By Lee Scott
Have you ever gone someplace on a trip and it’s raining and the taxi driver says, “You should have been here yesterday!”
I always hated hearing that line and felt it was marketing propaganda spoken to tourists to explain away the bad weather.
But the day after Christmas, I found myself saying the same thing to my guests, “You should have been here yesterday.”
Christmas Day was gorgeous. The weather was sunny and warm with a delightful breeze that kept the bugs away. It was perfect Beaufort weather. Yet when they arrived, the clouds and humidity rolled in too.
But despite my chagrin with the weather, my relatives were satisfied with the 60-degree temperature. They had left 20-degree weather and loved walking outside without wearing coats.
I started to look for things to do around Beaufort. Of course, they wanted to go see the Hunting Island State Park Lighthouse, but were told the park was still closed due to Hurricane Matthew. Instead, we went to Hunting Island Visitor Center and the kids loved it. They saw two little alligators, some fish, lizards and walked the pier (what remained) and marveled at the sand and sand crabs below. It was misting a bit out, so a walk on the beach would have probably been messy anyway.
Next was a tour of the Beaufort waterfront and a stop at the playground where the kids could run around and play. Then off to the Saint Elena History Center on Bay Street. The Virginia relatives with their Jamestown knowledge were amazed they had never heard about Saint Elena or Pedro Menedez. The children’s archeology dig there kept the little girls busy and allowed the adults to learn more about the early history of Parris Island.
Our next excursion included visiting the Port Royal Sound Foundation’s Maritime Center on the Chechessee River. The turtles were a riot to watch as they climbed out of the salt water, crawled over the sand and slid into the fresh water to clean up. The pictures of the young children working in the oyster sheds before they went to school were eye openers to all of us.
So, despite the clouds and misting, my company left Beaufort with happy memories. There are still so many things they want to see. And as it turns out, the weather was perfect after all.
