I love the diversity of coastal South Carolina – from saltwater swamps to extensive white sand (shell) beaches.
While in the Beaufort area we took some drives around the back roads and I went on a tour of Gullah Culture, which was fabulous.
We stayed at Myrtle Beach State Park
Dinner at Hot Fish in Murrels Inlet
Despite being on the outskirts of Jacksonville, we are fortunate to have the St. Johns River, the expansive beach and the unspoiled coastal wetlands of the Timucuan Preserve nearby. (See us at the blue dot!)
We visited the Timucuan Preserve twice for lovely walks through the hardwood hammocks where the beautiful spanish moss drapes the trees, and the salt marshes are a haven for birdlife .
It is thought that there is 6,000 years of human history in this area and one can see ancient piles of discarded oyster shells which was thought to be the staple diet of the Timucuan and yields clues to an extinct culture.
On the other side of the naval station and alongside the river we discovered this HUGE seafood market (Safe Harbor) and jointly owned restaurant where the fish is offloaded right in front of you.
A face only a dog mother could love!!! After diving through the waves and then rolling in the sand!!!
We awoke to a winter wonderland! the small road we were on was snow packed and everything around us was white except for the fence posts and occasional herds of Icelandic ponies.
Taking it very easy we drove to the Geysir about 20km up the road from our hotel, but had to abort continuing on to Gullfoss. We’ll try and do that on our way back to Reykjavik.
The ponies are adorable; they must be very rugged to be outside in all weather. Evidently they are used for competitive racing.
We made a lunch stop at Fridheimar greenhouse farm. Tomatoes are grown year round in 11,000 square meters of electrically illuminated greenhouses – producing about 700 tons annually. The greenhouses are heated with the geothermal hot water (about 95C/203F) from a borehole just 200 meters from the greenhouses. Iceland has abundant “green electricity” generated by hydro and geo-thermal power plants. No pesticides are used in the greenhouses. The mirid bug is imported from Holland and eats just about all the pests found in Icelandic greenhouses. Bees are also imported from Holland for pollination.
The sun came out lighting up the stark white mountains, and the sky was like an artist’s palette with colors from light turquoise to purple to orange.
