#60 Serpentarium

We woke up semi early this morning so we could make it time for the alligator feeding at the Serpentarium. With an hour drive in front of us back to Edisto, we grabbed a quick coffee and bagel breakfast sandwich on the way down the road--from the sketchiest little looking place that turned out to be as cute as could be inside with such good food.

We arrived at the Seperentarium, and I browsed the gift shop as I waited for Stephen. I found a few little things on Hepzibah Jenkins Townsend in some of the books--a pioneer for God, missions, and women! She's kind of become our little South Carolina Baptist heroine. It's neat to see just the general public take such an interest to her story too, in fact calling it one of the most gripping stories of Edisto Island. A woman who stood up to her husband to be faithful to God, befriended her servants, went above and beyond to start the first missions offering, and started the first baptist church on Edisto Island. She's a cool lady. I actually gave my mother a book for her birthday this year written by Rosalie Hunt, former Recording Secretary for national WMU and foreign missionary, about Hepzibah's life.

We paid our fee, and explored the inside snake exhibit for a bit, until we realized it was feeding time!
We learned so much about alligators and got to see a face off between one of the alligators and a buzzard.

Explored some more around the outside. Met Joe the tortoise and his girlfriend.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on


Enjoyed a snake demonstration and milking, as well as seeing one of the exhibit snake's eggs that were beginning to hatch.

It was definitely worth the drive back there, as we spent over 3 hours there!

We headed on back home through small towns and smaller roads. Saw the landscape change from lowcountry to midlands; which is the depressing way to go about it. The lowcountry has so many beautiful low wide trees, filled with Spanish moss as it dangles in the wind, a cool breeze with a hint of humidity, and everything always seems green or just super spacious--and then you get to the rolling hills of the midlands where the breeze disappears and the trees are all pine. But we love our home here, regardless of no Spanish moss.

Stumbled across the worst food of the week, in the smallest town of the week.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on
\
But the experience was worth the sacrifice in quality. Glad to be home, in my own bed.

#59 Edisto Beach

We slept in this morning, and then decided we go explore Edisto Island for a bit. This is "my beach" in my mind. My parents and I spent countless summers here renting out a small beach home, where I always got to sleep in the water bed. We always came to this place, and in the mind of a child it's not a rental home it's YOUR home. So this place was. After driving around for a bit, my memory served me well and we found my home...

Countless summers on that porch, now for sale!
This island though is as non-touristy as it gets. You come here for just the beach, that's it. The gas station that is on the island closest to the beach, is the only one on the main island. It was closed every other year because it just didn't get enough business. There used to be a Piggly Wiggly, so small you had to suck in to move up and down the aisles, but now is a Bi-Lo. A few small businesses have made their way on the island over time and seem to be doing well.

We drove to the very tip to a restaurant that's been there supposedly for 45 years, which somehow we never ate at before now--I think it was that healthy diet of fresh shrimp from the bay all those years that kept us away.

So we ate at Whaley's, which I have to say had some of the best tasting fried seafood I've ever had.
Whaley's, an old converted convenient store.
We walked along the beach, until mother nature made me cranky.
These rock dividers paced out every few 100 feet.
So Stephen found the closest coffee shop, and well it didn't disappoint. Just what I needed.

We had hoped to see the Serpentarium, which is something I've never visited before even though we've passed it countless times. It was closed that day, but open the next, so we are tossing around the idea of going back tomorrow.

We ventured for a few minutes back to Angel Oak tree. Enough time to capture this amazing shot.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on


We decided the day was not done, so we headed another 20 minutes in the opposite direction from our bus to Charleston.
Finally saw Rainbow Row.


Between the Battery & Waterfront Park.
So glad I didn't lie to Stephen when I said I always see dolphins down at Waterfront Park. Sure enough we saw quite a few, even one that leaped out of the water! Stephen's first time seeing dolphins in the wild.

After a long walk around Charleston, we headed out to a really cool theater to go see The Jungle Book.

Board games, gourmet food, and all
A satisfying watch for sure! Headed back to Johns Island, but not before completely engorging ourselves on the Tattooed Moose's food.

Duck Sandwich, blue cheese & garlic fries, and a cuban
Ending the night with another movie that I fell asleep in. Come on Bond, you aren't supposed to disappoint me like that.


#58 Johns Island

We checked out of the hotel this morning, unsure of how we should spend the rest of our day at Hilton Head. Well everything we tried to see was closed or in a private community, and looked mainly like this all day....

