Brrr. Time to head out from Pennsylvania in search of warmer climes. November ended with a super cold snap. For the very first time in our travels, we opted to spend our first night back on the road at a motel. Nineteen degrees can be risky territory for the van’s water lines. After a frigid, kind of nervous, night in the Virginia mountains, we continued into North Carolina.

We stopped in Charlotte to spend a few days with John’s sister Diane and her husband Ric. They recently downsized and moved to a new development on the eastern outskirts of the city. It was very kind of them to welcome us while they were still unpacking, getting situated, and settled into their new home.

Our next stop was Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina. We’ve enjoyed camping at Huntington Beach State Park several times. The park is a long swath along the oceanfront, with trails to the beach, places to walk and bike ride, and nearby shopping and dining. The ruins of “Atalaya,” the Huntington’s home and Anna’s studio, are within the state park. Anna Hyatt Huntington was one of America’s foremost sculptors. She sculpted from live models. So, at different times, her studio housed horses, bears, monkeys, and hounds.

Anna worked into her nineties. No small feat, considering that most of her works are massive, larger than life pieces. The horse sculpture below stands at the garden entrance.

Along with her husband Archer Milton Huntington, she established Brookgreen Gardens to display her artwork, as well as works of other sculptors, especially women artists. There’s much to see here, including works by other greats, such as Paul Manship and Augustus Saint Gaudens.

The Huntingtons bought four former rice plantations in Murrell’s Inlet. The Gardens are just across the road from the state park. The entire park is more than 9,000 acres, but the sculpture garden only occupies a small portion of this elegant low country.

This is America’s first outdoor sculpture garden, and is still one of the finest. This time of year, the gardens feature the Nights of a Thousand Candles holiday display. Art by night offers a wholly different perspective on the gardens and sculptures. If you’re ever close by, do visit. It’s stunning.

The image below is of one of four of the gardens’ Diana sculptures. Mythological themes are popular here. The candles in the reflecting pond set the mood. The lighted allee provides the backlighting.

Charleston South Carolina

To visit Charleston, we stayed at James Island County Park. A bonus treat! The park has a drive through holiday light display. Campers are invited to enjoy the display for free. It was well done, and the amount of traffic passing through was impressive.

While in the area, we toured Boone Hall in Mt. Pleasant. This is one of America’s oldest working plantations.

Our tour was of the first floor (current owners live upstairs). The house was decorated for the holidays, adding even more dazzle to this home’s beautiful woodwork and rare antiques.

In December, the flower gardens were understandably at an ebb and our tractor tour was basically a hayride through empty fields without any hay.

However, along the drive into the plantation, a number of former slave quarters have been turned into enlightening educational displays. These tell of the lives, culture, contributions, and enduring struggle of slaves and their descendants.

We attended an engaging presentation about Gullah culture given by a member of the Gullah community. It was heartening to see both sides of plantation history being presented at Boone Hall.

Next stop along the way – Savannah, Georgia. We camped at Skidaway Island State Park. Finally, we had a sunny, crisp day for a day trip into Savannah. We strolled the Riverfront area, where a Christmas market was filled with trinket shops, donuts, steamy pretzels, and hot chocolate.

In the city’s event calendar, I’d seen mention of a display of themed Christmas trees at the Marriott Hotel on the riverfront. So, we stopped in. The trees weren’t the most fabulous we’ve seen, but the hotel lobby was!

This Kessler Marriott – officially the Bohemian Hotel, Savannah Waterfront – is an art gallery unto itself. It’s a 4 Diamond Hotel located in a repurposed power plant. The lobby is filled with artifacts, crystals, and gems. A chrome-dipped dinosaur is suspended from the ceiling. Gigantic geodes are on display. A Swarovski store anchors the center; another jewelry store is off to the side, with a Chihuly chandelier.

The lobby’s natural science exhibits also include an Ice Age bear, the world’s largest copper nugget, and rare minerals and gems from around the world.

The Christmas Tree display was overshadowed by the gingerbread “House” which, in Savannah style, was a barge filled with goodies – all crafted of fondant and candies. I loved the jelly bean waves and the adorable penguins.

The hotel guest rooms are on the upper stories, surrounding this courtyard lobby. And, of course, there are the requisite themed restaurants, roof-top bar, pool, gym, and a pipe organ. A quick search shows that rooms start around $400 a night. A room on Valentine’s Day will set you back close to $900. (Sticker shock for folks used to campground rates closer to $30.)

A second building houses an event center and concert hall. Its lobby houses great art, a collection of dozens of Gretsch electric guitars, and another sparkly chandelier.

As we continued on our way, we passed an outdoor stage where a troupe of aspiring young actors was performing The Grinch. Fully costumed, glitter-dusted, leaping, dancing, and singing on a windy Saturday morning in December. Dance coaches and beaming parents off to the side, holding jackets and backpacks, and snapping photos.

We left feeling sort of gobsmacked by the whole scene, but pleased that Kessler spearheaded this huge redevelopment as a gift to Savannah, his hometown. In a time when so many downtowns are struggling, Savannah’s historic waterfront deserves this diamond coated anchor for its city. As Mr. Spock used to say, “Live long and prosper.”

Leaving the whirlwind of Savannah, we continued south to St. Mary’s, Georgia, and spent a few quiet days at Crooked River State Park.

Our site had a peaceful view of the East River. We did some nature trail hiking and spent an afternoon in the small town of St. Marys.

Florida, finally! We crossed into the state and traveled across to the west coast of Florida and Homosassa. We spent a few days with our dear friends Joann and Bob, and their exuberant “throw the ball for me again” dog Char.

We feasted on seafood from Shelly’s Seafood Market. What a great place! We got Cedar Key clams, crabs, and even experimented with snapper jaws (sounds weird, but they were really good).

This is seafood heaven. And such fun to be with friends.

We started our trek up Florida’s west coast toward the Panhandle. We spent a couple of nights on St. George Island at Julian Bruce State Park. And the cool weather hung right in there with us. Chilly nights and an unheated bath house make for bracing morning showers!

The park is way out on the far end of the island. These are day use pavillions for picnicing.

The island is great for biking and beach walking. The Lighthouse in town is our “turn around” spot for a bike ride. Apalachicola is also nearby and good for a day trip. It’s a tradition for us to have lunch at Up the Creek, and the shops are fun.

Christmas found us at Top Sail State Park, near Destin. This is another favorite Florida Park. (Favorite for locals and travelers) Both Julian Bruce and Top Sail are challenging for snagging reservations, but if you can get in, it’s worth it.

On Christmas Day, everything was closed. But we had some fun goofing around on the beach behind the Back Porch restaurant in Destin.

And so our sixth year of traveling is well underway. We’re looking forward to new adventures and happy times along the way. Here’s hoping that your New Year brings you luck, light, and love.

Cheers!
Sally and John