Time flies....

Not unexpectedly, time flies when you are 1) traveling, 2) having fun, 3) have limited cell phone signal to update friends and family re: what's going on.  : )

We've spent the last two days just outside Sautee, GA, visiting Nancy and Lynn at their beautiful home.  Yesterday's weather was remarkable - low 60's and sunny.  We went for a nice walk around the lake at their development (Skylake), then into town for lunch at a really nice restaurant: converted service garage, now serving excellent meals in the middle of Georgia countryside - "The Attic".  We spoke to the owner/chef re: the remarkable salmon/fresh spinach salad, which turns out is his top seller (I can vouch for why that is!).  We then wandered into a little "welcome center" consisting of a small home, the former owner's milinary shop, and an old slave cabin, all surrounded with lovely and lovingly-constructed gardens.  We had the immense pleasure of meeting the resident gardener, who unlocked the buildings so we could see the insides (not normally open until later in the season), and with whom I had a great conversation about gardening styles and concepts.  She generously dug up and shared a plant from this garden with me that she thought would "make it" in Michigan.  What a treat, both my unexpected plant gift and the chance to visit this historical site when no other tourists were around!  This is exemplary of the lovely, serendipitous things that can happen when you can travel unfettered by firm itineraries and are open to new and unplanned side-trips.  THIS is why we love to travel!  

Tonight and for at least one more night, we are staying at a lovely state park campground in South Carolina: Calhoun Falls State Campground, situated on the banks of Lake Russell, a large fairly undeveloped reservoir (see: http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/calhounfalls/introduction.aspx for more detailed info if interested).  We appear to be one of 3-4 campers in the park tonight, and have a nice site right on the beach, but there is a large group of campers coming in for the weekend so we will have to move tomorrow....to an even prettier site further up the road - tough life! : )   The sites in this particular state campground are remarkable for how beautifully laid out they are in terms of privacy, level sites, and generous spacing between campsites, not to mention many, like ours, with beautiful views over the lake.

While we are here, we plan to visit Abbeville, SC - where the Civil War purportedly "began and ended" and Clemson University botanical gardens, which are supposed to be extraordinary, although I'm not quite sure what to expect in that regard at this particular time of year.

The drawback to this lovely state park is extremely weak cell-phone signal, so trying to post photos is proving to be impossible, even with a signal-booster antenna. Those will have to wait for a later post.  Meanwhile, know that we are having a WONDERFUL time and are looking forward to sharing more stories and photos when time and cell-signal permits.