Dafuskie - Going out to dinner, Island Style

A few nights ago the Management HHI Motorcoach Resort teated the staff to a night out at a restaurant called Marshside Mama's Cafe.  One of the cool things about this restaurant is that we had to take a boat to get there!  The restaurant is one of just a few businesses on nearby Daufuskie Island.  So we took a couple of boats out for the 50-60 minute ride down the waterway to Daufuskie.  The ride was great; the weather was good, the view was great, and we had a good guide who knows the area.  The beaches at the Daufuskie look like white sand but they are made entirely of crushed oyster shells.  Near the shoreline the beach gets darker; those are live oysters.  It's very pretty but you wouldn't want to take a barefoot walk on the beach here; those shells would cut you to pieces pretty quick.

Marshside Mama's building has what is known as "character".  As we approached the dock I asked our guide if the restaurant had a bathroom; all he would say is "you'd be better off to use the one on the boat!"  I took the hint.  But the building is interesting in a rustic-sort of way.

Inside there are a lot of dollar bills on the ceiling, but not nearly as many as Tortilla Flats (Feb 16, 2010). 

There were 16 of us so we sat outside, with a couple of waiters serving us.  After they took our drink orders, one of the waiters said "The other table has the menu, so as soon as they're done with it we'll bring it over to you."  And we all thought "What, there's only one menu?"  Well, actually. . .yes.  But it is a big one.

So pretty soon they propped "the" menu up in a chair and everybody ordered.  I got the shrimp and grits; I am so spoiled by Randy's cheese grits that I almost never order them in a restaurant, but I heard they were good here so I decided to try them.  And they were REALLY good.  I don't know what they put in the sauce but it was wonderful.

The food was good and the benefit of sitting outside meant we could catch a breeze and enjoy the view.

Later, all relaxed and full of good food, we headed back to Hilton Head.  We swapped boats on the way back so Randy and I were in the speed boat.  There was a sprinkling of rain when we left the docks, but we soon left that behind.  And then the water was "smooth as a millpond"!

Of course I thought of the Titanic, but in this case there was no problem;  Captain Cindy had the situation well in hand.  All along the way back, the sky kept changing from beautiful. . . 

to more beautiful.

Gullah goodies

Looking for authentic local cuisine, we went to Dye's Gullah Fixin's.  The owner came out to take our order, then sat down at a nearby table to talk to us.  She has 9 siblings and often finds a job in her restaurant for her nieces and nephews, like the one in the kitchen that night.

She explained that Gullah people like herself are descendents of West Africans who had been slaves back in the bad old days.  Their culinary style is using very fresh food and very little seasoning.  No sauces, no garlic, no hot peppers - just salt and pepper.  Our appetizer was Sweet Potato Cornbread with pure cane syrup - really good.

Randy ordered the fried chicken with collard greens and sweet potatoes, and I had fried crab cakes with mac-and-cheese and sweet potatoes.  The food was quite good - fresh and well prepared - and we liked it just fine, although a little more seasoning would not have been out of place, and apparently cooking Gullah-style is quite expensive!  Check The RV Chef Blog for more details.

Two years ago: 1st trip to Savannah and Fishing with Gators 

Three years ago: Spawning Salmon   

Nothing profound, just want to say that I love it that you can actually buy this at Staples!

"Limitless paper in a paperless world" - the story of my life in IT! 

Two years ago:  Super Smithsonian

Trees are not always our friends - July 22, 2013

It seems like every day now we get rain - sometimes just a little drizzle but usually a hard, fast rain that drenches us for a few minutes and then it's gone.  That may be making some tree limbs too heavy because after the rain there are always a few limbs down.  Usually they are small ones but today a big dead one dropped like a stone on a site where some friends are parked.  Fortunately the only casualties were a scratched and dented car and a bicycle, but the bike was a mess - absolutely totaled.  

The poor bike seat looks like it has a broken neck, and the back wheel is twisted right off the frame!

It might be a good idea to not walk under trees around here, right after a rain.

Two years ago:  Washington DC

Three years ago:  World's Smallest Desert - in Alaska!

Lightning Strikes!

Here in South Carolina we are getting a lot of little storms, and occasionally a really big one.  A couple of weeks ago there was a lightning strike right here in the Resort.  I was in the office at the time and the bang was so loud that we actually thought it hit right outside our window!  But it hit a tree inside the Resort, beside an RV site.  It's really interesting that the lightening strike ran down the tree in a spiral.  The mark where the bark was stripped off goes all the way around the other side.

