Spending Summer in Alaska, Part 1-Valdez, Anchorage, Homer, and Whittier

Worthington Glacier near Valdez, Alaska 

And so from Mile 0 in Dawson Creek all the way to Mile 1422 in Delta Junction, we completed navigating the famed Alaska Highway in a week.  We reached Alaska from northern British Columbia on our first wedding anniversary (8/8/08) and our month there will always remain etched in our memories!  Let me tell you about how my dream of spending a lovely summer in Alaska came true!  We will cover Tok, Valdez, Anchorage, Homer, Whittier, Denali National Park, Fairbanks, North Pole, and the little town of Chicken, Alaska, in two parts.  

Tok was a waypoint.  We arrived late and quickly hooked Star to electricity and water, made our dinner, watched a movie, and called it a night --- that is, after getting a call from April, my youngest, about her musings over her future.  The next morning we woke up to a day completely covered with smog from the forest fires that were raging all around.  Quickly, we called Cristine, Bill’s youngest who makes Anchorage her home, and told her we would postpone our seeing her for a few days and go to southern Alaska first as the smog was supposed to have enveloped the north from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

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longest boat ramp in the world

There were a few showers on the way to Valdez, Alaska; the air was damp and a lot of fog hovered around.  As we lost cell signals and our broadband communications, I commented to Bill, ‘Gosh, the glaciers are puny around here.  They are just tiny patches of white.’   But a few minutes later it changed.  All of a sudden, as Star negotiated a bend, a large white mountain appeared before us.  It was Worthington Glacier, the first glacier that I could walk to from the roadside!  Bill climbed it (I feigned ankle pain) and brought back a piece of the blue ice rock which we quickly deposited into our freezer!  I could have ended the trip right then out of sheer delight!

lots of pink salmon near Allison Park!

Valdez is a quaint little fishing town in a beautiful setting.  Low-lying clouds circled the town and the boats on the marina.  The longest boat ramp in the world reached far out into the waters, which seemed to be overcrowded with pink salmon that were spawning nearby.  Allison Park was a great nature camp on the water.  Budding fishermen lined the banks.  The hiking trails were filled with berry bushes that the bears had ravaged.  Bill and I were a little bit too late!  But, better the berries than us!

Alaska gas pipeline

Up in the hills where the trails wound, we came across a section of the Alaska gas pipeline.  But the more special thing we saw were three young men who, in their flip-flops, were hauling a canoe, heavy with provisions and equipment, up the steep trail to camp up in the mountains.  It is definitely not about age!  But what a lifestyle!  If only we were a wee bit younger!

crazy, but happy, teenagers

Matanuska Glacier

We debated going into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  It would take a few more days and we wanted to go back to our planned route and see Cristine.  So, we missed the chance (again!) to see the highest point of the Canadian Rockies!  On the way back to Anchorage, we passed by the 27-mile long Matanuska  Glacier.   It was so unique because the ice had spilled down to the valleys in a long thinning winding white wave.  We tried to reach it but the way there were all through private ‘for a fee’ places.  We wondered why…or maybe we were just on the wrong side!

Homer beyond the hills

Anchorage was the neat town we expected it to be.  There was no hint of the cold winter that had just passed.    Kyle, Bill’s first-ever grandson arrived for a vacation with his mother (her birthday gift for him; he currently stays with his father in Hilo, Hawaii) and us.  After celebrating his birthday with a dinner in Anchorage, we took a trip to Homer, Alaska (the halibut fishing capital of the world) at the southwestern tip of the state.  It has a famous spit jutting out into the cold blue waters of the Bering Sea. 

halibut catch of the day

There the two guys fished to their hearts’ content and we gave the fish they caught to the chef at the inn where we were staying.  That night we had a seafood feast!  The next day we went hunting for souvenirs and good eats at the quaint shops and restaurants in the colorful huts perched above the waters along the shore.  I even had my photo taken with the largest halibut (almost 200 pounds for one) caught in a derby that day.  And that second night we had a few drinks at the famous Salty Dawg Café on the spit and posted our Philippine peso 100 bill and Cristine’s  US $1 on its currency-covered ceilings and walls.

