I had not returned to South Carolina since my last trip there in September 2015. Cathie visited Chicago last July, so at least we were able to spend some time in 2016. But, things did not work out for me to pay Cathie a visit last year. I did not want 2017 to go by without going back. I was able to secure accommodations at no charge due to my accumulation of points with Hilton, and, I was able to fly first class both ways. Neither of these things sucked, for the record. I flew into Raleigh-Durham on Friday, 8/25. Invariably, the airfare is less expensive than flying into either Myrtle Beach Int’l Airport, Charleston, or Wilmington, NC. Cathie drove up to pick me up at RDU, we had lunch with an old friend of Cathie’s, at a place that we actually ate at the last time I was there in the area. After lunch, we proceeded to Myrtle Beach, which is about a 3 hour drive. I checked into the hotel, and then we met up with Dan Thompkins, the owner of Southern Living Photography, for sunset. I have known Dan for a few years, but we never met in person until this trip. I have long admired Dan’s work, he is a tremendously talented photographer. An added bonus, Dan was joined by his wife Carolyn, who was celebrating a birthday that day. We staked out a location at the swing bridge in Socastee, South Carolina. An adventure company runs a jet ski rental service there, but they were kind enough to allow us to stay as long as we wanted on the dock. The sunset was incredible, a perfect start to the weekend. While Cathie and I do a LOT of photography when we get together, I also wanted to spend some time with her just having fun, so, prior to the trip, we talked about playing some miniature golf. Myrtle Beach has a quite a lot of miniature golf courses. After Cathie and I parted ways from Dan and Carolyn, we got a quick bite to eat at one of the local Chic-Fil-As, where Cathie teased a local LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) about how at least he wasn’t eating at a donut shop, and then we played a round of miniature golf at Mt. Atlanticus (Minotaur Golf). Cathie is quite competitive, as am I, and I still contend that she had been practicing every chance she had after we talked about doing this, as she got a hole in one on the first hole. Still, we ended up tied at the end of the round.

Saturday was to be a Charleston day. I love Charleston, it’s such a beautiful city, and perfect for infrared photography, which I do quite a lot of. While it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day in Myrtle Beach, by the time we got to Charleston, it had clouded over. On the way down, we stopped at an abandoned home not far from Hampton Plantation, in McClennanville (where Cathie photographed the eclipse the previous Monday). We stopped at a few historic sites on the way in to Charleston (Charles Pickney’s home, a National Historic Site in the National Park Service, and Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan Island). We got some lunch, and then visited and toured Drayton Hall, an historic home run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. From there, we planned to go to Botany Bay in the late afternoon for the boneyard- an eroded beach where the trees have been succumbed by the tide. Unfortunately, as we found out from the ranger station there, Hurricane Matthew, which hit the area in October 2016, destroyed much of the boneyard. So, instead, we went to the Morris Island Lighthouse, which you can see from Folly Beach. We tried going there on my last trip, but never made it to the beach. What struck me right away was how strong the wind and waves were. I thought there might be a storm on the Atlantic, and there was. But, it was a little more than a storm, it was a tropical cyclone.

Still, the waves created some great photographic opportunities which we took advantage of. And, a wind surfer was taking advantage of the waves and winds too. I took a lot of photos of him as he was cruising back and forth past the lighthouse. From there, we got dinner. We had entertained the thought of shooting the Pineapple Fountain on the Charleston waterfront, but, we decided to head back to Myrtle Beach instead, as we thought we would try to catch sunrise Sunday morning. Given the travel time, it made more sense to get back and get some sleep.