Christmas Week '09

Hi everyone, this is Randy typing here - I have this week off, and I thought I'd give this blog stuff a try, so bear with me. Well, first of all we had a great Christmas (I think Julie told you all about that on a previous entry). But did she mention the earrings? Please see attached picture, and ask her about them when you talk to her next.

Me? I got the Beatles on CD (score!) Anyway, after the big day had passed we drove north for about 100 miles north to a town called Myrtle Beach. A place with a long beach to walk (see pics), peppered with hot dog stands, donut shops, as well as plenty of miniature golf.

We're going back in the spring, not for their food, but for the area's state park which will give us a chance to do some hiking as well as see some birds, indigenous plants, and a semi private beach - everything the Northwesterners crave. We did have some fun on the main part of Mrytle Beach as it was not too crowded, but the temp was only about 58 F. Sabrina wore her nice wool hat, and her nice warm fleece jammies.

I know we put her in these types of suits a lot, but she doesn't seem to mind, plus she doesn't have socks to pull off.

Today (Tues) we went to downtown Charleston, and had one of the best times ever. Too bad we didn't bring the camera. We went to the "Exchange Building, and Provost Dungeon" which is one of THE main historical buildings on the east coast. A few highlights: it had an actual dungeon which held 49 pirates all at one time prior to their execution in the battery down the street from this building in 1718. Many years later this building had men ratifying the US Constitution in it, and still later, Brittish troops occupied it during the Rev. War. Also, George W. spent quite a bit of time there one weekend during his tour of SC in 1791. By the way, the dungeon/cellar was very dark and Sabrina decided to seize the moment and immediately took a nap (to the dismay of the tour guide.)

After that we meandered down the Charleston residential streets admiring the houses, and walked into a number of art galleries. During a visit to one gallery we found out this city has a quarterly "art walk" in which all the galleries stay open until 8pm on one Friday night every three months for people to stop by and add local paintings to their wish list. We'll be back...

Well that's about all for now. Julie told me today that I had accidentally deleted the first picture from our camera that showed Sabrina sitting (after getting there all by herself), so stay tuned for another pic just like it coming to this blog shortly.

rc