a cruise ship docked in Whittier, Alaska

But Kyle had to leave to go back to work in Hawaii (he installs solar panels).  So only the three of us were able to go to the next adventure: a 4-hour Glacier Bay Cruise from Whittier, Alaska.  Whittier is a small town of about 200 (which doubles during summer) on the western edge of south central Alaska (Valdez was on the southeastern part).  Recently, a number of cruise lines have begun to use Whittier as a departure port for their Gulf of Alaska Cruises. Whittier is only 62 road miles southeast of Anchorage, separated from Alaska’s road system by a 2.5 mile long tunnel that is shared by alternating one-way auto and railroad traffic (quite an experience in itself).

glacier at Resurrection Bay

glacier at College Fjords

The cruise took us to see 26 glaciers up close, some rising to 1,700 feet above sea level. We rode in a high speed catamaran with huge picture windows inside the two enclosed decks (there are extensive outside viewing areas too). The voyage included visits to Resurrection Bay and the College Fjords. We saw several types of glaciers: Alpine (hanging), Piedmont (on mountaintops) and Tidewater (on the water edge). We did not see any glaciers calving (when broken pieces of ice fall into the water and become icebergs) but we saw sea otters, seals, porpoises, sea lions and whales.  We were most surprised as we approached…Surprise Glacier, a very blue tidewater glacier many of whose pieces that had calved were floating on the icy waters around the vessel (shades of Titanic).  The highlight was when the crew served us glacial blue margaritas from the ice they harvested from an iceberg!

Surprise Glacier

Next Stops:  Denali National Park, Fairbanks, North Pole, Chicken, in Alaska

   

Going Through Five Stages of the Cruising Lifestyle

Bill and I stumbled upon a cruise ship for our wedding venue.  Since then cruising has become our passion and way of life.  In fact, we are on our second motorhome in just 8 months!  Star (our first, a Class C) which we traded in for our second, has been quickly grabbed by another couple starting on their adventure.   We shifted to M’A (short for Mountain Aire, by Newmar), the Class A we bought at no other than the behemoth of the RV industry, Lazy Days. (Please see my post on ‘Buying Our New Home’.) We must have been at two different stages of RV cruising! What are the phases anyway?  I believe there are 5:  escaping, sightseeing, seeing-relaxing, sunbirding, and nesting (ESSSN).

We really did not have the opportunity to experience the first stage which I call escaping.  (You see we met at that time in our lives when we were ready to retire: he was about to sell his business and I was already tired of teaching in the US after retiring from the Philippine business landscape 4 years earlier). This is the phase when you actually have other things to do and you just want to pause, to experience the benefits of cruising (such as getting close to nature, going to new places, and experiencing new people and activities, visiting family and friends ; please see my post on Debating the Pros and Cons of Cruising as a Lifestyle). You want to gain these benefits but not suffer the disadvantages of cruising (such as losing income, being away from family and friends, and not having time for other pursuits).   It may be that you are still a student, an employee, an executive, a business owner, or a housewife.  You simply have the urge to cruise on a long weekend, be on a much-needed vacation, and escape from the busy requirements of daily life, so to speak.  

 

The second one is what I will call the sight-seeing stage. This is the phase at which Bill and I entered the groove.  This is when you finally have the time to see a lot of places on a looooong bucket list you have started to build.  So you pack up, make an itinerary, and go on a cruise! We wanted a motorhome that was not any longer than 25 feet so we downsized to the bare minimum.  Star was the perfect getaway vehicle!  We did not have to pack/unpack, we could cook our meals anywhere any time, and take showers and other daily requirements.  It was our moving bedroom, bathroom, dining room and kitchen! We bought Vino, our scooter, because we soon found Star still too difficult to maneuver in town, was a chore to unhook and reconnect from campgrounds, and was consuming gas at 10 miles to the gallon.  In 7 months we covered 21,000 miles sight-seeing from the Arctic to Mexico to Florida!  

