Elizabeth and Gary's Magic Bus Tour: 2012

Didn’t mean to leave you hangin’ – BUT, you know how it is once the end is in sight and it is time to head home. And, that’s what happened to us that third week of October.

Before we left South Carolina, however, we had one more fun golf day with friends, a couple more dinners with friends AND a wonderful visit with those triplets that sorta started all of this;-)

Those little things are now three years old and lots of fun –

E & G with Olivia, George and Samuel

And away Samuel goes!

Olivia is Queen

George getting ready for Halloween

Always fun to 'fix' Mom's hair

Hey Dad ...ARRGH!

They provided a great afternoon – as did their parents. But, as soon as we said good bye to them we were headed West. It took 6 weeks to get to Hilton Head and only 5 days to get home to Scottsdale. Of course, along the way we had some more of those ‘interesting’ parking places for the night – a police station, oil fields and a casino –

The Piedmont, Alabama police station - better on the outside than inside?!?!

We arrived home safe and sound ready to spend at least a few days in our new Scottsdale townhome – which we were very impressed with when we got here (didn’t remember what all we had done to it – and were very pleased!!!). Magic, too, performed well and provided a VERY nice home from May – October.

Shall now see what the Holidays provide.

Happy Happies to you all – Our Love and Hugs – Elizabeth & Gary

We have not said a lot about the various campgrounds/RV parks that we have stayed at - except when we got somewhere better than the last. WELL – we could NOT get out of the place we stayed in the Pinehurst area fast enough!! Talk about scary!! The picture of Pinelake RV Resort (what a joke that name is!!) should be in the dictionary/Wikipedia as “SCARY”!! Never so happy to be gone from somewhere. Which is really too bad – as we had a wonderful time playing Pinehurst #2, ranking it as one of our favorites on this trip;-) Just had to get away from that CG – so left a couple of days early and headed to SC and Kiawah Island.

With the extra day in the Charleston/Kiawah Island area, we decided to play Kiawah Osprey Point. Again, we had a great day – a beautiful course, beautiful day - just had to stay one step ahead of the ‘gators!!

Yikes!!!

As granddaughter Haley would sing..."you've got your green alligators..

and long-necked...."

One of the many great views at Kiawah Island.

A history lesson was also in store (not just golf) while in Charleston. Sunday, October 7, was a beautiful day (after the fog burned off) for a boat ride to Fort Sumter.

The sun thru the fog provided interesting lighting.

The Fort was begun in 1829 as one of a series of coastal fortifications built by the US after the War of 1812. The Fort was still unfinished almost 30 years later when Union Maj. Robert Anderson moved his 85-man garrison into it the day after Christmas 1860 in order to ‘beat’ a possible occupation by the Confederates. This action was viewed as a great act of hostility by the Confederates and caused the opening shots of the Civil War fired by the Confederates at the Federal/Union forces in the Fort on April 12, 1861. The Confederates held the Fort until Gen. William Sherman’s troops caused them to evacuate it on February 17, 1865. On April 14, 1865 (4 years later with 100,000’s of US men killed), Charleston was again in Union hands and the US flag that was lowered when the Fort was surrendered in 1861 was once again raised above Sumter’s battered ramparts.

The City of Charleston is visible in the top left. Strategic placement to protect port.

Which one is "the BIG cannon"??

Good thing we played the Osprey Point course on Saturday, as Gary’s back decided to act up again and we had to forgo the Ocean Course at Kiawah;-( So, no additional ‘adds’ to our stats for the top 10 courses – BUT, something else to look forward to when we return. Instead – shopping and eating had to entertain us, and we did just fine in that arena. Dinner at Slightly North Of Broad (S.N.O.B.), drinks at the Sanctuary Lobby Bar, and dinner at Jasmine’s Porch satisfied the bill;-)

Next stop – Hilton Head and a gathering of old friends!!

The next four days were filled with the four couples visiting, golfing, reminiscing, eating, golfing, reminiscing, eating, visiting, eating, boat cruises, reminiscing, croquet, bike riding, walking, eating, reminiscing, and more eating!! A good time was had by all and our generous hosts – Sue and Jack Robinson – really out did themselves in planning, cooking, tour guiding and making us all feel at home in their beautiful Palmetto Bluff surroundings;-)!! A BIG THANK YOU TO THEM!!