Winter is Relative

The locals down here think it is winter. Does the above picture look like winter to you? I guess winter is a relative term, depending on where in the country you live. You can definitely tell the tourists down here, we are the ones not all bundled up in coats! Anyway, the above is what I see each morning as I walk out of the hotel. Matt arrived around 6:30 last night. He brought his new GPS, and printed directions from mapquest to make the 10 mile 2 turn treck from the airport. Bless his heart, he got lost and called me for directions!! You gotta love it! He arrived hungry, and I had heard great things about an Italian restaurant on the island that was great. We checked it out, and I guess I'm to accustomed to Fazoli's to appreciate good Italian Fettucini. We could have eaten at Fazoli's 6 times for the price to! Oh well, at least the company was good.

We had a great day today. We woke up extra early to head to the beach to watch the sunrise. Once we got downstairs and realized it was raining, we weren't in such a hurry, so we sat and got a history lesson from the hotel shuttle driver. He is an elderly man that reminds me a little of Grandpa Beer, and a little of Pastor Erman. He told us everything to see and do, and it was very fun talking to him. We headed to Sullivan Island and found our way to the ocean. Oh how I love the ocean. The sound, the smells, the sight, it is awesome everytime! We walked for awhile, and even picked up some seashells. After that, we made our way across an amazing bridge to downtown Charleston, and had breakfast at a great local cafe. We shopped at the old slave market, which really reminded me of Pikes Market in Seattle. We watched older african-american women weaving sea grass baskets, and that was very cool. Then we took an hour carriage ride around the historic district. We had the best tour guide. He was very informative and kept us laughing the whole time. We headed down to Waterfront Park to get a good view of the new Cooper River bridge, and instead were treated to an awesome surprise!


Yes, those fins belong to dolphins!! There were several of them, and they followed a school of fish into the harbor as the tide was coming in. I guess it is not a very common sight, but we watched them for over 1/2 an hour. We also watched pelicans diving for fish, and some other large birds, which we have yet to name. Despite the cloudy day, it was beautiful down there! We left downtown, and on the way back to the hotel, stopped at the downtown Charleston Quilt Store. It was listed in the top 10 of the country, so I really wanted to see it. It was very nice, but much smaller than I expected. It was fun to see anyway.


This city really has a southern feel, and the architecture really reflects that. A lot of trees have some kind of spanish moss growing on them and it looks really cool. Many of the old houses in the historic distric had the 2 circular staircases going up to the front door like you see in the old movies. I took a lot more pictures and hope to get them posted in a couple of days. One more day of sight seeing and Matt will head home on Monday morning, when I head back to training.

After a long day, we are relaxing in our hotel room enjoying the Packer game. GO PACKERS!! Remember, you can click on any picture to get a bigger view!