Trip home - Sat.

We left our resort in Myrtle Beach this morning at 6:30, and drove through rain, VERY heavy at times for a few hours.  It eventually cleared up and the drive was quite uneventful, though the traffic was heavy most of the time.  We think it was all the snow birds heading home.  We had picked up a book-on-tape from Cracker Barrel, John Grisham's newest one, The Litigators, and that sure helped to pass the 11 hours that we drove.  We stopped in Harrisburg, PA for the night in a Comfort Inn.

The scenery has been incredibly colourful, with SO many red bud trees - they lined the roads for most of the day.  Also, the white blossoms of the dogwood trees, and some kind of yellow flowering plant - looked like mustard - all along the way as well.  So pretty!

There were also flowering crabs as we got further north.

We expect to be home sometime tomorrow afternoon if all goes well.  I must say, I'm ready to get home......though I'll probably be ready to go again soon!

Back to Brookgreen Gardens

Our tickets to Brookgreen Gardens were good for 7 days, so we decided to go back for another day.  I said that I was not going to take many pictures today, but guess what?  I did.  280.  I just thought I'd put on a few flowers, animals, birds, etc, and a few of my favorite sculptures.

 Don't you just hate when someone reads the newspaper over your shoulder?

I guess these were thistles, but had been cultivated, and were huge!

This fellow was right by some sculptures.  There are lots of warnings to stay on the paths.

This was one of my favorites.  It's called "The Joy of Motherhood".

I think this is called wisteria - it grows on a vine, and smells so sweet!  Sort of like lilac.

I discovered that this little fellow is called a green anole.  He kept poofing out his throat.

This bird was not in an aviary, just flying around.  Someone told me he is an eastern towhee.  I googled it, and sure enough, it is.

The live oaks are amazing trees - they spread out all over the place.

I think this is a kind of camellia.

This was a long driveway of live oaks leading to what used to be the plantation house.  It had burned down, and now there is a large fountain.

I took this picture with the zoom from about halfway across a pond, and didn't even know there was a frog there until I saw the picture.

Black-crowned night heron.

Some sort of a water snake, swimming in the duck weed.  There were several of them, apparently not venomous.

I love watching the river otters.

Apparently these guys go about 5 months without eating, and now is when they start again.  I think this guy must have just had a big meal, because he is so fat.  They have to lie in the sun to digest their food.

I love these gray foxes, just hanging around in the trees.  I wonder if they ever fall out.

This poor fellow probably can't climb - he only has 3 legs.

These are a special breed of goats called Spanish goats, brought here by the Spaniards in the 1600's.

A little barn owl in an aviary.

There are lots of Dogwood trees in bloom right now.  They look really pretty, but don't smell.

This was indoors at an educational thing, and I used a flash.  I love the way his eye looks!  It's a barred owl.

There was a kind of kids garden with lots of these kind of sculptures in it - you can see how big it is.

This was also in the kids garden.  I loved his title - "Eat More Beef"

This is called Japanese Mock Orange, and it smelled just like orange blossoms.

Well tomorrow we leave to drive home, so this is probably my last blog until we go travelling again.  It's been a lot of work, but I have enjoyed it.

Carolina Opry - best show in Myrtle Beach!

We enjoyed another lovely sunrise over the Atlantic this morning.

It was such a nice day that we decided to get the bikes out of the van and ride down the boardwalk to the 2nd Ave. Pier.  When we got the bikes out, we discovered that Paul's back tire was totally flat - it had been fine when we put it away last Sat.  He fixed it and off we went.

We had taken our books along, so sat down to read for a bit.

I went down to the beach for a walk, and spotted this cute little dragon fly sitting in a shell - I think he liked the pearly shine.

When we went to go on our way, low and behold, the same tire was flat as a pancake!  :-(  The tires are pretty well worn out, and we wonder if the steel in the tires is puncturing the tubes.  It was a long walk back.

We had planned to ride to Broadway at the Beach (an area near us with lots of shops and restaurants and entertainment venues), so after lunch we drove up.  There must have been an earthquake cause this building was right upside down!

There are very ugly carp in the lake in the middle, and on the bridges there are places where you can get fish food out of a machine.  The carp all gather near the feeding areas and beg.

There are some sculptures there as well, and this is my favorite.

This lovely mocking bird was kind enough to pose for me.

This afternoon we went for a walk on the beach - it's a nice flat one for skimming.

This is the place we are staying this week - we're on the 10th floor in the right tower.

Tonight we went to my absolute favorite show in Myrtle Beach (or anywhere for that matter!), and we had seats front and center.  Yes!!!

I was disappointed that the man who has emceed the show for years is no longer there, but this young man, Nathan Herron, a former American Idol contestant, and an amazing singer, has taken over that position.  I think he must have studied videos of Steve, because he did everything just the same - mannerisms, expressions, etc. 

It's true!  Now we know!  Calvin Gilmour really exists!   He is the chairman/CEO, executive producer and director of The Carolina Opry, and started it in May, 1986.  But in all the years we have been going, we had never seen him.  Tonight, we did - he sang twice.

Rita Gumm has been with the Carolina Opry since it began in May 1986.

These guys - they call themselves "All That" - are such good dancers!  They sort of like clog or something.  I just love watching them!

There are 2 guys(musicians) who are also comedians - this is one of them.  They are very good, and there is a lot of comedy in their shows.

Eric Gumm - married to Rita Gumm is one of the comedians.  It's kind of hard to take him seriously!

Christie Templeton is also one of my favorites - here, she was singing a Patsy Cline song from the fifties.  I got to talk to her after the show.  :-)

Another fifties song - loved it!

Rita Gumm again singing Amazing Grace - amazingly!  There were 3 gospel songs in the show tonight.

I think I've figured out partly why I like this show so much better than the one at the Alabama theater.  Partly because it's sort of countryish, the people are just regular, there's not a lot of glitz and glamour.  They are really good musicians, but it's not so "showy" or something.  And not so loud.  Anyway, I just really like it!  And now it's nearly 12:30 again, and I'm off to bed.