I do declare, by gawd....it's the south!

Back from our whirlwind trip to Shaw, AFB in good ol' SC.  We actually ended up spending an xtra nite in SC (lucky us) due to unforseen storms in Houston that grounded the entire airport. 

Now don't get me wrong...SC is ummm, is interesting to say the least.  Tho if you want to go buy milk say after 8:00 p.m. you might be screwed.  It seems that 90% of SC closes their doors very early.  I guess it is mandatory that you get off the streets and inbetween the sheets at a respectable hour.  When we arrived at Columbia airport it was very Zombie movie like.....the entire airport inside was closed.  Nada open.  I guess we were lucky that they didn't lock the bathrooms.  DOH!!  Lord help you if you are hungry or need that jolt of caffeine before hitting the road.

I knew the humidity would be a big factor...I hate humidity.  I will only suffer with a smile if it is tropical and I'm on one of the Hawaiin Islands lets just say.  When we left the airport....whooosh!!  Damn!  Talk about oppressive humidity, and from what I was told...it gets worse.   Not my bag baby, not my bag.

I do have to admit tho, everyone on base that we came into contact with was the real deal.  They weren't just robotic military peeps...they were real, authentic people.  Trent's entire Unit from the CO on down the line were just so there for all of us.  All we had to do was twitch a little bit and they were there.  I do have to give props to Master Sargeant Smith (our shadow) who was pretty much with us our entire stay.  I have to say, you get to know people pretty well when you spend as much time as we did with him and Sargeant(?) Ester.  I hope to stay in contact with alot of these great men/women even after the dust settles without too much flair up from this crazy, ass nitemare.

Even due to the circumstances that surrounded our trip, I knew from the onset I would try to flip this to a positive as much as I could.  I wanted to get some local flavor. 
Well, we are talking SC...I know.  Just wanted to see some of SC.  Chances are I will never be back there again.  You see, it isn't one of those destinations on my bucket list. 

On Thurs. we left Shaw, AFB and headed down the road a bit towards Folly Beach and Charleston.  Our smart phones GPS did not care too much for SC, or maybe SC just isn't on GPS...not sure. 

We finally got on the right path or at least on the right highway towards Charleston.  All I can say, is not much traffic.  Like...ummm, it's 8:30 in the a.m. do peeps not work around here?  I guess I'm just used to alot more traffic and road rage.  Even when we got to the outskirts of Charleston traffic was not anything major by my standards.  Like WTH?

As you all know I love, love, the beach.  I've blogged about my passion for the beach before.  Trent had an affinity with the beach too.  I didn't realize he loved it maybe as much or more than I do.   Long story short, we headed straight to Folly Beach.  This is where we wanted to lay Trent to rest.  Shhhhh!  Not sure if that was kosher with the locals....but dust to dust and all that.    
Hey, we were Green, so don't even go there. 

The day was overcast (thankfully, cuz I didn't realize how warm it could get til later when the sun made an appearance), but nice.  Cool beach, little sand dunes, white sand stretching out in both directions, and actual waves.  By god, there were waves!  For some strange reason this West Coast girl didn't think there were decent wave sets in the Atlantic.  This was good.  This is where we needed to be for us and for Trent.

After saying good-bye to Trent (yeah, well I don't think I will ever really say good-bye) we headed off to downtown Charleston.  I'm thinking Tara...you know Gone With The Wind Tara?

 I will tell ya, Charleston did not let me down in my expectations.  Older than crap, but a southern beauty to match.  Jasmine was growing everywhere, flower boxes on window sills...very quaint, very civil war era. 

We didn't have all that much time to take in more history of this old, southern city.  Unfortunately we had to head towards the airport.  Tho, we were all ready to hit So Cal soil.  Yeppers, we were.

Welp, lets just say our trip was extended slightly.  We get to Columbia airport and find out that Houston has shut down their airport, period.  I guess there was some major storm raging thru that area.  We sat for about 2+hrs in the airport.  They finally boarded us on this little prop plane...helloooo!!  I'm like thinking double xanax and pass the alcohol please!  Anyways, long story short is we didn't get off the tarmac.  Then, after we get off this little tin can plane, we again sit/wait/sit/stand in attempts to try and book a flight out in the a.m.   I'm like, "ok Trent, here's the dealio....we are going home.  We are not hanging out with you dude.  Get over it already." 

Did I say this was long story, short?  Hmmm....... we book at a Holiday Inn, s'posedly the airport considered $79 a pop per room "distress" pricing.  No, the airlines would not comp our room because they are cheap bastards.  They made the excuse that it was "nature" related.  It was, but after hanging in the airport for 5hrs or so...c'mon already!  Sheeeesh!  We did end up getting a flight out of Charlotte, NC.  Bout 90min north.  We took a taxi and just ate it.  At this point....we had to get home for us, our cats, and the most important element is having Alex home for her prom on Sat (oh and FYI....she went and both her and her awesome boyfriend were a fairytale in real life).
  Oh, and no layovers on this flight.....wheeeee!!


Ya know, bottom line--it is sooooo very nice to be home.  I guess I'm a true blue So Cali girl.  I should be since I am a native and all.  Ahhhhh......home.