Eileen's Visit

It's taken me a while, but here I am again.  I wanted to do a slideshow of Eileen's visit and have only now gotten around to it.  I knew if I did a post first I'd never do the slideshow.  Anyway, we had a great visit and it was wonderful to see her. Rosie fell in love with her right away and totally deserted me!  She followed Eileen like her shadow.  By the time Eileen arrived, I had a list of options to fill our time.  Many of the things we did were new to me, as well as Eileen; so, it was like a vacation for me also.  The great part was that we did everything at a comfortable pace, which I found totally enjoyable.

Eileen arrived on Thursday around noontime.  We had time to relax and catch up a bit before going to the local Farmer's Market. It's supposed to be one of the best in the state.  We took the new bus service, which was nice and breezy. We had a nice walk-around, stopping for a glass of wine and a listen to the resident singer.

• Friday - a day of shopping and lunch at Chipotle, which was my first time there.
• Saturday - wine bottling.  I had hoped to have it ready, but things were delayed due to Brent's illness.  Eileen jumped right in and it was fun sharing the experience.
• We did a quick walk through of The Taste of Bluffton fair.  It was crowded and windy, so we opted for lunch at Fat Patties.  From there we went to Palmetto Bluff, where they were preparing for a huge, elaborate wedding.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the event.
• Sunday - a nice, long walk on Pinckney Island, where we saw lots of birds.  Unfortunately, they do not show up well on the photos, but they were fun to see in real time.  
• In the afternoon we went to a free concert by the Stardust Orchestra at Lowcountry Presbyterian Church.  It was big band kind of music, but very well done.  
• More shopping at Stein Mart before calling it a day.
• Monday - a good day for the beach, so we explored Mitchelville Beach, something I had not previously done. Mitchelville was the first self-governed freedmen's town in America. There are interesting informational signs about the settlement, as well as a cabin like those of the day.  The wonderful part was that the beach was practically deserted.  It is not a good beach for swimming, but it was perfect for what we were doing - sunbathing, looking for shark's teeth (no luck!), walking and reading.  It was a wonderful afternoon.
• Tuesday - another day of shopping/browsing.
• Wednesday - a day of talking politics and eating out.  Eileen went with me to lunch with my Progressive Ladies' group AND Drinking Liberally in the evening.  I don't think anyone was surprised when she told us how crazy the rest of the world thinks we are.  No contest!!
• Thursday - a day in Beaufort, again doing something I had never done.  We went to Port Royal and walked the Cypress Wetlands trail.  It's a well designed, short walk through the natural wetlands.  The birds were a little easier to see here, and there were lots of turtles, but we only saw one small gator.  From there we walked into Port Royal township, stopping at Moondoggies for lunch. From there we continue to the Sands, which is a long boardwalk with a 3-level viewing tower.  All in all, a lot of walking, but good.
• Friday - a late lunch at the Boathouse for Eileen to have some shrimp before leaving the Lowcountry.
• Saturday - it all came to and end.  We were at the airport by 10am and EIleen was off on the second let of her 3-part journey.

Needless to say, in the midst of everything we did, there was lots of catching up and reminiscing.  I hope Eileen enjoyed it as much as I did, and I'm eager to hear about the other parts of her trip.  

In the meantime, I've been trying to get back to some type of constructive routine.......I became too accustomed to vacationing!!  Rosie has adjusted to only having me around and misses the excitement of having a captive audience. Our weather has been beautiful and I'm partially successful at developing a walking routine.  Eileen introduced me to several good mystery writers and I've been reading more.....And there's always the political circus!!