Hood Canal 2017: Oysters and Fireworks

Day 3, Monday, July 3, 2017

We got home from Lake Cushman in time to pick more oysters for the BBQ, and Brent’s dad had joined us too, so we got the grill fired up and pretty soon the BBQ’d oyster eating commenced. This is one of my very favorite things about the Hood Canal!

Picking oysters at low tide

 

Rich shucking oysters into the garlic butter.

Joel and Brandon were drinking Rainier, which is a Northwest institution, so I asked if I could try it, as I don’t think I have ever had a Rainier… I gave it my all and tried two sips, but as you can see from the photo montage, I was not impressed… I’ll stick to wine and craft beer.

Me, trying Rainier. Can you guess if I liked it?

Once again the sunset was beautiful, and the evening was spent with laughter and relaxation. After dark, we went down to the beach for paper lanterns and fireworks. Lelani had brought paper lanterns for each of us, so we wrote our wishes on them and set them free into the air to float away. My wish hasn’t come true yet, but it will – I can feel it.

 

Brandon releasing a paper lantern

Lani watching our lanterns float away

Hood Canal Fireworks

The fireworks were fun, and so was my time with friends…

The Grand Tour – Day 3 – Columbia to Charleston

After leaving Columbia, South Carolina, it was just starting to rain again.  We continued on to Charleston, where by this time it was dumping buckets.  We passed by Congaree National Park on the way, which looked like an interesting stop (it’s a national forest swamp – there could be alligators!), but it was raining so hard it wouldn’t have been very much fun.  It’s too bad really, because it is a swamp with some of the tallest tress in the world.  The trees thrive because the area floods periodically and provides lots of nutrients for the trees.  You can hike or canoe, and see lots of plants and wildlife.  And I bet they would have a stamp!  But we will have to visit on another trip.

We got to our hotel, a Holiday Inn, which is a tower shaped hotel just over the Ashley River from downtown Charleston.  You can just tell it was built during the 1960s space race!  We got checked in (in the rain) and then drove downtown (in the rain) and checked out the historic district by car (in the rain).  By this time we were getting really hungry, so we settled for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  We got a bowl of the she crab soup – they serve it with sherry that you are supposed to dump in it.  It might have been the sherry (I even only dumped in half of the sherry), but neither of us liked it much – let’s just say it must be an acquired taste.  Jon loved his oysters though and I really liked my baby back ribs!  They hit the spot!  We looked out at the city from the top floor windows watching the rain and hoping the sun would be back out the next day…

She Crab Soup

My Ribs and Jon’s Oysters