"From sea to shining sea"

We finally made it to the Atlantic Ocean yesterday. This isn't the first time we've seen it, but it is definitely different from our Pacific Coast. Today I actually walked in the surf a little bit and was amazed at how warm it is - that would not be the case along our coast!

We settled into our room on the 4th floor, facing the ocean. What a great view - it was a pretty nice room and looked very clean - 2 "bedrooms" and a kitchenette (not that I had any intention of cooking!). Only one big problem - the room smelled like a very big kitty's litter box. We thought that it would dissipate a little - even bought an air freshener. That was not to be the case - it was so bad that it woke me up after just a couple of hours sleep and I couldn't go back to sleep. I finally went and laid down in the other bedroom where it wasn't quite as overpowering. This morning we reported our misfortune to the front desk and moved to a ground floor unit - the view isn't as spectacular, but it sure does smell better!

After moving all of our stuff to the new room, we headed down the road to Brookgreen Gardens. The gardens are made up from four former plantations established during the antebellum years. Part of our visit to the gardens included a 45 minute tour through historic rice fields on a 48 ft pontoon boat. The boat travels down a creek that empties into the Waccamaw River - the gardens have been given permission to block off the creek to any other boat traffic since it is also a wildlife preserve. We were fortunate enough to see 3 alligators, a few turtles, a heron and an osprey while on our journey. We also received a brief education on the rice fields - much of which my brain did not absorb - it really was interesting at the time! Also in the gardens were many beautiful sculptures, trees, shrubs, flowers and a zoo with local wildlife and plantation animals. We were unable to see the butterfly exhibit - they only allow 25 people in at a time spaced 30 minutes apart. By the time we got to the exhibit, they were no more tickets for today. I was disappointed, but it's not as though I haven't visited many other butterfly exhibits. (By the way, there is a wonderful Butterfly House just outside of Coombs, BC on Vancouver Island.)

Tomorrow we'll be heading south to Charleston - see you there!