Back in July, Terry and I were able to go away for a few days. Terry's mom was visiting and she generously took care of the kids while we went to Charleston, S.C. for 4 days. We had a very nice break and a great time. This is a city tour we took on a mule drawn wagon. It was really interesting learning about the city.
Charleston is supposed to be a very haunted city. This is a view of an alley where a terrible duel was fought over a woman. The duel was fought with pistols and both men died. The woman is said to have died shortly after and eternally haunts the alley because of her feelings of guilt.
The yellow brick building was the main auction house for slaves in Charleston. Charleston was the largest trading center in the world for slaves.
This park is equipped with civil war cannons still in position and ready for another attack from the Yankees.
We took a night time ghost tour. One of the stops was this cemetery. Of course we saw it at night when it was much creepier.
I like this house because it is so narrow and deep. What is significant, and difficult to see in the picture, is that the house is built on a bit of a slant. Rather than level the house, it was built with the windows and doors skewed to fit the slope of the lot.
We visited 2 plantations while in Charleston. This is the Drayton Place family home. The Draytons were extremely wealthy. They owned 30 plantations in Charleston. All that remains of their plantation is the main house. They were luckily spared attack by the Yankees during the Civil War. But what remains is an amazing glimpse of a southern mansion. The house was built in the 1700's and there have been no updates to it at all. There isn't running water or electricity and some members of the family occupied it into the 1960's.
This is an amazing plaster decoration on the ceiling, very well preserved and beautiful.
I am standing on the upper balcony on the front of the house. You can see the approach from the driveway. I look very frizzy. I can't imagine being a woman living in the home wearing the huge skirts and petticoats of the time. The temps were over 100 every day. The humidity was 96% every day.
The circular mound behind me on the lawn was simply a landscape decoration. There was a curving driveway originally in front of the house. Guests would see this mound as they arrived.
These are some interior shots of the home. There is much ornate detail in the house. The paint is original. You can see how thick the walls are. It helped with the heat, but not much.
There were 2 staircases across from each other. Very elegant for the time. I was a sweaty mess.
Here are a couple nice shots of the house.
This Live Oak is estimated to be over 150 years old, and it is perfectly healthy.
These are photos of another plantation we visited. The main home was completely destroyed in the war of northern aggression. A few out buildings survived and the grounds are beautiful. You can see a couple of the rice fields here. Rice was a very big part of the southern economy in Charleston.
Another enormous Live Oak, still alive.
This fountain was outside our hotel. In the background is a big pier right on the edge of the water.
We are on the edge of America. Pretty cool trip.
Ah Halloween, we love it so. Meghan and Andrew were all decked out to trick or treat. I dressed Sadie up as a butterfly. She was fine as long as we didn't let her try and roll, which she did if we dropped her leash. She even has antennas. The kids were very excited and didn't want to wait for dark.
I made cupcakes for Meghan's class party. They turned out great! The kids really liked them.
Glacier Ridge elementary always has a costume parade. I got Andrew's picture, but Meghan walked by too fast. The teachers for gym, art, music and library always get together and do a theme costume. This year they were robots. They had things on them that had working lights. It was very cool.
