Monday, June 10, 2019

Monday, June 10, 2019

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2008. Peter took Mattie to his first baseball game. I wasn't with them, but you can see Mattie's excitement. It was an afternoon with just his dad, doing something different.... which made the outing special. Unfortunately for Peter, Mattie watched a baseball game like me..... more interested in the people and the food!


Quote of the day: Speak less than you know; have more than you show. ~ William Shakespeare

Unlike me, Peter is an early morning riser. He gets up naturally between 5 and 6am. This is the photo he snapped this morning as he was walking the beach.... sun rising over Kiawah Island. 

Do you see these trails? Or should I say footprints? These are the trails made by sea turtles. They come out of the water at night, crawl along the beach and then deposit eggs in the sand dunes. Kiawah takes this very seriously, as a whole turtle conservation crew drive by each morning to mark nest sites and to rake over the trails made by mama turtles the night before. We gather this is done, so that the researchers can keep track of when and how many turtles hatch and then migrate back to the ocean. 

A close up of the trails. Can't you just picture a big turtle body crawling along with it feet flipping away at the sand?

Later in the morning, Peter and I set out on a bike ride. The beauty of Kiawah, is that the sand is hard packed and you can easily bike ride on it. As long as you ride with the wind. Riding against the wind is a workout times ten!

Which is why we rode down on the beach in one direction and then cut through the neighborhoods on our return. We rode ten miles today. Keep in mind it is Southern hot, with intense humidity. 

We ride prepared with sunscreen and bottles of water. 

This is how Peter and I love to see the beach. With not a lot of people on it and certainly without the noise of a board walk and other distractions. 

We picked up sand dollars and lots of shells along our journey today. I love how it is easy to find intact shells, and big ones at that.

Here is a sighting on our bike ride through the neighborhoods. Each area has their own inlet of water. These bodies of water seem to attract beautiful birds like this heron. 

The inlets also have their share of alligators. See this fellow moving in the water. 

A close up! Mattie would have loved this. The reason this alligator was coming toward the land was because a family was leaning over the water and feeding the birds fish. This alligator wasn't stupid. He wanted in on the action. When the family stopped feeding the birds, the alligator got disinterested and went under water. 

This is what the streets of Kiawah look like. They are stunningly green, very lush, and incredibly manicured. 

We went to the town center today and had lunch at Ladles. We met the owner of this store, Steve. Steve explained his products to us. By that I mean that everything is made on-site. It is fresh, with no preservatives. You can taste the difference. They are known for their 400 different types of homemade soups. Steve had us try three soups today.... She Crab, Gazpacho, and Greek Lemon Chicken soup. All delicious! Not to mention their fresh salads with homemade dressing!

In the town center, they had lots of frog statues. We remember taking a Mattie photo with such a frog statue at Brookside Gardens in Maryland. 

The town center featured a Farmers Market today. We picked up fresh fruits and vegetables and I checked out some of the stores. It is a very elegant town center, filled with shops, restaurants, and even Ben and Jerry's!