Popping pant buttons

The borders of the Lowcountry are debatable. Comprised of roughly 80 square miles of a lowland area of sea islands and marshlands off the Atlantic coast, the Lowcountry, some say, starts at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, while others think Pawley’s Island is the northernmost border. Charleston for others is the true beginning. Most say the area stretches as far as the Savannah River in Georgia, while others think the Lowcountry includes the entire Georgia coast to include islands like Tybee and Jekyll.

No matter where it starts or ends, I have always felt a fascination for this area of South Carolina and have been very interested in exploring this neck of the woods. What has imbued my wanderlust with this region?

Could it be the culture of the Gullah people; descendants of slaves living in the area who still speak their own dialect, Geechee?

Gullah art

Could it be the horticulture? More specifically, Gossypium barbadense, commonly known as Sea Island Cotton that was the finest cotton produced in the 1800’s and made the south 
fabulously wealthy.

Sea Island Cotton

Could it be the history of the antebellum plantations and civil war antics; Ft. Sumter where the War of Secession began, is located in Charleston.

Could it be the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, open to visitors Monday through Friday? Who doesn't love a gal in uniform!?

Could it be the golf of Hilton Head Island? There are 52 golf courses on and near the island, 32 of which are open to the public.

OORAH

Could it be the beaches themselves and the balmy subtropical year round weather?

Could it be the opportunity to explore the world of the author Pat Conroy, who taught English for a while on Daufuskie Island and revisit the haunts of some of his storied novels like, The Water Is Wide, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini?

Yes, it could be all of the above. But, we are really looking forward to the food!
Like the Gulf coast area of Louisiana, the Lowcountry is teeming with delicacies from the sea. Crabs, shrimp, oysters, crawfish and fish including sturgeon are plentiful here ! Caviar?

The inland woody and marshy islands have game birds like pheasant, turkey, quail and duck. But most importantly, even before the introduction of Sea Island Cotton in the late 1700’s was the “Carolina Gold” introduced by West African slaves in the early 1700’s. Rice from their native land was cultivated by African slaves, who were brought to the Lowcountry by the several thousands. They knew how to prepare and irrigate the rice fields and during the first years hundreds of tons of the grain were shipped back to England. Evidently the fields of rice were beautiful as well as lucrative and the beautiful golden views of the fields and the profits reaped have made the Lowcountry a historically ripe part of the world.

A few years ago Team VFH had traveled extensively through Southwest Louisiana and ate some of the best Cajun and Creole foods and in some of the most out of the way places. We’re looking forward to have a similar experience exploring this rich area of land and the bountiful cornucopia it offers. If you’re interested in catching up on this pre-Vacations From Home aspect of travel, feel free to visit:
TRAVELING THROUGH CAJUN COUNTY

Frogmore stew

The foods of each region are similar, but instead of etouffee we’ll be eating Frogmore Stew, named after the little town outside Beaufort. It’s also known as Lowcountry boil and frog is not an ingredient, but shrimp and spicy sausage instead. We might not find jambalaya in the Lowcountry but I’m sure we’ll get elbows deep into some shrimp and grits. Thankfully gumbo in all its variations, like seafood and chicken and sausage, etc. etc., should be as plentiful in the Lowcountry as well as bourbon-soaked ANYTHING, from pork chops to salmon! Did I fail to mention hushpuppies?

Mind you, food is much more important than the presentation. We at VFH central don’t necessarily want wait staff to fawn over us. We want good food and cold beer and beautiful views. One place we’ve already picked out is Bowen’s Island Restaurant, just a few minutes outside of Folly’s Beach which is south of Charleston. According to their spare website it is ranked as one of the best American Seafood Dives. We’re looking forward to our visit there as well as any others we may stumble across as we pop our pant buttons traveling through the Lowcountry.

Updates and leftovers to follow.

Keep in touch and thanks for reading… but don’t try to eat off our plate.

G and J

I am a headless chicken

Team VFH travels on its stomach much like a Napoleonic Army.  Our excursions often revolve around food and drink. We’re not talking PBR and Old Country Buffet though. Typical of our Baby Boomer generation that takes every nuance of available experiences and explores them with a withering gusto, we enjoy our beers and single malts and wines and gourmet foods. We can and will yammer endlessly about beer styles, vodkas, recipes and where to find the best chicken wings… Okay, that may not be gourmet, but the Cajun wings from the Tiger’s Tale in Princeton, NJ are the best!

We never go out cold. We do our research and when we finally alight at our chosen destination we have a good idea of what we’re looking to eat or drink or experience. Two years ago Team VFH traveled to Belgium and by the time we got off the plane at Charleroi our pub crawl itinerary was ready. Janet is wonderful with extreme details; she even printed out a color coordinated map of locations for our beer soirees. No chance to sober up between destinations!

