Author: bbpeck

After our stay in Augusta, GA, Bob and I spent Saturday night at the Marriott Hotel near the Atlanta airport for our Sunday flight to London and then Jersey. Bob had also found a long-term parking option for the car near the hotel. The hotel was large, clean, and had a great fitness center. Unfortunately for us, the Concierge Lounge wasn’t open during our stay, so no free dinner Saturday night, but we had a great free breakfast Sunday morning at the Renaissance Hotel across the street.

We get free breakfasts at certain level Marriott hotels due to our membership status, and since their lounge isn’t open on Sunday mornings, they must have an agreement with the Renaissance Hotel (also a Marriott property) to provide the breakfast in their restaurant.

We had a long wait Sunday, as our flight didn’t depart until after 10 pm. We got a late checkout at the hotel, so we stayed in our room until 4:00 and then waited in the lobby and took turns walking around without luggage for another 2 hours. At 6:00, we walked to the sky train for the quick ride to the domestic terminal. We then boarded a bus near the sky train to take us to the international terminal. That was a longer ride than we expected, but we still had plenty of time for check in and security. Check-in there though was a bit of a stressor since no regular (non British Airways elite travelers) could be assisted until any elite traveler that showed up was checked in. We got through eventually and security was a breeze. I was worried that the wait times might be longer with the government shutdown, but everything went well and our flight left on time.

One thing that was new for us on this trip is that our flight into London landed at Heathrow Airport, but the flight to Jersey left from Gatwick Airport. We had 5 hours in between, but we were still a bit concerned about whether our flight would be on time and the customs and luggage pickup process and then the check-in and security process at Gatwick. Bob had scheduled us a car transfer service (Blackberry), so that we wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out a bus or train transfer.

Everything worked out really well. The longest wait was waiting for a gate after we landed at Heathrow. Customs and luggage pickup were very quick, and our car transfer driver (though a slow walker) was a great driver. The ride to Gatwick was 45 minutes. We spent most of the next 3 hours in a lounge.

We arrived into Jersey, where we were immediately welcomed on WhatsApp by our homeowner, and were into our hotel,The Hotel Cristina, by 6:45. This is a beautiful hotel with great views of Jersey and St. Aubin’s Bay. We had a quick drink in the bar last night while we looked over all the tourist info we picked up and a great free breakfast in the restaurant this morning.

Even though I slept for about 4 hours on the plane, I slept almost 12 hours last night. Bob didn’t sleep much at all on the plane to London, but a little on the short flight to Guernsey. He was awake before me this morning.

Some photos from our room.

Our homeowners will pick us up here at 6:00 this evening after work. We have paid for a late checkout at 1:00, then we’re going to do a 2+ hour walk to a lighthouse and then catch a bus back after looking around. Tomorrow evening after work when our homeowners head off on their cruise, we will be The Real Housesitters of Jersey.

Our last full day in Augusta and much more fall-like weather. It was in the mid 50s when we went out about 10 am this morning, but the feels like temp was in the high 40s.

We walked east along the Riverwalk, the opposite of yesterday, to check out the sculptures and the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Savannah River to North Augusta, South Carolina.

There were sculptures on the bridge as well as along the Riverwalk.

After stopping at a bakery that we had see from our hotel window (very dark with little selection so no purchases), Bob and I headed to the other side of the Marriott to go across the street to the Morris Museum of Art that we had passed on the Riverwalk yesterday.

This museum is the oldest in the country that is specifically devoted to the art and artists of the American South. It has over 6,000 pieces in its permanent collection of varies types — paintings, sculptures, art, glass, etc.

Of course, Augusta is mostly known around the world for the Augusta National Golf Course and The Master’s Golf Tournament. As we aren’t members and the tournament isn’t going, we couldn’t get on the course, but we drove the 3.5 miles from downtown to at least get a feel of the area.

The area near the course is, like the rest of the city, is a bit up and down with nice (not grand) homes/buildings alongside pretty derelict ones. The course doesn’t have to worry about that though, as it is surrounded by heavy trees, large bushes so that you can’t see in and if you’re in you don’t have to see out.

Late morning tomorrow, we will head to a hotel near the Atlanta Airport to spend one night before we fly out late Sunday night.

Besides the fact that Augusta, Georgia, lies on the Savannah River directly across from North Augusta, South Carolina, Wikipedia tells me that it has a population of just over 202,000, which makes it the 3rd largest city in Georgia after Atlanta and Columbus. I only know about it from the Master’s, but it has a great trail system, an art museum that we hope to visit, and some famous former residents, including Woodrow Wilson and James Brown.

