House hunt around Charleston
After a couple of days of play, we got down to business and looked for real estate. We went looking at real estate in Summerville, a town about 30-40 minutes inland from Charleston. We visited two 55+ active adult communities, and really liked one of them- it has 9 different floor plans and we really liked 2 of them. It’s a gated community, so it is a little more secure, has amenities like pools, parks, hiking trails, tennis and pickleball courts, and activities. They also have set aside 110 acres for conservancy, so there are a lot of trees. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of lots available right now, and we need to sell our house… but it is high on our list of places because it has great floorplans and a very nice development. The town has a lot to offer (we found a great pizza place and a great ice cream place- 2 VERY important things!), and most of the stores we would need- and what they don’t have only require a quick trip to Charleston!
The homes were beautiful:
They have several models with great kitchens, and that pantry is HUGE!
The “gathering rooms” (we would call them living rooms or family rooms) were very nice, and this one had a dining area right there so it is truly an open concept.
And take a look at the bathroom (not crazy about the granite, but they have choices):
And finally, here is the laundry room and drop zone by the garage door:
WOW, huh?!?
We went to another development in Nexton which was totally crazy- there were sooo many new developments that went on for miles- it was kind of awful! The homes we looked at were similar open concept floorplans to the ones above, but the quality wasn’t as good and the prices were a little higher- a definite NO!
The next day we went to the beach at Isle of Palms. This was like you see in movies, where there are grassy dunes and you walk over a boardwalk to get to the beach:
The dunes were lined with houses looking at the ocean:
It was very nice, and we saw a couple jellyfish:
Time for true confessions- we went to Costco to buy a couple of beach chairs so we would be comfortable at the beach!
The next day we took a trip to Beaufort to look at real estate and visit the Marine Corps museum at Parris Island- one of the main “boot camps” for new marines. Going on base to visit the museum was interesting- they took our ID and the rental car registration, then had us park for about 10 minutes while they did some kind of checking to be sure we were ok- we were, and we went on to the museum. The museum had a lot of great information, but the exhibits required a lot of reading. Here are some interesting things:
The recruiting standards have changed since then! And I loved the Marine Corps emblem made up of recruits in black and white uniforms! Recruits get to make a 10-second phone call home and they have to use this script:
The culmination of bootcamp is “The Crucible” which is 54 hours:
They get 2 and a half MRE’s (meals ready to eat) and have to ration them out over the 54 hours, and they get about 8 hours of sleep. It was very interesting, though, and you can see why marines are so tough- they have to be to survive this!
Beaufort is on an island and on the Port Royal Sound, which is the deepest natural harbor south of New York. There were people on boats everywhere! But we found Beaufort to be old, small, and expensive. Something I did not expect- water is everywhere! No matter where we go we drive over bridges and see marshes, canals, rivers, etc.:
I was told all the little channels and “paths” are tidal, so when the tide is out they may not be passable. We saw houses with private docks that just seemed to reach out into the grasses or mud- must have been low tide!
Our last day we went back to the beach and put those Costco chairs to good use! We like Charleston and think it would be an interesting place to live- or maybe Summerville. Before we leave this area, here is a pic of a sunset from our campground:
And a sunrise while driving across from Charleston:
