Seabrook for the 4th

On Sunday I returned to Lville from a week-long trip in South Carolina.  It was one of the laziest yet one of the best trips I've had down there in a long time!

On Saturday morning (June 30) at 1:45 AM, I woke up in my apartment in Louisville.  With nothing but a ten hour drive in my mind, I was wide awake and I wanted to just get up and get it over with!  I packed the car (including my bike hitched on the back!) and went over to my parents' house to get the cat.  By 3:30 am I was on the road and feeling fine.  By 4:15 am I was thinking, "Rachel you are an idiot!  Go home and go back to bed."  Instead of doing that, I stopped and got one of these:

Sometimes bad things come in small packages too

I had never tried 5-Hour Energy before and I figured it was a good time.  So I downed the bottle, cranked up the music, zipped along through Lexington, KY to Knoxville, TN to Asheville, NC and into SC.  I ate lunch at 9:30 am.  Once the 5-Hour Energy started to wear off I felt like I was going crazy!  I felt awake, but it didn't feel real.  I was talking to myself a million words a minute.  It was a bizarre trip, not to mention that Lucy the cat was sitting on my lap for most of it.  Let me tell you about Lucy for a second: she is one unique kitty.  She is even-tempered, she is social, and she is very smart.  She can always sense when we are close to our destination - wherever it may be.  She gets up and starts meowing!  Whenever we are driving through Charleston she can smell the salt-air and sniffs the air vents.  I snapped this photo to prove it:


I think I know where we are

Another tidbid about Lucy The Cat: she knows her name.  She might as well be Lucy The Dog.  This is the look I got when I said her name out loud.


What do you want? I'm trying to sniff here.

Anyway, I got to our place ok and was happy to see my Mom who had been there for a week already. 

The week basically went like this: sleep > triathlon workout > beach > drink > eat > sleep.  The majority of friends from SC who are basically scattered up and down the eastern seaboard came to Seabrook for the 4th and it was an awesome reunion.  We are an interesting bunch.  I think we all get along so well because when we're together we're on vacation and the endorphins are off the charts.

I had plans to play golf, play tennis, and go into Charleston, but I didn't do ANY of those.  All in all I think I needed a week to be somewhat lazy and recover from wedding season so I was grateful for the rest. 

I visited an old favorite, Wild Olive.  This restaurant is on Johns Island basically halfway between Seabrook/Kiawah and Charleston and is definitely worth a visit.  I got my usual, the scallops:



scallops, gnocchi, spring vegetables, magic

 A guy I know opened a burger joint in West Ashley called Charleston Burger Company.  One night I made the trip with a friend and this was my meal:



Red Hot Burger

My burger was insane.  It had pepperjack, jalapenos, and pulled pork on top of that! Not to mention the okra on top :)  The fries were delicious, and we got an order of fried pickles on the house because we were VIP customers.  If you are looking for unique burgers, CBC is the place to go.  I feel like Guy Fieri needs to make a stop there! P.S. I did not eat all of that.  I tried.

Triathlon update: I did some quality biking in SC (two 13 mile rides), ran several times, swam laps once, and lifted twice.  I feel like I'm on track to do well in the race which is 3.5 weeks away!