St Marys, GA Crooked River State Park

They ran us out of James Island CG this morning.  Checkout time is 11am and a worker came by at 10:30 and wanted to remind us that today was our last day there.  Very efficient.  We managed to get out of there around 11:15am and were on US 17 South shortly thereafter.

We took the back road rather than the longer route via interstates.  The interstates can be so boring and we like back roads whenever we can travel on them.  It was really to our advantage today since we found a gas station with regular gas at $2.59.  We connected with I-95 South and departed South Carolina once again.

I-95 wasn't as crowded and busy as previous trips and there was a little construction but nothing to slow us down.  The trip down through Georgia was uneventful and it was nice seeing some of the changes since we were last here.  They had a nice sign to welcome us.

It was a short 215 mile drive today to the park and that was enough for us.  They had our welcome packet waiting for us when we got to Crooked River SP and we got to select our campsite and found a good one.  Easy entrance to it and we were set up in no time and had to turn on the A/C to cool down the unit.  Warm down here and dry also.  

We went out to dinner at Pauley's Cafe in downtown St. Marys and had a delicious Almond crusted grouper dinner.  Gerry joined me and had the same thing.  Super.   I found the place on Google Earth and printed out a coupon for a free glass of wine.  The restaurant is very small and difficult to find even though it is on the main drag.  

The town has gone all out with Halloween decorations and they are having some events planned also.  It is neat to see such good community spirit in a town.  

The Kings Bay submarine base is located between the park and the town and I will include a nice picture of the sub buried outside the entrance to the sub base.  Maybe we can get on the base and take a tour, but I doubt security would allow it.

Charleston, SC

We finally made it to downtown Charleston today and checked it out.  Our last visit to Charleston was in 2005 and we spent the better part of 3 days exploring the city.  They have some of the most beautiful old houses down by the Battery that we have ever seen.  Large 2-3 story homes that would look like mansions anywhere else in the US. 

We also drove over the Ravenel Bridge over Charleston Harbor we visited the Submarine Memorial and took some pictures of the USS Yorktown CV10 which is now a memorial in the harbor.  The Yorktown was used in Anti-Submarine Warfare exercises in the 60s and early 70s when I worked at the Naval Anti Submarine Warfare Data Center.  It was an interesting time to be working in that era due to the cold war and rapid advances being made in ASW equipment and tactics.

We went to the Pink House Gallery to see what it looked like.  It is a very old and historic building and one of the oldest buildings in the US.

The Pink House 

We stopped at the Charleston Crab House for dinner and had super meals and service.  The Crab House is located on water next to a bridge and we sat outside to enjoy the weather and view.   I had an excellent Grouper sandwich and Gerry had Coconut shrimp which she loved.  The Crab House was featured on a "Flip This House" TV program in 2006 and the results were very nice.  I don't know what it looked like before but it is great now.

Folly Island, SC

We rested up yesterday and just took it easy.  There were some chores to be done and we finished them up and relaxed.  Nice.

Today we were rested and wanted to get out and do something.  We decided to visit Folly Island and check out the County Park on the Island.   The beach is dark and hard packed and there were still a number of people enjoying the sun and water.  Gerry went for a walk searching for the elusive sea shells and was rewarded with a couple finds.

We went geocaching for a while and found three of the treasures before we decided to have dinner.  This was an interesting find hidden under a fishing bridge on the bayside.  It was a very large pickle jar with only Koozies allowed in the cache.  Wish they had put some cold beer in with the koozies.

It has been a long time since we've had seafood at a beach restaurant and that was our goal for today.  I ordered a grouper dinner and Gerry had a shrimp & crab pot pie.  Both were excellent and we listened to an entertainer while we had dinner.  There was a group of "ladies" just ahead of us listening to the performer and drinking beer, shooters and whatever else they could get their hands on.  They surely were enjoying themselves and were quite animated.

By then it was getting dark and we headed back to the campground.  A big owl was guarding the entrance to the campground and we managed to take a picture of it.  The Park is all set for Christmas time with thousands of lights already up.  We were here in late November a few years ago and saw them testing the lights.  Quite a show.



We arrived in time to watch The Amazing Race,  saw them go from Ghana to Sweden.  It was about a 70 degree difference between the two places and it was an interesting segment for the race.

The Redskins-Colts football game came on after the Race and we are watching it as I type.  Can they come back from 27-17 deficit?  Who knows about this team.  They seem to lose easy games and play well against good teams.  Ooops, holding on the 5 yard line.  Stay tuned. 27-24 now.  3 minutes left.  Close, but no cigar.

Charleston, SC

We woke up early today and started getting the MH ready to hit the road once again.  Larry Jr. and Grant came out to the MH and we had breakfast with them and chatted for a while.  A long while.  We got out of there around 1:30pm and pointed the MH towards Charleston, SC.

The traffic on I-77 and I-26 was much heavier than I remembered it being.  I-26 was especially bad with long long line of vehicles on the road.  I only drive about 63mph so I think I held up some people, but that is life.

There was an accident just outside of Charleston and we had managed to pull off into the Rest Area to log onto the GPS system on the computer.  Good timing.  We sat there about 25 minutes and then traffic seemed to start moving again.  They must have cleared the accident very fast and we continued on to the campground.

We are staying at James Island County Park in a very nice campground.  The reservation was made last week and we got one of the last sites available for this weekend.  Lots of small children on bikes all over the place.  The parents seem to drop them off on the roads and bike paths and let them go.  I guess that is the way it goes today with parents and children.

We plan on checking out the sights here and enjoy some of the great southern cooking down here for our 5 day stay.  Stay tuned for some neat photos and stories.

Graduation Day

We moved from the campground to Larry Jr's driveway and will be here until Friday morning.  They need some help moving in and we aren't in a big hurry.

Tonight, Gerry & I,  Sean, Barbara, Henry, Grant, Jane and Larry Jr. went to a local restaurant to celebrate Larry Jr. graduating from Phoenix University.  He had accrued some credit at Montgomery Community College and transferred them to Phoenix Univ and has taken classes since he moved to Oklahoma 4 years ago.  He did really well at the school and is quite relieved to be finished.

We are quite proud of him with sticking to it and completing his education.  Way to go Larry.