It traveled down the tree to the ground where it caught on the rebar at the edge of the RV pad, traveled a few feet along the rebar, and then popped out a chunk of the pad.   

Fortunately nobody was hurt, but there were a lot of blown electronics in nearby RVs!

Two Years Ago: Historic Philadelphia

Three Years Ago: Ghost Town of Dyea

Dumb Moments - good and bad July 14, 2013

Edging up to the back of our RV site is the Resort's beautiful lake.  This is a not a swimming lake, it's a catch-and-release fishing lake.   

The main reason it's not a swimming lake is because this is the South, and in the South, water generally equals alligators.  Ours is not full grown, but he's not a baby anymore.

Unfortunately the reason I can get close enough to take his picture is because at least one person in the Resort has been feeding him ...they say they are feeding the turtles, but it amounts to the same thing.  And a fed gator is usually a dead gator.  The Critter Control people want to catch-and-release him, but they have to catch him first, and he is avoiding them soooo easy.  I hope he gets a dumb moment and gets captured.

I had my own dumb moment yesterday - when I biked over to the Snack Shack, I fell off my bike.  I just lost control somehow and laid it over.  My right knee took most of the fall - it immediately got a big purple mark and had a dent in the middle of it.  I put ice on it right away and after 30 minutes the purple disappeared.  The dent  stayed longer, but today it is almost normal.  I keep finding other scrapes and bruises where I hit against the bike on the way down.  But as falls go, it was not too bad.  Unfortunately I am now very hesitant to get back on the bike.  I know I have too, but it just isn't very appealing.  I thought I was invincible, and I'm not!

Two years ago: I ♥ New York

A Big 'Ol Turtle

The other night I went for a walk in the Resort and saw something moving across the road.   I wasn't sure what it was so I walked over to check it out, and it was a big ol' turtle!  I wasn't expecting it to be a turtle because it was moving right along - I was afraid it would disappear in the grass before I got there.  But when I stood next to him, he stopped and pulled in.

and waited for me to leave.  

He was really cute, but less than charmed to have company.

One Year Ago: Best Burger in California

Two Years Ago: Hello, New York City

Three Years Ago: Randy's Fishing trip in Alaska

Strange Southern Foods - July 9, 2013

You hear a lot about "Southern Cuisine" but you don't often hear about this treat we found recently - Gummi Chicken Feet. 

And then there is this stuff.  Randy recently made Fried Bologna Sandwiches at the Snack Shack and when he put the bologna on the grill, it puffed up like Jiffy Pop.  This just doesn't look right...

Two years ago: The "Cottages" in Newport

Three years ago: Midnight Sun

Normal - July 8, 2013

I haven't posted in awhile but there just hasn't been much going on.  I spend a few days in a nice office, a couple of half-days in the Snack Shack, followed by a couple of  days doing whatever.  Normal is what you are used to, and this is my new "normal".

It's hot here and I need a shower after spending just a few minutes outside.  So I'm just sort of coasting along right now, avoiding heat stroke.  I did get a new shoot-and-go camera - a little Sony DSC-WX50.  I'll never win a photo contest with it, but it's really small and seems like a nice camera to take along on a daily basis.  If I hold it real still, it takes nice closeups.  

And I like the panorama feature.

This past weekend Randy was in a minor traffic accident - not his fault, a car bumped into him while he was stopped - so the Jeep is in the shop getting some work.

A couple of weeks ago the whole crew who works here went on a Savannah Slow Ride Pub Crawl.  This is where you rent a cart that is powered only by your group's pedal power.  Up to 10 people can pedal, 5 on each side, with a couple of non-pedaling seats at the back. 

Although the cart runs on the street, it obviously doesn't move very fast, especially since the goal is to stop at several pubs along the way.  We stopped at three good pubs and everyone had a great time, while crowds on the sidewalks gave us high-fives and took videos of us pedaling away as hard as alcohol and laughter would allow.  But our Crawl got cut a little short.  One of our group said a cuss word and the next thing we knew, the guide pulled the cart over and told us to get off, the ride was over.  Just like that.  We weren't sure where we were but it wasn't too hard to find our way back, in spite of the drinks consumed.  We ended the evening at Vinnie Van Go Go's, where they serve a seriously good pizza.  

One year ago:  Redlands, California
Two years ago:  Goodbye to Canada
Three years ago:  The streets of Skagway