Charleston, SC—–again

On our first trip to Charleston 3 weeks ago we got this walking tour book and were looking forward to exploring much of the city by foot.

Due to bad weather our visit was cut short by 1 day.  We did not get to explore the old residential area south of Broad Street so we detoured by Charleston for two nights and one day, allowing us to walk around this old residential area of town.   It was a wonderful day.  We started at White Point Gardens.  This is actually a large beautiful park on the southern point of the city.  It has this name because it was at one time covered in oyster shells and looked white.

This is a view of Fort Sumter from White Point Park

We made our way up the East side of the city on East Battery Street.  A nice lady took our picture there.

Many of these houses were built as early as 1760!!   Many have beautiful gardens in their side yards.

Beautiful window boxes are common.

I learned why window boxes come into popularity.   Due to all of the horse manure in the streets and also people emptying the chamber pots out of the second and third story bedroom windows onto the street, they would use flower boxes to try to freshen up the terrible odors coming from the street through the open windows.   Gotta love the convenience of indoor plumbing.

This is the most popular way to tour the city.

We also saw the campus of the Citadel.  The parade ground is pretty impressive.  All of the campus buildings are designed to look like fortresses and all painted the exact same color—-including the football stadium.

Go bulldogs!  I never knew that the Citadel’s mascot was a bulldog.

May 2015 — Fort Clinch State Park

As we left florida to travel north up the east coast, we stopped at Fort Clinch State Park.   It is on the northern end of the most northern barrier island of Florida (Amelia Island).

One of the things we love about travel is the opportunity  to explore new places.   This park turned out to be a pleasant surprise.   First of all, it has miles of shaded roads leading from the front of the park to the riverfront and ocean.   Great for walking and bike riding.   Also has miles of trails to hike or bike that we never got to explore.

Fort Clinch is one of the best examples of a Third System Fortification in existence.  This has to do with the way the walls of the fort are constructed.  It has a two wall system—one of masonry and bricks and another of earth.   These type forts were constructed from 1812 until the beginning of the Civil War.  Construction started on Fort Clinch in 1842.  The fort was occupied by confederate troops at the beginning of the war but was abandoned due to a lack of troop availability.   The Union army took over occupation of this fort in 1862 until the end of the war.  It housed about 150 troops.  The purpose of this occupation was to prevent the St Mary’s River port from being used to bring confederate supplies to the nearby railroad.  The fort has been furnished to look like it would have during this union occupation during the civil war.

Troop Barracks

These brick ovens baked over 100 loaves of bread 5 days each week.

Fully functioning blacksmith shop could make or repair almost anything needed

Supply building was stocked with interesting things needed in the fort

Several roofs were designed to collect rain water and there were several underground cisterns that could hold over 1000 gallons of fresh water.   The water was purified by being filtered through lime rock filters before entering the cisterns.  This is the roof of the kitchen and blacksmith building.

Overall, an interesting place!!   Also—a nice shady place to sleep on the river

5-2015 Celia’s 60th Birthday/Family Reunion at Disney

Celia’s wish for a perfect birthday celebration was to have a family reunion!  She picked Disney’s Fort Wilderness so everyone could have their own “space” with lots of things to do for every age nearby.  It turned out to be a really wonderful celebration.   Thanks so much to everyone who came —– you made our sweet MeMa feel very special and loved.  Her heart is overflowing for sure!!!

Charleston, South Carolina

As we headed south to celebrate Celia’s 60th birthday at Disney—we spent several days in Charleston. There was a sweet Canadian geese family living in our campground

One of the most moving places we saw was an old slave market in Charleston. This one was a very active and prominent market that operated from 1850 to 1865.  Literally thousands of slaves were bought and sold here, families split up, women abused——these people were housed and handled like they were in a cattle auction.  Truely a dark time in our nation’s history.

Interesting fact about the cobblestone streets in Charleston.  The stones that were used to build these streets actually were ballast stones that were used in ships from England on their trip from England to Charleston.  The stones were unloaded when the ships were loaded with the exports from Charleston

Another interesting fact was the use of “earthquake bolts.”  Charleston had a severe earthquake in the mid-1880’s.   The surviving buildings were so badly damaged that these bolts were inserted from one side of the building to the opposite side —– going through the floor joists.  These bolts were inserted to stabilize the walls due to the severe structural damage.   The presence of these bolts indicates that the age of the structure is pre-1880’s.

Another very interesting place that we visited was the McLeod plantation.  This was a cotton plantation dating to about 1850.  At this time, 65 or so slaves lived here and 4 family members lived in the main house.  Several of the humble slave houses are still standing.

The family home was built in 1850.

The oak trees lining the drive leading to the home are live oaks, planted in 1850.

This one live oak near the house is estimated to be 1000 years old.

We also toured the Nimitz class WW2 aircraft carrier Yorktown.  It was built in 1942, refurbished twice and last used in the Vietnam war.   It was amazing.  The deck was covered in US Navy planes—–some dating back to WW2 era planes.   Also there is a WW2 battleship and submarine at Charleston that we toured.  You are able to tour all areas of these ships, including the engine rooms, ordinance storage areas, kitchens, crew sleeping quarters.

The ship can be rented out for events.  There was a wedding rehearsal dinner there after our tour.

Cousin Eddie visits Pittsburgh

We started our time in Pittsburgh by staying in front of Milla and Brad’s house for one night

We then moved to Raccoon Creek State Park—just outside the city.   It’s one of the largest state parks in Pennsylvania.

We were surprised to wake up one morning to a thin blanket of snow!

May 3, 2015 Pittsburgh 1/2 Marathon

30,00 participants, 5 bridges, 13.1 miles, beautiful sunshine—-it was a wonderful day to spend walking with my best friend.

d.

One year after Celia suffered a stress fracture in her foot, she completed this 13.1 mile walk with no problems.  We felt so blessed to be healthy enough to do this after thinking it might not be possible again.  Milla ran with a couple of her friends and had her personal best time—-averaging just over 9 minutes per mile.

The Thompson’s next chapter!

Celia and I left home on April 16th for a 4 month trip.  I thought this might be a good way to allow people to keep up with our travels.    We headed north toward Pittsburgh to ultimately do the Pittsburgh 1/2 marathon.  We stopped in Mt. Airy, NC (hometown of Andy Griffith) and got caught in a monsoon of rain for 2 days.  Our little bulldog literally had a river of water running under it.

We did the tourist stuff associated with the Andy Griffith/ Mayberry connection.   Many things about the show were based on actual places and/or people from Mt Airy.