Week of March 1st

Before we go into the state celebration, let me first clear up this whole “Palmetto State” thing. The Sabal Palmetto is the palm tree that we see primarily all over SC and northern Florida. It is South Carolina's official state tree, a distinction it also shares with Florida. You can also see it represented on the state flag of South Carolina. OK, enough about this, on to the fun.

Chubby Checkers was born in Andrews, SC but the thought of the 4 of us “Twisting” around the house didn’t make for a pretty picture. We could have watched the “Prince of Tides”, which took place in SC, but it seemed way too depressing. We could have done the whole peach thing (2nd in US peach production) but we’ll leave that to another southeast state.

All the travel information refers to SC as a popular golf destination. The Grand Strand region has more public golf courses per capita than any other place in the country. One golf course on Kiawah Island was ranked as the #1 Toughest Golf Course in the states. With this kind of status it only makes sense that golf should play a role in this state’s celebration.

I don’t golf and neither do our friends, but my husband does and it seemed like a great excuse to go visit our son at college. So we convinced our son that it would be a beautiful day, that he deserved a break and that he should schedule in a round of golf on Sunday. Although he was pretty busy, it didn’t take all that much arm-twisting to persuade him to take a break for a free brunch and 9 holes of golf.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for early March and we were only a little chilled after 9 holes at a Columbia (coincidence, maybe), MO golf course. Just so you think I didn’t have much to do with the celebration, I did walk the course so I could spend some time with our son.

To round out the SC celebration, we listened to the music of “Iron & Wine” (Sam Beam born in Columbia, SC) the 2 hours back & forth to Columbia.

One more thing………….. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned the charm bracelet that I collected from my childhood room in NJ back in January. I started this charm bracelet, like so many other pre-teen girls, when I was 10 or 11. One charm was added during each family vacation or road trip. Actually I found the silver bracelet and a box of charms which had never been put together. Anyway, I thought, what better time to finish it but during our current “journey” through the states. To complete our SC celebration I went to my favorite store, eBay, and bid on a SC charm. I currently have charms representing about 20 states and will add to this collection during the rest of our states journeys.

Color in the “Palmetto State” with a beautiful day on the links and travel back up the coast to the “First State” – Delaware. 19 down - 33 to go.