We awoke to a cooler Georgetown morning and a pleasant bike to the local hardware and grocery stores on Thursday.  Piggly Wiggly grocery shopping just isn’t quite the same as Harris Teeters in Charleston, but managed to find much of what we needed and is usually the case, met up with some friendly boaters who had also biked to the store.     

Later, wandering down the streets of Georgetown’s 40 historic downtown square blocks, we photographed sixty-three, two and three hundred year old homes, buildings and churches all beautifully preserved.  Mixed among those were many more hundred- year-old plus homes.  The combination of historic preservation, simple landscaping and beauty of the trees overhanging the quiet streets made it seem like we were walking back into a different century.  Each historic home had a placard indentifying its age, and/or a sign sharing its historical information.  We walked, and walked and walked, noticing the uniqueness of the chimneys, brick, porches, cornices, window panes wrinkled from age.  Quite obviously, this Georgetown is proud of its history and cares deeply about preserving and sharing it with others.  

Next door to the marina where we docked was Stormy Seas Seafood, where you can buy fresh shrimp, oysters, and fish.  I wandered in and bought some shrimp, talking with the grandmother who was running the retail shop while caring for her two young grandchildren.  She told me her husband and son had gone out in their boat at 4:00 am, and I noticed when they returned it was almost 7:00p.m.  She was still there too waiting to help with the catch.  That’s a fifteen hour day, not an easy life.  Don’t think I can ever eat shrimp again without thinking of these men and women who spend the day providing this delicacy for us.

This morning along the banks of the Cypress Swamp were baldheaded eagles high in the trees tending their young and turtles sunning on logs.  It was another peaceful fifty-five mile day.  Tonight we find ourselves in North Myrtle Beach at the Barefoot Marina.