Patriot's Point Yorktown and Laffey

Den is holding the nose of an F14 Tomcat, I think. Think Tom Cruis. I got to see what at "tailhook" actually looks like and the cable that it catchs to stop the plane as it lands on the aircraft carrier's deck. This ship is huge but small by comparison to some of those that are out there today.

Chuck was a corpsman attached to the Marines and Vic was a Marine. I know that they know what life on board one of these is like. Still I had to call Chuck after getting back to the room that night. Chuck is a good 6'6" tall. I could not imagine him running to General Quarters or what ever with ceilings so low. The poor guy must have bonked his head tons of times and then there are the "knee knockers", those thresholds that you have to step over when you going through a "hatch" between compartments. Wow.

Den takes the helm of the Yorktown.

Torpedo room on the Yorktown

When the decommisioned the Yorktown it was moved to Charleston harbor at what is now Patriots point. Taking this tour is not for the overly tall without careful thought. The ship was cold inside but I would imagine the men and women would have been very busy and didn't notice. They have air craft from several wars and areas of the ship that are dedicated to other ships as you walk through. If you take this tour, know that there are no broad stair ways, these as more like ladders and watch you head.

I kind of wish that they had left the other ships to some other display and just explained more fully what you were seeing as it pertained to this ship and just where you were. Some times it was kind of hard to tell.

The Laffey was right next door but they aren't finished with renovations on her so there wasn't much that you can see.

Iron Work Of Charleston

The slaves that were brought from Africa were skilled labor, not just random "warm bodies" as it were. Many were skilled at growing and rice, a golden crop for the people in the Charleston area. Among the other skills were the iron workers. The beautiful and unique metal work is a part of what makes Charleston so beautiful. If you needed cash when times were really touch, they would sell the iron work on their homes. If a home burned, the iron work was salvaged and showed up in another home. This house isn't in the best repair but it proudly wears it's history.

Calhoun Mansion, The Largest

The largest of the mansions on the battery is the Calhoun Mansion. 3 full floors, plus full attic and English basement. It is owned currently by an international lawyer who is a collector of all kinds of antiques. He actually lives in the house with his dogs and cat. The house was used as a Navy barracks in WW1 which brought with it many, many repairs that needed to be made. They painted the inside with waterprood battleship grey pain when the portable latrines and showers were leaking.

This house across the street was built by him for his son when he married. Not to show favoritism at all he also had built for his daughter one of my all time favorites on the Battery, 2 Meeting Street. Not the beautiful piazza on both levels of the house.

Friday March 9th

The powder magazine at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island

Along the coast of South Caroline and many other of our coastal state there are "barrier islands". One of these along the Charleston coast is Sullivan's Island and there is Fort Moultrie. Originally made of pallmetto palm logs this fort has been rebuilt umpteen times and is now a brick structure. It was used from the Revolutionary War and was decommission in the 60's. Loads to see and think about.

Thursday March 8th, The Day I Got Shorter

This is a an explanation of the depiction of the Hunley. I can't imagine being inside this thing with 8 other people. I would have been screaming and busting out of there.

The Hunley had a ram thing going on there that was kind of hard to imagaine working.

The chimmineys for the Edmondston-Alston house on the battery

St. Micheals Church is the oldest church in Charleston. This is the stained glass window behind the alter area. There are also shots of the side panel which hold words from the Bible

Standing in the pue box that George Washington used you can see the beautiful woodwork and the organ pipes in the rear of the church.

On Thursday we proved to ourselves that Charleston is "a walking city". The homes are fairly close together and the there are gated drives and walks with beautiful gardens behind them. Look in but don't be rude and walk in. Charleston homes are very often described as singles houses, double houses or triple houses. Most have a piazza on on side with a door to the street that locks allowing access to the piazza. The single, double and triple refer to the number of rooms wide the house is. Many of the homes date back to pre-Revolutionary War. The oldest church is St. Micheal's and George Washington worshiped here. We are shown sitting in that box.

This day we walked our legs off and had to have a hot soaky bath at the end of the day to relieve some of the pains.

We toured the Edmondston-Alston home as well as the Nathaniel-Russell house and were so wrapped up in what we were doing we forgot to take pictures until we were leaving the Edmondson-Alston house.

Charleston is a seaport and has a thriving seafood industry if only to the local eateries of which we sampled many. Den and I are not young any longer and find that eating our larger meals at mid-day make for better sleeping and digestion. Also, as a rule the menus offer a less pricey charge for the noon meal. The portions aren't as large.

We took Cindy's advise and headed to Poogan's Porch for lunch. Following Patty's suggestions I ordered a cup of "She Crab Soup" to go with my BLT. The BLT is made with fried green tomatoes instead of the red ripe variety. The soup was delish. I have the recipe but, it calls for Crab Roe (crab eggs) and they are kind of hard to get up here.

Our evening meal was taken in our room from what we purchased that was microwavable.

