Monday, January 02, 2023

South Carolina, Toronto, And Home Again

So just got back from quite the trip, distance-wise.

First we drove down to South Carolina.

We were just in time to experience the temperatures there dropping into the 20s.  Ouch. Not what they usually have, nor what the place we were staying in was built for weather-wise.

The poor little furnace in the Airbnb inside the resort complex struggled mightily but couldn't bust 60 odd degrees during the cold snap.

The resort had an indoor pool and hot tub complex built basically into the wall of one of the other buildings and it wasn't exactly what you'd call hot either. The water ended up warmer than the air, and the poor hot tub struggled to get to 80 with steam rising above it.

Met a nice family from Atlanta while we were there and the poor folks had to wear jackets in their unit. We, being made of stronger stuff, only had to wear jackets while going out and could handle being in our unit in sweatshirts, so long as we wore socks, as the floor was freezing and never got warm enough to walk on it barefoot.

Still, we had a good time. Got some hiking in, drove around a bit, walked on the beach. I got work done remotely, and the seafood was terrific. Great place, nice people, and about 16 hours away or so.

Of course, the day we left, the temperature got up to 66 degrees and t-shirt weather.  Figures. Next year, I think we need to push farther south.

Then we drove straight up from there to Toronto to spend New Years with Tash's mom.

That was a bit of a haul.

Weather there and on route was warmer than in South Carolina, as everything had warmed up. Go figure.

Had a nice New Year's celebration stayed up to midnight to watch the fireworks and exchange gifts as is tradition.

 

Kinda fun watching the CN tower change colors of its lights at midnight, and fireworks going off around it in celebration.

We drove back today.

The drive back was good with very light traffic and we were making good time until we hit the border.

On the highway leading to it we were then sitting over an hour stuck in traffic. Thus made no sense given how light the traffic was on the highway leading to the border. 

But, right before the bridge, trucks were lined up for miles and then the cars also came to a screeching halt and a standstill that took some time to clear.


Once across, no problems, and we made good time.

Now home unpacking, doing laundry, and getting ready to meet 2023 head on.

3 comments:

juvat said...

Glad you got home safely. Extreme cold in the South is dangerous for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is its rarity.

Aaron said...

juvat: Thanks, and yep, the South really isn't ready for a cold spell like that. Thankfully no major snow or icing took place.

Just as well we had our Toronto clothes with us and we wore those there, and the clothes we planned to wear in SC we wore in TO due to the warm weather there.

Old NFO said...

Glad the trip was 'mostly' good! :-)