New Isabella

Mainly to see this famous epitaph of astronomer and director John Brashear and his wife, and to learn more of the history of the place.

It would be lovely to go and visit this garden with MamaKitty, master gardener and fellow flower lover. :)

...was yesterday, for a charity walk. We had a great time. We got onto this paved multi-use trail in Riverview Park, a place that I didn’t even know existed on the west side of North Augusta. The trail first went through what appeared to be an old railroad route, with large trees on both sides. Then we came to the north bank of the Savannah River, where a sculling competition was going on. Next we reached the new Hammond’s Ferry neighborhood, and stopped for some rest and refreshments at a nice restaurant with sidewalk tables. After that we returned to the starting point, and had grilled hot dogs for lunch. (One of the best hot dogs I’ve ever eaten. Guess I’d worked up a real appetite.) It was a gorgeous sunny day, probably the peak for leaf color in this area. I had a great time.

I’d like to go back to Aiken again sometime with my walking buddy, and this sounds like a good place to go walking.

My walking buddy had an errand to do today in Aiken, so I rode along with her. After her errand was complete, we went for a walk around the town on this sunny but cold and blustery morning, and stopped for awhile here at the Old Aiken Market to warm up and explore all the different kinds of foods that they offer. We each bought a bag of groceries, and chose mostly inexpensive local produce. I liked their wide selection of bulk dried beans and grains and nuts and fruits, and bought a sampling of these too. We finally sat down for a snack of pastries and coffee. It was worth doing, and I’d like to come back again sometime.

It really did look like this, especially when the sun was shining.

In addition to the beach, we visited Brookgreen Gardens, Ripley’s Aquarium, and the Jonathan Green Exhibition at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum.

...to see everything that we wanted to see. We started out on a very informative tour of the stunningly beautiful sculpture gardens, set amid stately rows of huge live oak trees draped with Spanish moss, but had to leave the tour early to try to catch the last boat tour at 3pm. Unfortunately, we missed the boat, and never saw any alligators. We continued on to zoo and saw lots of other animals, including cows, sheep, deer, wild turkeys, eagles, hawks, owls, herons, otters, and a fox.

We also saw some myrtle trees here, although we didn’t see any growing at Myrtle Beach.

I loved walking in the winding plastic tunnel under the huge “dangerous reef” tank, with its toothy cruising sharks, graceful sea turtle, great green moray eels, and gazillions of other fish, swimming either right next to me or right over my head. We walked through it twice.

I want to go because my friend invited me to come and stay with her for a couple of days in her time-share while her husband is playing golf with his college buddies.

was this morning. I hadn’t been here in several years, but I had offered to take a friend to the airport, and this park is right next door, and I had a few extra minutes, so I decided to stop. I’m so glad that I did. I took a short walk on the Cat-tail Trail, out the boardwalk to a covered observation deck in the middle of the swamp, and sat watching nature. It was a gorgeous morning, and I really enjoyed my brief visit. I want to go back again soon.