Catching up to Saturday

Getting ready for the big day:  The Ocean Course.  7400 yds from the tips, slope 144.  They had a good practice facility, but it was cold.  it required bundling up.  note the direction of the flags in the background.  Wind can be a killer on this course.

Practice, and more practice.  They say that practice makes permanent.

Fabulous hotel with every amenity known to man.  Possibly because of the economy, possibly because of the global warming effects resulting in a mini-ice age in southern SC, not many people were here.  Very nice stay.  the beds were about as good as you can get.  Gary complained of needing a ladder to reach the bed.

Bedroom views of the Atlantic


Two of our restaurant choice in Charleston were excellent.  High Cotton was very nice with breast of duck and a strawberry souffle with a warm vanilla.

Mercato, on the other hand was less formal.  reasonable italian food, not great.  the most interesting part of this was that our waitress, a college senior down at the University of Charleston lives less than a block away from me in Gaithersburg.  

Sarah arrived on Friday evening.  We explored a bit of Savannah.  found a great restaurant, Noble Fare, and had a nine course tasting dinner paired with wines.  Very excellent.

Gary did our laundry and some preliminary shopping last night.  We're getting ready to go play golf with Pete Bloom at his country club in a bit.  The temperature is still not behaving, but is projected to get better each day.  Lori comes in on Sunday.

Had a Board meeting (call) this morning, so Gary took off to go look at the Yorktown carrier at Patriot's Point.  I'm a bit concerned that he'll want to re-up and go off to sea.

Also, here are a couple of shots from the course at the Cliffs.  it's hard to get a real feel for how beautiful it is, but one can get a sense from these.

Sorry for the long delay in updating.  We've been very, very busy.  I forgot one activity that was recorded.  Gary, in preparing for old-age is trying a new sport:  bocce ball.

We played golf at a course call The Vineyard.  Gary and I both thought that it ranked at the top of any course that we played for beauty.  It is in a mountainy area with a gigantic lake that makes for lots of scenic inlets, etc.  This course has eight holes that are bounded by water.  Very nice.

Gary still has most of the photos and i'll add them tomorrow.

Drove down to Charleston from the golf course.  Not bad, only 3 hours.  Was undecided about hotels so we just stayed at a Marriott Residenc

e Inn again, just outside of town.  Very vanilla, but decided to do some homework on Saturday and find a new place.  Went into town to have dinner.  Ended up having a burger on Market Street which is in the middle of the old section of Charleston.  Nothing exciting.

Got up on Saturday and checked out several hotels and settled 

on one:  Market Pavilion

It's right in the center of town, great old hotel, has a wonderful rooftop bar scene. 

 

Matt and Lisa know this place well.  We're staying for three nights.

Found a gym down the street and we've been working out each day.  Work, work, work.  Eating in moderation exept for dinner last night.  We ate at the hotel dining room.  One of the best NY Strips (18 oz), plus hash browns you'd die for.   yummy

Played golf at one of the recommended courses, on Isle of Palms on Sunday, Wild Dunes.  Strange course.  I wouldn't recommend it.  It actually lost its 18th hole in a hurricane and it has never been fixed.  Looking at it, it was a spectacular hole.  What they did was take a par 5 hole on the front nine and made it two holes (a par 3 and a par 4) without changing the hole, except that they inserted a small green in the middle of the whole.  Unusual.  Also not well maintained, mowing was spotty, etc.

Played another course outside of Charleston today which proved to be very nice.  Pictures and more info tomorrow.  The best thing about it is their signature 18th hole that ends with an island green.  Yours truly birdied the hole.  You need not hear about most of the rest of my play.  

More later.

Thursday in rainy SC

Another day of walking around seeing houses and lots.  This time on the areas known as Keowee Lakes.  Beautiful area.  This is truly a remarkable development.  I think it's probably unique in the U.S.  In each of the eight areas are a lot of amenities built up (gyms, spas, golf courses, restaurants, shopping, medical care, etc).  Everything is done first class.

some new photos of a couple of lots.

