November 27 - South Carolina : We spent the past week in Greenville with Laurie’s sister Ginger and her husband Chuck. Greenville is situated about an hour south of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the mountains and it is very lovely country. On Monday, 11/19, we went to the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, NC taking a walk through the gardens and a nice hike in the woods. Dinner that night was at Mutts BBQ - great BBQ and good old southern cooking.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Mutts BBQ

 On Wednesday we visited the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site in Flat Rock, NC. We learned all about Sandburg and his illustrious career. The home is full of book in every room! His wife raised over 200 goats and we got to visit the goat barns also and take a nice walk up Glassy Mountain.

Thanksgiving was very nice. Chuck baked a 15 pound turkey and everyone else contributed other items to the meal. Quite the feast! Ginger’s family, my mom, and sister from Michigan were all there. Later in the afternoon when our meal had settled, some of us went to Falls Park on the Reedy. - a lovely park in the middle of downtown Greenville.There are lots of paths, waterfalls and bridges along the Reedy River and ruins of old textile mills. They really revitalized the area.

Thanksgiving

Falls Park on the Reedy River

Falls Park on the Reedy

 We also visited the Greenville Zoo, Lake Conestee Nature Park and the Mountain Brook Winery in Tryon, NC. I had my first piece of tomato pie -yum! It was a great visit.

 Sunday we left Greenville and headed east and south to Congaree National Park. It is an old growth floodplain forest with some of the largest trees in the Eastern US. The park has a very nice boardwalk loop. There was minor flooding so much of the forest was flooded so it was very eerie and neat.

 Monday, we moved on to Charleston, SC. We spent several hours visiting Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. The gardens were beautiful with huge live oaks draped with Spanish moss, lovely lakes and camellias blooming everywhere. There is a very interesting Audubon Swamp Garden on the property that we also walked around on a boardwalk. We didn’t see too many birds, but lots of turtles!

 This morning, we walked along the waterfront in downtown Charleston and walked past many beautiful old homes. At noon, we took a boat tour out to Fort Sumpter National Monument where the opening shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12,1861. Afterwards we went to Fort Moultrie National Monument. It was another coastal defense fort that guarded Charleston harbor from 1776 through World War 2.

Charleston Water Front

Fort Sumpter

Cannon at Fort Sumpter

Fort Moultrie

That about brings us up to date!!