Peacefully I sit, quiet after days of traveling and hustling to see sights unseen before by us. I relish the fresh memories of Southern charm, its animals, the food, the architecture and some of the history. It is what it is, the history of how things came about, and no one glosses over it — neither the African American trolley host by the name of Hollywood in Savannah nor the old Southern gentlemen whose name none of us recall amd who drove a tour bus through Charleston. The slave trade was abominable but on the surface of things, people mingle about and chat like old friends. I’m not naive, and I know feelings run deeply on some levels, but it’s good to see people getting along.
A lighthouse seen from our boat from Hilton Head Island, SC to Savannah, GA
It is different here as it should be; quite a contrast from the day to day in Oregon. Southern South Carolina has palmetto trees instead of pines, lowlands instead of mountains and alligators instead of Chinook salmon. Even the seagulls are vastly different. They fly smaller and whiter with black highlights rather than larger, off white grayish seagulls with yellow beaks in the Pacific Northwest. The air right now is just as warm as it is back home, but our winters are surely much cooler and wetter.
A juvenile alligator sunning by the road
So today I rest, I catch up on news and trivia, and I listen to families playing in the pool outside our balcony door. Family is priceless. I try writing here only to pause while my long time brother-in-law tells jokes he’s reading off the computer. The blog can always wait. Our time together as family is precious as we don’t live close to one another, and we’re certainly not getting any younger!
New horizons await us on our trip home. Florida, New Orleans and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon just to name a few. I’ve hiked the Bright Angel Trail and have seen the visitas from the Fred Harvey Lodge on the Southern Rim a different time. It’s always good to have more than one perspective of things. I will allow myself to heal there as my heart breaks into a million pieces. It’s all I can cling to at this time as life unfurls in ways never expected.
Harbour Town lighthouse at Harbour Town, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
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