Our Visit August 20/21

This time we decided to drive down to Charleston and treat ourselves a little while we were down there. We left early on Saturday morning to avoid any heavy traffic and soon learned that that is what everyone else decided to do. The drive was stop and go most of the way and easily 90 minutes longer than normal.

No matter, we arrived in Wild Dunes a resort about 15 miles north of Charleston in the late afternoon and immediately went to the beach for a long walk and a swim. The sand was hard packed and perfect for beach tennis while the water was warm and inviting. Sunday, we crammed with energetic “stuff”; beginning with golf at 8:30, followed by a swim in the ocean, lunch and then roller-blading around Wild Dunes, after which we rented bikes and rode up and down the beach before taking another swim.

Dinner that night was at Magnolia Restaurant in downtown Charleston where we probably exceeded our quota of cholesterol. The restaurant was very nice, food was good, but not the best we have eaten in the area.

Having relaxed on Sunday, we hit the pavement on Monday morning with a 7:30 appointment at the property and didn’t stop until we left on Tuesday afternoon. This was a key visit as we needed to go through the house and confirm placements of plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets and lighting. Other decisions included such things as how high the shower head would be, whether we wanted to control the swimming pool lights from the bedroom, whether the future placement of paintings needed to be illuminated from ceiling lights and so on. The list was endless but the decisions important.

Other visits around town at the suppliers included finalizing our cabinet selections, looking at granite for counter tops, stone and tile for the bathrooms, flooring, balusters and rails for the stairs, light fixtures and ceiling fans. Wow - brain numbing! Go ahead, ask us any question on granite or marble; or does Tigerwood darken like Brazilian Cherry? - We have the answers and we probably have the samples too. Fortunately we did not have to navigatethis on our own. Catherine (Bob, our builder's wife) accompanied us on our trip to the granite factory and tile shop. She has an excellent sense of style and has helped us narrow the selections and stay within our budget.

The house is coming along as you can see from the photo. The windows are in and the insulating paper (dark color material) has been attached to the walls and roof. From this view you can see the lower and upper porches as well.

We do have one battle going on with the Architectural Review Board on trim color for the house. The ARB is determined that the houses on our street be dark because of their proximity to the clubhouse and the river. We had selected a light trim since the shingle exterior was going to be dark. So far we cannot agree and left it to Bob to twist their arm. In fact we stopped for a brief chat with our neighbors across the street and they confessed to a similar saga in their battle for color “independence".

Monday night, Bob and Catherine took us out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Charleston, High Cotton. It reminded us of why it is our favorite. Food and service were excellent.
Perhaps the most memorable images we have of this trip are the fantastic views we have from the porch off the master bedroom. Can't wait to get back!