Category: Fun

This time, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Helen (adorable wife) and I fly to Southern California once or twice a year to visit our family and every time we go, I understand why the place is so crowded. The weather is always perfect with temperatures in the low 70’s, little or no humidity, a beautiful blue sky, and scenic ocean views along the coast.  What is there not to like?  On our recent trip, we experienced something a bit out of the norm.

When we returned from our trip to Edisto Beach a few weeks ago, our activity level increased a bit. We enjoyed a wonderful camping trip with a group from our church in the Big South Fork Recreation Area which I will share with Easin’ Along readers next week.  We also had to unpack Gracey to get her winterized and ready for a winter’s nap, then pack for California.  All of this activity left little time for blogging, so I wrote a short post to let readers know that we were heading west and would be back online soon.  Shortly after that, I received several emails from readers concerned about our safety with wildfires nearby. Fortunately, we were out of danger, but the flames were close enough to give us pause.

The first sight of the fires occurred the day after our arrival.  We love to walk with our grandchildren to school every morning and, as soon as we reached the crest of a hill near the school, we could see a huge cloud of smoke coming from the Woolsey fires raging in Malibu, approximately thirty miles away as the crow flies.  Although we knew about the fires and considered ourselves a safe distance away, the sight of the smoke provided a shock to the system. I held my granddaughter’s hand a little more firmly. Television newscasts covered the fires until well past bedtime.

The next morning everyone was up early to participate in a Veteran’s Day observance at the children’s school. Being a retired veteran, I was proud to be involved in the activity as well as extend my gratitude to the other participants for their service.  My grandson also participated as a member of the Cub Scouts. Before the ceremony, the children walked the track around the playground which was decorated with American flags every few feet.

 

 

 

An Honor Guard from the high school ROTC program entered the schoolyard to begin the program, then everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The principal gave a short address to the children explaining the history and purpose of Veteran’s Day, then handed the microphone to each veteran and asked them to give their name, rank, and significant assignments in defense of our country.  There were many veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  As far as I could tell, I was the only service member from the Viet Nam era. Later we learned that one veteran could not attend.  He was a firefighter who said goodbye to his children early that morning to battle the wildfire.

On Saturday, smoke hung heavy over the coast. The winds blew in our direction and the faint smell of smoke greeted us.  My son and I made our way to Baja Sharkeez to catch the Tennessee vs. Kentucky football game while the grandchildren attended a birthday party with their friends.  Inside Sharkeez, none of the televisions carried our game so we asked a bartender if he would tune one screen near our seats to the SEC Network. It took him a minute to find the game, but he came through for us and we settled in to witness the Vols whip up on the Wildcats.  We left happy but could still see smoke in the distance.

By Sunday afternoon, the winds had shifted to blow from the ocean, and the fire smell no longer filled the air.  Helen was eager to spend some time on the beach with the grandchildren, so we loaded up everyone and moved out.  Southern California beaches are very wide and well suited for everything from volleyball to weddings, and this day featured both.  When we walked along the Strand, we passed a young couple preparing for their wedding adjacent to the beach.  The wedding crowd sat patiently between two volleyball nets while the bride and groom stood for pictures.  I’m sure they were grateful that the smoke was now north of us.

Monday morning and the day of our departure arrived too swiftly.  Sadly, California is a long way from Tennessee, and visits with family always seem unfairly brief. We enjoyed breakfast with the children, posed for some pictures then drove to the airport.  During the drive, I could still see smoke above the hills and wondered if the firefighter who missed the Veteran’s Day ceremony was still battling the blaze.

Although this trip was different from some of our previous visits, I departed California with a reminder that First Responders deserve the same gratitude we give our Veterans.

We’re Easin’ Along…safe and very grateful to both.

We’re Easin’ Along toward the West Coast this week and, unfortunately, we had little time for an update. We’re going to miss our weekly chat, but we promise to catch you up as soon as we return. Please come back.

We returned from our journey along the Blue Ridge long enough to catch up with a few home projects, touch base with family and friends, do the laundry, then repack for a return trip to Edisto Beach in one of the south’s great State Parks. Readers may recall that we spent some time there in May of this year.  We fell in love with the area, but Helen was in recovery from her second knee replacement, and I was nursing an ailing hip, so our activities were somewhat limited. We vowed to return after everything was repaired…good move. We even loaded up the bicycles this time.

Our trip south included a one-night stay at the campground on Fort Jackson, SC so that we could enjoy another evening at Julia’s German restaurant in Columbia, SC.  We enjoyed a delightful evening there with the parents of our daughter-in-law, and Julia’s jagerschnitzel was as good as I remembered. The trip was getting off to a great start.

Our plans for the week included some quality time with our granddaughters, getting reacquainted with our bicycles after a year in storage, and plenty of beach time spent in cool fall beach weather. Edisto, however, greeted us with weather that was a muggy and buggy 88 degrees. On top of that, I forgot to close the windows on Bert (truck) the first night and a very inconsiderate, sand-encrusted raccoon invaded and helped himself to two packs of snack crackers in the back seat. He left quite a mess.

Everything changed for the better on day two. The sky cleared and the heat lifted.  From then on, temperatures hovered in the mid-70’s and the nights dipped into the 50’s and comfortable enough for a campfire. We did experience some windy conditions, but with Gracey (travel trailer) parked just beyond the beach and behind a large dune, the wind was not a factor. The marsh provided a stunning view to the rear of Gracey, and the birds offered some entertainment.  I love the Roseate Spoonbills that walk through the marsh in search of food.

On Saturday, we learned that the Edisto Beach Fall Festival kicked off at 11:00 am.  We had no idea what we would find there, but we’ve learned that Festivals are a great way to experience the local culture, so we mounted the bicycles and rode the short distance to see what was up. The weather was perfect and sizable crowd had gathered by the time we arrived. The smell of good food filled the air.  We walked both sides of the row of tents offering crafts, jewelry, yard art, and food—both packaged and on plates. In the end, we settled for food.

Helen (adorable wife) bought some Chow-Chow and some Carrot Cake jam made by a local vendor. I bought a couple of irresistible brownies for me and a bag of boiled peanuts for my son who would arrive later that afternoon. As we were about to leave, Helen stopped at a booth offering a variety of coffee beans for fresh grinding. She sampled a few of the coffees and, after a long learning process, decided on two varieties of South American coffee. During the conversation, we learned that the owner purchased some of his coffee beans from the son-in-law of our minister who owns Pisgah Coffee Roasters in North Carolina. Helen left very delightedly with her find…and three pounds of coffee.

Later that afternoon, our son and two granddaughters arrived for their first tent camping experience together. The girls camped in Gracey during our May trip, but Dad wanted them to try something other than “glamping” so he dug out the tent and hoped for the best. After a long afternoon on the beach to release some energy and an evening of S’More roasting beside the campfire, he only had to read two paragraphs of Harry Potter under lantern light before they fell sound asleep. The girls awoke the next morning to declare camping a new-found love. This declaration warmed the heart of two grandparents.

The remainder of the week consisted of not much more than beach walking, bike riding, reading, and Helen laboring over her puzzles. We made one trip into Charleston to visit the girl’s school during lunch, and we will cover more of that trip in another post. Suffice it to say that the experience was a lot of fun.

By the end of the week, we decided that Edisto Beach is worthy of an annual visit. Helen, the picky one, walked the entire campground (twice) to find her preferred site, then we searched through the reservation system for dates available until we found a week that worked perfectly. We now have that trip on the books for next October. If it turns out half as much fun and relaxing as this week, we’ll call it a resounding success.

We hope you enjoy the pictures.  We’re Easin’ Along.