The World Needs More Ninjas

We took a trip down to South Carolina this past weekend to celebrate the Fourth with Leigh Ann’s family. We were fortunate to be joined by some of our friends from Champaign, Will and Valerie Smith. They’re getting all the travel out of them before Will starts his new job next month. So we rented a car last Thursday so we’d have more room than our Honda Civics would provide and headed down last Friday going through Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, Knoxville, and Asheville before reaching our final destination in Anderson, SC.

When we arrived on Friday evening, we were greeted with Skin’s Hot Dogs for dinner. Unfortunately, we only got two hot dogs apiece so none of us made a run at Kobayashi’s record of 53. Then, Leigh Ann and Valerie surprised Will and me with some “PHinisheD” T-shirts to commemorate our defenses.

On Saturday, we went hiking near Table Rock. We reached some beautiful waterfalls where we enjoyed our lunch. Unfortunately, the hike back wasn’t near as enjoyable. A thunderstorm (complete with lightening) came out of nowhere, which isn’t what you want when you’re making your way up a path called The Dismal Trail. We did about triple time to make it out of there and, luckily, our cameras stayed dry thanks to the wonders of waterproof bags. That evening, we just relaxed and watched The Legend of Zorro (IMHO, not that great of a movie).

On Sunday, we went to Christ Church, which is where Leigh Ann’s parents have been attending recently. Coincidentally, this is also the church where my family attended over a decade ago when they lived in Anderson. I saw a few familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in years. We ate at Master’s Wok for lunch and headed up to Seneca that afternoon for a round of Disc Golf. Will and Valerie like to play in every state they visit and this was the first time Leigh Ann’s parents got to play.

The course was a bit more extensive than the one we have in Champaign with a full 18 holes through a heavily wooded area. Unfortunately, Will and Valerie were introduced to some of the more unpleasant aspects of The South when Will stepped on a fire ant mound and they got a few chigger bites while searching for discs in the woods. Aside from these painful brushes with exotic wildlife, the round was quite fun. Will finished first and Leigh Ann’s dad came in second despite it being his first time. Afterward, we took Will and Valerie on a whirlwind tour of Clemson.

Monday was devoted solely to enjoying the pool and the Buchanan’s house. We pretty much just laid around all morning, except for the times when Leigh Ann’s dad would grab someone to teach them how to throw tomahawks at the target he set up in the backyard (a rite of passage if you want to stay at the Buchanan house). Also, on Monday, Valerie’s friend, Heloise, drove up to visit since she is currently stationed at Beaufort, SC with the Navy. After a while, we decided to do a little shopping for some pool toys since we were getting a little bored. After much searching, we finally bought Skip’N Score Soccer, which we basically played as a water polo game.

That evening, we enjoyed Hobo Meals on the grill. Basically, you just wrap chicken, potatoes, and carrots up in a tightly sealed aluminum foil package with some water and let them cook on the grill for about 40 minutes. After dinner, we enjoyed a game of Cut Throat Uno before going to bed.

Thursday was the Fourth and also they day that we were having a lot of friends and family over for a cookout so that we could see everyone while we were down there. Most of the morning was spent setting up, though we did take some breaks to throw the tomahawk some more and let Valerie drive a riding lawn mower for the first time. The cookout went well. We probably had about 40-50 people show up throughout the day and Leigh Ann’s dad and Will took care of grilling burgers and hot dogs. We capped off the evening with a fireworks show compliments of Leigh Ann’s dad (at his wife’s insistence, he splurged on some “good” fireworks this year instead of just getting bottle rockets and tanks). Unlike Illinois, fireworks are very much legal in South Carolina…you can’t throw a stone without hitting a stand this time of year. The fireworks show was a success as no fingers were lost.

Finally, we headed back home bright and early on Wednesday. Leigh Ann and I would like to thank her family for a wonderful visit and Will and Valerie for an awesome trip! All of the pictures from the trip are up in our gallery.