also pedaled to the beach near the jetty and rode our bikes on the boardwalk (Nancy and Bill - I know, I know,  it's a board "walk"; not a board "pedal")!!    We then pushed the bikes to the hard sand and hopped back on.  The four of us were determined to pedal to the jetty.  I got a little distracted looking for seashells for our new "aquarium" but eventually caught up with the gang.  What amazing views!  We didn't have the camera with us that day but took in the sights of the propoises in the water as well as the sea turtle! 

Sunday we left the campground fairly early to go visit my sister Cathy and BIL Bruce.  They live about an hour away and we always have a great time when we get together with them.  After a quick lunch, we headed out to hike part of the Palmetto Trail.  The Palmetto Trail is a series of passages linked together to form a trail extending from the mountains (Oconee passage) to the sea (Awendaw passage).  The entire trail is about 425 miles long!  It was an easy hike and, even though the weather was not sunshiney, it was a good day to enjoy the outdoors.

Hanging out underneath one of the bridges!

Monkey see; monkey do!

Back at their house, Cathy and I played with their dog, Riley, while the guys went to go check Bruce's deer spying camera in the woods. Cathy also showed me their gardens and greenhouse.

Riley -it took a bit to get him to keep still for the picture!

Riley loves to play frisbee 

Cathy in the greenhouse!  They grow peppers and lettuce year-round.

Look at the size of that pepper.

Bruce and Cathy made us a great meal for dinner.  We had backloin from a deer that Bruce had gotten, parmesan chicken, brown rice, brocolli and cheese, corn, and corn bread.  Cathy's daughter Ciara and her friend Michael were able to join us as well. 

It was a great meal with lots of laughs and the day ended all too soon.  Bruce and Cathy are going to try to come see us soon to bike the trails and the jetty with us!  We may get to see Ciara and Michael again too!