A few years ago, before VFH was started, Janet and I vacationed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. When our rental week was over we followed the official North Carolina Barbeque Society Historic Barbeque Trail… or as much of as our stomachs could handle! The beginnings of Team VFH were evident with the darling and effervescent Janet as she printed out the pages and put them in a book, which we had autographed at each place we visited. 
North Carolina BBQ Trail

I used to think Janet over thought things, but I have come to see the wisdom in such planning.

When pressed with limited time and a vast array of destinations available it’s important to willow down and focus.  My way, “Greg’s Way”, is conversely more akin to a headless chicken trying to open the screen door while tap dancing to the Star Spangled Banner; it’s a great

Where to go?

image, but you get nowhere.

No, Janet’s Way is The Way. Team VFH’s impending trip to the Lowcountry of South Carolina is calculated and planned. There’ll be no sleeping in parks or cars. An (abridged) VFH itinerary all planned by Jane is this:

Day one we drive to Myrtle Beach with a night there. Of course we have to stop for lunch and this is my contribution, Parkers Original BBQ in Wilson, NC.

 Pigging out at Parkers!

(Maybe I can also convince her to revisit Wilbur’s BBQ in Goldsboro?) 

Wilburs BBQ!

We will spend the next three nights in the heart of Charleston at a boutique BB and will take a Fireworks boat ride on the Fourth of July. Craft beers will be available on board! She did all the research. Janet even has it figured out how often we can take our car out of the parking lot during our stay! Wow...

Before we head to Hilton Head for a week’s stay with friends there, we’ll spend a couple of nights in Beaufort. Hopefully the Marines at Parris Island won’t take me for a tackling dummy while we’re there!

Updates and details soon! Keep in touch.

XO Janet and greg

A string of poloponies

What better way to enjoy a lovely afternoon than to take in the polo matches? Sure, you’re saying, that ain’t happening! The only polo you know about is the Ralph Lauren shirt you picked up at a Salvation Army consignment shop. Polo matches are for that slice of society that does not run around on the backstreets at the Jersey shore. Polo matches are not for the hoi polloi.  Usually these antics are hidden behind the ivied gates of country clubs; inaccessible to all but landed gentry with money to burn. No, the only horses most of us get to be near are the trotters at the Meadowlands.

Well, I’m not completely dispelling that “Pretty Woman” imagery of mint juleps and wide floppy hats and seersucker suits. It surely exists, but if you’re ever interested in attending a polo match, you don’t have to risk arrest by sneaking onto the club’s grounds.

For the past 19 years the Tinicum Park Polo Club, located in Bucks County Pennsylvania, has been holding polo matches on Saturday afternoons from May through October, weather and field conditions permitting.. At just $10 a car load it is a great way to spend the afternoon. The organization invites you to bring tents and lunches and make it a unique day. I have gone a number of times and though there are a number of tents set up adorned with crystal and linen for members (you get the picture), there is ample room for joes like me.

The match is breathtaking with the thundering horses and the flash of the sticks or polo mallets. For a mook like me from Harrison, New Jersey, it is a well-spent afternoon. Even if you know nothing of the sport it is a wonderful time. 

coutresy: Richard Green
all rights reserved

 If you’re interested in going please call the Tinicum Park Polo Club’s hotline at 908-996-3322 that Saturday morning to find out if the match will go on. For example last week the match was cancelled because of the rain we had in the area.

If you’re interested in learning terminology and the game itself, i.e. a match is comprised of six chukkas, each 7 ½ minutes long. Go to the club’s website: TINICUM PARK POLO CLUB

Another nice resource is: IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS WITH POLO KNOWLEDGE

And remember the most important part of life is acting as if you belong there, Sure you can go in your daisy dukes and doo rags and you’ll be accepted, but you will stick out. ENJOY and Talley Ho… oops wrong equestrian event.

Remember, polo ponies are two words…Not one… Ask Ralph Kramden.

  

The Etiquette of Mooching

One may decide to live without, but when surrounded by amenities already paid for by friends, like pools or boats or vacation homes, one should figure out how to tap into this pipeline of luxurious afternoons. After all, why allow these resources to lay fallow? Whether you are a tightwad or are truly strapped for cash, friends with such toys are a priceless commodity and should not be ignored. Indeed, these cherished friends should be cultivated and nurtured.

Don’t be shy in pursuing your mooching goals.  Please remember that these amenities are often status symbols for the owners and they would like nothing better than to shove their wealth and good fortune in your face. This obviously makes the mooching process easier and will work in your favor. Let them have their fun as they flaunt their avarice and toys. Smile warmly, ooo and aaa appropriately, gush aglow at their kindness and charm them into thinking they are without a doubt your most favorite host…and then ask where they keep their Belvidere vodka.  

