Earth, Wind & Fire – Getaway
You all know I don’t like winter. The cold, the dark, the ice, the dark, the lack of green, the dark. When it starts to get to me, I dream of getting away to somewhere warm and sunny, preferably by the ocean. This past winter was not a bad one when it comes to snow and freezing temperatures, a side effect of climate change I’m sure. The lack of light is persistent though and the only way to remedy that is to go somewhere farther south or west.
Back in January I was really fed up with everything. The amount of time and energy that people were needing from me was just too much, and coupled with the usual winter doldrums, I was desperate to go somewhere. I happened to be talking to one of my sisters on the phone and mentioned that I wanted a vacation, a mama vacation as I had started calling it, a vacation from being mama, where no one would bother me for a week. No phone calls, no asks to take care of something, no doing anything for anyone but me. My sister and her husband bought a summer place up in Maine and part of me was thinking about asking her if I could just use it for a week to be alone. But going to Maine in the winter is not my idea of a getaway. Then my sister said, hey, they had a week at a timeshare that they had to use or lose before March and they weren’t going to be able to use it, did I want to go?
Oh my god, did I want to go! Where could I go?!?! There were several different locations but in order to pull this off, I decided it needed to be somewhere I could drive to because I also was doing it pretty last minute and didn’t think I could swing a flight. So California and the Caribbean were out. Arizona held no appeal for me anyway, I wanted a beach. So we got on Zoom and she shared her screen with the timeshare website so we could check out the options. Virginia Beach was a maybe, but I really liked the look of one of the places in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. South Carolina was someplace I’d been through, but never to, and I liked the idea of being able to check off another state. Plus, there would be palm trees. Palm trees!! To a New Englander, a palm tree is a sure sign of vacation. You are far away. It will be warm. So she booked it, and I set about planning my mama vacation for mid-February.
I asked my best friend if she wanted in on this free vacation and she immediately said yes. Escape the frozen north? Done. We decided to rendezvous at a different sister’s house outside Philadelphia and leave my car there for the week, then drive as far as we felt up for on that first day. We made it halfway between DC and Richmond and picked a hotel from the car. The next day we headed to Richmond, another place I’d never been, and marveled at the things already blooming in the Fan District. We had some lunch and then hit the road for the long haul on I-95 through North Carolina, into South Carolina before hanging a left and heading for the coast. It started to get dark, then rain, so we had no idea what anything looked like until the next morning.
It looked green. The rain had left and the sun was breaking out. I was eager to get outside so we got ready and went to survey the resort. Resorts are not usually my thing but I am not one to look a gift condo in the mouth so I was perfectly happy to make note of the several pools, hot tubs, shuffleboard court, etc. And the palm trees. Oh, the palm trees! We then ventured off to the beach, just a short drive away. Wow. Seemingly endless miles of white sand beach.
My family was on notice; you may only call me if someone is in the hospital. We did arrange for a family group call on Valentine’s Day but otherwise I was to be left alone. My best friend and I made excursions from our timeshare but we did also make regular use of the pool and hot tubs. We walked on the beach every day. We went to Brookgreen Gardens, courtesy of an online friend (hi, Paul!) who graciously told us so much about the region and put up with our multiple stops to take pictures of things in bloom. Each day it got a little warmer and on the day we decided to go to Charleston it was approaching 80°. In February. We put our feet in the ocean in February. I was so happy.
Alas a week is never quite long enough when you’re on vacation and we had to head back north. We chose a different route on the way home, through Wilmington, NC where we had lunch at this draft house where you get a wrist band and pour your own beers from some crazy number of taps. We drove through Mt. Olive, pickle capital of the world, then the slog through every major city back to my sister’s.
We talked about making this a regular thing, and where else and what else might we do? My best friend really felt the drive down and back was not great so maybe next time, with advance planning, a cheap flight would be better. Then maybe a city, so we wouldn’t need a car. Charleston? Savannah?
I am not sure I will have the luxury of taking a week off this coming February or March with a big project at work needing to wrap up around then. But maybe a long weekend. Just to see and smell the flowers, the beach, and the palm trees. Feel the sun on my face. Go without a jacket. Put my feet in the ocean. It might be time to start thinking about it.
Noisy Cats 