Charleston and flying

Sarge was having a high flying adventure in my dreams this morning.  I don’t know what we were in or where we were, but Sarge was busy doing some fancy maneuvering to get away from someone hot on our tail.  Dick was in the R seat navigating, and I was in the backseat helping to look for our annoying traffic.  (That was where I sat on the flight to/from Charleston, so that part was very accurate.)  We safely landed; Sarge was having a fine time; all was well, and then I woke up.  That Sarge fella sure gets around…and always manages to have fun.

Do y’all dream in color?  I always do.  I read somewhere that only about a quarter of the folks dream in color.  Interesting.

So the Griswolds thoroughly enjoyed Charleston and want to go back.  We parked at the Battery and walked toward town, enjoying seeing splendid architecture all along the route.  Many of these homes have three different types of columns on their homes…making use of ionic, Doric and Corinthian styles, one type per level.  Just because they can, I guess.

I happened to look north and spied the most famous smokestack in the world, which we discovered was the Carnival Fantasy docked right there in downtown Charleston.  Folks could just walk off the ship and visit the old slave market (no slaves were SOLD there—it was used by the slaves to sell their wares and is still a neat market today).

 

Vendors sell a variety of items, especially the Sweet Grass baskets that are well known in Charleston.  Beautiful, but pricey.  I managed to resist buying one.  Faith found some interesting gift items, and Dick bought a new leather wallet to replace the one that went through the washing machine…unsuccessfully.

A visit to Charleston isn’t complete without a carriage ride.  We learned lots of history from our (retired teacher) guide, and saw many beautiful buildings with all manner of architectural details. We saw lots of gas lights still functioning with gas.  Many of them have been converted to electric lights, but not all.

 

 

And of course the very expensive Rainbow Row homes are a must see…

 

 

 

Did you know that Charleston suffered a serious earthquake?  Many buildings had to have earthquake cables installed to stabilize the structure.  Those end caps are decorative on this building…some are left plain ole end caps…but there is a cable  that goes from wall to wall with a turn buckle inside to tighten it.  A few buildings just run the cables outside, which isn’t quite so attractive.

And ole Dan did a fine job of pulling us all around downtown:

Lunch followed, with a coloring contest between Dick and Haley, and even a few games of tic tac toe.  Both children were good sports.

 

 

 

And we had to at least go SEE the beach and let Haley get her feet wet and collect a few shells.  There weren’t many folks out actually IN the water.  Even Charleston gets chilly in late November.

 

 

And then we had to go get cleaned up and ready for the party.  More to follow…