Yes, mooching requires a bit of humility and a lot of charming smiles and at times a zipped lip. Ignore the wide distance between their ability to spend and your unwillingness to match it and ask them if they need another beer from their poolside wet bar. But, arrogance does not work for long for either the moocher or the moochee. Servitude for an extended period wears thin and abrades.  Never let your most gracious host debase or insult you; never tell them they are extremely fortunate for your company, without a sly smile! Yes, both the moochee and the moocher need to have a mutual feeling of wellbeing. You gain from their gain and they gain from your gain.

So, this dance, of idle afternoons and riotous parties, of twirling and spinning and mooching and scheming sounds calculated doesn’t it….  What do you think? Without proper planning and effort on your part, the opportunity will pass onto someone else… someone less worthy? So, what can you do as charter member of Vacations From Home, where no opportunity to mooch is overlooked, to cull these precious invitations and cheap thrills.

First off, and most importantly, be interesting. Always be a viable option for your “friends”.  Try to be accomplished at something, hopefully noteworthy. If you invent something like Velcro or cure cancer, think of all the invitations you’ll receive. Try to be charming and witty, quick with the pithy comment and the compliment and you will surely ingratiate yourself into their sphere of invites. They will want you around.  

Second, be handsome or beautiful. Everyone wants to be seen with arm candy. This should be you! If you’re not good looking, you’re kinda outta luck. Of course you might be able to make up for that ugly mug with some charm, but please, don’t expect much. If you’re fair to middling in the looks department you must be height/weight proportionate. No one wants to see you pull a chair up to the buffet table.

Thirdly, make investments in your friends. Hedge your invitations by offering to pick up a bar or meal tab once in a while.  Sadly, we can’t be THAT cheap. Bring a six-pack to the pool party and not Meister Brau. Wolfschmidt vodka is never an option. Even though you’re in the game to get invites you’ll better your chances if you’re not perceived simply as a taker or, ahem, a mooch. Parting with some of your money will mask your intent somewhat, and besides your generosity may spur your hosts to “one up” you and lavish you with even more “things”.

A word of caution is needed here. Sometimes getting that invite requires a waiting game. Don’t be anxious and never pester or beg. Oh, you’ll liable to get that invite if you do beg, but that would probably be the last one. It’s that killing the goose and the golden egg bit. You want to preserve the pool/beach/lakefront home – open refrigerator – open bar – friendship that you’ve labored over, tended lovingly and charmed. There should be no worry if you have laid the right foundation. If, gasp, the invite does not come, you just have to suck it up and maybe spend the day finally sweeping your kitchen floor?  Even in defeat though there is opportunity and if it was a glaring oversight by your potential hosts and they offer you an apology, graciously accept it with no hint of bitterness. 

Remember to cast a wide net for mooching. Opportunities abound and if you don’t get that boat ride, think pool, or beach.  The mountains work in a pinch. Be flexible, work the phones and get your butt to the gym.

So, there you have it! Sounds simple? Summer is starting soon, so get out there and get that invite!

Getting Low Country with social media mooching

Your intrepid travelers are frugal, but humility and dignity quickly melt away when the prying open of the wallet becomes a necessity. Endeavoring to lessen the shock of greenbacks flitting haphazardly into the stratosphere Team VFH has often explored off-centered attempts at mooching. Recently we have discovered new and potentially limitless opportunities to mooch on Facebook and Twitter. The “kids” may say that adults have ruined Facebook, but this social media site allows us to cast a far wider mooching net. A simple missive, typical of Facebook and Twitter, launched by yours truly, read: “Hey friends, where should Janet and I vacation this summer.” After all Janet and I share many friends, but have many separate ones, so this had potential for success. This indeed is casting a very wide net.

mooching ops galore

We got a lot of suggestions.  Of course, we ignored all the feeble ones offering this destination or that. Sure, if we had the money we could easily go to Europe, or Hawaii, but we were holding out for that elusive, wonderful, glorious, radiant invitation for a visit to someone’s home. Hopefully, not too far away to drive…forget flying. Florida would have been good, even in the summer. We have friends in Florida, but they did not respond to our innocent query. Should I block them? No, that would be bad karma and we may someday get that invite. That is the Vacations From Home way; don’t burn bridges! Friends at the Jersey shore didn’t come through either, but they are still dealing with the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, so we’ll cut them a break. A friend offered his vacation home in Maine, but as a rental. THAT IS NOT what this mooching is all about…cheesh.

Just when we thought our perhaps most embarrassing foray into out-and-out mooching would not bear fruit, we got an invite. A friend of Janet’s from college, whom she reconnected with through Facebook after decades, invited us down to Hilton head for a week in July. We had already visited them at their home in the Pittsburgh area last year and attended a Pirates game.

Success! We graciously accepted their invite and started our research.

Hilton Head is the largest barrier island on the eastern seaboard and part of an area of South Carolina called the Low Country. How appropriate for VFH…."Low" Country.