Charleston, SC & Charlotte, NC. February 18 – 23, 2017.

This is a family get-together.  With four young (grand)children, it made most sense for us to go to some place nearby so we don’t end up flying many hours to a location just to spend most of the time in a hotel/apartment.

The choice of Charleston was partly triggered by Jess’s having to attend a teacher’s conference here.  Anne and I visited Charleston in 2011, and liked it.  Anne and I also plan to go to Charlotte – a city we never visited - for a day afterwards.

February 18, Saturday.  Our flight UA4841 (a regional flight) was a bit chaotic.  Early this morning we got a text from UA saying that our 6:30 pm flight would be delayed by an hour due to “operational difficulties.”  We were okay with that, since we could plan our day accordingly.  Throughout the afternoon, however, both Anne and I got multiple messages revising the time of departure.  The most disturbing one was the one Anne got as we were checking our car into the parking lot; it was about 6 pm, and said boarding was going to be at the original time of 6:29 pm!

When it finally took off, it was about 8:15 pm.  Not that late by what we went through just a few days ago, yet a lot more unsettling.  The flight was full, in fact someone was offered $800 to relinquish her seat, but was overall uneventful.  We got in at about 10 pm, checked out an Enterprise car (booked via Costco Travel) and drove the short 10 miles or so to the Airbnb unit we would be staying in.

Accommodations: Unit C, 39 Spring Street, Charleston.  (4 nights.)

February 19, Sunday.  I slept in late, and when I went over to Ellie’s apartment (we are renting two 3-bedroom apartments for the trip) all the grandkids came to greet me, starting with Harrison; that was heart-warming.  Joe wanted to take his kids to the Charleston Aquarium, the rest of us opted to walk down to Marion Square and see this wildlife exhibit.  We ended up buying lunch at the fair, I had basically pork rinds as the meal given my need to cut down on carbohydrates.  In the afternoon both children and their families went about different things.  Anne and I took the free shuttle to the Waterfront Park, walked a bit, and then headed back to the apartment.

 During our visit to Marion Park there was a wildlife exhibits with raptors and snakes on display.  The raptor show was well-attended.

Three eagles on the same perch.

Water fountain in the Waterfront Park.

Dinner was at the Oyster House along Market Street.  Jess (who is attending a conference near the airport) and her colleague Christina joined us for dinner.  The food was good – I had the Fried Seafood Platter and the She Crab Soup.  Anne and I again took the shuttle home.  Jess and Christina were still there: I ended up driving them back to the Airport Embassy Suites.

February 20, Monday.  I again stayed home in the morning.  When the children were taking a bath in the second floor bathtub, they discovered there was a hole in it that caused a rather bad water leak problem (for this recently renovated home.)  Anne brought back some food bought at this small place called “Martha Sue.”  It was supposed to be native fare; okay, but everything was fried or heavy with butter and salt.  (And probably honey in the case of the beans.)

After lunch we drove to Folly Beach to meet up with the other folks.  Since we had three cars, we all made different dinner plans.  Joe and Ellie ended up eating at the same restaurant.  Anne and I ate at Hominy Grill.  Interesting concept (for people not familiar with regional food) but not particularly memorable – except for how salty the dishes were.

 These glebes were swimming around Folly Beach.  Not sure what the specific species is.

 The common grackle is a rather fearless bird.  Quite a few of them around, not quite at the Hitchcock level, fortunately.

 Anne and I walked to the Eastern tip of Folly Island where we could see this lightouse on Morris Island.

 Dinner at Hominy Grill was a bit disappointing.  I had the salmon with green beans and kale.

Anne had the shrimp etouffee.

February 21, Tuesday.  Morning was spent touring USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that saw a lot of action during WWII.  It is always sobering to visit places where so many made the ultimate sacrifice to maintain freedom in the world.  The young children understood none of this, and Emmie was old enough to ask some questions about wars and fights.  Not sure how much innocent kids at their age should know about the dark side of humanity.

Yorktown’s deck looked much smaller (shorter) than I expected, and propeller planes could take off and jets could land on such a short runway.  A search of the web returns a length of 266 meters for the Yorktown and around 330 meters for the latest carriers.  Disney Wonder, which we were on recently, measures 300 meters, and it is a short cruise ship.  Still, being at the helm and docking deck made me marvel at how people could dock these behemoths.