I think that we caught the last trolley back to the visitors center this day and I know we walked 6 miles. My knees were shot.

God Bless!

Wednesday March 7th

The Yorktown across the bay at Patriot's point.

Coast Guard cutter in the bay

Some of the munitions that have been used over the history of Fort Sumpter. This display has changed since my dad and I saw it the first time but still give a great depiction of the stuff they threw at each other.


I wish that this picture had more contrast so that the amazing colors of the sky, bridge and bay would show the vividness that was the real thing.

I have been to Charleston something like 4 times and Den has been there twice. There is something about the history of the area and the charm of the city and it's people that just keep it fresh and interesting. One of the things that Den wanted to see this time and for the life of me I can't figure out why he didn't get to see it the first time was Fort Sumpter. I had seen it the first time that I was in Charleston with my folks and my second husband. Dad was not long out of the hospital from bypass surgery and I remember seeing it with him. Things have changed a bit over the past 30 years but it still has the same feeling. This is a must for any trip to Charleston. If you can swing it with the ferry folks see if you can come back on the next ferry. Somehow from the ranger talk and all there is to see and visualize it just doesn't seem like you get enough before it is time to leave again. I will tell you that going this time of the year, bring a jacket and dress warmly. The wind off the bay can be quite cold.

From Fort Sumpter we went to the visitors center. This is a great place to park ($12.00 for all day) but the free trolley leaves from there. There is a film to watch and always shopping.

Charleston, SC March 6th - 13th, 2012

Nothing is quite as satisfying as creating something for someone that you care about and then having that person seemingly totally enjoy what you have done. In other words my friend Cindy liked her bag. I am so glad. It took some doing to get it to work and I wasn't quite sure that she would be OK with the bright colors as she is more of a pastel gal.

We left home here around 10AM on March 3 and dropped Buddy, the traveling ShiTzu, off at Dr. Millers. Can't fly SW with animals yet. Then we headed toward Chicago. That is a about a 4 hour drive on a good day. We hit the tollway the other side of Rockford and got a real surprise. The tolls had gone up nearly 88% since our last trip in November. As a Buyer for cooperate America, that would have raise my hackles and brought on a whole load of issues to discuss but we are a captive audience.

We got in to our friend's place in the late afternoon and enjoyed a visit and a meal with the wonderful smoked pork chops that I purchased from our Fareway on the way out of town.

The next morning we made our way to Chicago's Midway Airport. This took us through some not so pretty areas of Chicago. We were warned about the railroad tracks but they had been repaired, thank heavens.

We finally found a place to park and got in to line for our boarding passes. About then Den realized that he had on the wrong jacket, much to heavy for Charleston and left me at security and ran back about a mile to get exchange the jacket for the lighter on in the backseat of the car. I was really getting worried about him before he got back.

Having flown SW in the past when it was a "cattle call" to board we were kind of surprised at some of the changes. We had gotten really great ticket prices and this was one of those kind of short window trips.

Charleston was great, small airport and the weather was cool but sunny. We found our hotel and Den had worked a deal at an off airport car rental that was right across the street from the hotel so we were all set.

We stayed at the Hawthorn Suits and the room was great. Had a sitting room, bed room and mini kitchen and a bath. The mini kitchen had a sink, full size fridg and a microwave. The beds were great and the place was clean and fairly quiet. One of the best parts was a hot breakfast was part of the deal. The hotel is 6 years old so not bad at all. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, grits, dry cereal, toast, bagels, waffles, coffee, tea, milk (skim and 2%), juice (apple and orange) and then they alternated bacon, link sausage and kilbasa, oh and yogurt was available as well. Then on weekday afternoons the manager had a social hour where they had wine, beer, soft drinks and chips and dip for those that wanted to come and visit.

That get's us started. I will close this page and go to a daily hit list. There is tons to see and do in Charleston. No wonder it is one of my favorite places to go. Charleston, South Caroline is one of the oldest cities in the United States. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union. It has been occupied by the South, North, England and a couple of pirates like Bonnet and Blackbeard. Charleston proper is very wet being between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers as well as several creeks. There are many islands that make up the area, Palm Island, Sullivan's Island, John's Island, James Island, Kiawah Island and many more.

Charleston was a slave port and there were a couple of these islands that were containment areas for incoming slaves to be sure that they weren't carrying illness. The slaves that were brought in were skilled in many cases and brought in for their skills. Iron work is one of the skills as well as cultivation and propogation of rice. Many of the plantations in the Charleston area were rice plantations. Carolina or Charleston Gold rice and aromatic rice are still hugely popular in the cooking of the local meals. Charleston Red Rice is offered as a side with almost any meal. There is also a special spoon on Charleston tables settings called a rice spoon. Silver plated and beautiful it is about twice the size of a normal serving spoon.

Tomatoes are also a big deal in Charleston and if you haven't tried fried green tomatoes in a BLT, you have got to give it a go.

There is also the only tea plantation in the United States in Charleston but we will get to that later.