The Low Country — Patti Part Two

This post is coming to you from Seabrook Island South Carolina - known as The Low Country. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors and the majority of his books take place here - so it's been on my places to visit list for quite some time. I'm here with my best girl friends from high school so I have the Garth Brooks song "Friends in Low Places" lyrics playing in my head non stop.

Seabrook Island is a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina close to Charleston. It's right along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline next to Kiawah Island, and you must be a member or a guest to enter. What a beautiful place! We rented a gorgeous home right on the beach that one of the girls friends owns and it has been perfect!

Our house!! Right on the beach and a lovely screened in porch facing the water.

My view every morning of the sun coming up! Most mornings it was just me and the sea gulls watching.

The low lands are exactly as I pictured - beautiful tree shaded roads with low water alongside with reeds growing around them. Lots of birds and Spanish moss on the trees.

Some of the roads had an entire canopy of trees shading them - but there was always too much traffic to stop and take a picture.

The beach was gorgeous - and right outside our door. Beautiful hard packed sand so easy to walk on and not crowded at all.

Some of the girls enjoying the sunshine! Rain was predicted every day but outside of an occasional 5 minute sprinkle it was perfect!

Something that South Carolina beaches are famous for is dolphin sighting - and we were not disappointed. Early in the morning one day at sunrise I saw one jump out of the water and flop on it's back - very cool! And almost every day late in the afternoon while walking on the beach we often saw a number of them coming up and out of the water.

This was taken standing right in front of our house!!

About a half mile from our house were 5 nature walks we checked out. They went from the road in front of the houses alongside the houses and then through the ground cover all the way to the beach. Remember there are lots of low lying pools of water so where necessary they are like piers connecting you to the beach. Each one was a little different but all really interesting. You could see fish and other reptiles close up.

Middle left picture is a jelly fish on the beach. Thanks Liz!!! I almost stepped on it!!

Seabrook Island is beautiful but we decided to take a ride over to the sister island of Kiawah and check it out. Just like Seabrook you need to be a resident or guest to gain access so we might have fibbed just a little to gain access. It is a more established area so seemed a bit more upscale if that's even possible. The main focal point is the Kiawah Island Golf Resort so we decided to check it out. It was very formal and looked to be decorated by Ralph Lauren! But the staff was very friendly and didn't mind our posing for pictures at various points.

Liz doing her Super Star imitation!! Same beautiful beaches we have at Seabrook.

Seabrook is about a 45 minute drive from Charleston so one day we scheduled a walking tour and headed into town to take in the history. I used Trip Advisor and selected The Two Sisters Tour. Our tour guide was awesome! Her name was Mary Helen Dantzler and she is one of the two sisters. I believe she said her family has been in Charleston for 7 generations - so very knowledgeable, friendly and interesting. You do need to schedule in advance because the tours do fill up and by law they can only have a maximum of 20 people on a tour. I booked our group online and they got right back to me to confirm our date and time.

Mary Helen looks like one of us - but sh'e wearing a hat so we know she's from the south!

The tour was about two and a half hours and it just flew. Charleston had the first theater, the first golf course and the first whisky. It was founded in 1670 and still has cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and beautiful antebellum homes. It is situated overlooking Charleston Harbor with Fort Sumter across the water.

They still preserve the technique of hand woven baskets and they are sold on the sidewalks by the crafter.

The Nataniel Russell House. Liz trying out the joggling board - a bouncing board used to exercise. Made from flexible wood 10 - 16 feet long. Kind of a combination rocking chair and teeter totter.

There were a number of other historic homes you could tour through so I would like to return and check that out too. We ended the tour with Mary Helen at the first theater in the country - and it's still operating! Then headed for a delicious lunch of southern food at a well known restaurant called Magnolia's. Reservations definitely recommended.

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens for some - Whitefish and rice with veggies for others. I think there was also an order of shrimp and grits. All delicious! And wine of course because we are on vacation!

We walked around the downtown historic area a bit more - very easy to get around, and ended up going to a rooftop bar at the Pavilion Hotel because we heard it had a great view. True!

At the junction of Seabrook and Kiawah Island there is an awesome shopping, restaurant, bar, and grocery store area called Fresh Fields Village. We stocked our house with lots of great food from the grocery store and had breakfast and some lunches at the house. There was a good selection of restaurants so twice we went to a place called La Tela Pizzeria that had what some of us thought was the best pizza ever! They also had fantastic interesting salads and pasta dishes along with a nice wine list. As we were getting ready to head there one night Mary Kelly surprised us with colorful tutu's for each of us!! So of course we popped them on and wore them out to dinner. Because why not!!! Needless to say it got quite a bit of attention from the other patrons - but people were really getting into helping us pose for pictures - and even taking some on their own phones. This is how one really nice woman posed us for pictures - and even asked the bartender if we could sit on the bar!!! I swear it was not our idea!!

Every year something crazy happens. Last year it was matching cheetah pants - the year before fascinators for all. Love these girls!!! Always young at heart.

Another thing we did that we had heard was worth doing was tour a plantation. We picked Middleton Place and were not disappointed. There are a number to chose from and they each have a slightly different focus. Middleton Place has the oldest landscaped gardens in America and are modeled after Versailles. Only one part of the original plantation home is still standing. The home was badly damaged due to fire by Union troops and then further by the earthquake in 1886. The remaining home has been restored and available to tour but no photography allowed.

Top right - entrance to the original home, Top middle - a small chapel, Top right and bottom are the remaining home.

Eliza's House on the bottom. Residence for freed slaves that returned to work on the plantation after the Civil War. Chicken coop behind it with chickens wandering around along with sheep and goats.

Beautiful gardens right by the river - from overhead resembles a butterfly. The statue entitled "Wood Nymph" survived the war because it was buried.

Since we are all celebrating momentous birthdays this year including Julie's the actual week we were there - we wanted to celebrate our last night together with a fantastic special night. Hege's in Fresh Fields Village had gotten a great recommendation from numerous people so that's where we dined.

Fantastic!! Top left is my appetizer. Was some kind of a vegetable layered combination of deliciousness never to be attempted by me. Other entrees were halibut, lobster, lamb, pork chops and mixed grill.

Most of us wearing our matching Tiffany jewels. And amazing desserts we shared! Happy 60 to all of us!

Happy Birthday memories to each of us from Liz!!! Engraved wine glasses that were well broken in that week.

Sunset on the beach with girls that have been by my side for a lifetime!!

Just good bye for now - already planning for next year!

This trip exceeded my high expectations. It was beautiful, relaxing, restful, interesting and fun! There is something for everyone and every activity level. Seabrook has a wonderful fitness center, horseback riding, golf, tennis, bike riding, kayaking, fishing etc. And there are numerous restaurants available right on the property. There are also condo's to rent if a house is too much for you. In fact I'm already ready to return!!! Hope you make it a great week!!!