Charleston

So Mom is slow to post, but two weeks ago she took a trip with Grandpa to visit Aunt Sarah in Charleston. While they were there, they decided, along with 40,000 of their closest friends to run over a big bridge. It's called the Cooper River Bridge Run. So, here's a picture of the bridge from downtown.

If it looks big, that's because it is big, but when you're trying not to trip over anyone's feet while contininuing forward, your really don't notice how much of a hill it is.

Sorry, these pictures are in no particular order. Mom's a lazy bum and didn't want to think too much about the order of things tonight.

This is an example of a sweet grass basket made by the Gullah ladies. The Gullah ladies are the African-American descendants of slaves living in South Carolina. They are the ones that sound like they have very poor verbal skills as they adapted a language all their own for ease of understanding after arriving in America.

While in South Carolina, Mom visited a plantation. This is an actual slave home in one of the only surviving slave streets in America. This home was used by share croppers until the 1940's. There were nine remaining homes on this particular plantation.

This is the current plantation home. It is the third on this property. It really wasn't quite as exciting as we had hoped as it was built in the '30's.

This, however, was kind of fun. It was a big tree with a hollow spot in the trunk. Aunt Sarah climbed inside. Notice her spiffy uniform. She's a cadet at the Citadel. That uniform got her 6 free chocolate bars and several comments while we were out and about. Sarah hung out all weekend and enjoyed real food, but was too much a bum to get out of bed and run the bridge.

This is a real pig that stands guard at the home of the owners of the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain. Applarently at some point in time they actually kept live pigs on their lawn.

Just a fun house on the battery along the river. Charleston is a very historic downtown.

Another view of the brige.

Another historic house. I believe this one belonged to a doctor and is believed to be haunted. The porch roof must not be painted haint blue.

Grandpa enjoying his whole fish. It still had it's head.

Cerviche.

This is Mike Company on parade. Almost every Friday afternoon at the Citadel, the cadets march in formation across this field at the center of campus. This is Aunt Sarah's company. She's not marching because the athletes have practice in the afternoon and she was out running.

This is how big the parade is.

This is the band. Mom wants to know at what point in ones life does one decide to take up playing the bagpipes.

And don't ever say we never told you how much we love you.