Charleston Trip Part 1: Sullivans Island

Several weeks ago Jim's mom was here to visit. And we decided that instead of sitting around Myrtle Beach we would explore Charleston for one busy and long day.

Jim's mom had been to Charleston before in the past so we decided to check out some other outlying areas that were points of interest. We drove down to the Isle of Palms past all the big and beautiful houses. And watched some dolphins swimming in the water. (If you look close they were in the middle of the right side of this picture just below the waves peaking).

Then we checked out Fort Moultrie. Jim and I are both kind of history nerds and enjoyed walking around the fort... They also have a great museum across the street with displays and a gift shop.

The majority of the construction of this fort was under ground...

And it was very broken up into different sections.

With lots of tiny hallways and passages and narrow stairways. Not exactly what we had expected.

The above stairway led to a recreation of what the fort looked like back in the day.

From much of the outside you could see across the water to Fort Sumter.

I think Jim mostly enjoyed the large guns and cannons.

The tunnel to the outside with "hidden" openings inside so that they could bombard any intruders from the sides.

Another family was nice enough to take a group picture for us.

I was in love with the architecture, the great doors and winding corridors, the amazing use of brick; there were even some rooms off of rooms that seemed secretive.

While in the museum/gift shop I fount this Passport to National Parks

All the National Park sites have cancellation stamps you can get in your book as you visit each place and corresponding sections with some information about them as well.... of course I was sold. (The book was like $8 and the stamps are free when you visit the NPS sites.)

The book also came with a map of the USA to show where these sites are located.....

If you look here you will notice there are just a few in the Washington D.C. Area (the long list below Tucker's paw, whenever you lay paper out on the floor he wants to lay in the middle of it... he does it with newspapers and wrapping paper as well). I am excited that we will be getting a lot more stamps while in D.C.

To Be Continued.....