We made the turn into Lake Aire RV park and were pleasantly surprised by very thick woods surrounding a "lake". It was a very secluded rv park with fairly large sites and lots of grass areas all around. The park was very full as it was spring break in South Carolina... it seems that spring break goes on for two months here in the south.
Crazy ducks all around campground - Zoe loved it!
Our first full day was Easter Sunday. After watching the kids in the park hunt for eggs - so cute - we decided to take a drive to downtown Charleston to scope it out and to plan our week long stay. Downtown is on a peninsula and surrounded by water. Much like Savannah the historic district is filled with very cool old homes and buildings and lots of museums. We then took a drive out to Folly beach which is on James Island. It is a busy beach/tourist town where we parked for 10 minutes so we could check out the beach and were rewarded with a parking ticket! Ugh.
We headed downtown again ready to park and walk Museum Mile. Parking in the old cities has proven to be more challenging that backing Suni into an RV spot! The parking garages have 7 feet of clearance, not enough for us, and the lots are not built for our massive truck. We finally found a spot on the street with a parking meter that would fit us. We headed for the Charleston museum which was the start of museum mile. We followed our map as we walked through the very busy historic district reading about all of the old buildings and famous restaurants. We wandered through the city market place with the thousands of Carnival Cruisers trying to decide if we should spend $50 for a little handmade sweetgrass basket to hold our keys. We couldn't do it even though they are really pretty. We then walked down the waterfront park through Rainbow Row where the old historic homes are painted pretty colors and to Battery Park. It was really fun peering into the walled gardens and alleyways. It is a great city and much older than Savannah.
Beautiful alley
Rainbow row
Historic home with the famous palmetto
The next day is dedicated to plantation row. We decided on the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens which is the oldest and it turns out most popular plantation in the area. After paying $15 each for the privilege of walking the gardens you enter $8 hell where you can pay individually to tour the house, the slave cabins, the nature trail, the swamp, the petting zoo etc. Yikes! We did take the house tour and the slave cabin tour. The house was filled with the family's paintings, ceramics and furniture where generations of the Dayton family had lived until very recently and is still a family home as opposed to museum. The slave cabins were fascinating. They had three generations of cabins with the newest one being lived in until 1991 where the grounds manager raised 15 children! The walls were covered with newspapers to try to insulate against the weather. This family's slaves stayed on after the "war between the states" as paid employees and the descendants still work there. The gardens were beautiful and they are known for the many, many types of Camelia bushes.
Plantation gardens
One of many camellias
Inside of slave cabins
Outside of slave cabins - a duplex no less
One room was all they had
Now for a dog day.... we drove to Edisto beach on Edisto Island and were pleasantly surprised to see they allowed unleashed dogs on the beach for the winter months! Yippee! Calcite and Zoe had a great time chasing seagulls and playing in the crazy surf. It was a blustery day as there was a storm blowing in, but that is perfect for them since it keeps all of those pesky people off the beach. On the way back we stopped at a seafood market to purchase the ingredients for She Crab soup a South Carolina must and at a roadside sweetgrass basket spot where we were able to purchase the perfect key basket for a discounted price because "business bery bery slow, too windy" Yeah for us.
Edisto beach
As predicted the storm blew in and our tour at the Center for the Birds of Prey was cancelled. They told us that the weather was supposed to be perfect on Saturday so we extended our stay. We used the rainy day to get the rest of the ingredients for the She Crab soup. The hardest to find was the crab roe (crab eggs) which is what makes it "she" crab. It was delicious!
Friday we drove out to an area called Patriots Point - home of the USS Yorktown. Wow was it amazing. They have taken the aircraft carrier and turned it into a Naval and Maritime Museum with a special section for a Medal of Honor Museum. This is a fabulous museum dedicated to the many brave women and men that have received the Medal of Honor starting with the Civil War. Very moving. There were six different self-guided tours throughout the ship with displays of the various aircraft flown during all of the wars. We even sat in the cockpit of a TF-9 Cougar, as well as peered into the windows of the Mercury and Apollo 8 space capsules. We spent hours climbing up and down the hallways of this enormous ship. Walking the flight deck gives you a whole new perspective of the difficulty of landing on the deck. So fun. We find ourselves constantly amazed by the blessings of this adventure we are on.
Flight deck
Now for the trip to the Center for the Birds of Prey. For those of you that don't know, we are fascinated by raptors... hawks, falcons, owls etc. This center was a dream come true. We toured the 140 acre center with an amazing variety of birds mostly rehabilitating birds from the area, but also a great selection of raptors from around the world. This is a five-star facility complete with an on-site hospital and huge cages where it is obvious that the birds health and welfare is the primary concern. After the tour they hold a flight demonstration where a few select birds flew right over our heads from perch to perch collecting bits of meat from their trainers. We got to see these birds up close and personal as they demonstrated the different ways the birds fly and hunt. Can I just say it again... amazing.
Red Shouldered Hawk
Ural Owl
Hybrid Falcon
Baby ural owl! Too cute.
Coming soon.... Atlanta, GA and Cherokee, NC
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