Closed park

Rain. Rain. So MUCH rain.
Everything was coated in a fine mist, and bridges and waterways were unable to be viewed as everything was coated in clouds and rain.

We made a few pit stops along the way at small towns like, Beaufort, and visited dry tiny shops with cool signs.
Getting transported in time.
So we headed on to Johns Island to find our hotel for the night. A tiny bus converted home. 
Night shot on AirBNB



Interior shot.
Johnny who owns the bus was out of town, but we also got to see some of his surrounding property like his new home, a real tiny home!

Such a rainy day.
We headed out for dinner that night to a French restaurant and came back to listen to the rain tinking on the roof of the bus as we sat down to watch the movie The Room.

#57 Tybee Island and Hilton Bound

Enjoyed one of the best hearty breakfasts and a most unexpected restaurant, called b. matthews.
Shrimp and grits for bfast? Yes.
We ventured onto Tybee Island, walked on the beach, and then headed on to Hilton Head to try and make it for lunch at the Salty Dog Cafe. This vacation kind of turned into a giant coastal food tour.
Selecting deliciousness

A taste of the view
With full bellies, we ventured to Harbor Town to take in sights of the lighthouse and a quiet afternoon of rocking chairs which are set up everywhere.
We didn't climb up this time
Before leaving the Sea Pine gated community there, we checked out the ruins from an old plantation, imagining life on this island 200 years ago.
These trees.
At a loss of what to do with the rest of the day, we took a nap at the hotel, and finally made our way to Caligny Park for beach walks, icecream (the most epic coffee icecream), and beach swings as the sun set behind us. It turned into my favorite night so far on this trip. I kept wondering if we could just stay on that swing and keep doing this over and over again till it was time to go home.

Caligny Park in the day. Ocean in the background.



#56 European Experience

We woke up around 8:30 and got ready to head out for some breakfast and a day of seeing as many modified cars as possible at the European Experience. We tried to eat at one restaurant in downtown Savannah, but with a line out the door (which is a good sign) but no time to spare, we ended up at the Coffee Fox.
Scones, yogurt, and a brownie later
Which was delectable, and gave us a great view of the road as modified cars zoomed by, engines revving, filling the streets with smoke and screeching tires.

We drove onto Hutchinson Island via the race track, cop cars were spaced out every quarter mile keeping everything tame.
View of the show and Charleston behind

The demon eyed beast.
I tuckered out after an hour or so, and eventually we took a break and headed out to see a few Savannah sites.
The lowcountry is a magical place.

We ended the day with a little more car show...
A taste of some cars.
and dinner at a local pizzeria, which delivered a pretty tasty Thai pizza and gelato. We strolled along the River Walk area, with the best cool breeze we could ask for.



#55 Baby Emma

Woke up this morning and spent most of it curled up on the couch like this...
My most epic white girl photo.
Which was pretty ideal, smelling the sweet aroma of sweet olive candle, a perfect cup of coffee, and reading the Word and about exploitation.

We got to see Jenn, Robbie, and even Nick and Chelsea at little Emma Sledge's baby shower. It was a perfect time of catching up and celebrating this new life. Chelsea entered a war zone with all the balloons that were in there, but she held in like a champ till her allergies resulting in continuous scratching.

Also it's great to see friends we unfortunately can't just run into randomly around town (they just live too far away!), and that we haven't gotten to see in months, all before heading off for our vacation week.

We packed up as soon as we got home. Loaded up the pups to take to my parents. Then we drove on out to Savannah for the European Experience car show tomorrow.

When we got to the hotel, a European lady was having trouble explaining to the night shift worker how unfair it was that breakfast cut off earlier than indicated, which led to about 7-10 min of awkward standing around waiting for the conversation to end so we could check in, at 11 pm at night. Stephen finally intervened, and we grabbed our room keys to head up to room 203. Occupied room 203. Back down to get a new key to unoccupied room 115.

Finally sleep.

#54 Drives to Nowhere

After dinner, I could feel all the caffeine pulsing through me that I had tried to use to extinguish the headache I had that day. It left me feeling jittery and restless, so Stephen and I drove out by the lake. We saw the sun setting and beautiful mansions with the most pristine yards.
The Beard driving 

Sunset on the dam

We talked about how weird it is to live in neighborhoods, all squished together, but after seeing views like this you get why people are okay with being stuffed in.

Reese's explosion

We then headed to Menchies for a little yogurt before calling it a night.