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Florence, SC, So Many Ways To Enjoy a Visit and So Many Venues For Tourists and Others!
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APtravelnews-November 16th—Florence, S.C.—We met Holly Beaumier on a drive up I-95 towards our ultimate goal of visiting Vermont again. We stayed and played in her dog-friendly city enjoying great foods and fine accommodations, but most importantly: very friendly caring locals.
Last week, we had occasion to meet up with her again at the 5oth Anniversary of SEOPA held at Fontana Lake in N.C. She was in attendance to assist in spreading the word, along with other Counties CVB’s from all around the South about their respective excellent travel opportunities for tourists and other visitors.
Holly is a true professional and very passionate about Florence, S.C. and surrounding locals ability to offer great travel opportunities to everyone and anyone “stopping to smell the roses” off I-95 and from all around the USA and the world!
She introduced us to a whole set of opportunities that should encourage us all to make a reservation and head to Florence when possible. Here are some of them:
- Farm to table and what’s in season? The SC climate lends itself to agricultural produce year round. Local restaurants (we agree having enjoyed many of them) often change menus to serve locally sourced, in season foods.
- Middle Sparrow Ranch, SC’s only producer of farmstead cheese. Crafted on site from grass fed cows. The cheese has its own unique flavor. Other products are dairy and whey-fed pork.
- U-Pick farms offer strawberry, muscadine grapes, blueberries are ready from April through October.
- Tours are available at Ovis Hill Farm where they graze 250 sheep and provide high quality, natural foods.
- Fishing in local rivers how about giant catfish? Shad are caught in Hoop nets and even drop lines for “cats.”
- Hog Hunting on horseback? Inquire and Give it a go in SC.
- Cooper Black Recreation Area has National Sporting Dog field trials: there are equestrian trials in endurance and runs in this 7000 rolling acres of longleaf pine forests and the fields provide the ultimate venue for these and much more events.
- Birding: More than 100 species of migratory birds to spot at. Take your binocular to Woods Bay State Natural Area.
- There are so many other things to see and do: Camp, be an Archeologist, check out enigmatic Carolina Bays, the Darlington Marathon races, Marsh Tacky Horses, a South Carolina Horse with stripes dating to Revolutionary times, Heart of Carolina’s 3-day horse competitions, The Kings Three Trails with great jockeys, Lancing tournament on horseback started in 1899. These opportunities and too many others are in and around Florence, SC. For more info. Go: visitflo.com 843-664-0330
As pet friendly a city as you can find! 
Lamb Chops from Colorado, Risotto, goats cheese. Unreal tastes! 
New York Cheesecake and local strawberries. Terrific!
Team Bob and Barb Tasked to Update Their Popular, Sold Out Book: “The Best Restaurants in the Florida Keys.”
Barb and a Margarita libation, with a pastel sunset!
AmericanPressTravelNews-Sept. 23rd, Florida Keys–Bob and Barb “On the Road again?” Yes, we are booked to do an updated book of our original sold-out book: “The Best Restaurants in the Florida Keys.” The first book reviewed 60-Florida Keys restaurants, many still in business, some not since the 1980’s. The book had distinctly tropical recipes, comments on each page by charter captains about their favorite restaurants and dishes, collected articles from my column in the Miami Herald, and many of my own recipes one of which is being served in many restaurants across the country; “Fish Pizzaiole.” There have been nearly 100-new restaurants opened in the Keys since the 1980’s and Bob and Barb have been tasked to include them in the new book while updating all the original food emporiums they visited and tasted. This book will be hard-cover, full-color, and with an expanded Keys recipe section from the best of the best in the Keys!
For an original signed copy of the last 25 books I have held on to, contact Bob Epstein 772-812-0933 or bobepstein@aol.com
Sid’s on Main in Canton Located In the Imperial Hotel-“One of the States Best 2-Dollar Hotels.”
APtravelnews-Canton, N.C. September 19th, —Sid Truesdale and his wife Page are the Imperial Hotels Restaurateurs and a great bunch of offerings that they provide. Antiques punctuate the Imperial Hotel, and our dining area featured an early roll top desk and various other neat early period furniture. For lunch Barb and I enjoyed “Ruben” sandwiches, Crab Cakes, burgers, wonderfully tasty chicken salad, Po-boys, Club sandwiches and a list too long to include here. Yes, we tried a taste of all of them listed.
The newly and ongoing restoration of this hotel which was first opened as a brick home in 1876, renovated in the 1920’s as the Imperial Hotel that announced to all that it was the “best 2-dollar hotel in N.C.” Today after a current major restoration, the hotel will soon open again and like early times when it catered to the new boom town-needs of a Champion paper mill town, it will offer, besides Sid’s fine establishment that is open now for lunch, dinner, special occasions, banquets and catering, apartments, hotel rooms, a banquet hall, meeting and party rooms as well as retail space. The Hotel is located at 117 Main St., Canton, NC, phone at Sid’s is: 828-492-0618 www.sidsonmain.com
