Georgetown, SC

     This was a Saturday in the mid 70s, dew point in the low 40s, and no clouds all day.  Cindy, Durelle and I decided to make a long overdue visit to Georgetown.  We drive through the industrial section on route 17 every time we go to or from Huntington Beach State Park.  After decades of driving by, we needed to visit the historic part of the town.  Do not expect me to know much about the history, but I took a picture of a well-preserved house that was built in 1737.  There is a bronze plaque that proclaims that Marquis de Lafayette first stepped ashore on this continent in Georgetown on June 13, 1777.

     Our intention was to take advantage of the weather and Cindy's vacation to drive up, walk the waterfront boardwalk, have lunch at one of the many seaside venues, and drive home.  Lo and behold, we walked into a maelstrom of activity.  Front Street, the main drag through the historic district, was shut down and occupied by the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show.  As if that weren't enough, there was a wildlife art exhibit, and a local church was having a fall festival.  Given the weather, the scene was chaotic.  We parked a mile away.  While walking to the center, we saw part of the art exhibit and (pay attention, Ann Dunn) some "Redneck Wineglasses".

     On the way to the center we saw some river front homes whose decks were over the river.

     We eventually got to the center and put our name on a waiting list for lunch.  It promised to be more than an hour.  I had a beer while the ladies nursed their soft drinks out on the deck.  After a while we changed our plan.  We took our name off the list, walked through the display of elegant wooden boats, walked back to the car and drove to a good restaurant away from the historic district.  There were wooden boats of all sizes, and the craftsmanship was impeccable, stunningly so.  Look at the seat in the picture below that reflects the wheel.  It looks black, but it is varnished mahogany as you can tell at the starboard side of the picture.

     I will include a couple more (while apologizing for abusing your bandwidth) including a classic old Chris Craft...can you say,"On Golden Pond"?

     The restaurant was the "Land's End" on 17 on the north edge of Georgetown.  The next picture was taken through the window from our table.  These boats were almost all sport fishermen.

     As they say about blind pigs and acorns, we stumbled into a very pleasant afternoon.  I would be remiss if I didn't report on Durelle and Cindy's round of golf yesterday.  After struggling all summer and getting pretty discouraged, Durelle (after a long layoff) shot an 88.  The front nine was a model of consistency: seven 5s followed by two 4s.  The back was less consistent, but she had a 45 with a couple of 3s...one on a fairly long par four.  I guess we won't be selling the clubs after all.