Travel Back

Saturday was long. 

Queen Charlotte in the lobby of Charlotte Airport.

We left Matt’s house about 1:30 pm and finally arrived home at 12:15 am - about 14 hours total, counting time zone changes. Fortunately the whole journey, while tiring, was pleasant and drama-free. 

Matt had some drama before we left. He woke up to half the house with no electricity, including the heating system. Not a good thing when temps are predicted to be in the 30’s this next week. Two companies, four trucks and one crane later, the utility company said the fault - a nicked wire - was on their side of the meter and thus their problem/responsibility. It couldn’t be fixed that day so they hoisted a generator onto the back deck and hooked it up. Hopefully things will get fixed this week. 

A few more pix from the covered bridge day: 

A picture of me ⬆️ taking a picture of Mary taking a picture of me ⬇️. 

The original farmhouse

Last Day in SC

Going to be sad to go home tomorrow. And sadder once we get there with no baby grands around. BUT…

… today was filled with fun, food and the wild baby lizard Donovan caught twice! The boy has fast hands.

 Donovan’s baby raptor

The big boys took a quick trip to the huge BMW plant and ‘museum’, aka visitors center. They had a couple of interesting cars on display, a merchandise store and not much else. Factory tours were on hiatus but the guys will definitely be back once they resume in July 2026. 

Lunch was in Greenville at a collection of small food vendors operating out of remodeled shipping containers. 

 Practicing their ‘cool’ moves

Great selection of food, fun atmosphere and absolutely no pictures taken, which is a bummer as it was very fun. Would definitely go back. 

Next up was our main event - 

exploring Conestee Nature - and wildlife - Preserve (here), 

640 acres of watershed, boardwalks, trails and observation decks, with lots and lots  of wildlife. 

Mary said there were hundreds of turtles in this one pond alone ⬇️. 

Donovan had so much fun - and is going to sleep well tonight - trying to see and experience everything the Preserve had to offer. 

Note for next time: snack stop at Buttermilk Sky Pie (here) was a letdown. Friendly people but the pie, especially the crust, was not great. Dinner at Pig Out BBQ (here) was fantastic. They only do barbecue and sides and all of it is done well. Best ribs and potato salad (and “large fries” too) we’ve had in this trip. Definitely going back next trip.

Adding this as a reminder for Pop of something he wants to make. 

BBQ, Bridges and Chilly Milk

Matt had to work this morning, poor guy, so we got a late-ish start on our sightseeing. 

First up was lunch at Southside Smokehouse in Landrum. 

Probably the best barbecue we’ve had on our trip so far and my shrimp po’boy was excellent. 

D and Cousin It

S. Carolina has one remaining covered bridge 

and since it’s only 25 minutes from the new house of course we had to go find it. 

Campbell’s Covered Bridge (here) was built from 1909 - 1911 and rebuilt twice, the last time about 1992. 

It’s about 38’ long, 12’ wide and set in a lovely little park along Beaverdam Creek. 

The bridge construction is the relatively rare Howe Truss (here), a four-span design invented by William Howe in 1840. It uses vertical iron rods and diagonal timbers.

 Last photo is the underside of the bridge flooring

Donovan was initially not a fan of this side trip - 

he wanted chilly milk* right.now. - 

but he had a lot of fun running along the creek and exploring. 

 The remains of the old homestead and mill

We even found some great sparkly rocks (mica?) along the path. 

And yes, he got his chilly milk. We found a great small shop in Inman - Averies’s Ice Cream Shoppe - serving Hershey’s ice cream along with baked treats (banana pudding for Matt) and packaged bake-at-home dinners. So good! 

* Donovan said “ice cream” soooooooooo many times, mom and dad started (joke-seriously) taking points away every time he said the IC word. Lose too many points and no treats for D! So smart kid that he is, he got around the prohibition by calling it ‘chilly milk’. I’m betting this will be the start of a funny, long running, family joke. 

Travel Time Tuesday - S. Carolina

Signing up for a 0545 flight always seems like a good idea until we have to get up in time to hit the road by 0230. 

The upside is we got to LAX just as the Delta counter opened and walked straight up to the TSA checkpoint, no lines at all.

It took Donovan a couple of minutes to wake up but after that, he was excited and cooperative the whole trip. 

 Rachel’s idea to get a portable Lego case was brilliant

This was his first ever plane ride and he was (naturally) a bit worried beforehand. Now he can’t wait to do it again. His favorite parts were looking out over the tops of clouds, seeing lakes and mountains from ‘higher than a drone’ and watching Harry Potter while playing with Legos and eating his airline-supplied cheeseburger lunch.

Salt Lake City had a Lego store in the terminal, a first for us. Then Charlotte topped that with a Lego vending machine. Donovan was impressed (me too.)

The two kits Donovan picked out in SLC kept him entertained for over an hour on our 3-hour flight. Well worth the $$.

Matt and Mary’s new house is just over an hour drive from the Charlotte airport. 

Donovan’s 3 hours of sleep the night before caught up with him about 15 minutes into the drive… and I wasn’t far behind. Fortunately, Pop had a couple of short naps on both flights, since he got to be designated driver.

It’s very beautiful here, with a view of Cooley’s Lake from the backyard. Looking forward to a couple of sightseeing days before we head home on Saturday. 

Local flora, Common Camelia

Mini Obsession

Went to Santa Barbara to have lunch with a pal and maybe do a tiny bit of fabric shopping (I need a light gray for a next-up project).

We were talking about plants, no surprise given my current obsession interest, and pal says ‘I know where there’s a great plant store’ and ‘I’d like a new plant too!’

She was correct, it was a great store.

 Anthurium 'Coral Champion' 

Did she get a plant? That would be no.

Mini Phalaenopsis

Did I? Wellllll…

 Pachira aquatica, Money Tree

Got my 3 new babies all watered, lit (lighted?) and tucked into pretty pots for the night. This may be getting out of hand already…