Friday, May 27--Pondering our next trip

 Our next trip, scheduled for June 4, will be a long one. However, that doesn't bother me as much as the fact that it's two days late to be able to attend the services for the death of a close relative in Albany.  My cousin Donald Medick has passed away. This man was a good and very funny man. He and his family (wife Jean and children Donna Jean, Michael, Nancy, Paul, and Marybeth) lived on the next street from us and I was at their place often. Don made me laugh--always. He was a very happy man and a great husband and father. He is survived by his wife, Jean, and three of his 5 children: Marybeth, Donna Jean, and Nancy. I really wish I could get there to celebrate his life with his wonderful family, but I'm unable to get a flight before next weekend. 

Our next trip is to Albany--via Orlando, Hudson Valley (SWF airport), UBER to Poughkeepsie from the Hudson Valley airport near Newburgh, to the Amtrak train station. Then, the train to Albany will take us into Albany around 7:15. I don't mind all of the waiting and plane transferring--it's the fact that I'm carrying a backpack and my CPAP the whole way. UGH. 

We'll be staying with my cousin Antoinette from June 4-10th then taking the train to Long Island, where we'll be stating at a hotel in Merrick, from the 10th to the 17th--then probably home, if we can get tickets home from MacArthur (Islip, LI) to Den--because remember we can't book more than a day in advance. Oh boy.

Until then, I have to decide what few things I need to bring with me so I can have enough, not too much, and just have a carry-on. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. Also, it's not like I won't have access to Antoinette's washer/dryer, and a laundromat on Long Island somewhere.

So I'm sure I'll be posting again as we get closer to our departure. With more stories. Stay tuned.

Sunday, May 14, Goodbye SC,

 Not only were Robert and Maryann the very best of hosts, but they drove us to the airport in Charlotte at 3:30 AM. 

We left some stuff for them to mail to us and so we wouldn't have to sweat it when they measured our bags at the gate. My bag seemed bigger than when we came, even though I left a bagful of items to be sent to us. Thank goodness the man ahead of me was carrying a large backpack as a personal item and the gate clerk ignored mine and concentrated on his.

The flight home was fine ($135 for both of us), though both Bob and I had backaches and were extremely uncomfortable. But we were lucky that for the flight from Denver and the flight back, the niddle seat between us (I'm the window seater and Bob is the aisle). Frontier's new planes certainly pack them in AND the seats don't recline. Uncomfortable I would assume even if we paid for the seats with extra leg room.

Saturday, May 13th, the museum

Today, we packed. Then we picked up Kelsey and drove to a small, but amazing, local natural history museum, the Museum of York County. It showcased the flora and fauna of the area, but more importantly provided an archive of artifacts of the local animals and dinosaurs/fossils, history which proved to be extremely informative and interesting. There were beautiful vignettes of taxidermy with each animal, bird in its habitat. There was a hands-on room with all sorts of items--different birds wings, birds eggs, skulls of animals, fossils--all identified and labeled. Bob F, my zoologist husband, said it was a good old-fashioned and well-done natural history museum. I could've stayed longer, but we were leaving tomorrow, so we wanted to go home and relax a bit.

Friday, May 12, UGH

 Was up all night and almost moved my pillow and blanket to the bathroom floor. In bed all day. Enough said.

Thursday, May 11, Catawba River and Finally--BBQ, SC style

South Carolina, especially in the Piedmont area, has many parks and shared public areas. Late this morning, we headed to a mixed use area and the Riverwalk. It's a beautiful area with homes, newer apartments, restaurants, wine bars, and the Riverwalk. Lined with huge old trees--poplars, sweet gum, white gum, silver maples, the Riverwalk follows a section of the Catawba River. The entire river is 250 miles beginning in Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. While on our walk, Bob saw yellow river cooters (turtles), Great Blue Herons.

Yellow River Cooters

Yellow River Cooters

The walk was beautiful and just what we needed--some exercise. It's obvious that Maryann and Robert are in much better shape than we are. It was getting warm, and, obviously, it was very humid. Colorado, like Arizona, is very dry, so the humidity was getting to us.

 All our excursions took us through some beautiful tree-lined country roads. We saw mansions, shacks, trailers, farmhouses, lots of property on almost all of our drives. I found the area of Rock Hill, which was quite expansive, very interesting.

South Carolina has A LOT of really big churches--EVERYWHERE--and car washes. Very interesting. Maryann and Bob's home is located in an area close to shopping but far enough away that it seems more country, except that it is a housing development. there's a pool and her neighborhood is cute. Behind her house is a mansion, separated from her property by a greenbelt of mature trees. I am so impressed with the work that both Bob and Maryann do on their yard. Every morning, we'd have our coffee outside and do some bird watching. Bob has a program that can call in the birds. We saw hummingbirds, cardinals, Southern wrens, aplenty. It was fun to watch them flit from tree to tree or fence to tree. 

Carolina wren

Bob and Maryann have a wood carving of a parrot in their backyard. They have a Margaritaville theme--"it's 5:00 Somewhere. There is a local carver in the area whom they befriended, so we stopped by his place to talk to him and check out his animals and if he had any new projects in the works. This guy was so interesting--obviously well-read--and full of ideas. He talked about his next project which was raising a special breed of French chicken (Bresse). Yes, it involved some animal cruelty in the late stages before butchering, but I've heard of the type of chicken he spoke of and the process is pretty complicated. He seemed to know a lot about it and it really does sound like a great business enterprise (except for the animal cruelty part--which involves putting the chicken in a very small cage to limit their moving). He spoke of other aspects of his life that were really fascinating--I'd love to take him out for a beer. It was an interesting excursion.