Today, since no rain was in the forecast we hit the trails and then a bit of the James Brown Trail downtown. We started where we ended yesterday— on the pretty paved Riverwalk along the Savannah River directly behind our hotel. We headed west.

After we reached 13th Street (our hotel lies in between 9th and 10th Streets), we crossed onto the Augusta Canal River Levee Trail. The Savannah River is dammed to create a 13 mile canal through Augusta to supply the city with drinking water and power several small hydroelectric plants. The look of the trail changed, but it was still paved the entire way.

We crossed a number of bridges on our walk.

The above sculpture was at the end of our canal walk near 13th Street and Walton Way (named for George Walton, one of the three men from Georgia to sign the Declaration of Independence). At this point, we switched to a basic map that we had picked up yesterday to see some of the highlights from James Brown’s history in Augusta.

While the “Hardest Working Man in Show Business” was born in Barnwell, South Carolina, his family moved to Augusta when he was a young child, and he considered Augusta his home. 9th Street in Augusta has been renamed James Brown Boulevard.

Based on where we had ended our canal walk, we decided to head to 7th Street to see his childhood home. On the way, we passed the Mother Trinity CME Church. He swept the floors in this church in exchange for being able to practice on their piano.

We were ultimately unsuccessful in finding his boyhood home. We were at the address indicated, but apparently they just wanted us to know where the home was, as the address provided is now a business in a not so great part of town. A local man asked what we were looking for and had no idea…

So back up 7th Street where we were to pass the James Brown Arena and Bell Auditorium. We got Bell Auditorium, as the arena has apparently been torn down to create a new auditorium. The pictures of the planned building were impressive and included building onto Bell Auditorium, where James Brown played a number of shows.

After all that I feel good, but you knew that I would right? 🎵🎶

On Tuesday afternoon, I left the sweet, fun Squeegee to check into the Four Points Marriott Hotel in Myrtle Beach to wait for Bob. He had flown to Iowa the day before for an appointment with a neurologist that had become available. Our homeowners were okay with him going. Our homeowners ended up coming home that night as well, so we chose to spend the night in a hotel as Bob was expecting to get in late.

The hotel was in an industrial area of Myrtle Beach closer to the airport.

Today, we left Myrtle Beach about 9:30 am to head to Augusta, Georgia, for a short visit before we fly to our next housesit. Augusta is in Georgia, but on the border of South Carolina, so almost all of our almost four drive today was in South Carolina. About an hour into our drive, we started seeing signs for Sparky’s. This is a large gas station/convenience store site (a la Texas-based Buc-ee’s). They sell just about everything (hermit crabs to flip flops to fudge and fireworks) and promote their clean bathrooms.

We were unimpressed. All staff seemed barely alive. It was kitschy and not in an attractive way, and their very small bathrooms were definitely not clean. We do not recommend Sparky’s.

Once we arrived at the Marriott Suites in Augusta and got settled, we went out into the downtown area to check out the Visitors Center, Augusta and Co. This is a combo Visitors Center and store for local goods. It even provided a bit of local history.

Just to follow up on the results of Bob’s appointment, we learned that he is likely in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. We’re in the process of absorbing this information (not entirely unexpected) and what that means for our immediate future.

Starting late last week, the weather forecast here showed nothing but rain and storms through the end of this week. We also began to hear about two storms in the Atlantic— Humberto and Imelda. It was clear fairly early on that Humberto would head further into the Atlantic away from the US eastern coast, but Imelda was moving much more slowly so it was harder to predict. And then for a few days it appeared to be headed right towards the coast of the Carolinas and emergency declarations were made by Governors to help with assistance in clean up after the anticipated storm. The city of Myrtle Beach made sand available for you to make sand bags to help protect property. It was all a bit alarming.

We were in communication with the home owners who had left us their hurricane kit with lots of water, blankets, a flashlight, and a radio. We were ready to fill the tub with water and move some outdoor furniture, and evacuate if needed, and then even Imelda decided that there was already enough chaos going on in the US that she didn’t need to be adding to it. Imelda went the way of Humberto, and we just got a good couple of days worth of much needed rain here and some high surf. No flooding or any wind damage. Whew, not the kind of excitement we want or need.

So since the sun is back out, at least through tomorrow, we’ve tried to get out and be a bit more active than we’ve been for the past few days.

Yesterday, we parked at Warbird Park and walked up to and around the lake near Market Commons and then over to Barnes and Noble to feed my puzzle book addiction. The Market Commons area is a development that we continue to find attractive with its cute homes, great parks, and walkability to retail and restaurants.

