Edisto

We've been before.

We keep thinking that we won't have enough to do with the kids.

But today - on our last day, M said:  this week went really quick! 

That's the first time I heard that phrase in 2020 where EVERYTHING seems to drag out at super slow speed!! 

The 1st day -- I would've slept later, but I forgot to turn off my alarm.  Since I was awake, I made the best of it and drove to the other side of the island before the sun rose.   

These photos are in reverse... start 4 pictures down and watch it rise with me.  :)

Unfortunately, my "internal alarm" never fixed itself on this vacation.  I was up early pretty much every morning.  (Sometimes 4:30-5 -- like normal.... but most of the time around 6.)  I did get some work done for the teaching class I'm taking, though.  

And - I did get a couple of naps on this trip.  

I always like the texture on the sand at the beach.  Here are some shots of that + a big shell I found.

One of our favorite spots (Botany Bay) here on the island was closed to the public for arrow deer hunting.  It's all natural - never been dredged as a public beach and there are conch shells galore.  

Todd and I were disappointed to learn it was closed, but we did some good things in it's place.  

The island has a nice bike trail that we explored, then took a picnic lunch and ate by a lake. 

We ate pizza by the beach by this beach cabana (it was really windy that day, but did not want to eat indoors so we had to hold onto our paper plates!)

This stair railing is no longer above ground.... it's buried in the sand.  Hurricane Matthew moved sand up onto the island shore by about 4' from what we were told.... looked up some photos and the main 4 lane road along the beach... totally under sand!  

We were told they had to get bulldozers to move the sand back out to the beach.  I guess they didn't really change the elevation on the actual beach.  

We visited some old church ruins that we like & have been to previously.  Unfortunately, there is now a fence around the church ruins so you cannot walk through them.   But - we took a picnic and hung out on the grounds and still got to explore and experience it as best as we could.   (such as playing tag-hide-and-seek)

As we were leaving, there were these trees that were filled with scored concrete.  We've never seen that -- maybe it's used to prevent rot?  Seems like it would not be good for the tree.

We found a working pump... which is something we had not seen before either.

That day, the kids played ping pong and we went putt-putting.... so the kids had some things they enjoyed too.

We tried our hand at crab fishing a couple of times.  (We watched some YouTube videos on how to do it.)  We were not successful the 1st day we went, but the next time we tried (different time of day and a different spot from the dock) we DID catch one crab.  It was too small to keep -- not like we were going to keep it anyways. 

We did lure a much bigger one, but we couldn't get it into the net.  It was kind of gross (you use a chicken neck -- and yes -- that is sold at the bait shops).  You tie it to a string and lower it.  The chicken is hard to get off of the bone, so the crabs really have to work on it and while they're working -  you pull it up slowly and net it.  Our dock was really high compared to the top of the water, so it was hard to reach the water with the net.  

We introduced Isabella to EATING crab legs on this trip too.  We learned how to steam them -- which we've never done.  (Notice, Mercer has a chicken sandwich - he wouldn't try it.)  She liked it, but she also really liked the she-crab soup that we bought from a local restaurant.  (Also - on the table is some left-over Low-Country Boil that we also had earlier in the week from that same restaurant.  Unfortunately, that is not a good "take-out" item as the shrimp were overcooked.)

We introduced Isabella to EATING crab legs on this trip too.  We learned how to steam them -- which we've never done.  (Notice, Mercer has a chicken sandwich - he wouldn't try it.)  She liked it, but she also really liked the she-crab soup that we bought from a local restaurant.  (Also - on the table is some left-over Low-Country Boil that we also had earlier in the week from that same restaurant.  Unfortunately, that is not a good "take-out" item as the shrimp were overcooked.)

A couple of different times, we actually went to hang out on the beach. Isabella is the only one that wanted to venture into the water!  (There were a handful of other people in the water, but no many as it was cold!)

We went for a long long walk on Thanksgiving Day.  The state park on the island has a long stretch that faces the beach.  We went there to start our journey towards Jeremy's Inlet.  The map above shows the state park (in green)... follow along to the coast to the edge of the green and that's Jeremey's inlet.

This is "THE" spot for shelling.  We had been to the inlet before -- but -- something was majorly different.  1 - either we went at a different tide   OR   2 - the landscape was changed because of the storm mentioned above (Matthew).  

We were there with maybe 50 - 60 other people (all very spread out... our photos still look desolate!).  Many people were in the water's edge fishing.  

The rest were walking with heads down looking for shells.  Todd and Mercer went on ahead of Isabella and myself.  She and I got caught up in this clay-ey mud at one point and we looked up / realized we were surrounded by the slippery stuff!    There were oyster beds.  There were thousands of shells... hundreds of thousands of shells all along the ground.  Obviously most of them were there for days, weeks, years... so you had to go to the water's edge and look for the new shells that were washed up.

Previously, we hung out at the "top" of the inlet -- up on the hill (basically one bank of the river).  This time, we were down low at the mouth of the inlet. There were patches of land that were opened up because the tide was low.  (In fact, we saw a group of people that crossed over the mouth of the inlet and were stuck!  They were wading back across in (dangerous / moving) water to get to the land on the Edisto side.  They made it, but...wow... it was certainly something to watch and to tell the kids about!

We noticed the water was moving in on us - there was water on either side of us and a stretch of dry land that was higher, so we moved towards the dunes and started to head back.  

