Visitors to this Foreign Land

We've had visitors! This past weekend my parents, and my brother Matt, and his girlfriend, Sara stayed with us in our little abode over my brother's fall break from college. It was so nice to see familiar faces, receive family hugs, and spend time laughing like you can only do when your with your family. Unfortunately the weather wasn't what we had hoped it would be for their visit, Florence's usually 80 degree weather dipped down to the 50's for the weekend, making things a bit chilly.
I attempted to do my best to give my visitors a small taste of Florence and southern culture. Thursday morning, after sleeping in after a late arrival the night before, we ventured to Young's Pecan Factory and the Farmer's Market (two places I know my parents would love). They loved perusing the various types of pre-mixed grits, special jams, and pecan syrups and the Pecan Factory. But it was the Farmer's Market that stole my parents hearts. They slowly wandered through the produce, admiring all the freshly picked options, browsed the fresh flowers and enormous pumpkins. Mom even attempted to make a friend with a local grower when she stated "lovely weather isn't it?" and he looked at her cross-eyed and stated, "Your not from here are you?" We southerner's enjoy our warm weather. The rest of Thursday involved a Wii Championship tournament with the gold medal going to Mom for making us laugh the hardest. On Friday we explored more of Florence's shopping district and had a good southern lunch of Chick-Fil-A. Everyone who comes to visit must experience Chick-Fil-A! Before Adam had to go to work we craved pumpkins that we had purchased at the Farmer's market. Friday night I convinced my family to go to the Wilson FB game against Crestwood. We enjoyed the game, and cheered like true Wilson fans. We didn't partake in all the Wilson FB rituals - such as getting fish from from the concession stand. No need to experience that much of the South.
On Saturday we had to go to the beach and thankfully the weather was a lot nicer. The sun actually came out and we enjoyed walking the beach, searching for shells, and had a nice lunch together. At night we took the fam to Red Bone Alley so everyone could experience one of Florence's best restaurants. Matt finally got to eat some southern ribs, and Adam and Dad were purring with their steaks.
It was a great weekend for everyone and it was so nice to share some of our favorite Florence and SC things with our family. We can't wait until we have more visitors!

This week also included my birthday - Thank you so much to everyone who called me and sent cards; I feel very loved. Thank you!! It's tough to celebrate far from home, but you all made it still very special.

love you all!

Leah

101 things to do...

Hey there friends and family! Two weeks in a row...whoa... I thought I would let you all in on the exploring Adam and I did this week and the things we found. I found a brochure in one of our drawers from when we first moved to Florence that contained 101 things to do in Florence County. Adam and I have decided to complete the list (or at least try to do our best. It does contain outings like...painting pottery and picking sunflowers along the road). So.... Monday morning we decided to get off the couch and explore Lynches River County Park, #5 on our list. The park is about 10 miles down the road from our house (down US-52, the direction I never travel - but we were brave this day.) We walked the nature trail and packed a lunch and ate by the river. My Dad would be so proud, we stopped and read all the signs along the trail and learned the names of the trees down here in SC.


I had a couple of moments where the bugs, cobwebs, and lizards were a bit much, but for the most part I thought I did quite well embracing the nature around me. And yes that's right...on Monday I was introduced to the little lizards that live around our home.
After our nature walk Adam had to go into school, so I had some free time and it was a really nice day so I thought I would sit on the back porch and read my book. Of course after about 10 minutes of wonderful relaxation it was all ruined when I looked up to find two lizards crawling on my house - 5 feet away from me. And of course they were close to my back door so I felt trapped! I can't open the back door - they might scurry their way inside before I know it! Eventually I made the dash to the door while they weren't looking, but I was definitely shaken up. I thought the bugs down here were bad...now I have to watch out for the amphibians too!



Monday afternoon (after I had calmed down from my lizard encounter) my friend Sarah took me to Youngs Pecan Plantation, #98 on our list. What a wonderful experience. After perusing all the different SC jams, bread mixtures, soups and spices, we found the pecan sample table....oh boy. The company lays out bowls of there different types of prepared pecans and other nuts. Oh the choices! Double chocolate covered...sugar and spice...toffee chocolate...honey baked....chocolate amaretto...butterscotch...and the list goes on....my favorite (and of course I had to bring home a box) are the Chocolate honey baked....yum yum. I knew Adam would love the pecan shop too so we went back on Wednesday so he could sample the pecans to his heart's content as well. It was a great lunch....hehehe JK.

Last night I did one more very SC thing. I made my first rack of ribs for Adam for dinner. Now I understand why everyone loves ribs down here...they were good! My cooking is becoming so diverse!

Til next time - love ya!

Leah