Day 3--Charleston

We saved the tour of the Ghost Ship for the last day. 

What is the Ghost Ship? It is the U.S.S. Yorktown ship that was sunk at the battle of Mid-Way.

A second ship was built in order to keep the Japanese from knowing they had sunk the original ship.

The day started out pretty chilly.  The wind was blowing pretty good creating a nice "mist" blowing off the water.  We caught the college sail boats competing on the water just off the side of the ship.  I don't know how they kept from capsizing and we saw several that almost did!

I won't show all my pictures, but I definitely know my husband would not fit on this ship!

He is 6'5" and he had to stoop alot and bump his head walking down the steep steps from level to level.

I can't remember how many was on the ship.  Maybe around 3,000.

See this recipe for 10,000 Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Can you imagine making that many??

We finished up the day going back down-town and walking around.

Then we decided to go to a different area of the beach

and walk before going back downtown again for dinner.

Can you tell that downtown historic Charleston was our favorite place?

 

Day 2 Continued

Day 2--Charleston

After a visit to Fort Sumter, we decided to head on over to Boone Hall Plantation.  It is a really pretty place and it's long drive back to the house was beautiful.  Imagine driving your carriage or wagon...  Boone Hall Plantation had been used for several movies.  I can't remember them all, but I will point out the parts that stand out to me.

Boone Hall plantation has had several different owners.

The original plantation was not as we see it today.

Plantation homes were built with wood and not ornate.

The ornate homes were built by the owners back in Charleston.

Besides the obvious crops that were grown here, like cotton,

Boone Hall was the top producer of pecan trees that supplied a

huge quantity of the countries pecans.  When one of the hurricanes

hit Charleston, that ended that.

The first building built on the plantation was this smoke house.

Live Oak trees with Spanish Moss. 

The oak trees are deciduous and stay green all year around.

Behind this live oak is a river that is connected to the ocean.

Owners would ship their goods out on barges to Charleston

when the tide came up.  The plantation didn't seem far from Charleston,

but back then it took a bit to get from Charleston to the plantation.

This was the easier way to get their goods out.

Nicknamed "Slave Street",

These homes were the place where the household slaves stayed. 

Field slaves lived in wood shacks in the fields.

*One thing that stood out to me was this:

Upon touring the 1st floor of the home,

we learned about the slave trade.

A shopping list was saved by one of the

lady's of the home and first on the list was

"one slave girl = $980"

$980!  I couldn't believe how much

they spent for the use of a slave.

I also viewed a record of slaves that came to

Charleston and was amazed by the

amount of slave that came. 

You do the math. 

This was over 100 years ago....

Also note that more slaves were sent to the

Caribbean and other areas besides the U.S.

The number is staggering.

Boone Hall Plantations cotton gin under restoration.

When the cotton gin was invented, they built

their own cotton gin.

Walking around the plantation was neat. 

I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to tour much of the home.

We were only able to view the first floor because the upper floor was

occupied by the current owner who comes there once in awhile.

Over all it was a beautiful afternoon, and

I really enjoyed learning more about our countries history.

We followed up the day with eating out down-town again at Poogan's Porch.

Pic from Poogan's Porch.

My meal was so good!  It was worth it to have a nice date night meal with my husband.

Charleston Adventures

Day 2-

We decided the night before to go ahead and do the Ferry Ride out to Fort Sumter.  The weather was supposed to be in the 70s that day and the following day, rainy and in the 60s during the morning.  I'm so glad we did!

We drove back downtown to Liberty Square to take Spiritline Ferry out to Fort Sumter.  I was a little worried about the boat ride as the last boat ride I had been on, we got sea sick.  I knew that it wouldn't happen with the Ferry ride, but you always wonder.  The ride went smooth and the smell or salt water in the air was invigorating!

The bridge in the background is Arthur Ravenel Bridge.

This was built for a measly half a BILLION dollars.

Pennies if you like....

But it is beautiful!

It is 1 1/2 miles long.

The Ghost Ship above...

More details on a later date.

Charleston is called the Holy City because it made a point to secure religous freedom in this city.

The downtown area is filled with Steeples and old churches are absolutely beautiful!

Fort Sumter was actually built on a sandbar. 

Granite pieces were brought in so they could build

a 3 story fort on this site. 

Only 1 story remains today.

Historic Downtown Charleston

Day 1-Evening

After leaving Folley Beach we decided not to even go back to the hotel.  We figured if we did, we would not get out and enjoy everything we wanted to see.  We were surprised at how easy it was to find our way around, especially with a map of the downtown area.  We were also pleased that it didn't take us as long to get around Charleston.

When we hit the downtown area, we mapped out where we were going to park.  As we were driving around we kept missing our turns, but it ended up that was a good thing as we found the restaurant we would go eat at the next night.  Along side of that, there was a parking garage right by it so we were happy we new how to at least get there the next night.

Once we parked, we found ourselves wandering around downtown, and I took a few photos before it got dark.  The architecture was so beautiful.  I wish I had taken more, but I did not.

We did find a good place to eat that night.  I never tried grits before, but I did try some of my husbands.
It was a Shrimp and Grits plate topped with a Ham Chorizo sauce.  I don't like seafood, but I did try the grits and it was SOOO good.  I'll would love to find a recipe to duplicate it.

After we ate that delicious meal, we did more walking.  A bunch more walking.

Figured out my night vision flash here. 

Thought this was really pretty.

On the Pier they had benches and swings under the

shelter stretching out into the river that connected to the Ocean.

It was a lot of fun sitting on the swing just talking

and watching the boats on the river.

I didn't realize this but Charleston gets a lot of

Cruise ships that dock here everyday.

I think my husband told me that Charleston is the

#6 top spot to visit in the United States.

I absolutely know why now!!

But what good is a trip if you don't ever get a little lost....  As with every time we go somewhere we always loose our way.  It took us a little while to maneuver out of downtown Charleston because every time we thought we could turn one way to make it back to the bridge, we would run into a one way street...  in the other direction!  We ended up north of where we should have been, but we quickly found our way back to the hotel after that!  We never had a problem after that getting lost down town.  At least we got to see some more awesome old buildings in the dark!

Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park

Good way to end our Day One!

Just me and my husband!