Mermaids and Blue Jays…
Today was our day to drive over to Beaufort, SC where we lived in 1969-1970 when I worked for the Department of Defense at the Marine Corp Air Station there. We were here for almost a year.
We were able to find the two houses where we lived while we were there. One of them looks great, but the other one looks a little more rundown.
Of course it was 39 years ago, so I guess it was to be expected.
Here is the first house we lived in, a two story duplex.
Our First House in Beaufort
We only lived here a few months.
This is the other house.
Our second house in Beaufort
At first we weren’t sure if this house was the right one. When were there, the room on the right with the double doors was a carport. Plus we were looking for a large oak tree to the right of the driveway. Then we saw the large stump behind the garbage can and that sealed it.
The tree was significant because when we lived there we had a cat. And the large oak was home to a mother Blue Jay and her chicks.
Whenever Jan would let the cat out the front door, the mother Blue Jay would dive bomb the cat and peck him on the head. It wasn’t long until the cat had a bare spot on the top of his head, and didn’t want to go outside anymore.
Finally, Jan would stand outside with a broom and escort the cat out to the bushes by waving the broom at the Blue Jay. Then she would go out later and escort the cat back in.
We also found that like other cities, Beaufort had erected mascot statues. In their case, it’s a mermaid.
Mermaid 1
Mermaid 2
We also saw horse statues in Kentucky, and these moose mascots in Coeur d’ Alene, ID.
Moose 1
Moose 2
Moose 3
And of course in Seabrook, TX where they have pelicans.
Pelican 1
Pelican 2
Pelican 3
After a delicious lunch at the Magnolia Bakery Cafe, we drove out to the entrance of the Marine Corp Air Station where I used to work.
It looks better. They didn’t have those planes out front when I was there.
MCAS
In driving over to Beaufort we were amazed to find all the very high end subdivisions located on what used to swamp land.
And the previously two lane road is now four lanes.
Coming home we detoured over toward Hilton Head Island to find the nearest Starbucks. The traffic was really heavy heading to the Island, probably for the holiday weekend.
Tomorrow we plan to eat lunch at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House. Uncle Bubba is Paula Deen’s brother, and has his own restaurant. I guess it runs in the family.
Afterward we’re going to take the Old Town Trolley Tour of Savannah, just like the ones we took in Key West and St. Augustine.
Later…
