~Charleston, South Carolina~

We have just finished visiting beautiful Charleston, South Carolina.   This is the view coming into the waterfront, downtown area.

We have had SO much rain the last few days and it was high tide as well so there was water flooding over all the roads.

We started off at Waterfront Park which is right along the Charleston Harbour entry.  The park has fountains, lawns, walking and jogging paths and a lovely pier with wooden swings!!

We were able to see Fort Sumter from the end of the pier.   It was from here that the first shots of the Civil War were fired.   We could also see the USS Yorktown - World War II aircraft carrier.

You can see how the water is coming over the edge of the path.

Look at those roads!!

We visited the Old City Market which is one of the nation's oldest public makets (1804).  LOTS of tourists enjoying all the crafts, souvenirs and "southern favourites" - sweet grass baskets, grits, etc...

Everywhere you go are these beautiful and sometimes quite creepy (depending on where you are) large oak trees with Spanish moss hanging from them.

A lot of people enjoy carriage rides which take them around the historic part of the city.

"Rainbow Row" is what this street is called as it has a series of colourful historic houses.

Then off to Battery Park and White Point Gardens.   This stretches along the shores of the Charleston Peninsula and is bordered by the Cooper and Ashley rivers.

Then we took a drive to James Island and  famous "Folly Beach".   Another lovely white, sandy beach with a long fishing pier (second longest on the east coast).  The pier stretches 1 045 feet into the Atlantic Ocean.   Once again due to the cold weather the beach was empty.

We then drove to the end of the island where we parked the van at the Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve and walked down to the ocean.   There were so many beautiful birds and lovely scenery!

Then on the way back "home" we stopped off at the Caw Caw Interpretive Centre.   We SO desperately wanted to see an alligator.  We did several of the walks around the park - all so interesting with the swamps, oak trees, ferns, birds, old rice plantations etc.....BUT.....NO gators!!!   Ahhhhhh !!!  Too cold "they" said!

It is a different world "out east" - all SO interesting to see.

Another GREAT day!

~Myrtle Beach~

 The weather has been cold and rainy so when there was a break from the rain we took a "run for it" and headed into Myrtle Beach.   We parked the van and walked along this beautiful boardwalk.   No-one else in sight!!   The beach was amazing and you can just imagine what this place would look like in the heat of the summer with all the people.

 This is looking at the fishing pier.

 Look at all that beautiful, white sand!!

 In the evening we enjoyed playing BINGO with all the "oldies" at the large recreation hall.

We played 10 rounds and Becky won the last round - isn't that such a hilarious t-shirt !!!!   She also won a burger/fries/drink combo!!   Quite the prize!!!

 On the first night we did a family scavenger hunt around the park - it took us about 11/2 hrs to complete and since we were the only family partipating - WE WON!!!   Well they gave us 35 tokens to the arcade.   For those of you who know "Mr Tubbs" in Victoria - this place was about 3-4 times as big and you could win tickets which could be traded in for prizes at the end.   We all had such fun taking turns playing different games.  We tried to find the games that would give us the most tickets!!!

 Once we were finished we counted up all the tickets and let the 3 younger ones choose a prize each.

 Then off to have a look at "Huntington Beach State Park" - another beautiful, white, deserted sandy beach - not even one footprint on the beach!!!   Too much rain for everyone to go onto the beach.

The birds in the park were incredible and we got to see quite a few while driving through it.  Even though the weather was rather dismal we sure had another great afternoon!!

~Ocean Lakes Family Campground, Myrtle Beach, SC~

We have just finished staying at this incredible campground.  It is in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The campground is owned by this older couple and their 5 grown daughters and they bought it in 1971.  The park is HUGE and has everything you need.  It is right on a large, white, sandy beach. The park has almost 1000 full service pull thru sites and over 2000 annual leased sites.   There are MANY roads throughout the park with lovely beach houses.

 This is the centre stage where they do performances and it is right next to the restaurant.

 They have quite a large menu here and it is open even in the winter time.

 This store was twice as big as "our" Brentwood Fairways.

These are some of the beach houses.  The ones closer to the beach have at least two levels.

The park has 8 beautiful lakes.

Many of the beach houses surround  the lakes.

The family and the park has won numerous awards and has been the "National RV Park of the Year" five times.   It has also won "Best Beach" many times as well.   Just this year the couple was inducted into the RV/MH Hall of Fame !!  These are just some of the awards - there were other displays in the lobby area as well.

Look at the size of the check in area.

The park is so large that most people either have their own golf carts for riding around it, or they have them available to rent.   The rental fee in the winter is $17 per day and in the summer it is $50 per day !!!!!   Whew!!!  AND......look at how many they have - over 2000 carts ready for summer use!!!

They even have their own RV Centre.

This is the Beach cafe and large observation deck with tables and chairs looking over the ocean.

Unfortunately it has been POURING rain while we have been here but you can just imagine how lovely this place and the beach would be in the full sun.

Lovely big playground area.   Also basketball and volleyball courts too.

The Recreation area was so big too and they even have an activity schedule during the winter time.

We played bingo in this hall one evening while we were here.  This is just 1/2 the size - I couldn't fit the whole room in the photo.

They have a large family fun centre which has a huge arcade in it.   It is 3 to 4 times as big as our "Mr Tubbs" !!

This is just one corner of the arcade.

They have a HUGE pool, 2 kiddie pools and a water park.

This is another cafe near the pools.

Lovely mini golf.

And....a great indoor pool - especially for us on our rainy few days!

~New Friends~

While visiting Chesapeake Bay in Virginia we met some lovely people.   This is Anthony and Irene from Qualicum Beach (can you believe it??).   We visited with them several evenings, went to church with them and just had such a good time.  THANKS!

This is Marcie, Jesse and Jaiden from New Hampshire - we enjoyed meeting you and spending time you all in VA.

Keep scrolling down for our adventures in North Carolina