Mon., April 28, we arrived in one of my favorite cities, Charleston, SC. I’m not sure why it’s a favorite….perhaps its history, its Southern charm, its close proximity to beaches, the great people I met during the year we lived there, or all of the above. I had visited the city for a week on business about 10 years before we moved there, and really enjoyed the time when not in classes. Though I hated leaving Houston when we got transferred to Charleston, I fell in love with the place all over again, and was disappointed less than a year later when we had to leave. When we were planning this trip up the East coast, I told Russ we definitely had to make a stop in Charleston and it had to be over a Tues. night so I could visit my old chorus! Well, he did a great job of planning. We not only were going to be there for a week, but we’d be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in Charleston!
The KOA where we stayed is actually located in Ladson, just northwest of Charleston, an easy drive into the city, and it has a raccoon and an alligator in cages on display. The picture here is not one of their “zoo animals” (and it’s not a polar bear though it bears a striking resemblance!) It’s actually a Great Pyrenees dog belonging to the couple in the site across from us! His name’s Bodie, weighs 140 lbs., and was super sweet (though he and Mikey both wanted to be alpha dog when they met!)
Tuesday was quite a busy day. I had made plans to visit my former place of employment, CSS International (http://www.cssus.com/ ), and then have lunch with the girls, Betsy, Kirsten, and Wendi (though Wendi had to beg off at the last minute since she wasn’t feeling well). We ate at a wonderful little place called Laura Albert’s (http://www.lauraalberts.com/
raalberts.com/ ) and had a great time reconnecting. It was also great catching up with my boss, Patrick, and Mike, the CFO. Unfortunately Mike wasn’t in when we returned so I didn’t get a photo with him. I had to rush off since I had the car and we had finally gotten Russ a dentist appt. to have his crown readjusted. We had been trying for several weeks to find a dentist along the road who was on our plan and would take an emergency referral.
The KOA where we stayed is actually located in Ladson, just northwest of Charleston, an easy drive into the city, and it has a raccoon and an alligator in cages on display. The picture here is not one of their “zoo animals” (and it’s not a polar bear though it bears a striking resemblance!) It’s actually a Great Pyrenees dog belonging to the couple in the site across from us! His name’s Bodie, weighs 140 lbs., and was super sweet (though he and Mikey both wanted to be alpha dog when they met!)
Tuesday was quite a busy day. I had made plans to visit my former place of employment, CSS International (http://www.cssus.com/ ), and then have lunch with the girls, Betsy, Kirsten, and Wendi (though Wendi had to beg off at the last minute since she wasn’t feeling well). We ate at a wonderful little place called Laura Albert’s (http://www.lauraalberts.com/
raalberts.com/ ) and had a great time reconnecting. It was also great catching up with my boss, Patrick, and Mike, the CFO. Unfortunately Mike wasn’t in when we returned so I didn’t get a photo with him. I had to rush off since I had the car and we had finally gotten Russ a dentist appt. to have his crown readjusted. We had been trying for several weeks to find a dentist along the road who was on our plan and would take an emergency referral.That night it was time to visit Southern Harmony Chorus and see my old friends! I was so thrilled to see them and sing with them again. Tom Nawroc
ki has been their fabulous director since 2000 and is just an all around great guy (I’m sure he’s blushing if he reads this! Tee hee!). You can find out more about him and the chorus at http://www.southernharmonychorus.com/. Those who had been absent the week before had to sit out to observe and take notes while the rest of the chorus reviewed the previous week’s work. Guests had to sit out, too, so I wasn’t able to get on the risers right away, which was a bummer, but I always enjoy watching and observing directors work with their choruses. (By the way....nice wrist flick, Tom! :-)
ki has been their fabulous director since 2000 and is just an all around great guy (I’m sure he’s blushing if he reads this! Tee hee!). You can find out more about him and the chorus at http://www.southernharmonychorus.com/. Those who had been absent the week before had to sit out to observe and take notes while the rest of the chorus reviewed the previous week’s work. Guests had to sit out, too, so I wasn’t able to get on the risers right away, which was a bummer, but I always enjoy watching and observing directors work with their choruses. (By the way....nice wrist flick, Tom! :-) 
Wednesday was our silver wedding anniversary, and I had a surprise waiting for Russ when he woke up. I had kept a Happy Anniversary banner from a couple years ago, and before arriving in Charleston, I had e-mailed my friend Leah to ask her to pick me up a bag of Hershey’s kisses since Russ is usually with me when shopping. She brought them Tues. night, so when I got back to the RV, since Russ was already in bed, I hung the banner and attached some of the little silver wrapped kisses to the bottom, and also placed
some on his laptop making the number 25. We didn’t have any big plans for the day other than going to dinner that night, which we enjoyed at Garibaldi’s Café known for their seafood and Italian fare. We had never eaten there, but upon arriving downtown we walked around for a bit (we love walking around downtown Charleston), then decided to give Garibaldi’s a try. It definitely did not disappoint, and we had a lovely, leisurely meal complete with a bottle of Merlot. After dinner we drove around the Battery at the very south end of town and always marvel at the beautiful, old historic homes. The stories they must hold! 
