Last couple of weeks

(Just a quick comment on the lag in my posts... I have been so busy with church and with the boys that I am so far behind on my blogging. We have been up to some pretty fun stuff - Sea World, swimming, visiting family, swimming, playing hard and I went on a trip with my brother back in July that I have yet to talk about, and having a great time.)
So I guess I will start off with the trip to Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. It was a wonderful trip for me (and now it seems so long ago.) My brother gave me a trip for my birthday - just me. I left all of my boys for 5 days and went to work with my brother who was on business out there (he is a baseball scout). It was a great trip - I got to relax and just hang out.
We started the trip in Savannah. It is a beautiful little city (the historic part). I don't think that I have ever seen so much spanish moss in my life it really does hang from every tree (except for one place which was on a square in town, they say that the woman who was hung there does not let the spanish moss grow.) So now to answer all the questions "what did she just say?" My brother and I went on a tour of Savannah during the day that talked about all of the rich history that the city has. We were lucky to get a fantastic tour guide who was totally animated and gave great details. Then after work (the game we went to had two rain delays and was probably the longest and most boring game I have ever been to, luckily my brother agreed) we went on a evening "ghost tour" of the city. I am glad we went on the first tour because we knew a lot of the history and then the ghost tour was just an added bonus. - Very interesting and very weird and unexplainable things happen around there. Lots of history.


The next day we got up and went out to a light house. It was a beautiful day clear skies and a very tall light house (I know they need to be tall, but did I say that I am afraid of heights! I am so glad I did not have the children or that would have made me so extremely nervous.)My brother got a kick out of the fact that I was hugging the wall (like that would help if the metal grate below my feet were to give way, I know there is no logic involved when you are afraid of heights.) It felt like I was up there for a long time, but probably only about 5 minutes. We made our way down the spiral stair case laughing almost the whole way of how irrational I was about how I felt about heights. Oh I was so happy to be back down on the ground.
We decided to walk over to Fort Pulaski National Monument so that my legs would start to feel better again (my legs just ache when I get too high.)
Did I tell you we were on a history trip?
Did you know that...The Battle for Fort Pulaski in April 1862 marked a turning point in military history. It featured the first significant use of rifled cannons in combat. These accurate, long-range weapons shattered Fort Pulaski's walls from over a mile away. After thirty-hours of bombardment, the fort surrendered. The battle surprised military strategists worldwide, signaling the end of masonry fortifications.
A couple of the different sections of the fort are actually homes and now there is one up for sale.




After that fun adventure we got in the truck and drove to Charleston. Another nice little city. We had a great time here watching some really good games. The stadium announcer was full of life and fun to listen to. I realized announcers are really important to a field because they can make the atmosphere come alive for a game (the Charleston River Dogs are an A ball team affiliated with the New York Yankies.)
We had a good time walking around Charleston. We went down to Market Street and just enjoyed seeing the locals sell there wares. Those sea grass baskets were so nice to look at and I thought I might get one, but they were so expensive. I over heard a lady ask how much a small basket was (about the size of a small mixing bowl) and the response was $1200.00 - thats right 1200 American Dollars. I just gasped and walked away to find Keith.
There was also all kinds of shops (some chains, but many were local stores) along Market Street so we had a good time shopping as well.
We got up the next morning and took a ferry ride out to Fort Sumter National Monument. It was amazing to see where the Civil War Started. Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.
It was amazing to be down next to the cannons and to see how the fort looked right before the war began and then how it looked after the battles and the fighting to regain it by the Union forces. This is Keith standing just behind one of the cannons -they were huge!


We also went to Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum which is home to the World's largest maritime museum. Four large boats that you can tour.
The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) was really neat to be on and to see an example of the plane (TBM Avenger)that my paternal grandfather flew in WWII. This ship was massive but it had to be to hold all that it did (I think something like 2500+ crew not to mention all the other gear)and to be able to land aircrafts on its decks. WOW no wonder these types of ships were called modern marvels in there time.
The Destroyer- USS Laffey (DD-724) is the only surviving American destroyer from WWII to have served in both the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns, its nick name is "the Ship that would not Die." This was also interesting because my maternal grandfather also served on a destroyer.
The Submarine- USS Clamagore (SS 343) was, in its day, a technological marvel capable of reaching depths of nearly 400 feet. I can not see how 80 men give or take could fit into that small submarine. It was very tight and hot and I can't imagine how it would feel to stay under water for months at a time on that boat.
The Treasury Class Coast Guard Cutter Ingham was interesting because it was the oldest ship there and that it had run drug (opium) smuggling captures in the 1930's.

All in all Keith and I had a great time together. We went to see many new places, enjoy the food and just relax (for me anyhow.) I am so grateful for this birthday present and happy that we were able to have such a fun history trip and watch baseball all on the same vacation.