But 8 months later, by March 1, 2010, we were in another RV for the second stage.  I call this third stage, seeing/relaxing.  Our children were right; they could not believe we could go on doing what we were doing: travelling almost every other day to a new place, as if we were running out of time. They were actually beginning to wonder when we would find Star too cozy for comfort.  However fond we had become of Star, we actually began to think of replacing her in December when we had April, my youngest, traveling with us from Mexico to Texas to Louisiana for about 2 and a half weeks.  If you can just imagine a 24-foot Class C motorhome (that means after the drivers space and engine we actually had a living area of 17 feet long by 8 feet wide (no slide-outs).  That means 136 square feet! Every night we had to transform the dinette into April’s bed (and tuck away the little Christmas tree that housed our collection of Christmas ornaments!).

At about the same time, Bill caught pneumonia in congested Mexico City.  So it was timely that we relaxed a little and made space for visiting family and friends.  What was holding us back was that we had just bought Star and we thought, if we could not trade it in for a good value, our lifestyle will end up to be quite an expensive one, something ‘frugal us’ could not live with.   But lo and behold!  Lazy Days had thought about such psychology a long time ago.  The secret of their success is to understand what goes on in the mind of those who want to enjoy RV cruising as a lifestyle and have the right gear available for whatever stage and whatever budget!  They gave us the marvelous opportunity to own a 37-foot quality Class A motorhome (albeit a 1997 model) that had a good-sized slide-out and was very light-colored and airy inside!  We even had enough money left for a workable dinghy!

So, now we have M’A ‘turn, the former (our Mountain Aire by Newmar) to take us to new campgrounds where we can relax and entertain and the latter (our Saturn SL1) for running around to see the many attractions around.  In spite of becoming poorer by tens of thousands of dollars, we now enjoy the best of both worlds, of both sight-seeing and relaxing.  We relaxed Three Flags RV Resort in Wildwood, Florida, and were tour guides for Dittas, my visiting friend from the Philippines, around Savannah, Georgia and Hilton Head, Beaufort, and Charleston, South Carolina from The Oaks at Point South RV Park in Yemassee, South Carolina (please see my post on ‘Touring the Low Country USA with a Friend’).  Right now we are again relaxing in Forest Lake RV Resort in Advance, North Carolina before we go sight-seeing around the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with JingJing, another visiting friend from the Philippines, from Lynchburg RV Park in Gladys, Virginia and the Green Mountain RV Park in Lenoir, North Carolina.

Bill and I foresee that we will go through the other 2 stages of RV cruising as we become older, not that able to withstand wider differences of temperature and weather, and becoming more mellow  and,  hopefully, wiser.   The fourth stage, sunbirding, really means that, when we are in America, we will stay 4-6 months in the northern areas during late spring to early fall and the other 4-6 months in the southern states during late fall to early spring (much like what birds do, migrating to the south during winter and to the north during summer).  And the last stage, nesting, is when we would stay in a locale for most of the year , finally settle down, and ultimately establish our nest.  We imagine that we would just travel to go out to visit a child (or wait for them to visit us) during major holidays or birthdays.  We are now thinking that may be somewhere in Utah which is about 4-5 hours from each of our children’s homes. We hope that M’A ‘turn will still be with us then!

At what stage would you begin cruising in an RV? Up to what stage will you continue to do so?

Navigating the Alaska Highway, Part 2

Mama Bear and her cub by the roadside in northern British Columbia

bison by the roadside

Northern British Columbia had some very scenic spots that we chanced upon:  Muncho Lake, Tetsa River, Stony Mountain, Summit Lake, and Liard Hot Springs.  It was in this part of North America where  we saw the most number of wildlife by the road sides: a mother bear and her cub relaxing among the grass and wildflowers, a herd of bison lying on the ground with a huge one walking along the road beside our motorhome, and a moose hiding among the shrubs by the hot springs.  There were no mileposts on the first 1000 kilometers of the Alaska Highway but we started seeing them on the Yukon.   The Highway criss-crossed the British Columbia/Yukon border several times.  So we were primed when we reached Watson Lake, the first city on the Yukon part of the Highway. 

