Thursday, August 24, 2006

A Day of Folly

Wednesday I took the day off. It seemed like a very good day to do it. It was the kids first day back to school and I needed a day for me doing something other than working and playing the role of Momma san. Early that morning I received an email from someone who mentioned Folly Beach. Hey...I love Folly too...so me and Papa Bear took off to spend the day on the Edge of America.







Our first stop was Locklear's on the Folly Fishing Pier.


Lunch was a bowl of She Crab Soup, for which Locklear's is well known, and a crab cake salad. An interesting twist to the salad is that it has fresh cut zucchini and summer squash.


After lunch I picked up a sleeveless shirt from the Pier's giftshop and then we drove down to Diago Park. It is the last parking available on the end of the island near the old Coast Guard Station. Back in the 80's and early 90's there was a sign that read diago park. It was an old sign that once read diagonal parking. This was back before that crazy lady decided that it was OK to build a house on the sand and by golly ole folly - the community needs to help her fortify her house because no one warned her there would be erosion and hurricanes. That house will be coming down...she just needs to come to grips and make peace with mother nature...and did I see a lot trying to be sold beside her? Wow. I'll spare you the horrid, incomprehensible scene and just take you on a little walk that started beyond her house. I changed to my new shirt that read "I am the Booty"(did I mention it was a pirate shirt?) and left my shoes in the car.


We decided to walk around to the bend to get a view of the Morris Island Lighthouse.
















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We wandered to the far side of the old Coast Guard Station. A road use to run through here. And there are various structures that are now only memories...someone else's memories. Also found in this area are signs of past erosion and hurricanes. Maybe that lady ought to take a walk and see what is only a quarter of a mile past her house :)













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We decided to take a shortcut back that took us down a road that is blocked off from road traffic. This proved to be a BAD decision for us.













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This was where the fun ended and our fate became sealed. I ran out of digital memory at this point as my camera seems to only hold 80 pictures. The sun was too bright to scroll through and try to delete a few of them - so you will just have to imagine what happened next.

Papa Bear went down a side path to see another structure that is no longer there. I told him I would continue down the road since I was barefoot and the road was hot. I figured I'd walk carefully and slowly along the edge of the road to avoid the sand spurs. It wasn't sandspurs I needed to look out for. There were these small hard to see cacti growing on both sides of the road...everywhere. I've never seen anything like this in the lowcountry. We have been invaded!! They had long needles and tiny fine ones that I'm still finding on my arms and feet. When Papa Bear came back, I had not made it down the road too far. I was on my butt pulling needles out of my feet, and then hands. His shoes were so covered in cacti that we worked on them, too, before proceeding.

Daddy-o tried to pack me out, but it was hot, we were both sweating and I was uncomfortably slipping off of his back. I made him put me down and I asked him for his socks. He took his shoes and socks off and gave me his shoes insisting that the pavement wasn't hot and that feet are tougher than I believed. I began joking about me being a woos and all - but guess who wound up with blisters on his feet? ;) Hey, I just wanted the socks!

When I returned to work this morning, I discovered that some friends visiting from Sweden had stopped by the office yesterday to say hello. Afterwards, they went to Folly Beach - probably to the Pier right about the time we left. They would have been a very welcome sight. It was a great day for the beach and our little side adventure just made it all the more interesting... make sure you carry your shoes along if you decide to make a similar trek.

2 comments:

Vera said...

What a nice getaway. While Pat goes to Folly Beach a lot, I haven't been there much.

Perhaps I'll go back when the weather gets a little cooler.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me - I need to get back to the beach! I love Folly.

Centerburg, Ohio- Feb. 22, 1919.

 Centerburg, Ohio Feb. 22, 1919 Dear Uncle,       I received your letter today.  Mr. Van Sickle gave it to me this morning.  Grandma gave it...