Today, we drove about 16 miles south to Pawleys Island, another part of the 60 mile grand strand along the coast. We drove over a causeway to get to the Island, which is only about 3 miles long between an inter coastal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the oldest resort areas on the East Coast.

Today, Bob and I drove about 9 miles northeast of the house to Myrtle Beach State Park. Our homeowners kindly left us their pass to use at the two local state parks. We visited Huntington Beach State Park on our first excursion of the housesit. We delayed going to Myrtle Beach State Park until after the end of the big tourist season, but even today it had a lot of visitors.

The state park lies along part of the Grand Strand along the Atlantic Ocean between the city of Myrtle Beach to the north and Surfside Beach to the south. It opened in 1936, and is one of 16 South Carolina State Parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It has a fishing pier, over 300 tent and campsites, 1 mile of undeveloped beach, and a couple of nature trails. We walked down the fishing pier, along part of the beach, on the boardwalk that parallels the beach, and on the nature trails. With the temp in the low 80s and a nice breeze, it was a great day for an outing.

Bob and I used our tickets to Brookgreen Gardens again today to visit the indoor galleries that we hadn’t visited earlier. We visited four small galleries and were also able to see some outdoor statues that we hadn’t seen earlier since we walked a different route.

The first gallery we visited was the Brenda and Dick Rosen Gallery, where they were showcasing (along with items from their permanent collection) the National Sculpture Society Annual Awards Exhibition for the 26th year. These sculptures are for sale, so I’ve included the asking price where I have it just in case you’re interested in making a purchase.

The second gallery that we visited was the Offner Sculpture Center, which the volunteer working there described as their storage gallery, as it allows them to display the portion of their holdings that they can’t place on the grounds for various reasons. In this gallery, we were also able to watch a film of Richard McDermott Miller creating a sculpture, and we finally found a big head for Bob.

They have a large collection of medals, which I wouldn’t necessarily thought of as sculpture, but it does seem to be a different type of sculpture.

The third gallery we visited was the Bleifield Gallery. This one was all sculptures of animals — mostly birds.

The last gallery we walked to, the Noble and Jennewein Galleries, didn’t have an exhibit, but was showing an overview film about the creation of Brookgreen Gardens. We always an enjoy a good overview film. On the walk to these galleries, we saw more outdoor sculptures.

Also new today, a group of at least 50 people were doing yoga in one of the gardens this morning. It was the perfect setting. It’s just a lovely, serene place to spend some time.

Bob and I went back to Brookgreen Gardens today on our still valid tickets to see the remainder of the park — primarily the Lowcountry, heritage farm, and zoo areas. of course, we also saw more sculptures and more of the beautiful grounds.

The farm and zoo are part of their mission to showcase animals native to the Southeast, and many of the zoo animals seemed to be rescued after some type of injury. Many of them were well camouflaged in their environments and/or difficult to capture through the metal enclosures, so my apologies if the animal photos feel mostly like an eye test or a Where’s Waldo exercise.

Last week, Bob and I drove to the town of Conway, South Carolina, to visit the Horry County Museum. The drive into Conway made us curious to see more. We drove back today to walk their Riverwalk along the Waccamaw River and Kingston Lake and check out their downtown. We got more than we bargained for and continue to be impressed with this town.

Based on what we saw on our walks, we would definitely consider them the City of Halloween for anywhere. We parked by the marina, which is close to the Riverwalk and downtown.

One of the local places that our homeowners had told us about was Brookgreen Gardens. We finally got there today and will definitely be going back, as it is $25 per person but you can go back for 7 days on the same ticket as there is so much to see.

We both think it is one of, if not the best gardens we have ever visited. It is on land once owned by Archer Milton Huntington and his wife Anna Hyatt Huntington, a sculptress. We learned about them when we visited the nearby Huntington Beach State Park (also part of their former land) and toured the remains of their estate. The gardens portion of their property was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and preservation of American figurative sculptures and the plants and animals of the Southeast.

They have succeeded. Brookgreen Gardens was recently named one of the Top 10 Botanical Gardens in America, and the gardens contain the largest and most comprehensive collection of American figurative sculpture in the country with over 2,700 works by 425 artists. There are other gardens with perhaps more colorful and abundant flowers, but the sculptures, gardens, ponds, and wide-spreading live oak trees with Spanish moss, definitely make this a Top 10 site. And we haven’t even visited the Lowcountry grounds and zoo or any of the inside galleries. More to come.