Liard Hot Springs

Signpost Forest

We went to see the Northern Lights Museum expecting to be educated about the Aurora Borealis at $10 each.  It turned out to be just a brief video of the lights recreated on the dome ceiling for effect.  It was not worth the time and money the 3 couples spent on the ‘show’.  But the memorable place in Watson Lake was Signpost Forest where we were the 67,000^th visitor to place a signpost.  Ours reads ‘Bill & Carol, Pittsburg, Ks/ Manila, Phil. 8PM, 8/8/08’ which we painted on a wooden board we purchased at a HomeBuilders’ Centre.  The paint was provided by the Visitor’s Information Centre where we also registered as Yukon Gold Passport holders, with the chance to win 5, 10, or 20 troy ounces of gold if we complete 10, 20, or 30 rubber stamps of tourist spots we visit on the Yukon!!!

Bill and Carol on the road embankment

Along the highway between Watson Lake and Whitehorse were rocky embankments (between Upper Liard and Rancheria along the Yukon part of the Highway) that were used by many to arrange rocks into letters to memorialize their passing through the Highway.  We arranged ours to symbolize BC (not British Columbia but Bill and Carol) alongside others.  We originally thought we could spell out our names but we found out how difficult the endeavor was and gave up with just the 2 letters!

Whirlpool Canyon

At another bend we saw a large arrow sign which we followed and chanced upon Whirlpool Canyon, a river that made a whirlpool as it wound its way.  There we met a Canadian couple who also followed the arrow.  They were making their way from Calgary (just like us) going to Nunavut past the Arctic Circle hauling a small aluminum boat with an outboard motor to fish.  They dry camped often and they taught us about dumping gray water (washing dishes and showering) almost anywhere and drinking creek water, as long as we were sure there was no beaver contamination.  A small town we passed was called Toad River.  It featured a gas station, a restaurant, and a country store.  There was a place there dedicated to thousands of hats and Bill pinned his Taquan Air baseball cap which he got from a private charter company in Sitka, Alaska where he went for a fishing expedition with friends in 1999. At this part of the Highway, gas was at $4.50 per gallon!

World's Largest Weather Vane

SS Klondike of the gold trade

Whitehorse is the biggest city in the Yukon.  The largest weather vane (in the Guiness Book of Records) in the world was there.  It was a DC3 plane!!!  Bill thought that it has to be a very strong wind (at least 10-15 knots) to move that plane. Smith House at Whitehorse’s LePage Park gave us 2 whitehorse pins to brag about, but so man y places, including the biggest fish ladder in the world, was already closed for the season.  So we didn’t see the salmons jumping out of the river to spawn!  We had to be satisfied with the SS Klondike, one of the biggest boats used for transporting gold to and from the Yukon River.  And the experience that topped it all?  We feasted on the world-renowned bowl of chili con carne at Tim Horton’s, the great Canadian coffee chain! Claudine (my second daughter) had gifted us with a Tim Horton’s gift card before we left Calgary…and they had it in Whitehorse!

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Burwash Landing @ the Yukon

 The unfortunate thing was smoke fire from Whitehorse thru Haines Junction to Beaver Creek (50 fires around the Yukon since it had been so hot and dry that summer) stole all our beautiful scenes.  We could hardly see anything beyond the nose of Star! Burwash Landing was almost wiped out by a huge forest fire caused by humans camping (although lightning is the more common cause). 

Another unfortunate thing was the perennial damage caused by permafrost effects on the Alaska Highway, especially after Destruction Bay.  The cost of maintenance must be high.  There are always many road fissures and small ponds on the fields along its sides.  The highway had a roller coaster feel to it and evergreens in nearby fields could not grow any taller than a few feet.  Orange flags were everywhere, designating permafrost damaged areas.

