Nomads News

Rainy Friday Musings in Charleston

Friday, December 10, 2004 - The forecasted thunderstorms have arrived and the power just went out (a common occurrence in campgrounds), so I'm lounging in one of our recliners in the RV reviewing the 289 photos of Charleston I've taken in the last two days. This is second in number of photos I've taken in a 24 hour period only to those I shot in London, England a few years ago, which is indicative of the relative beauty of both those cities, London being the most photogenic city I've been in, with Charleston now coming in at the next most pretty city I've visited. In either place there are photos for the taking almost anywhere you point the camera.
    I've always heard raves about New Orleans and San Francisco, but in my opinion Charleston has them both beat hands down, although when we're making our way up the California coast a few months from now I'm looking forward to returning to San Francisco with the good digital cameras I now own.

Internet Access

Anyway, I went out early this morning (before the dreaded Charleston rush hour started) and found a suitable wi-fi network about 9 miles from here I could access and got everything updated and uploaded.
    Hopefully, this network will remain available over the weekend, although while driving into the historical district and back yesterday I logged well over 100 wi-fi networks, the majority of which were open access, so I don't anticipate a problem getting online while here.
    However not every available network is suitable due to limitations of inconspicuous and available parking within range of most of them. We enjoyed a fabulous network in Whiteville during our stay in Mollie, NC. That network was coming from a store in the Wal-Mart shopping plaza, so we could park near enough to it routinely without being too conspicuous.

The Weather

Unfortunately, while we've enjoyed beautiful short-sleeve weather the last few days at the same time it's been snowing back in Ottawa, this rain is the result of that cold nasty Canadian air riding down here again on the jetstream. After a high yesterday of 26°C/79°F and a low last night that was an ideal 22°C/71°F the lows at night are forecasted to be dropping slowly but surely until Tuesday night it is supposed to drop down to freezing. Blah!
    However, since we're due to leave here on Monday, hopefully we'll be far enough further south by Tuesday to be warmer again. Next stop at the moment is planned to be Lakeland, Florida.
    Well, the power just came back on, so time to return to my photo editing.

Now in Charleston, South Carolina

Thursday, December 9, 2004 - As planned, we left Mollie, North Carolina about midmorning yesterday, made the 5 hour drive to Charleston, South Carolina, and found the Lake Aire RV Park all without incident.
    It was rather sad leaving Mollie, as it has always seemed to be, and saying goodbye to cousin Keith but I did manage it without any outward display of emotion.
    For those interested in such things, our mileage for the tow to Charleston at a steady 60 mph ended up being 14.1 mpg, which was probably about the best we can expect to get since the roads were mainly four lane and level the whole way.
    After getting camp setup (photo on the left taken by Sandra) there was a little bit of the evening left, so although we were quite tired we headed for downtown Charleston to check out the historical district and to take some dusk and night photos before forecasted rain was due to arrive. Photo on the right is one of those taken then by me with the new Canon 20D.
    Unfortunately, the forecast is for rain today (hasn't arrived yet) and tomorrow, but clear for the weekend, though it's supposed to be colder, so we'll probably extend our original two day stay to include the weekend too since I've found there's no shortage of photos to be taken around here.
    In fact, I just returned from an early morning photo excursion into the city this morning where I took 150 shots in about 3 hours of walking (after taking an hour to make the normally 20 minute drive thanks to lousy rush hour traffic control here). At least in the historical district, Charleston does indeed look to be everything I've always heard it was supposed to be, quite beautiful as cities go.

Leaving for Charleston, South Carolina

Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - As mentioned below, we are pulling up stakes here in Mollie, NC after a very pleasant visit and leaving later this morning for Charleston, SC, a city I've heard about all my life as one of the most beautiful in the USA and one I've always wanted to see but have never been there. Hopefully, we'll find some photo opportunities there.

Family Gathering3

Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - Last night, our final night in Mollie, NC before heading further south for Charleston, SC later this morning, cousin Judy and her husband Lake took us out to Dale's Seafood Restaurant for the evening meal.
    It turns out that Lake, a world-class carver of wooden ducks, has taken up digital photography and video since I last saw him and after dinner took us back to their house and showed us some of his handiwork of late, which was most impressive, treating his imagery with the same perfection he gives his carvings.
    Pictured above (click on it to see a larger image) is Lake and Judy at Dale's with Lake checking out a photo he'd just taken with his Sony F717 digital camera.
    Also earlier in the day, Keith and I dropped in on cousin Lloyd, the closest thing we have in the family to a celebrity since he's been a radio announcer and disc jockey for decades and enjoys quite a bit of local popularity due to his quick wit and golden voice. A photo of Lloyd on the job (if you can call it work to twist a knob or two now and then and speak into a microphone once in a while) can be seen by clicking here.

Family Gathering2

Monday, December 6, 2004 - Yesterday for the midday meal we had been invited to meet Aunt Virginia Dare and Uncle Bobby at the Todd House restaurant in Tabor City, NC where we were pleasantly surprised to find cousin Esta and her husband Milton there ahead of us.
    This was my first visit to the Todd House, a restaurant of some popularity in the area, and we weren't disappointed in the food, which was served buffet style and all that I ate of it happily agreed with my temperamental digestive system. Sandra also learned firsthand about collards, a vegetable green she'd been curious about and one that is pretty rare in Canada but quite common down here.
    Photo above shows l-r: Aunt Virginia Dare, Milton, Esta, Sandra, and Uncle Bobby. As always, click on it to see a larger image.

Family Gathering1

Saturday, December 4, 2004 - Thursday evening, cousins Betty and Annette along with some of their families had Sandra and me over to Betty's place (next door to Cousin Keith's where our campsite is located) for 'snacks', which turned out to be more dinnerlike than snacklike and all quite tasty. Keith also attended.
    It was good to see so many relatives in one place and brought to mind similar gatherings long ago when all our parents and grandparents were still alive.
    Reminiscing about those older days, of course, was one of the main topics of discussion. It's a bit hard to believe that we're all older now than our parents were back in the days of my youth when we visited down here every summer.
    Pictured above (photo by Sandra) is me on the left with the three of my first cousins who attended: (l-r,) me, Keith, Annette, and Betty. More pictures can be seen in a small gallery online by clicking here.

Links to Our Photo Galleries

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 - I have not been the only one taking photos on our travels. Sandra has also been giving her little Sony P10 a workout and has posted a few galleries of some of her shots on Yahoo (for never having had formal training in photography, Sandra has a remarkably good eye for it).
    So to serve as a reminder and provide easy access to not only her photos but mine as well, I've added links to these galleries in the sidebar on the left.

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To view news from our previous stops and camps, visit the News Archives.