Pawleys Island, South Carolina Redux #34

The day after Thanksgiving, Mom and I took off for Pawleys Island, South Carolina for a week with my uncle and his family. It's almost true that I've been going to Pawleys every year since I was born, but I counted and I missed 5 years in there someplace. So this was visit #34.

This year, we were lucky to have a first year visitor, Ms. Libby Anne Austin, age 6 months. Here are pictures of me and Libby Anne, and her and her mom, Amy.



Pawleys Island is an hour and a half north of Charleston and half an hour south of Myrtle Beach. They are famous for ghosts, golf, hammocks and of course, food.

Regarding ghosts, there are a few versions of the story, but the ghost in residence is widely agreed to be the Gray Man. He appears on the beach at Pawleys Island prior to hurricanes. Everyone who has seen the Grey Man says that he warns them to leave the island. Residents who are wise enough to actually take the Grey Man's advice always find their homes undamaged after the storm. Encounters with the Grey Man have been reported before every major hurricane that has struck the island for more than a hundred years. For more on this lovable spirit, go to http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/grayman.htm.

There are enough golf courses around Pawleys and Myrtle Beach that they say you could play a different one every day for a year. I played three of them, our favorite was the Tradition. A lot of my golf balls are still on The Tradition.


Pawleys is the home of the Original Rope Hammock. That was when all the hammocks were made by hand, not in China. You can still watch them being made at the Original Hammock Shop on Highway 17. All Pawleys Island beach cottages have a hammock. Our this year had three! They are pretty comfy once you get over the butt burn issues.


South Carolina food is some of my favorite in the world. Our top pick restaurant hands down is Frank's and Frank's Outback (www.franksandoutback.com). If you are ever in the area, you must try the place. There is simply nothing bad on the menu. The crab cakes, grouper, shrimp and grits and caramel cake were some group favorites this year. Here we are after a yummy meal.



I'd be remiss not to mention the college football drama which occurred on Saturday the 24th, the day we arrived, and December 1, the day we left. Both Tennessee and Clemson were victorious in their final regular season games, which causes a lot of celebration in our house. I'm still bitter about Tennessee losing the SEC championship to LSU and the Tigers' subsequent entry into the national championship, which is why I have not posted on the topic. I am happy for my Oklahoma pals, one of whom were at the game and even took time to educate me on what a "Sooner" is.



The next post will be about my time in Portland, Oregon during their "monster" storm (www.oregonlive.com/weather). Yes, I really did fly in an airplane during this thing...

What a Strange College Football Season It's Been

Today, I'm writing about something you probably don't expect to read on my blog: football. Specifically, college football. Mostly because, it's much more fun than pro football, being scrappier, and because this has been a weird season indeed.

Let's start with the Tennessee Vols, currently #20 in the BCS rankings with a 7-3 record. That record does not tell the whole story, because like Michelle Pearcy's team, LSU, Tennessee has been playing "heart attack football" this year. The South Carolina game almost went into double overtime. I hate to say this about my team, but they won out of sheer luck - some favorable calls in the first half combined with South Carolina missing a field goal in overtime to lose the game. Lots of people in Knoxville thing Phillip Fulmer should be fired, but they're just looking for someone to blame for wearing out the batteries in people's pacemakers.

Then there is the hometown team, Texas, ranked #13 with a 9-2 record. Again, these guys have become the masters of coming from behind and I'm not sure the fans are really appreciative. The Longhorns have the week off this week, and everyone here is so bored after all the action that they're coming up with stupid video ideas to keep the locals at bay. You can see Kirk Bohls' interview from New York at http://www.statesman.com/news/mplayer/m/40550.


Lastly, I have to acknowledge to my great chagrin that Oregon lost last night which means that LSU is now #1 in both the BCS poll and the AP poll. I worked with a lot of LSU people and they never have anything nice to say about the Vols, so this burns me. But the chances of Tennessee playing LSU in an SEC championship are diminishing, so at least we won't have to get our ass kicked. And, Florida is #12. I hate Florida.

Where the Heck Have I Been?

Hi Everyone...

It's been brought to my attention that certain folks (not to mention names but specifically Paul Walker from GCI) feel that I have been ignoring the blog. I logged on today and was horrified to see that I have made no posts for more than 3 weeks! So, I suppose I am guilty as charged.

I feel I owe my loyal blog readers, if there are any left, some type of explanation. So here goes:

Excuse #1: Interrupted travel plans. I was planning a post in mid-October on my trip to Portland and Seattle. Unfortunately, this journey had to be called off at the last minute due to, how do I put this nicely - booting. It seems that 24 hours before the flight, I was struck with some dreaded stomach bug. I think I got it from a porta potty on the Riverside golf course, but will provide no further details. I have rescheduled my trip to the west coast for December.

Excuse #2: The Great American Novel. I'm about 2/3 of the way through my book. I know you'll ask what it's about, and it is NOT about my family so all you blood relatives can stop worrying. I'm creating a fictitious company caught up in the internet bubble. I've hired an editor on my own dime and have been attending the St. David's Writers' group. If you're a literary agent and you want to take a look, you can email me at gretchen2dot0@austin.rr.com. Expected completion is January 1, 2008.

Excuse #3: Golf. I have continued to practice and play golf and I'm happy to report I am marginally better. Only marginally though. A throw down match with Figueroa and Bowins is scheduled for this Thursday, November 1 if Bowins does not wuss out. Maybe I will post the results on the blog.

Excuse #4: Football. For those of you not following the SEC greats of our time, tonight is the showdown at Neyland Stadium between the Tennessee Volunteers (Go Vols!) and the South Carolina Gamecocks. I am in Knoxville for the aforementioned match and will be there to root on the team.

Excuse #5: More travel! The trip to Fiji, Australia and New Zealand has been set for February/March 2008. Travel companions include Sharon and Andrea and (we hope) Corey and Mike. On deck in the near future are Vegas, Pawleys Island, and Portland/San Franscisco.

In short, these are all lame excuses and I know that. I will redouble my efforts to post and get back to this soon. Look for a post on Hiking in the Smokies: Redux very soon. This post will also contain my analysis of the football game in question, now less than four hours away.