Mount Churchill and White River 

And then there was White River, colored off-white due to volcanic ash from two successive (in geologic time) pyroclastic eruptions of Mount Churchill in the Wrangell Mountain Range.  The first eruption occurred in 1890 and the second in 1950. Thick layers of pumice-like ash over 340,000 square kilometers ( 211,276 square miles) severely disrupted food supply and caused the migration of people steadily southward.  The river is not recommended for boating; the ecology could not be restored.

quonset hut church

So camping on the Kluane RV Park in Haines Junction was not what we expected.  At the junction we were supposed to be able to see a glimpse of glaciers in Juneau and also the highest mountain peak of Canada and the Canadian Rockies.  We didn’t, of course.  We also thought we found a great hiking trail near the campground but we returned to our motorhome right away after we found out that the mosquitoes were sooooo hungry!  What saved the day was the discovery of quonset huts that have been turned into churches that could sit 30 people.

the end of the Alaska Highway in Delta Junction, Alaska

 The next day we hurried to resume our trek to Alaska through Beaver Junction, Yukon and Delta Junction, Alaska which was the official end of the Alaska Highway!  The signpost at the Visitor Center reads:

This highway was constructed during World War II as a military supply route for interior Alaska Military and Airfields in 1942. 7 Army regiments and 42 Contractors and Public Roads Administrators working from Delta Junction South and Dawson Creek North completed it when they met at Soldiers' Summit at Kluane Lake Yukon Territory in November 1942. At the peak of construction, 77 Contractors employed 15,000 men and 11,000 pieces of road building equipment. The total construction cost for 1422 miles was $115,000,000.      

Next Stops:  Tok, Valdez, Anchorage, Homer, Seward, Fairbanks, and Chicken, all in Alaska 

Navigating the Alaska Highway, Part 1

Star at the entrance to the Alaska Highway

Okay, we had been back from the Philippines, visiting my youngest April, and Taiwan for 2 weeks, we had rented out our townhomes and sold our belongings, and we had bought Star and Vino.  So we left my eldest Trisha and her family in Seattle, visited Bill's eldest Jim and his family in Boise, Bill's second child Suzanne and her family in Denver, and my second child Claudine and her family in Calgary, and we are now headed for Jasper National Park, then the famous Alaska Highway, and on to see Bill's youngest Cristine in Alaska before we get back down to the lower 48 and Mexico!  This is it!  This is the start of our RV cruising life. 

We had been to Banff before.  After all, it is only about an hour away from Claudine’s home and we have visited Claudine a number of times.  The Canadian Rockies is often called the Alps of North America, much more beautiful than the Rockies in the USA.  Banff is surrounded by alpine peaks eternally covered with snow.  So is the new town of Canmore, fast becoming another tourist destination in the region, second to Banff and picture-perfect Lake Louise a little further ahead.  But we were more interested, this time, in Jasper, deeper into the Canadian Rockies.

@ Icefields Parkway

We were driving along the Icefields Parkway, reputed to be one of the most scenic highways in the world and all of a sudden it hit us!  The purple mountain majesties turned into high white spaces.  Huge glaciers that were endlessly interconnected draped the boundless boulders.  This is the Columbia Glacial Fields where you can ride on those huge buses that can ply the ice fields.  We do not know what else lies before us.  If this is any indication, we will be in to some parts of this world we hardly know about.

a lake in Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park is indeed a landmark of beauty.  The lakes were elegant in glacial waters of milky greenish hue.  And there were lakes galore…Medicine Lake, even one called Patricia Lake,… etc.  There were many tourists around.  After all, it was July.  But it felt like you were alone amid the serenity of the lakes and the snow-covered mountains that protected them, in varying hues of blue and purple.  Each photo we took seemed to emerge as another painting!  There is indeed a Master Painter!

elk by the road

We also saw the first wildlife of our cruise…the ubiquitous elk.  Two of them were cavorting by the road and we took endless pictures.  We were on the way to the aerial trams that were supposed to give us even a better view of the unique landscape.  Unfortunately, it was out of order and we were just refunded our tickets.  So we decided to take a trip to Mt. Robson, the highest summit of the Canadian Rockies at over 14,000 ft!

Mt. Robson

The trip took us to the border of Alberta and British Columbia.  At the border was the sign for the first Intercontinental Divide we would cross…and there would be many more.  I don’t know why.  But the peaks of Mt. Robson evoked a secret admiration in me.  They stood as imposing as the Mt. Rainier’s peak, for example, even as they rested on a base that was already thousands of feet above sea level.

