Charleston Trip, Part I

Mark is proud to be an American. Fort Sumter Museum

I have fallen waaaayyyy behind in my blog. Lots going on and little time to get everything done. That's just life, right? Today is actually FEBRUARY 1, 2009.

Judy next to palmetto

Greg and Renee on boat to Fort Sumter

It has been really fun reading everbody's holiday blogs and viewing all of the great pictures which accompany them, and I hope Don and Hope forgive me for not writing much in my last blog, but I think the photos were just fine; I was so occupied with coughing while they were here and trying so hard not to cough while we were out at dinner...that I can't even tell you what the conversation was about.

Mark relaxing on the porch of the cabin

We ended up doing a lot of crossword puzzles together

Unfortunately for me, my cold persisted throughout our long-anticipated vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. It did improve by the middle of the trip, but I had about 2 days where I was probably not the most popular person on the plane, car, bus or boat. Sorry fellow travelers.

The Valaskeys at Fort Sumter

Anyway, I think that Van, Judy, Greg, Renee, Mark and myself were all just thrilled to be going somewhere--anywhere--that was warm and did not have snow, that we didn't really care about some sniffles and hacks.

In the cabin

Van and Judy on the tour bus

We departed for Charleston from Milwaukee on a very cold Monday morning. Although we had a little bit of a delay in Atlanta, we definitely considered ourselves very fortunate to get to our destination in a timely manner; if you recall, many holiday travelers were finding themselves stranded at airports for hours or even days due to inclement weather across the country.

Mark in an old artillery storage area, Fort Sumter

That's me with Charleston Harbor in the background. Taken at Fort Sumter.

Upon arriving in Charleston, we did feel a little pressure to get to our cabin. We were staying at James Island County Park, which is located just outside of Charleston, and when Judy made the reservation, we were advised to get there at a certain time otherwise we would have to call a park ranger to let us in. Judy was also told that the local festival of Christmas lights show would be going on at that time too, so we thought "oh well, that's nice...maybe we can check that out some night since we'll be so close". Little did we know. After spending more time than any of us would care to admit in the car rental parking lot trying to figure out how to start our rental minivan, we were on our way to the park. When we were about a mile or so from the park, we became entangled in a very, very long line of cars. Cars on the way to see a light show. A light show that was set up in the very park we were staying at! To make a long story short, we did get to see this huge light show while we were in Charleston; in fact, we ended up seeing it everyday, as we had to drive through most of it to get to the side road where our cabin was.

This was one of my favorite displays. There were probably over a 100 different displays.

Van and Judy relaxing on the boat

Fort Sumter with Charleston in the background

A view of Charleston from the harbor

Although the whole light show thing did put a damper on our scheduling of nightly activities (this thing had been going on since Thanksgiving, but they just get inundated with onlookers every night--perhaps because they don't have snow to get that "Christmassy feeling"?!), our cabin was very roomy and cozy and located in a really nice spot.

This is what our cabin looked like

Mark doesn't always want to cooperate for pictures

Our first full day in Charleston was spent sightseeing. We took a boat to historic Fort Sumter and got to spend a morning of sunshine and wind at this place where the Civil War erupted in 1861. Although the walls are not nearly the size they used to be (from 3 stories to 1), it was still a very moving place, with shrapnel still stuck in the walls, canons poised out towards Charleston Harbor, and the loud thwapping of a myriad of flags blowing in the strong winds.

Artillery shell lodged in the wall of the fort from the Civil War

Flags at Fort Sumter

Upon returning from the fort, we boarded a tour bus and had a very enlightening tour of the city of Charleston. Although our guide became a little long-winded about the Hunley submarine (which was obviously something he was really into), he did an excellent job pointing out places of historic interest and answering various question. We also made a small pit-stop by the harbor and Judy purchased a couple of sweet grass flowers made by a couple of the locals. Our tour guide also purchased a couple extra and gave them to us ladies on the bus. Very clever man. I immediately told Mark we had to give him an extra nice tip.

Judy buying sweet grass flowers

Mark and I on tourbus. I had just finished a major coughing fit from my cold, so I look particularly haggard

One of many old homes in Charleston. Please note the incredibly decorate ironwork on the porch and railing. I became quite drawn to all of the ironworks in Charleston.

The Bulldog at The Citadel

That night for dinner we went to a famous southern eatery called Jestine's. It was delicious and we all enjoyed partaking in a traditional southern dinner. Homemade mac and chese, fried okra, fried chicken, pecan pie, etc etc etc. Not a bad home, huh?