After the deluge nearly stranded us in Old Town Bluffton last week, we were hoping good weather would return before our time ran out. Ten days of gloomy skies, and a total of more than 5″ of rain during a few of those days (24″ just up the road in Mt. Pleasant!) left us wondering if we would ever see the sun again. We woke up to an absolutely glorious day yesterday, though, so we took full advantage by beginning the day with an interesting carriage tour of historic downtown Beaufort.  Our day concluded  with the nearly three-hour paddle /  photo shoot of Flipper and his friends who appeared in yesterday’s blog post. (Stay tuned for carriage tour pictures tomorrow.)

Following my swim this morning, Bruce and I returned to Bluffton to see the quaint and artsy community on foot. We didn’t want to leave South Carolina remembering Bluffton as just a rain-soaked town viewed from behind the wheel of Scarlett going through a car wash.

What a gorgeous day and a cute little Old Town! We began our stroll at The Church of the Cross, an interesting wood church of Gothic design dating back to 1854.  It is situated on a bluff with a fabulous view of the water below, so we enjoyed the scenery before wandering up to the weekly farmer’s market. Surrounding the food stalls were several art galleries, so we poked around getting an excellent feel for the artist community in the area. All of the galleries we visited were either a co-op, guild, or collection of works by several artists, so it was inspiring to see the variety of art and craft being created in the region.

This is Bluffton from my view behind the camera:

Church of the Cross