Before we left Jasper, we had already bought the Canadian Pass so we could visit all its national parks.  It cost so much more, however, ($150 for a year) compared to the Senior Pass Bill had for the American counterpart ($10 lifetime).  But, what is that compared to the wondrous feelings they will constantly evoke?  It was cheap! And so we left Jasper a little sad but confident that many more wonders await us.  

Mama Bear and her cub by the roadside

As a matter of fact, the trip through northern British Columbia and the Stone Mountains was extra memorable for me because by the winding roads (that would bring up to the Alaska Highway) were my first close encounters with wildlife I had never before seen except perhaps in zoos!  We found a mother and baby bear sitting quietly among the grass, a herd of bisons lying peacefully by the road side (with one of them almost dangerously walking alongside Star), a big moose by a pond on hot springs and a multitude of birds and insects by the raging river we chanced upon following a small arrow sign.  

Mile 0 o the Alaska Highway

Indeed when we reached Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, we could not contain the excitement in our hearts.   Dawson Creek is a small and sleepy town but their bragging rights were all over.  We had a ball taking pics of ourselves at various Mile 0 signs.  We did it…another milestone in our cruising life.  A bonus was at church, I found out that there were about 300 Filipinos living there!

The next town on the Alaska Highway was Fort Nelson, British Columbia.  There we found a museum of the history of the famous highway, how the US and Canada cooperated in its building, and how they separate the maintenance responsibilities at the present time.  Bill and I thought, after navigating the entire length of the highway, that the American portions were better kept than the Canadian part.  The 1,390 mile-long highway has long served the distinct purpose of connecting Alaska to the lower 48, militarily strategic in WWII and economically so now.  But we also think it serves another major purpose:  develop tourism in Canada, especially the vast, underexplored Yukon Territories!  

  

Next Stops:   YUKON TERRITORIES, CANADA: Watson Lake, Whitehorse, and Haines Junction 

Debating the Pros and Cons of the RV Cruising Lifestyle

I must admit there are several stages to RV cruising as a lifestyle: escaping, sightseeing, seeing/relaxing, migrating, nesting. Since Bill and I only met on the road to retirement, we did not experience the first so we jumped right into the second stage and are now on the fourth (we think). Let me discuss these various stages at a future post, however. Instead let me dwell on a debate that has been raging on my mind since we started this journey.

We have found the following benefits of RV cruising as a lifestyle:

new experiences and activities
new places and sights
being close to nature
new people you meet
a larger view of life
relatively lower levels of stress

And so we decided to move from stage 2 to 3. In only eight months we had traveled 21,000 miles, from Alaska and the Arctic Circle to Mexico and the Tropic of Cancer to Florida and Low Country USA! Because of the new experiences, activities, places, sights and people, we have not been a bit bored. Surprisingly we have developed a non-parochial view of life because we have not been rooted anywhere really. Finally, from the driven lifestyles we had (Bill, keeping a small business alive despite a flagging economy after years of corporate jungle and I, juggling classes at three institutions in a supposed reinvention after years of business pioneering) this crazy adventure was exhilaratingly refreshing.

But we have also found the following disadvantages:

inconsistency in bonds with people: family and friends
inconsistency in involvement with causes
inconsistency in healthcare
loss of stability
loss of income
preponderance of unfamiliar situations

The very benefits of having something new all the time also gave the lifestyle the loss of stability and the preponderance of unfamiliar situations. This resulted in inconsistencies in bonds with people (both family and friends), with causes (such as the church) that we used to nurture, and healthcare. Technology has definitely helped (skype, webcam, cell phones, broadband access, laptops, the internet, etc.) but the ‘propinquity’ is also essentially lost. What younger people would find most disturbing, however, is the loss of regular income. For retired people like us, that really is not much of an issue. But the loss certainly has made us more frugal than necessary and budgeting more of a regular to-do.

