Fort Sumter

Yesterday we toured Fort Sumter near Charleston.  For those of you that aren’t into American history, this is where the civil war began.  The fort is on an island – I’m sure in the summer it’s a beautiful boat ride out, but in January it’s pretty cold with the wind.  We were happy the sun was shining though..


Approaching the fort in 2011, is quite a different site than in 1861.  Today it doesn’t look like much, but the walls were much higher (50 feet) when it was active.  But, the civil war left it in ruins and it was never fully rebuilt.

However, once inside you get a feel for what the construction was like. A park ranger gave a very interesting talk on the fort and it’s significance.   We then had time to tour the grounds and museum on our own. 

In the evening, we went on a pub tour.  A tour guide took us to four different pubs downtown, spending about 30 minutes at each one getting a history lesson on Charleston.  It was an interesting way to learn about the city.  But, it was Friday night and several pubs had bands, so in some places it made it hard to hear.  I think I would have preferred a walking tour during the day, but since it was cold, the pub tour gave us a chance to learn and be warm…plus have a couple beers.

Leaving our home away from home

I've decided it doesn't matter how long you stay at the beach, it's always hard to leave.  When we visit in the fall a week never seems to be long enough, but surely a month is plenty of time, right?  Turns out no...the last day is always filled with regrets.
But, a month is a long time in another way.  Our beach condo did feel like home.  I took a 3 day trip to Aiken to visit my family and it was such a strange feeling to return to the beach condo.  It felt like coming back home.  We know this area of Myrtle Beach so well, all together we've spent almost 7 weeks here over the years.
It funny how we have our homes away from home.  It kind of reminds me of the hotel we stay at in Bozeman, Montana - which over the years we've stayed their about 3 weeks. I loved when we returned to Bozeman our second summer and the front desk staff remembered us!  They wanted to know what we had been up to, where we had gone, what our plans were for that year. 
I sometimes forget how fortune I am to return to these beautiful destinations and to have the opportunity to explore new places, but some how when it's time to leave it's hard to remember that - I'm sad that I have to leave...forgetting that most of my friends and family envy that I am at the beach at all.

 But, this time the sadness of leaving the beach is lessened because we're heading south to Florida.  Snowbird...prepare for flight.

Snowbird!

We decided to spend a month in Myrtle Beach this winter.  We’re back at the same resort we’ve visited twice before in the fall.  We got an ocean front one bedroom condo. It's great to unpack, not get in the car for days at a time, and do some cooking.  Jason bought a cheap table that he’s using as his work station while we’re here.  Hard to work too much when this is your backyard.


It’s been interesting seeing how different the ocean and sky can look each day.


And we’ve gotten two winter storms while we’ve been here!  No accumulation either time, but we certainly weren’t expecting this kind of winter weather.  It’s been unseasonably cold the entire month…

Christmas

We spent Christmas with my family in South Carolina.  My mom set up quite a spread on Christmas Eve.

And we had a nice dinner with my brother, his wife, their five kids, and some of my sister-in-laws family. With fourteen of us it was bit crowded – first time the dining room had two tables in it!

Things were a little chaotic, so we didn’t get around to taking a family picture…it was fun to spend time with my family though.   It was fun to see all the kids opening their presents and just to have time to spend with them.  I never seem to take many pictures while I’m there.  I see them so rarely, that I get too focused on them and forget about getting the camera out.

New Orleans

After visiting with Jason’s mother and brother for several days in Austin, we headed over to New Orleans.  We’ve both been several times before, but not since Katrina.  French Quarter hadn’t changed much.

The famous Jackson Square.

It was our worst day, weather wise – cold & rainy, but some coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde helped.

No crowds on Bourbon Street – infact street performers were even set up.

Love all the balconies and just wandering around town – so nice without the crowds!

And, you have to have a hurricane..

We also did a walking tour of the Garden District – we learned a lot about the history.  I love those kinds of tours. 

Big Bend National Park

After a long drive, we arrived at our “luxurious” accommodations in west Texas.  We were really in the middle of no where!

It was a short drive to Big Bend National Park – my second visit, Jason’s first.

Perfect weather for hiking!

 

We hiked to “The Window”.  Erin – do you remember this one? It’s near the group camp.

That’s a big drop off – the rock was super smooth from the seasonal water flow – we were too scared to go out much further.

On our second day, we hiked in a canyon carved out by the Rio Grande.  We had wanted to canoe, but the water level was too low.

Jason took these cool pictures – you can’t tell what’s real and what’s a reflection in the water.

Here’s another shot to give you a better understanding of the above picture.

Random stops along the way

Today on our drive towards Big Bend NP, we had three stops.

First, the Meteor Crater east of Flagstaff.  This crater was caused by a meteor impact 50,000 years ago.  It’s hard to get a concept of the size in a picture, but the crater is a mile across and 700ft deep.

A few hours down the road was the Petrified Forest National Park.  The trees are 250 million years old!!

 

And then our last touristy stop for the day was the Very Large Array.  There are twenty-seven radio antennas that work together to explore far stretches of the universe.