After the Riverwalk, we decided to have lunch. Since we were in South Carolina, of course we had to have barbecue. So we headed to the Dixie Pig which shares its parking lot with a laundromat. Looking at the sign, it seemed like it was the Dixie Pig laundromat and not a barbecue restaurant. It was a hole-in-the-wall joint (aren't all good BBQ restaurants) and not a chain, but it had been highly recommended and it wasn't far away.

Holy Moly! To begin with, the menu, though not extensive, was one that made a decision on what to order very difficult. There were at least 5 items I couldn't decide between (among). I ended up ordering and practically inhaling a BBQ prime rib and pork belly sandwich on an onion roll. With that, I got a side of mac and cheese. Maryann ordered a pulled pork sandwich, fried corn, and fries; Bob W got fried-catfish which came with BBQ hash, a hush puppy, and fries. My Bob got pulled pork, cole slaw, a salad, and fried corn (on the cob).  Everything (except my mac and cheese was scrumptious. I'm salivating here just thinking of it. Since we seated ourselves in front of a big illustrated dessert sign, we had to order dessert. Bob F refrained since he's been on a low sugar and carb diet after a high A1C at his last doctor's visit. Bob W ordered a peach cobbler, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It looked delicious and was big! Maryann ordered peanut butter pie (I tried it and it was one of the silkiest peanut butter pies I've ever had--and definitely deliciously rich. I love banana cream pie, so it was an easy choice for me to order the banana cream pudding. When I say it was the best banana pudding I'd ever had, I'm not lying or exaggerating in the least. It was creamy, full of banana and vanilla flavors that were not artificial. The dollop of whipped cream at the top was almost enough for me and there were some pie crust crumble at the bottom of the dish. Oh boy--did I crave it the next day, and the day after, and even now--well, you get the idea.

We returned to Waxhaw. Our last trip there was on a Monday and many shops were closed, so today we went into a number of shops. I also returned to the antique store for my $5 Buffalo check tin container.

Tonight, I wasn't feeling well, so I went to bed early. It was foreshadowing to a very bad night and not so good Friday.

Wednesay, May 10th, Day of Rest

 We had a nice week so far, so we decided to hang out at the house (really in the yard). No pictures.

Tuesday May 9 Girls' Day Out

 Today Maryann and I picked up Tricia and did some shopping in Rock Hill. For fortification, we stopped at MoMo's, a Donut shop. When Tricia said they had the best Bavarian cream donut she had ever had, she had to prove it to me. They had all kinds of donuts and a variety of flavored cream-filled donuts. I'm a purist, so I ordered a Bavarian cream, as did Maryann and Tricia. It was so fresh and the Bavarian creme was amazing. Tricia is a good judge--this donut was outstanding. (Sorry, no pictures).

Then we headed to a place called the Shops at River's Edge. It was a charming flea market/gift store/antique store that seemed to go on forever. The prices were very reasonable and I had to restrain myself, since there were a number of things I wanted (but I didn't need). I walked out with a turquoise silicon oven, extra-long oven mitt, even though there were many temptations--including a few adorable blouses.

We headed to Walmart because I needed a pair of jeans and Bob wanted a couple of pairs of basketball shorts. He's lost a lot of weight after his diabetes diagnosis. The man has amazing willpower. I, on the other hand, don't. 

One of my favorite economy women's clothing is Cato. There are not any close to us in Colorado and during our cross-country trips, Bob would stop when we saw a Cato. I'd run in, and I'd usually run out with a bag full of bargains. All I wanted this time was a white blouse--found two. Good deals. 

We had a nice Ladies Day in Rock Hill.

MAY 8th, Breakfast and tour of Waxhaw, NC Main Street and Anne Springs Close GreenwayGreenbelt area

We slept in a little later this morning (9:00), had coffee and had a delicious dinner in a place called Stacks. I think its specialty is different flavors of pancakes. Maryann's favorite was Cannoli, but they didn't have it. I had eggs benedict and hash browns, Maryann had a waffle and bacon, Bob F had scrambled eggs, country fried steak, grits Bob W had sausage, pancakes, eggs, and a biscuit. The place was cute and the food was good.

We toured the small downtown of Waxhaw and although I coveted a number of things, I finally asked myself the questions, "Where are you going to put it?" "How much will it cost to mail it all home?" and "Do you need this?" As a result, I didn't buy a thing and I have no regrets. Too bad so many stores were closed on Mondays.

Waxhaw town sights

It was hot and humid, but we went to the Anne Springs Close Greenway, a nature preserve with camping, some nights live music, picnic areas, a pretty lake, walking trails, lots of trees and birds. Bob was happy happy. He found two rat snakes (picked one up--UGH), an anole, a turtle, a bluebird, two red-shouldered hawks, and a bunch of tadpoles. It was hot and humid, nonetheless. we saw much (not even close to all) of the interesting areas and took far too few pictures. 

Bob and ratsnake

Rat snake and snake handler, Bob

Rat snake and snake handler

Rat Snake