I ate out a lot during my stay in South Carolina. South Carolina is definitely a wonderful food destination. With tons of seafood coming off the coast and wonderful farm-fresh meat and produce coming from the Piedmont, it's hard to go wrong. Unfortunately I didn't plan my meals out as well as I could have, nor did I do my due diligence by really researching the places I ate. These long days have kept me busy and I usually ended up eating wherever was open and grabbing a quick burger or a salad. This is something I hope to correct in Tennessee as I eat in a little more often and save my money and my appetite for some well planned out meals. I did, however, find a few cool places around the state so before I move on, I thought I would share some with you today.
I had some really great seafood up and down the coast. When I was out on Daufuskie Island, I had a plate of fresh fried grouper over jasmine rice with green beans and slaw at Lucy Bell's Cafe. When I tell you it was to die for, I really mean it…
"The Prettiest Town in Dixie" is a pretty big claim to make. Having traveled fairly extensively around the south in my life, I've seen some really beautiful towns. But this claim is certainly an enticing one and a bold one, so I had to go and see for myself. The town that made this claim? Tiny Cheraw, South Carolina. I got there first thing in the morning with the intention of staying maybe an hour or two, and ended up being there the better part of the day. It really is a beautiful town, steeped in history and with one of the best tourism infrastructures I've come across in a town this size anywhere. I came knowing almost nothing about Cheraw, and left charmed by it and knowing it's a place I will return to.
Well, darn. Here I thought today was Wednesday and I still had today to get this done before my newsletter went out on Thursday. But today is actually Thursday and my newsletter came out this morning. It's easy to lose track out here sometimes, but I'm going to write it anyway. I have enjoyed this the last few weeks - it reminds even me of what I've done and where I've been and lets me just write without having to stop and look up facts and figures.
The wisteria is in bloom here in South Carolina. This beautiful, purple, sweet smelling, flowering plant hangs from vines around the region and I have found myself stopping often, literally to smell the flowers...
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is an interesting place. It is one of the more developed beach communities on the east coast and is getting more so by the day. It's full of hotels, mini-golf courses, restaurants, shops and bars. Especially in recent years, it has grown to look like a giant submarine sandwich with housing developments sandwiched between the beach and the strip mall that highway 17 has become. You can imagine my surprise, therefor, at finding a beautiful, quiet, minimally developed spiritual center right in the middle of it all. But that is exactly what I found when I entered the Meher Spiritual Center in Briarcliffe, just south of Barefoot Landing...
During my summer breaks in college, I lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was a nice break from my studies and all of the other things I was involved with at school in Pennsylvania. I could sleep in, work for a few hours at a restaurant and then hang out with my friends. I have lots of good memories from my three summers in Myrtle Beach. After graduation I came down and took some time off from the real world to hang out at the beach. It was fun and I made some great friends. Through the years, I've watched Myrtle Beach turn from a medium sized beach community into The Grand Strand and seen as big chains have some in and the small, family run places have closed down. It's not what it once was, but it's still a pretty beach and a fun place to be. One of my favorite things about Myrtle Beach is some of the delightfully tacky roadside attractions to be found there. While some of these are new, many have been around as long as I can remember. I thought it would be fun to photograph some of these mini-golf courses and restaurants and bring you some of my favorites here. This was a fun project and I hope you enjoy these photos.