And what do you do if you enjoy the benefits so much that you want to continue the lifestyle but do not want to suffer the disadvantages? Well, you mitigate them, of course! I have already talked about technology to strengthen communications with loved ones. As far as health, just make sure you stay long enough at a place where you have a doctor you trust, at least once a year. Work camping is an option to earn enough to sustain the lifestyle (see workamper.com). A payback vacation (like building homes for Katrina victims in New Orleans) is another way to work for causes. And not sweating the small stuff is such a valuable attitude to have when you have to adjust to so many varying situations, people, rules, facilities, availabilities, etc. For old folks like us, that may not be an easy thing to do…but we try.

What do you think? Do you think the pros outweigh the cons? Would you join us in the RV cruising lifestyle? Will you embrace the benefits and mitigate the disadvantages? At what stage will you enter?

Touring Low Country USA with a Visiting Friend

Our next stops were in Low Country USA in South Carolina. What made the stays extra special, however, was the visit of my dear friend Dittas, a top-notch IT business consultant in the Philippines, who was vacationing for a month in the US.

Low Country USA is the identifier of a unique culture and geography that extends from the Sandhills of South Carolina, just east of Columbia, its capital, to its coast and outlying islands. Our campgrounds are conveniently located in the midst of beautiful Savannah, Hilton Head Island, Beaufort, Charleston, and Columbia. This area is mostly near or below sea level; thus the term "low country". As far as your eyes can see are marshes filled with low grasses and swampy water. It is perfect country for shrimping (remember Forrest Gump?).

Although Savannah is not in South Carolina, it is often included because it sits right at the border of Georgia and SC and shares much of the history, landscape and culture. It is just 45 minutes from our first campground, The Oaks at Point South. In fact, Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport was where Dittas landed and where we took her for her flight back to San Francisco. The highlight of the city is the 24 Squares around which the city was designed by Oglethorpe, the British settler in 1733, making the city one of the most organized in the world and, definitely the best structured during its time. The largest and oldest is Johnson Square but the most beautiful is Monterrey Square, especially when it is blooming with flowers on the bases of magnificent live oak trees. One of the old houses around the square is Mercer House, the site of the enchanting film, Midnight in the Garden of Good

and Evil. In another square was the park bench on which Forrest Gump sat, contemplating life like a box of chocolates (we also went to Chocolate Tree, the maker of the chocolates who gave each of us a complimentary sand dollar dark chocolate). Another enchanting section of the city is River Street where old cotton warehouses along the Savannah River had been transformed into quaint boutiques and restaurants. In fact, one of the raw bars there is where we had two dozen fresh oysters for just $6 during Happy Hour! And, on the river bank was Savannah River Queen, a paddle boat waiting for tourists to climb on board. Dittas and I could not help but be queens for an instant (beautiful queens!). At a distance, the double suspension bridge casts a striking pose in the Savannah sky. 

Hilton Head Island is an island unto itself. It was conceptualized around 1765 by Charles Fraser, a

visionary at 27. He pioneered gated communities in America as he transformed the island’s many plantations. Sea Pines is the only one open to the public for a $5 access fee and it features the South Beach (If Sea

Pines is a foot, then South Beach is its toe!) and Harbor Town. South Beach is where we had traditional fish and chips at the Salty Dog Café on the marina only to be pleasantly surprised by the best key lime pie in the whole wide world! Harbor Town, on the other hand, is where Liberty Oak, a giant centuries-old live oak, was left untouched during the development of the island and under which large, red, rocking chairs wait for visitors torelax in the beauty of the marina and its nearby shops. Elsewhere on the island are the Coligny Beach, the public beach where hundreds of colorful beach umbrellas and towels conceal the lovely tanned bodies of scantily clad men and women. On Shelter Cove stands a giant statue of Neptune whose spear tells time on one of the largest sundials in the world.   

Beaufort, SC, is the oldest of the communities, dating back from 1711. The quaint historic downtown is home to many southeastern eateries and craft shops, a beautiful waterfront, and a long and winding bridge/highway to a group of small islands the farthest of which, Fripps Island, is privately owned. We chanced upon a shrimp shack but lo and behold…all the fish and shrimps are fried! For all of us who come from the tropics, fish had better be grilled, or poached, or steamed, or baked! So we went instead to Gilligan’s Island and peeled steamed shrimps to our tummies’ satisfaction. For those who love beautiful sprawling historic homes, Beaufort is the place to be. For those who love stately more modern homes, Hilton Head Island is more ideal. And for those who care for the in-betweens, Charleston is a must.

