On the Road - to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

On 1 April Paul and I left Surfside Beach at 8:00 a.m. to start our return drive to Canada. We left behind a beautiful sunrise.

It was a very nice day for driving with sunshine, warm weather and lots of spring blossoms. The roads were not as busy as we had expected and this year we drove through Wilmington, North Carolina trying to avoid as much of I-95 as possible and we made the right decision.

While making a rest stop at the McDonald's in Centreville, Virginia, we saw these beautiful flowering trees in the parking lot.

This year on our return drive, we decided to take some time to visit historic Gettysburg. Paul has a great interest in USA history and the Civil War battles so this was a side trip he was looking forward to.

We started our morning at the new Museum and Visitor Center, where we viewed a short film, "A New Birth of Freedom", narrated by Morgan Freeman; saw the fully restored Gettysburg Cyclorama which is the dramatic depiction of Pickett's Charge; and then toured the museum. The Cyclorama to us was an experience that cannot be put into words, therefore, a must-see.

There are several options for touring the battlefields: bus tour, private ranger tour, power scooters and even horseback.

We opted for the self-guided auto tour and set off with our map. As you will see in the next photo, many other people chose the auto tour as well, so it was quite busy. There were 16 points of interest and we only saw six of them on the first day. There are many statues, monuments and plaques to read; you must allow time to take it all in.

At one sight Paul was fortunate to speak with a man who was a tour guide and visiting the area to prepare for an upcoming tour. Paul took this opportunity to ask questions and learn more details of the battles at Gettysburg.

Many cannons could be seen along the auto tour.


The scenery was so beautiful, it was difficult to imagine this area as a battlefield.

The area of Devil's Den and the Valley of Death were strategic areas during the battle of 2 July 1863. It was difficult to imagine how battles could take place on some of this terrain; and understandable how so many lives were lost.

The Pennsylvania Monument was the most impressive to us. There was a winding staircase inside that allowed you to walk up and come out at the bottom of the dome, to enjoy the view out over the battlefields.


Our last stop on our auto tour was the National Cemetery and the site of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address -"Four score and seven years ago...".

For Paul, Gettysburg was a historical trip which he will always remember, and hopes to do again. For me, I saw two sides of Gettysburg: the history of the battles of the Civil War and the beauty of the countryside, textures of the many fences and rock walls and the colourful red barns.

It was a great experience and one I enjoyed sharing with Paul as I know how much he enjoys reading about the events of Gettysburg.

Shells Anyone?

When Paul and I were packing up for our return home to Canada, we realised that we had collected way too many shells and we could not possibly take all of them back with us. So one evening we sat down and sorted through them and decided to take the "rejects" back to the beach. It was a very difficult task as each shell was special in its own way, but we did it. We had a pail and shopping bag full.

For the past couple of weeks there had not been many shells on the beach but at the end of March we had high tides with the full moon and several beds of shells appeared at the high tide line on the beach in front of our balcony. We thought this was a good place to deposit our "rejects" hoping that they would find a good home. While I sat on our balcony enjoying the sun and camera in hand, Paul set off to the beach with the pail and bag of shells.

Just as he finished dumping the shells, the first beach combers came along so he explained that we had collected these shells, some from our shelling trip, and we were recycling them back to the beach. The couple picked through and took the ones they liked, and off they went down the beach.

After Paul returned, we sat on the balcony together to see if anyone else would enjoy the shells. One of the tenants from our building, who had been sitting on the beach, was next to come along.

She filled her hands and quickly went back to her beach chair to drop them off and by the time she returned to shell bed for seconds, another couple had come along to take a look.

She quickly turned about and summoned her husband to come help. By the time he arrived at the shell bed, several other people had appeared to look.

The husband took off his hat and filled it with shells, as another couple walked off with their takings.

Then another couple stopped to have a look and took what they liked.

And yet another couple...

Paul and I found it very interesting to sit on our balcony and watch the behaviour of all these couples.

Later that afternoon when Paul and I set out for our beach walk, we checked the shell bed where he dumped the shells and there was not one shell to be seen. The couples had taken every last one - so we were very happy that they all had good homes.

Remember these shells were our "rejects". Imagine if they had seen the gems we kept to take home!

A Pleasant Afternoon at Conway

Paul and I took another drive to Conway this week. We planned to take a walk on the Riverwalk, see the bluebirds and have tea and dessert at The Trestle Tearoom. We only accomplished one of the three - sadly there were no bluebirds at the feeders and we arrived at the tearoom after their closing time of 3 p.m. so we didn't get our treats. Why would a tearoom be closed at 3 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon?

We did get to enjoy a walk on the Riverwalk. I love watching the moss, that hangs from the trees, blowing in the wind. The area looks like a bayou.

One of our favourite areas is a gazebo found at the end of the boardwalk which has several wooden rocking chairs. We like to sit there to enjoy the sun and watch the local people do a little fishing.

There is also a marina and boathouse in the area.

This is one of the bird houses found along the walkway, but unfortunately no birds were at home.

We really liked this ornamental grass found along the trail. The curly tops remind me of fiddleheads, that grow in our home province of New Brunswick.

We took a few minutes to just sit, have a swing and enjoy the beauty around us.

This iris was growing in the garden. They are one of my favourite plants.

This little mocking bird was flying about near the marina. We see many of them in the area where we stay.

The Riverwalk is such a nice area to spent a quite afternoon.

On our drive back to Surfside, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at our favourite restaurant, The Gulfstream Cafe, in Garden City. It was such a busy evening we had to take a table upstairs near the bar and the fish aquarium. As always the meal was delicious.

We look forward to returning to both Conway and The Gulfstream next year.