Kiawah Island, SC. Inlet Cove, March 2009.

It has been a bit of a tough winter for the Steward-Tharps. With a rocky start last fall due to my brother Mike's passing and, in January, an upsetting disinvitation for Pav to the biweekly HHMI dinners we looked forward to for science, friends and food, our small, but cute apartment was definately starting to feel just small, or tiny really. I'm not meaning to complain, just explain why we were so very ready to take a wonderful vacation, which we did last week. Karen and Palmer treated us to a week in a three bedroom condo on Kiawah Island where we biked the beach and explored the lowlands.

I'll let these next few pictures of Pav sum up our feelings about our trip:

(Sand castles are fun to build, but so much more fun to destroy.)

(Bike rides on the beach are worth missing naps for.)

(Ditto: sunny days spent outdoors surrounded by georgeous island scenary.)

(Ditto: cloudy days spent exploring Charleston, SC.)
(Touring America's only tea plantation, however, she'll sleep through.)

Our visit to Angel Oak was perhaps the shortest of any on the trip, but this live oak is so impressive I couldn't really show the size of it without several pictures (and probably not even then!).

It is so incredibly massive that to take a picture of the whole thing you have to be so far back that it looks smaller.

It is an understatement to say that it was hard to leave. I started asking to stay a second week the day we arrived.