Charleston’s beautiful southern mansions dot the road along its harbor. But the distinction of the town is in Fort Sumter. Lying just outside the city, beyond the harbor, in the middle of the water is the fort where the first blast of the Civil War began. The city is known as the Holy City with all of 300 churches around.  But the Catholic cathedral is uniquely pretty with its small, narrow facade. And the small wineries featured more of fruit wines than the regular whites and reds. But what we were thrilled about in Charleston is the City Market where hundreds of stalls, flea-market style, are laid out with so many Low Country crafts. That is where Dittas finally found a bright, flowery Welcome Sign for our RV, colorful, chunky earrings and necklace set to match an old red, yellow, orange, green, blue ring, and an off-white top made from organic cotton. As women on a frenzied shopping spree go, we were more than just satisfied with our afternoon stash!

The Oaks campground was largely uneventful (although the clubhouse was the place where I finally beat Bill in pool!) except for the 3 ponds at the back around which we took brisk walks for our afternoon exercise. There were 3 alligators there and we did not realize one of them was camouflaged as he lay lounging on the banks. Thank heavens he jumped back into the water in surprise when I asked Bill to move closer to the edge for a photo of the beautiful red, green, and yellow trees that were mirrored in the pond.

Around our campground are small towns with unique attractions. We found a Carolina Cherry (My name is actually Carolina and I have a sister named Cherry) Store where we found benne wafers (sesame seed cookies) and pecan pinches, tasty Southern snack bites. There were old church ruins in Sheldon that were almost razed to the ground by the British during the American Revolution but left elegant columns that looked like a small brick

Parthenon. We also discovered an authentic African Village (as seen on TV) where, upon entry, you are considered to have left the USA! Coosawatchie, a

town 6 miles away, was where Bill finally found a shop for the S’un (our Saturn SL1). To both our chagrin and delight, the day after Dittas left, we even discovered a Low Country Visitors’ Museum just around the corner from the camp. There Bill and I found a huge live oak with its trunk and all its branches bent to the ground. The museum also featured the ‘Blue Bottle’ tree to ward off evil spirits, a common practice in Low Country, and a joggling board, a historic contraption made by German friends of a plantation owner who had bad back problems.

Dittas treated us to lunch at a Scottish pub in downtown Savannah on the day of her departure.  We wanted to go to Paula Deen's, on the advice o a friend from Seattle, but the line was so looooong.  Bill loooooved the food (he had Guiness beef stew) and Dittas loooooved the waiter's utility kilt. The unfortunate thing was I left my purse there when we hurried to catch Dittas' flight. So the next day we had to go back one more time to Savannah and decided to hear Easter mass at the lovely

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. On the way out of town we saw two huge cute elephants, one pink, one blue in front of a souvenir shop.

Two days after Dittas left, we headed for Big Water in Santee on Lake Marion. The campground has 2 warm pools, a Lazy River for tubing, and beach access to the lake. We spent several days of water fun. But SC fishing licenses sold for $11 for 7 days and $35 for a year so Bill postponed buying one until North Carolina where we will be staying longer, for a month and a half. The campground also gave us access to Columbia, the state capital, where we were able to finally see Avatar which was still showing in an old movie house at its outskirts! The campground was also near Sumter where we found a small flea market.  And, even if we did not find anything worthwhile buying (it was more of a large garage/junk yard sale), a good soul told us to go to the Swan Lake and Iris Gardens, the town's jewel.  That day 3 weddings were going on...it was obviously the most beautiful place around for miles.  The lake had several elegant black and white swans and the banks were filled with the spectacle of tree roots jutting out a foot or two high.  All around the lake were pedestals where buttons, when touched, would explain the tree orn plant it was beside.

Next Stops: Salisbury and Advance, NC, Lynchburg, Va, and Lenoir, NC