This morning, there was a little sliver of moon over the ocean. It was beautiful.
Christine snapped this picture of me this morning lounging around reading.
At 8:00 we had our appointment with the club representative. Greg was very helpful and he said his job was to help us understand what we had purchased. Of course, his other job was to get us to upgrade, which would be nice, but we were well-practiced with our “no thanks” this time around. Although, in hindsight, we did get a final offer for a deal which would have given us a lot of extra club points which we probably should have taken. But we turned down the upgrade to a 3 bedroom timeshare and the chance to get halfway to “elite” status. They do a great job selling, but we were ready for the sales pitch. And Greg did give us lots of helpful information so that we better understand how we can take advantage of what we do have through HGVC. It was totally worth sitting through the presentation for a very affordable 3-night stay at this resort.
After the presentation, we set off for a day at Brookgreen Gardens. I had read about this place in one of the books in the suite and we thought it would make a great day out. The weather was just beautiful today, mostly sunny and about 75 degrees. We packed a picnic lunch and set off on the 45 minute drive south to the gardens.
Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve located just south of Murrells Inlet. The 9,100-acre property includes several themed gardens with American figurative sculptures placed in them, the Lowcountry Zoo, and trails through several ecosystems in nature reserves on the property. It was founded by Archer Milton Huntington, stepson of railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington, and his wife Anna Hyatt Huntington to feature sculptures by Anna and her sister Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor along with other American sculptors. Brookgreen Gardens was opened in 1932, and is built on four former rice plantations, taking its name from the former Brookgreen Plantation.
One could spend several days exploring the vast space of the gardens. We opted for an introductory hour long guided tour, which was really good and provided a bit of an overview of the various themes and gardens around the property. There are hundreds of sculptures all over the gardens and its really a shame not to fully comprehend all the sculptors and the names of their work, but it was simply too much to take in.
Here are a few works that I do know the names of.
And here are some other sculptures that I’m sorry to say I don’t have names for.
The grounds were just stunning, and on such a beautiful day it was really great walking along the paths through various ecosystems. The live oaks and Spanish moss, which is actually not a moss at all, but rather is Resurrection Fern, are particularly wonderful.
There was some great color along the way in flowering trees and plants.
We visited a small gallery that contained some fantastic sculptures of birds.
Another area of the gardens was dedicated to the Lowcountry history of South Carolina and its rice plantations. There was a nice exhibition center where we learned about the area and the original plantation. And then there was a really interesting walking tour along a stunning walkway along the rice fields and through a live oak grove containing 11 audio presentations talking about the rice plantation and, more importantly, the lives of enslaved Africans who worked the rice plantations. One thing I didn’t know was that many Africans came from areas in Africa that grew rice, and so the South Carolinians specifically imported slaves from these areas in Africa in order to help cultivate rice in the Lowcountry. The audio clips presented a lot about the enslaved Africans and it was interesting to look out over one of the rice fields and listen to the history of the work the enslaved people did.
Here are just a couple other photos.
Going to Brookgreen was a great way to spend the day. We then drove back to the suite. Christine lounged by the outdoor pool reading for an hour and then we walked around the corner for dinner at Dirty Don’s Oyster Bar. We had a great meal (I ate tooooo much) and then we returned to the suite to start packing up. The phone rang and it was someone from HGVC trying to confirm our marking appointment for tomorrow morning. Christine had to convince the caller that we had already done our appointment this morning. After a lengthy conversation and a callback, the caller informed Christine that there was another Christine Tyrrell arriving tonight and is scheduled for a marketing appointment in the morning. What do you think the odds are of that happening??!!! Anyway, that got all straightened out and now we’ll get ready to depart in the morning for our next destination, Jekyll Island, GA. What fun we’re having!