Thursday Russ had lunch with a couple former co-workers and that night he caught up with a couple more while I attended a potluck organized by my chorus friends! Sandi and her husband, Sam, hosted the get together at their home, and we had a great time. The little chocolate fountain that could was quite the hit of the evening, mainly because it didn’t seem to want to flow the chocolate so was the source of quite a bit of laughte
r. A few people couldn’t make it so we had no basses, which meant we couldn’t sing that great 4-part harmony, though Leah gave it the old college try on Thank You Dear Lord For Music right before we parted for the evening! 
Charleston has a rich history that dates back to 1670 when settlers established Charles Town Landing, and the city has played many pivotal roles in the course of American history through all the wars. However this trip wasn’t about reliving all that history since we had visited many of those places when we lived here a few years ago. This trip was about reconnecting and visiting with friends. We had told Scott he’d pretty much be on his own for this leg of our journey! But on Friday, while Russ was visiting with some more of his friends (he never wants to take the came
ra so we can get their pictures!), Scott and I visited some of the historical sites in the area.
Our first stop was at the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Pinckney was a principal author and signer of the U.S. Constitution, a four term governor, ambassador to Spain, and was integral in many other levels of government. The original estate was 715 acres, but now only 28 acres remain. The original farmhouse was torn down in the early 1800s, and the present house was built a few years later on the same spot. Extensive excavations have been done on the property revealing a lot of information
of life during those times, of which much is on display.
ra so we can get their pictures!), Scott and I visited some of the historical sites in the area.Our first stop was at the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Pinckney was a principal author and signer of the U.S. Constitution, a four term governor, ambassador to Spain, and was integral in many other levels of government. The original estate was 715 acres, but now only 28 acres remain. The original farmhouse was torn down in the early 1800s, and the present house was built a few years later on the same spot. Extensive excavations have been done on the property revealing a lot of information
of life during those times, of which much is on display. From here we drove out to Sullivan’s Island to visit Fort Moultrie, the only continuously active fort from the Revolutionary War through WWII…171 years of service. The fort was well situated to guard and defend Charleston Harbor. Today, instead of looking like it did at any one period, the fort is a com
posite reflecting the changes that evolved during all those wars.
posite reflecting the changes that evolved during all those wars. After stopping at a local ice cream shop (where a girl with orange hair made Scott a very interesting banana split....she'd obviously never made or had one before!), we headed for Patriot’s Point located in Mt. Pleasant. On the way I thought I’d show Scott the house we had rented while we lived there. It was a 3000 sq. ft. bi-level log cabin set way back off the road with marshland behind it located right in the middle of a typical residential neighborhood. A really cool, great house for us but not everyone’s cup of tea. But lo and behold, when we arrived, all we found was the foundation! Guess the owners decided to tear it down to build something a little more conventional.
Patriot’s Point is home to the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, the Destroyer Laffey, the Coast Guard Cutter Ingram, and the USS Clamagore submarine. Russ and I had toured the Yorktown and the sub when we lived here, but Scott opted not to, deciding to just take pictures from onshore. It is a lot of walking and climbing in narrow spaces and definitely not for the claustrophobic! The Yorktown was a mighty force not only during WWII but also during Vietnam, and also recovered NASA’s Apollo 8 crew in 1968. Patriot’s Point is located on the Cooper River, near the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge, which opened in July 2005 while we lived there. Until very recently it was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Americas, and the day before it officially opened, the city allowed citizens to walk across the bridge. We walked about halfway across and back, and it’s one of our fondest memories just being a part of that history.
Patriot’s Point is home to the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, the Destroyer Laffey, the Coast Guard Cutter Ingram, and the USS Clamagore submarine. Russ and I had toured the Yorktown and the sub when we lived here, but Scott opted not to, deciding to just take pictures from onshore. It is a lot of walking and climbing in narrow spaces and definitely not for the claustrophobic! The Yorktown was a mighty force not only during WWII but also during Vietnam, and also recovered NASA’s Apollo 8 crew in 1968. Patriot’s Point is located on the Cooper River, near the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge, which opened in July 2005 while we lived there. Until very recently it was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Americas, and the day before it officially opened, the city allowed citizens to walk across the bridge. We walked about halfway across and back, and it’s one of our fondest memories just being a part of that history. 
Our last stop was going to be the Ft. Sumter National Monument welcome center downtown. The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, and it remained in Confederate hands for the next 4 years. Located in the middle of Charleston Harbor, a ferry is required to reach it, a 2-1/2 hour roundtrip ride (an hour of that is spent at the fort.) We had decided before we left that we’d forgo that trip and just visit the welcome center, which had a lot of history and artifacts and an outside deck from where you could see the fort in the far distance. As we were leaving, I realized I hadn’t taken the extra keys to the RV and since Russ would be about another hour getting home, Scott and I went for a late lunch at Picadilly's Cafeteria.
Saturday I took the pets to get their 3-year rabies shots, and that afternoon our friend, Patty, came for a visit. She had worked for Russ here and became a good friend. We ordered pizza, drank a couple beers, and had a good, long visit. Sunday was a day of rest and time to get ready to hit the road again. It’s always so good to see your friends, but also kind of sad when you have to leave again.
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