Charleston, SC

Sunday, December 8th, 2019:

We had an easy drive to James Island County Park in Charleston. We had a back-in site which we’re getting quite good at it… except for today. I’m backing Gary in using our walkie talkies, keeping up a steady dialogue, and all of a sudden he stops the truck. What the? I finally think to take my finger off the button. It’s a walkie talkie. He can’t talk when I’m talking, and Lord knows I talk a lot, so he really doesn’t stand much of a chance. I hear the tail end of him saying something about a tree. What tree? “The tree that’s right in front of me” he says. Oh, that tree. I can’t see that tree. We had to do some finagling because of the tree being in his way. We eventually got situated. I x’d that site off our favorites list. Too tough to back into!

This is a lovely county park that every year does a fabulous Holiday Festival of Lights featuring 700 displays and 2,000,000 lights. Our campsite backs up to some of the holiday lights so we get to see twinkling lights and hear holiday music throughout the evening until about 11pm when the display shuts down. Between that and the campers who have holiday displays at their own sites, you feel like you’re in a winter wonderland. We had the added fun of having our friends Stacie & Johnny join us who we met two years ago on a previous RV trip. They live in South Carolina and are joining us for several weeks of travels in December before we go our separate ways. Great to catch up with them this afternoon, enjoy dinner together and meander around some of the holiday lights before we called it a day. 

Monday, December 9th, 2019:

Today the four of us and Stacie & Johnny’s dog Niky visited Magnolia Plantation. It was our first visit. Established in 1676 by the Drayton family and still owned by its descendants, Magnolia is the oldest public gardens in America. You could spend an entire day here. We spent a good portion of a day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves…. walking the trails, seeing blue herons, alligators and turtles, camellias that were in full winter bloom, enjoying a picnic lunch, and Magnolia’s holiday lights that were a very unique Chinese Lantern display (even in daylight it was quite spectacular). We did not visit the actual Plantation House. That will have to be done on another trip! 

We finally meandered back to the campground and enjoyed a delicious dinner, thanks to Stacie. Then we headed off on the shuttle bus to see the Festival of Lights at James Island. Our shuttle bus driver was kind enough to drive us around two times. Lovely display of twinkling lights wrapped around palm trees, reflected off of a shimmering pond and various displays along the park road. Quite enjoyable! 

Tuesday, December 10th, 2019:

There is something special about this part of the south known as the Lowcountry… live oak dripping with Spanish moss (which isn’t actually Spanish moss), marsh lands, palm trees, and charming historic cities such as Charleston. Today we all headed into downtown Charleston, including Niky, who is an excellent traveler!

We started with visiting the historic City Market which stretches from building to building with all kinds of work from area artists, regional edibles, gift items, clothing, and anything else imaginable. We all managed to find some purchases. Niky, being an adorable all-white American Eskimo, was a smash hit! After exploring the market, we continued walking to King Street, the high rent shopping district, but no purchases were made there. We enjoyed lunch outside the market from a nearby deli. Then walked over to the waterfront area, one of our favorites, to take in the Pineapple Fountain, the Battery, which is a very picturesque seawall and promenade with stately antebellum homes lining one side of the promenade and the Charleston Harbor the other. The “Battery” name comes from its use during the Civil War for artillery, some of which can still be seen today nearby in White Point Garden. Just a beautiful area to walk! 

The last stop of the day was visiting Rainbow Row, the name for 13 colorful historic Georgian row houses in Charleston and the largest collection of such houses in the U.S. So charming and colorful! 

By then it was time to head back to the campground. After dinner, Johnny, Stacie, Niky and I (excluding Gary) headed out for an evening stroll to see the holiday lights that we hadn’t seen the night before via our driving tour.  Gary begged off saying he’d done enough walking that day, but since it was our last night at James Island, it was our last opportunity to see the lights!

The majority of the lights are seen via a driving tour but the walking sections include a sand sculpture made of 50 tons of sand, giant greeting cards produced by area school children, and “dancing” Christmas Trees with a light display to music… all seen through an “enchanted walk.” A lovely display sure to get anyone into the holiday spirit! Gary & I have fond memories of being here 20+ years ago when “Snow dogs” was the hit winter film and we were walking with our two huskies and all the children we encountered screamed “Snow dogs!” It was the cutest! James Island has been doing a holiday light display for decades! 

Time to call it a night. Tomorrow we all head off to Savannah, GA!