Where We Are Now + Edisto Beach Earth Day Camping Trip

Where have we been? 

So, here we are. It's been a ridiculously long time since our last blog post around the time of our engagement. Life has been a crazy whirlwind since then. After the engagement, manic wedding planning ensued for six months until the big day on May 20th, 2017. We weighed our options heavily, but decided on getting married at the same place Gadget asked me to be his wife -- Vogel State Park, in the Appalachian Mountains of Blairsville, GA. The week we spent at Vogel preparing for our big day with family & friends was the best week of our lives filled with lots of outdoor time, hiking, and adventure. Eventually, I will get around to blogging about that wonderful week (most of the people who read this blog were there for the wedding, so it will be redundant to most of you anyways), but until then, here's a picture of us after we said "I do".  After the wedding, we became *CONSUMED* with house shopping, and before losing all hope, found our dream home -- a cabin on a few acres of land in the foothills with the Hudson River flowing freely in the backyard. 

Fishing in our backyard in the boat I grew up in as a kid, which my parents have generously loaned us on a long-term basis -- of course, under the stipulation that they may come to fish whenever they like.  

This is the view of our property from the river. 

After our wedding, we honeymooned for a week camping at our other favorite campground in Edisto Beach (which a blog post will be forthcoming eventually). You might ask, how much can one love state parks, exactly? Enough to plan an engagement, wedding & honeymoon at one. For Gadget & I, camping has become, without a doubt, our preferred way to travel, for many reasons. 

1. You can spend your money on doing more while on vacation (or alternately, eating more), instead of feeling obligated to stay in a fancy, expensive condo the entire trip. 

2. Camping allows us to feel nature, and be one with nature. How can you argue that you're not part of nature when you're in the middle of the woods, minding your own business at your camp site, and you have to all-out defend your property with a series of loud claps and "SHOO!"s when a raccoon decides to jump on your picnic table & steal your Chips Ahoys? If that's not survival of the fittest in wilderness, then I don't know what is. 

3. Camping teaches us endless lessons on gratitude. When you must walk for 5 minutes to reach the closest toilet for a couple of days, you learn to really, really appreciate the modern-day amenities that we often take for granted in our day-to-day lives. 

Bottom line, camping in the wilderness is all about enjoying the little treasures our world has to offer. 

We love Edisto because we have never seen a crowd on the beach. 

Low tide on our first day of vacation

Gadget likes this picture because he can see his reflection in my sunglasses

I typically don't do bikes because I'm clumsy, anxious, and accident prone. Gadget was so proud of me for giving the bike another chance & facing my fears! 

You may notice that our dog Lily is nowhere to be found in these pictures. She has been pained with arthritis (this is the vet's best diagnosis until we take Lily for an x-ray later this week) for the past two months. As such, she has had mobility issues and just isn't acting like her normal self anymore. So, my parents & I made a deal that while we were vacationing at the beach, they would come to our house and have a little vacation of their own & fish on the river. To sweeten the deal, they offered to keep Lily so that she could be more comfortable, and so that we could enjoy our time away to the fullest. Although we missed our baby so, so much, we had the opportunity to do lots of things we've never done on any vacation -- like going to restaurants, walking into a store together (usually one of us stays in the car with Lily so no one threatens to call the cops on us, and yes that's happened before), and most notably, riding bicycles around the island together. 

And let me be clear --- these bicycles were hands down the funnest part of our vacation. We rode all over the beach & biked all of the hiking trails at the park. Also, it cuts down on time walking around everywhere, so what's not to love? Did I mention I ate all the seafood in the ocean because I told myself a little white lie: "Don't worry, you'll bike off the calories". Even after crashing my bike in a slow speed wreck & acutely injuring myself (more on that later), all I wanna do is bicycle, bicycle, bicycle (insert Queen lyrics here). 

The water was way too cold to swim in, but that didn't deduct from our adventuring. 

The RV camping area of the park. 

Many boardwalks interject the marsh on the hiking trails at the park. 

Beautiful marsh fields at low tide

I passed by a little girl on my bike and for some reason she was awed enough to exclaim, "WOW! It's a big person riding a bike!" 

The view of the marsh from our campsite. 

"Life's too short, man. Ride the bicycle." -- Me, telling my husband to put this on my gravestone when I die, just minutes before crashing my bike and nearly ending my life (okay, maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic, but still)

Big Bay Creek on the Shell Mound Trail

Lots & lots of oyster shells

This is the ramp that put me in my rightful place when I tried to bike up it with no speed whatsoever. At 0.1 mph, I lost control of the bike and fell over into a bed of large rocks, landing on my hand & getting jabbed all over by sharp rocks. All 5 of my fingers are still jammed a few days later, and a new bruise appears every day.

This is approximately the moment Gadget realized I was not behind him like I was supposed to be. No, I was lying in a bed of rocks, shocked that I actually lived and didn't break any bones. 

Crying & laughing simultaneously a minute after my bicycle incident

Photogenic bird

It let Ben take quite a few pictures of it....

.... before it realized it had an appointment to get to. 

Me & him, exploring this beautiful life together, always at each others' side

Since we didn't have Lily with us, we were FINALLY able to visit Botany Bay, a wildlife preserve located at the site of two old plantations. There is a strict no dogs allowed rule here, as dogs tend to disrupt the wildlife. 

Half mile trail to Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay

There's a hefty $500 fine for removing shells from this beach, so visitors decorate the driftwood with shells for everyone to enjoy. 

Pictures don't do Boneyard Beach justice. It was an eerie place, yet extremely peaceful. 

This tree tunnel leads to the beautiful Botany Bay. 

On Sunday April 22nd, we headed back to our river retreat, full of seafood & ready to see our Lily (just FYI, if you are ever in Edisto, you must stop by Flowers Seafood and buy as many fried soft-shelled crabs as you can afford, eat the breakfast at SeaCow at least once, and stop by Whaley's for beachy cocktails & equally amazing food every chance you get). 

Thank you all for reading about our adventures! Life's too short, man -- ride the bicycle!