Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Route 17
Route 17: Profane to Sublime (10/13)
Highway 17 is the 101 of the Carolinas—it follows the coast more or less. It’s not a freeway so it forges straight through any cities in its path. We followed 17 to South Carolina—past a huge marine base, past cotton fields and pine, through Wilmington. It was not a bad road to follow. Alas, to get to our current locale we had to pass through “The Strand”—aka Myrtle Beach, SC trying to be Las Vegas. Totally huge and ugly restaurants, amusement parks and the like made me want to hide my head in shame. But when we arrived at Huntington Beach State Park, my soul said “AAAH” and my mind said “And you thought the Outer Banks were a good place to stop.” This is the place we chose to take “a vacation from our vacation”! (thank you Rick Steves).
I tried to compare this SP with the wonderful parks on the Oregon Coast. For beach walking, it can’t be beat—no wind to speak of at this time of year, no rocks or driftwood, no headlands, and not much in the way of dunes to cross, AND wading in the water doesn’t make your feet numb-- not much in the way of waves either. The birds gliding over the waves are not gulls but pelicans, and the white birds on campground lawns are not gulls but ibis(es?). And Oregon beach marshes do not have alligators lying in the sun. I tried to compare this beach with the Sunshine Coast of Australia and though the weather is similar, the beach is again boring in comparison. Still, this is a good place to take some time off. (Kit went off to town and found a barber shop and oil changing place).
100th Day (10/15)
Today was the 100th day of our trip and we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner. Kit got a recommendation from the men at the barber shop and we had a wonderful seafood meal and watched the sunset over the salt marsh.
On to Charleston (10/16)
Drove Hwy 17 on down to Charleston. A no-stop trip. Strangest thing—people selling woven grass baskets along the sides (grass) of this fast 4 lane highway. We planned to go to an RV park in a county park on James Island but it was full up because of some Christmas light thing that’s already begun—so we came to Oak Plantation Campground just south of town.
TV is getting fixed (we hope)
Highway 17 is the 101 of the Carolinas—it follows the coast more or less. It’s not a freeway so it forges straight through any cities in its path. We followed 17 to South Carolina—past a huge marine base, past cotton fields and pine, through Wilmington. It was not a bad road to follow. Alas, to get to our current locale we had to pass through “The Strand”—aka Myrtle Beach, SC trying to be Las Vegas. Totally huge and ugly restaurants, amusement parks and the like made me want to hide my head in shame. But when we arrived at Huntington Beach State Park, my soul said “AAAH” and my mind said “And you thought the Outer Banks were a good place to stop.” This is the place we chose to take “a vacation from our vacation”! (thank you Rick Steves).
I tried to compare this SP with the wonderful parks on the Oregon Coast. For beach walking, it can’t be beat—no wind to speak of at this time of year, no rocks or driftwood, no headlands, and not much in the way of dunes to cross, AND wading in the water doesn’t make your feet numb-- not much in the way of waves either. The birds gliding over the waves are not gulls but pelicans, and the white birds on campground lawns are not gulls but ibis(es?). And Oregon beach marshes do not have alligators lying in the sun. I tried to compare this beach with the Sunshine Coast of Australia and though the weather is similar, the beach is again boring in comparison. Still, this is a good place to take some time off. (Kit went off to town and found a barber shop and oil changing place).
100th Day (10/15)
Today was the 100th day of our trip and we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner. Kit got a recommendation from the men at the barber shop and we had a wonderful seafood meal and watched the sunset over the salt marsh.
On to Charleston (10/16)
Drove Hwy 17 on down to Charleston. A no-stop trip. Strangest thing—people selling woven grass baskets along the sides (grass) of this fast 4 lane highway. We planned to go to an RV park in a county park on James Island but it was full up because of some Christmas light thing that’s already begun—so we came to Oak Plantation Campground just south of town.
TV is getting fixed (we hope)
# posted by Carol Harma @ 12:53 PM 
