Beaufort, Mrs. Bubba Gump & Boykins! – April 14th

On Tuesday we checked out Beaufort a little more by walking downtown and exploring the surrounding neighborhoods.

There are a couple of nice shops and restaurants, but overall not a huge tourist draw. I do see how people would like this area when they retire because it does have things to do, but not too much where you would get annoyed by tourists.

We went to lunch at a local joint and sat outside and enjoyed the view of the water while we waited and waited for our food – the place had great views…but horrible service.

After lunch Gwen and I hit a couple of shops while Larry and Scott trailed behind – probably muttering to themselves wondering how shopping always seems to be involved during our trips. Although, I suppose I could equally argue that the Cubs (games, stats etc.) always seem to sneak into our vacation one way or another. :)

We did have one freaky/Kismety thing happen – Gwen and I went into this she she store and were walking around when Gwen noticed that on this one bookshelf displaying creams and perfume there were 2 stickers stating "Gwen Loves..." and "Jill Loves..." Apparently there were 2 employees with the same names as us and the point was that they were recommending products. Gwen and I, of course, thought this was some cosmic alignment of the stars that this happened & that we saw it, so we pointed it out to the saleswoman who apparently did not see that this was not some cosmic alignment of the stars...Oh well.

Shopping downtown did not take that long at all, so we walked around the various neighborhood, even seeing a secession house.

We then were walking along a frontal road so we could see the water and admire the mansions facing it, when we came across a woman and her dog as she was weeding on her property.

Her dog came right up to us and dog lovers that we are...we all "pounced" on the cute dog to pet him/her.

The woman came up to us and started talking to us. She was so nice and gave us all these tips on local restaurants etc.

I couldn't help myself, so I mentioned how beautiful her house was.

It turns out that she and her husband had purchased the house and fixed it up. Unfortunately, her husband had passed away and it was just her and her dog Bay living in the house.

I just felt so bad for her because she was probably 50 if that and was now a widow.

We then chatted about her dog Bay, who was a Boykin - apparently SC's state dog - so cute!

She also shared that she and her husband owned quite a few houses in the area, including Bubba's house in the movie Forest Gump! The thing that really struck me was that her was this very nice woman, who apparently was very well-off and she was so down to earth - just a pleasure to talk to.

I can't believe we didn't ask the woman her name because we were talking quite awhile. She then completely floored us by inviting us in for a tour of her house. Again, such a nice woman - she didn't know us from Adam and here's she's inviting 4 strangers into her house.

What can I say...her house was stunning! In her study, she told us that she used a hand heater and scraper to scrape all the paint off the wooden walls - they might have been cherry - the room just glowed.

She had lovely-period piece furniture that I suspect was from her family heirlooms.

We went from room to room with Bay apparently acting as our guide.

Honestly, I wish I could have asked the woman her name because I would have loved to send her a note thanking her for her hospitality.

What a nice day in Beaufort!