Friday, September 16
We went to see the USS Yorktown today because it was late in the day and it is a little removed from most everything else we wanted to see. Cass and I have been on battleships and other navy ships but this is the first air craft carrier I've been on and it is impressive and HUGE.
Moored next to the USS Yorktown, is a sub named the USS Clagamore. It is amazing to see how these sailors lived, really my pictures don't do it justice. And you can see from the outside pictures that it actually lists to one side... I used the iPhone to show how off bubble it is. And you really get the feeling while you're walking around of being off-center. By the end of the walk through, it was really quite disorienting. Imagine being in there for months on end?
Saturday, September 17
We went to see the the Hunley this morning. The museum was incredible with replicas of the submarine. There was even a cutaway one that where you could sit in it and turn the hand crank to turn the propeller that was in a tank of water so you really got the "feel" of what these men did. The facial reconstruction of the crews faces was really beautiful. Seeing the Hunley in the preservation tank was a bit disappointing. I suppose I was expecting more or a better view of the sub. And there was no photography allowed.
In the afternoon we went to the Charleston Marketplace. We learned the history of sea grass baskets. This beautiful black woman shared the history of it coming over with the slaves and how it has passed down through the generations. They are even on display in the Smithsonian. If we could have afforded one, we would have bought one. We had lunch at AW Shucks Seafood Restaurant... YUM!
And at night, we took a Ghost Boat Tour. It went all around the harbor, along the USS Yorktown and under the suspension bridge. It was filled with great stories and sights. The kid that was "narrating" was very funny.
Sunday, September 18
We took the boat ride out to see Fort Sumter. Wow! Cass and I have been to Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach, FL and both forts were built during the same time and were very similar. Fort Clinch is very well preserved having seen virtually no war time activity. Fort Sumter was incredible. I found myself taking photo after photo of the brickwork because it was as if the bricks and mortar were telling the Fort's story. You can see shrapnel marks, bullet marks and cannon ball holes. You are limited to an hour touring the Fort, to the point that Cass and I skipped the Museum to be able to see the entire fort. It was great to see and most of the time I was there, I was thinking how much my Dad would have loved to have seen it.
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