On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we drove south from Columbia to Charleston, South Carolina. It was unbelievable the number of Florida cars we saw heading south. After counting for many miles, there were approx 4 Florida cars for every non-Florida car. The traffic southbound was heavy but running at speed. On the northbound side, there were a few accidents that caused some delays. I was glad to be heading south.

Anyhow, we arrived at the Edisto Beach State Park campground on Edisto Island. It was just south of Charleston. Our campsite was just 50 yards from the Atlantic Ocean. Falling asleep listening to the ocean was kinda nice. Our first day was very relaxing. After school we went out on the ocean and looked for sea shells. There wasn't much to choose from on the beach because just about everybody walks the beach looking for shells. However, when we reached the rock walls that from the dunes into the ocean that was another story. Not many climb the rocks looking for shells. We found some nice ones stuck between the rocks. The largest was a conch shell, those spiraling type shells that are always the hardest to get. The large end was about 7-8 inches in diameter and it wasn't pitted or damaged in any way. We also found several more conch shells that were about 3-4 inches in diameter. After looking for shells, the boys and I stayed on the beach building sand castles. We had so much fun, we skipped lunch and played all the way until dinner time.



Yesterday we drove up into Charleston. The city of Charleston is one of the earliest in the south. Much of the architecture still retained its historical look. At first we were going to take a ferry over to Ft. Sumter, but the weather wasn't cooperating. So we decided to stay in the city. Because there was so much to see and I wanted to learn more about the history, I decided it would be fun to take a carriage ride tour throughout Charleston. The carriage ride was 90 minutes long. Our tour guide gave us a good lesson on the history of Charleston and the people who lived there. He also told us about how the city was almost destroyed by an earthquake in the 1800's and Hurricane Hugo in the 1980's. The only downside of the carriage tour was that it was hard to get good photos from the carriage.

After the carriage ride, we decided to go up to the marina where the navy had several ships docked for touring. The first one we boarded was the U.S.S. Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier. It was huge compared to the destroyer escort we saw in NY. They had several planes in the hanger and even more up on the flight deck. This carrier was so large it had a crew of over 3800 sailors and pilots when in full operation. After the U.S.S. Yorktown, we boarded the U.S.S. Clamagore which was right next to it. The U.S.S. Clamagore was a diesel submarine built in April 1945, but wasn't in service long enough to see any combat during WWII. It was very small inside. The passageways felt like we were on a McDonalds playground. There were also several other ships there, but we didn't have time to see those.



That was all for South Carolina. I hope you're enjoying our trip so far. Please leave a message in the forums. We'd love to hear from you. Today we're heading down into Georgia. I'll see you back here in a few days.

Mark

building (and destroying) sand castles









ships and planes

















sunrises on the beach