 I was the one taking this family photograph on the deck of USS Yorktown.

 The deck of the aircraft carrier is quite short at 873'.  It is amazing and humbling that people are willing to serve in such dangerous environment.

(Probably) a juvenile blue heron hunting for food in the stream.  It was quite successful.

Lunch was with Ellie and family at the Fish House close by.  Food here was a bit on the expensive side, but quite decent.

Anne and I then took a look at the inside of the submarine USS Clagmore.  If serving on an aircraft carrier is tough, it is nothing compared with being inside this submarine.  I can’t stay in an inside cabin while on a cruise, and submariners sometimes have no contact with the outside.

Anne and I also walked around the Charleston Marina boardwalk a little.  Looks like a great place to keep a boat.

Many of us – myself included – took a nap in the afternoon.

Anne and I had an early dinner with the grandchildren on the dishes (fried food and pasta) Joe and Kuau brought back.  After the kids were asleep (or settled in the case of Emmie), the two young couples went out for dinner together; Anne and I stayed behind to watch the kids.

February 22, Wednesday.  Ellie and Kuau were the first to leave, at around 9 am, so they could catch the 11:15 am flight home.  We thought they were going to be early, but didn’t realize it would be that early: departure was delayed until after 3 pm.  Ellie did tell us the kids did okay, all things considered.

Joe Jr then left to head out to Charlotte.  Jess’s sister has lived here since she graduated from college, and she is expecting in April.  Anne and I were the last to leave.

We first stopped by the Santee Wildlife Refuge and walked about 1 mile on one of the many trails.  The ranger told us that there was an Eco-tour run out of Santee State Park.  We got to the dock at about 1 pm, after stopping for lunch at Wendy’s.  The tour was two hours long, and (not to sound snobbish) was a beginner’s tours.  We did see ospreys, bald eagles, commorants, ahingas, coots, and many turtles.  The eaglets have fetched, and the ospreys were just starting to show up.

 Hiking trail in Santee Wildlife Refuge.

 Fish Eagle Tours runs a tour of Lake Marion, formed by damming the Santee River.  We were greeted by the osprey near the dock.

 Some osprey nests measure several feet across and weight a few hundred pounds.

 An ahinga.

Coots at a distance.

Turtles are plentiful in Lake Marion.

The Captain suggested that we try Santee Seafood, which we dutifully did.  At 3:30 pm!  We order a fried seafood special to share.

It was about 7 pm that we checked into the Embassy Suites that Joe Jr booked for us.  Having eaten a heavy “snack” earlier, we went to McDonald’s for dinner after checking in.  Happy to see Emmie and DN again.

Accommodation.  Embassy Suites, 4800 Tryon Blvd, Charlotte.  (1 night.)

February 23, Thursday.  When I went down to the Embassy Suites atrium for breakfast, Emmie and DN were about done.  Joe and Jess then went off to the Discovery Place Kids with the children, and to meet Priscilla, Jess’s sister. Anne and I drove to Romare Bearden Park, a nice quiet place in the middle of the city.  We then went into the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.  It is a small institution, and had on display 45 paintings by Alberto Giacometti, and other works by such artists as Joan Miro.  A modern art aficionado probably could spend a lot of time on each of the works, for us about an hour was enough.  There are a few others museums in the compact downtown area (Wells Fargo, Mint, and African-American Arts & Culture are what I remember) but we didn’t visit any of them.  Charlotte is where many banks have their operations, and I do send many credit card payments to that city.

 Bechtler Musem of Modern Art.

 On exhibit were 45 drawing made by Alberto Giacometti.  The "man on horse" painting above was on display.

 Perspective changes, but is this art?  In any case, it reminds me of this sculpture of a house with a similar idea.

We didn't have time to explore other museums in the city.  This impressive building is the Gantt Center for African-American Art.

Joe Jr asked us to have lunch at the US National Whitewater Center, about 10 miles west of town.  They serve burgers and salads with fancy names, not too expensive thought.  The excitement was DN for no reason threw up quite a bit of stuff; he seemed fine afterwards.

Anne and I then stopped by the Billy Graham Library and went through the Journey of Faith display that talked about Graham’s life and ministry.

It was then time to head back to the airport.  Our flight departure was delayed by about an hour (being held by traffic control) but we got back to NJ just about on schedule.  We were home around 10 pm.