Travel Days

Hi.  It's me again...for a brief intermission from my kids' posts to write about our two travel days between Virginia and Florida.  We left Williamsburg on Thursday, June 9th.  On our way, we decided to take a short detour to see Virginia Beach, although we didn't have time to stay and play in the ocean (that came later, at Cocoa Beach in Florida).  But, we did have time to get some ice cream and enjoy the view!

Ice cream in the morning at Virginia Beach!

The rest of the day we spent traveling by car to Charleston, South Carolina.  The road trip itself was really kind of fun, because we were in a part of the country none of us had ever seen before.  Driving through long corridors of trees, being unable to see anything beyond them was certainly new to us desert-dwellers!  And we saw a lot more bodies of water, bridges, boats, etc. than we could ever hope to see in our homeland of the Rocky Mountains.  Additionally, dad had downloaded a few comedy routines from our new favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan, to which we listened as we traveled and thus got lots of giggles out of the deal!  We are blessed to have kids who are generally very pleasant and easy while we travel.  Of course, there was a little bickering here and there, but the mood of the trip was almost always cheerful.

This good-looking guy (driving through NC here) loves driving, and I love him!

We arrived at Charleston late in the evening, checked into our hotel, and went to a quick serve Chinese food place for dinner.  Then it was off to bed, for we had an early morning ahead!

The next day, Friday, June 10th, was tightly choreographed so that we could fit it all in.  We started our day early by driving to buy tickets for the ferry to Fort Sumter, the place where the Civil War began (in fulfillment of Joseph Smith's prophecy)  in 1861 as Confederate forces fired against the U.S. military on federal property, signaling an act of aggression against the United States, South Carolina having seceded from the Union the previous December.  So, it was kind of a big deal!

Anyway, we walked to a nearby convenience store and bought muffins and milk for our breakfast, and then boarded the ferry for the tour.  This was a fun and interesting tour, but unfortunately, it was miserably hot and therefore hard on us physically.  Chase even got woozy enough to feel faint on the ferry back to Charleston.  That humid climate takes some getting used to!  But otherwise it was worth the time we spent to go see it!

This pic was taken at the entrance to the fort after we got off the ferry.

Some of the replica of cannons we saw throughout the fort.  The big one was designed to send shots farrrrrrrr out across the water, 

I just adore this lovely little lady, smiling in spite of the miserable heat!

Another day, another monument!  I began to feel that we could have spent months visiting places like this and never see them all.  We have so much rich history in our great country!

As soon as we finished this tour, we hit the road again to drive the rest of the way to Orlando.  It was a long but once again pleasant drive, but we were excited to finally be on our way to the last leg of our adventure and the fun of the beach and theme parks!