Strawberries

Destination: Strawberry Hill and Cowpens Battlefield
Total Miles: 100 miles
Total Cost: $30ish




Before I begin my tale of adventures in the Up Country, let me quickly update you on my adventure to the Low Country.

I am currently a member of the Rivertree Singers, a choral group composed of around 30 members. We are professionals who work and live in the Greenville area of South Carolina...there's everything from account managers, web designers, composers, and stay-at-home parents, to nurses, cosmetologists, and bakers/cooks. And we all have at least one thing in common: a love for singing.

This spring, we have been rehearsing for our summer concerts. One was in Greenville, and the other was in Charleston at the Piccolo Spoleto festival.

Now, if you have been following my blog since its beginnings, you know that I love Charleston. And like most of my trips to Charleston, this one was a bit of a whirlwind. Having worked the night before we had to be at St. Phillip's for rehearsal, I was thankful to catch a ride down...which, unfortunately, I failed to take advantage of and sleep. By the time I got to bed that night, I had gone for well over 36 hours with only an hour or so of sleeping on the drive down.

My friend and former piano-duo partner, John, was also visiting Charleston with his choir from Westminster during the festival. We sang a song he composed (which you should be able to hear here), and he graciously came to our rehearsal and conducted us (giving us some helpful tips on both interpretation and musicality). Following the rehearsal, John and I spent some time meandering around the Market...stopping for some Haagen-Dazs ice cream. It was great to catch up with him and worth the extreme lack of sleep!

Supper was at a delicious Italian place near St. Phillip's, and
subsequently called for a stop near the waterfront at a gelato venue. Those of us who had eaten supper together finished our gelato and gave a spontaneous mini concert (aka: we sang one song that we all had memorized). Then, I rode to the hotel where I don't really remember anything until the next morning. (YES! I realize I look half dead in the pictures...trust me, I look better with sleep than without). :)

We sang in the morning at a church in downtown Charleston, then after a quick lunch, we walked over to St. Phillip's for our concert.

Which, if I do say so myself, was quite a success.

Anyway...

I got back late that night (mainly because I had gotten locked out of the house and went to Panera to study), and trust me, I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping.

Having promised the LPs a road trip to get some ice cream, (and having that day off from my two jobs), I piled them into Mr. Darcy. We stopped for some glass-bottled-cokes and lunch at an awesome cafe in downtown Travelers Rest, William's Hardware Cafe.

Instead of taking the somewhat shorter route to Strawberry Hill, I drove them the back way...up Scenic Highway 11. We enjoyed singing crazy songs, drinking our glass-bottled cokes, and telling stories as we drove the almost 50 miles to Strawberry Hill.

Upon arrival, we delved into the homemade ice cream (eating WAY more than we should have!), and then we piled back into Darcy to finish the drive to Cowpen's Battlefield.

After walking around for a bit, the kids were able to take part in learning how to fire one of the grasshopper cannons. They were so cute!!

Then we headed out to walk around some more...and ended up splashing through puddles during a deluge rainstorm. Soaking wet, we laughed and ran around the battlefield...much to the dismay of certain park rangers (who probably think I had lost my mind). But hey, we had fun and there was no thunder!

I had them race about once the sun came back out, effectively drying them off, then it was time to take Charles to his baseball practice.

All in all...an awesome 60 hours.

And just a window into the wonderfully non-normal and non-boring life I am privileged to lead.