Poinsette State Park

This morning we 'hiked' the Ravenel Bridge.  With the bridge deck peaking at 186 feet above the water, it's the only 'hill' we have within a two hour drive in any direction.  From the top you get a panoramic view of downtown Charleston, and any cool ships coming into port, like this one. 

Because we were having so much fun on the bridge, we decided to head upstate a bit in the afternoon to go explore Poinsette State Park.  The park is about 2 hours west of Charleston, which is about where the hills start.  Have I mentioned how much I miss geographical relief?  Hills?  Vistas?  Mountains, even?  Charleston is as flat as eastern North Dakota.  But, I digress.   We packed up the dog and some road snacks, and headed to the park, where we had heard there were...gasp...hills.

It was a very pretty park, and remarkably quiet for Memorial Day weekend.  We drove around the campgrounds and were surprised to see open campsites.  We stopped to take a family portrait in one of the picnic shelters.  I can't believe this one turned out - I had the camera on the timer and Seca was being so good for about 10 seconds - long enough to set up the camera and get back on the table!   And I really can't believe she's looking at the camera.

We hiked for a bit at a small lake in the park.  I had to include this picture of a frog because I was standing on a fire ant hill while taking it.  It wasn't until they were swarming on my feet and biting me that I realized what I had done.  I was jumping up and down and swearing up a storm trying to get them off me (and of course I was wearing sandals).  And the really stupid thing is that I did it again later in the day - on a different ant hill.  Fire ants suck.

 This turtle seemed to be having a really nice time in the sun.

 There are ruins of an old mill at the park.  This is part of the original mill channels, I think.  Seca had fun playing in the water behind me.

 I laughed so hard when saw this little guy sunning on the lily pad.  I don't know why he (or she) had his foot in the air.  Steve said this was proof that turtles fart.

Couch potato

Our new (fabulous, brown leather) couch was delivered at 7 am this morning!  We're so excited to have a real couch for the first time in...well, since we sold our house, so it's been 7 years.  Whoa.  We've had chairs, and we've had futon couches, but not a *real* couch.  Steve says we have to keep this one forever, and I agree.  It's awesome. 

We've been busy while awaiting the arrival of the couch (we ordered it 8 weeks ago yesterday).  We've painted the walls a soft grey and the ceiling a crisp white, which was a vast improvement of the badly-painted putty color they were before.  We rearranged furniture and added lots of new photographs from our travels to the walls too.  I can't wait to show everyone.  Photos to come!  (must clean and tidy a bit more first)

9 years!

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary!  Steve had the awesome idea of booking a sunset catamaran cruise of the Charleston harbor to celebrate.  It was a perfect night to be on the water.  The boat leaves from Shem Creek, in Mt. Pleasant for a two hour cruise.  It was really fun!
 

We saw a couple of dolphins feeding in the creek before we set sail.

And pelicans too.  I love the colors and detail in the feathers here.

This small island is a bird sanctuary and sits just off the entrance to Shem Creek.  Being downwind smells really bad due to all the bird poo.

And when we got home tonight there was a surprise on the doorstep - beautiful purple roses from Tami and Erik and family!  They are the same purple that we had for our wedding flowers.  :)  What a great end to the night.  Thank you!

Home again

Friday it rained hard all day (there was a forecast of 4-6 inches rain).  Our meeting ended about noon and we packed up and went into Christiansted, a town towards the eastern side of the island.  Since it was raining so hard, we didn't explore much, but did have a nice lunch and drinks at a bar with a view of the harbor.

The flights home on Saturday started again with a tiny plane, but I got a picture this time.  It was still raining so no great pictures, but it was a fun flight.  Once again I had the seat behind the pilot, which made for a cool view of the landing strip in San Juan.

I'm glad to be home!  Steve, as usual, did a great job of eating almost everything in the fridge.  Time to go grocery shopping, I guess.  :)

Snorkeling

I got up at 6 am and went snorkeling.  The corals start in about 4 feet of water, about 15 feet from the beach.  I don't think I've ever seen so much cool stuff so close to a beach.  If you go out about 100 meters there's a 3000 foot drop off (wall) that is popular for scuba divers.  I swam out there to check it out - kinda creepy to see the ocean floor drop away into blackness so fast.

The water is clear and warm.  No sharks seen (whew!).  Tyree had a waterproof camera and took some pictures (thanks Tyree!)...

This one was probably more than 6 feet wide.

 There's a small black fish right in the center of this photo - it's an invasive lionfish.  If I had had a way to catch it, I would have!

And proof that I was there - the ubiquitous picture of my feet!

 

And, last photo of the day...a cute (tiny!) anole that I spotted on a leaf during a break in the meeting. 

 

Furry mammal sighting

I saw a mongoose!  They aren't native here but were brought here to kill snakes, which they have apparently done.  I thought they were supposed to be really aggressive, but the couple I've seen have all run away quickly. 

Tyree (the IT guy for our meeting) and I walked up the road a bit this morning to get a wider view of the resort. What a view!  Today is the first sunny morning and I think it's going to be hot and humid today.

Sunset and sunrise in St. Croix

I took a few pictures at sunset last night, then was up early and walking on the beach. The weather has been really nice - not too hot and humid, as long as you're not moving quickly.

Sunset, looking north over the water

This morning, on the beach.

 Looking roughly northeast this morning.