Todd found actual sand dollars.  Isabella got oyster shells... LOTS of oyster shells.  I was picking up semi-intact conch shells and pieces of iridescent pin shells.  (This is the big shell that Isabella is trying to pry open - an animal inside of a pin shell that did not yet reveal it's iridescent color.)  Mercer, well, he wasn't that into it.   

Todd and Mercer walked on ahead of us again on the way back to the state park. They beat us by a good 30 minutes.  Isabella stopped a lot to get more shells even though she kept saying "no more shells, mom.  Let's keep going"  Then she would bend with over-filled hands to get another treasure that she spotted.  (She spilled a lot 'til I pointed out her shirt had a big pocket in it.) 

She stopped to watch a beached jellyfish move around with the waves that were hitting it.  She wanted to help it get back to the water, but I wouldn't let her touch it even with a stick or a shell.    We stopped to talk to a fisherman.    We stopped to talk to a mom and her two girls that we talked with several hours earlier on our way out to the inlet.  We kept stopping, but it was enough to keep those little legs moving even though we had been walking for hours!

We had originally planned to ride our bikes through the marsh side of the state park after eating Thanksgiving dinner, but.... we didn't make it.  And that's OK.  Everyone was pretty worn out.  (They did not want to have their picture taken with the food!)  

We had a late Thanksgiving lunch (3-ish) and a lazy afternoon.  We had picked up pre-made Thanksgiving dishes from a local restaurant:  turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, she crab soup (that we saved for another day), cranberry sauce, mac and cheese.    Todd made a pie.  We had our fill for the rest of our days there!  

The only thing that we did after that was to try to catch the sunset at the point of the island.  

I stood in the same spot 'til the sun went down.  The others saw it and moved onto playing paddle. 

Watching the sunset was at this point at the end of the river -- where the inlet meets the ocean.  (Map below).   At this same point is where we went the next morning -- but we were not on the beach.  We were in the water!

The only thing left on our "agenda" for the week was to go kayaking in the Big Bay Creek (That's what we could see from our balcony -- what was between us and the marsh beyond in the background of this photo.)  Next to this yellow house is a park (Bay Creek Park) -- it has a Christmas tree in it that was lit up some nights.  In this photo, the Christmas tree is behind one of the palm trees.)  

It really was a nice spot!  (Windy on our balcony, but OK with a blanket and a cup of coffee!)  

This first photo shows the yellow house and Bay Creek Park / the Christmas tree seen from our balcony.   It's hard to see, but in front of the yellow house is the public dock that we were using for crabbing.  It really was a great spot!

This next picture also includes the marina to the right. 

We were told that if you go down Big Bay Creek when the tide is moving out, then you may see dolphins who come to corral the fish "at the point."  (See how the island juts up -- this is the point where Big Bay Creek meets the Edisto River AND the Atlantic ocean.... all in one spot!)

This 3rd photo from the water shows "the point" where Big Bay Creek meets Edisto River and the Atlantic beyond. 

We were out for quite awhile when Mercer spotted one!  We tried to call to Todd and Isabella, but they were too far away to hear us.  We stopped rowing and they must have realized that something was up, so they came back.  

They got to catch a glimpse of one too!  We all got to see a couple of dolphins.  (Isabella and Mercer weren't didn't seem too impressed.  We saw dolphins up close at a dolphin show the previous year AND we saw lots of dolphins from the boat also earlier last year.  I thought was cool because we were at the water's level in our kayaks!  We were really in there with them!  It wasn't the show that I think they were hoping for.  Oh well.  It was still nice!

The 4th photo shows the spot (close to the point) where we saw the dolphins.  Mercer and I are in the kayak closer to the shore.  Todd and Isabella are a little further out. 

I think I enjoyed the kayak trip the most.  I really do like it!  Come to think of it - I really liked rowing through the marshes when on crew team Freshman year of college too.   (What would make it better:  if the big kid in the kayak with me didn't complain as much.... and Todd wishes that the little one he's with would paddle instead of "ride!")  Maybe one day they'll get there with us!?!

For some reason that last morning both kids were up (and watching TV in their room!) before 6 am.  Here are pictures of the place we stayed.... and... yes... each room had a TV!

I woke up early - of course - and saw them awake / thought... hey.... why not check out our LAST sunrise together?!   By the time we made hot chocolate (part of the bribe to go out so early)... we sort of missed it...  but we got to see some pretty colors and clouds.    

(Todd chose to sleep in.)

As it turns out, those were rain clouds moving in and we got a little bit sprinkled on.  It rained on our drive to Edisto and on our way back home.  While we were there, it was chilly, but beautiful weather!

I remember that GLORIOUS day that Mercer was up early and he went with me to see a sunrise with me (somewhere in Palm Coast Florida) and we saw a baby sea turtle hatchling go out to sea!  I knew it wasn't the right time of year this trip, but I have to say I was hoping something really memorable would happen.  Oh well.... maybe next time they're up before sunrise?!  

Overall, it was a nice, quiet trip.  WE "isolated together" and definitely kept our social distance.  It was REALLY REALLY wonderful being able to get away!

PS:  I almost forgot.... at a couple of points, Mercer and I were drawing realistic animals from a website.  He had to do this for school.  In his art class, he has a final project this semester.  He and I broke out his art kits and learned (step-by-step) how to draw a couple of different kinds of animals.  That was also relaxing for me -- but maybe stressed him out a little having to catch up on some school work?  He id pretty well!  I should have done school work of my own while we were away.  I took it all.  I did some stuff for my teaching class, but no grading or lesson planning.  Unfortunately the week back at school -- I would pay with very little sleep.  

I think it was worth it.  :)