Last week we found we had a four-day window on the South Carolina coast that appeared to be showing pleasant weather, sunny and in the high 50's.  Originally, we had planned to visit Panama  City, Florida and leave the dreary gloomy wet weather behind for a few days, walk the beach, and eat seafood.  But many of the rain systems were coming up from the Gulf Coast, over the Florida panhandle, straight to East Tennessee/Western North Carolina.  Cliff is enrolled in continuing education classes for his medical responder so when we found a window of sunny clear weather and no classes, we packed suitcases and headed out route 26 to the South Carolina Coast.  The day before, I had the very important task of researching some restaurants that we might want to try and some sights to see.  I listed about a dozen with various foods from Greek cuisines to Irish Pubs.  At the hotel, any restaurant brochure that included a $5 off coupon was a winner.  We collected sight-seeing brochures and after eating in the Irish Pub the first night (with our $5 off coupon), Cliff programmed the first tourist stop in his TomTom.

 Wish I could bring this place back to Murphy with me.  The pub was laid-back, great food, friendly servers, a comical bar-tender, and the price was right.  Cliff had the Shepard's pie and I ordered corn-beef and cabbage with a nice Cabernet.  Traffic downtown is bumper-to-bumper so once we parked in the garage, we walked everywhere.

Thank goodness for TomTom Smart Girl, TTSG.  She got us to out our destinations with no problems. 

At Boone Plantation we did the mansion tour, Slave Street, and the Gullah presentation.

Three hundred years ago  these trees were strategically planted so that at maturity their branches would form a canopy along the drive to the mansion.

 The heavy tourist season begins in a few weeks when everything is in bloom.  Our timing was perfect for us because our tour of the house had a small group and was more enjoyable.

Slave Street contained nine small brick slave structures that housed as many as 16 people at a time.  They ate, slept, and lived in these tight quarters.

The woman who made these crafts was sitting in the slave house designing a basket.  She told me the more intricate ones take about three weeks to complete.  These baskets on the table cost anywhere from $100-$375.  Her work was perfect.  She said many of the women have done this craft since childhood.

Each slave house related some slave ways of life and their daily activities.

The Gullah are descendants of enslaved Africans.  They are a unique culture with a language of their own.  She sang songs and invited participants to help her act out  Bre'r Rabbit and told us stories of her childhood.

I found this an architecturally fascinating bridge.  From a distance it appeared to be strung with "delicate" cables, but as we approached and drove over, the magnitude of the cables became apparent.

We can understand why so many people have chosen to live in this area.  Charleston has everything you could ask for.  The weather is beautiful.  It has enough restaurants that you could eat out daily and still not hit everyone.  People of all ages walk, run, and enjoy the outside.  It's a nice place to visit, but too crowded for us.  We were told that many Floridians are now moving to Charleston.

Patriots Point

Aircraft carrier Yorktown at Patriot's Point

Windy day.  We walked all over the carrier on every floor.  I find the carriers to be awesome because pilots had to land their planes on the deck and be stopped by huge cables without going off the other side into the ocean. Then the planes were quickly moved and the wings folded up so they could fit them all in a designated area.

The bridge seen from the carrier deck.

Cliff toured the submarine as I stayed on the pier and waited.  Too claustrophobic for me.
It was a nice get away for a few days.  We're glad we went and will visit Charleston again someday.  After bumper-to-bumper traffic and traffic lights every 50 feet, we were glad to see our Welcome to Murphy sign again where rush-hour is sometimes a dozen cars at once on the four-lane.