The above lot is high up, the view is spectacular.  you also have your own dock down below.  the

 camera doesn't do it justice.  In fact, as i look at these, you really won't get any feel for how nice this area is.

This one is on the same part of the lake.  Great lot to build a compound.

This lake is a HUGE lake that has some wind surfing I was told today.  It's man made as a result of a hydroelectric dam and offers a lot of different types of lakefront properties, but all are expensive.  

We're off to a Cliff's suggested restaurant in Tuxedo called Flights.  We're playing golf for the first time at one of the Cliff's courses.  From what we've seen, they are all first class courses.  The view from this photo is from Golf magazines home of the year.   It's available for $2.9.   the house is spectacular, with a view of the course that is even more spectacular.   Very nice.

Dinner tonight in Greenville.  An up and coming town close by.  good place.  

Misc photos to add to the collection.

2nd Day, Roanoke to

I'm including some photos that belong to yesterday's blog. 

 dinner last night was awesome:  chateaubriand, followed by a great desserts

 (bad on us).  

Elegant breakfast overlooking the mountains, then on to the helicopter tour.

Great ride, great views, lots of fun for about an hour.  This was followed by a pickup by Vince, our guide.  It turns out that he worked for Baxter/American Hospital for about 20 years.  We had a very full day seeing a lot of different properties.  there are some truly spectacular lots that have unbelievable views.  Some of them sit on top of, or at the top edge of these ridges.  You can see from 180 to 360 degrees for many, many miles.  Big enough for multiple dwellings.

The big problems are that this place is not 70 degrees in December through March.  It averages in the 50's we're told.  Also, it's not on the ocean.  We're looking at lakeside properties tomorrow to see if there's any hope for wind surfing, but it doesn't sound very likely.  one possibility for investment came up today that Gary and Lori did in Colorado.  they are about to build 3 model homes that they would sell and then lease back so that the first one to two years would be cash positive.  at the end, you could sell, or put in the rental pool.  we'll see what they have to offer tomorrow.

bottom line, these are beautiful properties that are truly stunning.  the place is a very first class operation, of a size that i've never seen.  it will not have the density of something like hilton head or amelia island, but also will not have the ocean, and will be colder.  

who knows?  more manana.  tonight we go into Greensville to have dinner, about 15 minutes away. 

First day in NC/SC

Alas, a snag on the way down.  Having driven to Roanoke on Monday night following our parting dinner, we successfully found a hotel, Marriott Residence Inn...very respectable, and crashed.  While nearly completing the drive to the Cliffs, Gary and I got very interested in figuring out how to make his phone become friendly with the car's blue tooth.  while exploring this with Gary I noticed that a car was coming up through the traffic behind me at a rapid pace.  It was fairly easy to notice this since it had a bunch of swirling blue lights!

Having been invited to pull over to the side of the road, a representative of NC presented me with a welcoming document along with some instructions and a phone number directed toward the DA in some county, the name of which I forget.  The state representative was clear to explain that he was being very nice to me by returning my driver's license rather than keeping it as a souvenir, as he usually does when ticketing someone  for 89 in a 65.  I thanked him, agreed to send NC a check,  and moved on.

Otherwise, 3 hours on the Blue Ridge Parkway was scenic.  We landed at the Cliff's at 4 and went through the initial sales pitch for an hour and a half, then moved to this B&B straight out of France, La Bastide. 

First impression of this whole area is that it is really nice.  Mountains (hills) in the 3-4000 foot range, very pretty, good colors.  don't know anything about the rest yet.

So, off to tour the properties of the Cliffs on Wednesday.  Not sure whether we'll continue through Thursday or tour Asheville and other parts on Thursday.  Asheville is reported to be a really great place.   So far, the temperature is only at the lower end of being golf-able.  We'll see.

Photos to follow when I get GKH's camera downloaded to my computer.