Lake Hartwell, South Carolina

From the beautiful lush hills of Virginia we traveled south for 600 miles to the flatter, sandier countryside surrounding Lake Hartwell in western South Carolina. This is home to our friends Dave and Nancy Buxton.

Lake Hartwell has 764 miles of shoreline and is home to many beautiful birds and world-class bass, evidently, because it has played host to the Bass Masters several times in recent years. Celebrating that connection is Waldrops, a charming local business that serves magnificent breakfasts as well as a host of other services including homespun advice as evidenced by their welcome sign.

Waldrops is owned by a beautiful southern lady named Wanda and proudly serves a variety of delicious traditional foods such as tonight’s special which featured chopped steak with broccoli casserole and, of course, fresh peach cobbler. But we were there for breakfast and they definitely rose to the occasion.

At Dave’s prompting, I ordered a fried biscuit with my sausage omelet – a large homemade biscuit, split and placed on the griddle to toast while the eggs cooked. I always love biscuits, being the good southern girl that I am, but this takes them to a whole new level. I have to try this one at home. Jim ordered biscuits and gravy – a delicious biscuit served with a huge bowl of gravy (no, he didn’t finish all of it). Everyone had a great time.

This afternoon we went for a boat ride on Lake Hartwell. It was a warm day, partly cloudy but at times beautifully sunny, and the breeze on the boat felt great.

We particularly wanted to investigate some large birds that had been spotted nesting high above the lake. We’re not sure what we found but I got a few good pictures of it. Later, we witnessed some sort of a disagreement between 2 Great Blue Herons before one of them was sent packing and retreated into the tall reeds. It was so nice being out on the lake today and after we docked we sat and passed a lazy Carolina afternoon just sitting and talking.

What would be the perfect ending for a beautiful relaxing day on the lake? Take the boat to dinner! So we did just that – took the boat 45 minutes down the lake to the wonderful Galley restaurant in Anderson, SC. From our table adjacent the window wall, we could look out over the lake at the Marina. The food was wonderful upscale southern. For an appetizer we had a South Carolina classic – pimento cheese served with toasted pita bread, but this was the best pimento cheese I’ve ever had. I must experiment with this idea. For dinner, the guys both had prime rib but Nancy and I ordered the crab cakes. They were delicious – served on a bed of fresh spinach with a wonderful lemon caper sauce. For a side, Dave and I tried the squash casserole – zucchini and yellow squash, onions, cheese and a light crumb topping. It was amazing – could be a meal by itself. We all had a marvelous dinner and then a 45-minute boat ride to get home where we sat at the dock talking and relishing the peaceful evening.