The Cochrane Chronicles: Summer Vacation 2008 ~ Days 2-3

Day 2: Destination... Charleston, SC

The next morning we woke up, said goodbye to Jenny who had to leave for work early, ate a quick breakfast, packed everything up, and got on the road, hoping for a better day of driving as we made our way to Charleston.

We had made reservations at a 3.5 star hotel through hotwire.com (thanks to a great tip from Matt's brother, Stephen!) It was one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in, and it was awesome!... and best of all we got a GREAT DEAL on it! It's called the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, and you can check it out here... along with the pictures I'll be posting. Here's a sneak peek, but look for more pictures later. We were in a Deluxe Double Queen room very similar to the one shown on the website. I'm telling you it was incredible!

When we got to the hotel, it was too early for us to check in, and we wanted to sightsee, so we left our bags at the hotel and drove around the corner to tour the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum. We didn't have time to tour anything but the enormous aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, while we waited for the ferry to leave for Fort Sumter. I guess we'll have to go back to see Destroyer Laffey, Submarine Clagmore, and the Coast Guard Cutter Ingham some other time.

The day was absolutely gorgeous, clear blue sky with a few cirrus clouds and a coolish breeze! We were fine in the sunshine, but on the ferry over to Fort Sumter, we had to go down to the first level where we were a bit more shielded from the wind. Thankfully we had James' jacket with us in the diaper bag, as well as the necessary snacks and juice to keep him happy. (He'd taken a nap in the car on the way to Charleston, but hadn't taken his usual afternoon nap, of course, since we were only going to have Wed. afternoon and Thurs. morning to sightsee in Charleston.) He liked the boat ride alright, but would probably be more impressed in another year or two.

We walked into Fort Sumter and James made a beeline for the stairs inside that took us up on the Battery Isaac Huger. He literally climbed up and down stairs almost the entire time we were at the fort. That was just fine with us, though, because he had spent so much time in the car that day.

After the ferry ride back we drove to the hotel, eager to finally check in to our room. I was amazed at the room when we first saw it... recess lighting, crown molding, fan, huge flat-screen TV, really nice mattresses, his-and-hers robes in the closet, jets in the bathtub, tons of pillows... it really was one of the best rooms I've ever stayed in.

We were all tired, especially James, so we decided to do something we had never experienced before... room service! We ordered from our luxurious room using the cordless phone and while we waited for it to arrive I gave James a bath in our super-fancy tub! No paper cups for him to play with in this bathtub... just glass. So, I used the mineral bath stuff to give him a bubble bath, which amused him long enough to get him clean. He was getting cranky and I didn't blame him because I was hungry and tired, too. (At this point, I knew we'd made the right decision in staying in rather than going out to eat.) Our food finally arrived and James loved eating his yummy grilled cheese sandwich on the bed with his tray from his booster seat on his lap. What a treat!

I figured he'd sleep good that night after such a busy day and no nap, but for some reason he woke up crying in the middle of the night. He did finally go back to sleep and then slept in the next morning a little. While we were packing, he enjoyed watching the Silly Song Countdown on the huge flat-screen TV while eating his Cheerios and apple. He was living the life... and he didn't even know how good he had it! =o)

Here are some more pictures from Day 2:

Fire when ready, James!

James and Daddy on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown.

James and Mommy on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, with the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in the background. It really was a cool bridge (even though it doesn't show in this picture). For more detailed info and a cool description of the bridge click here.

From inside Fort Sumter, looking out toward the ferry, with the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge far in the background.

James eating his grilled cheese on the bed... yum, yum!

Day 3: More sightseeing in Charleston... then to Columbia, SC

After checking out of the hotel that morning, we drove back across the big bridge into downtown Charleston. We drove around, trying to decide what we'd like to do. We wanted to get out and walk around Market Street since we heard it was pretty cool, but we didn't really want to leave everything in the car. So, we decided to go ahead and tour one of the many gorgeous plantation homes in the Charleston area, Drayton Hall. We figured James would enjoy that more, anyway, too, since he could run around and expend some energy before our 2 hour car trip to Columbia.

The trees over the road leading up to Drayton Hall were beautiful! (I love big trees!) The tour of the house was nice and hearing all about the history of it was actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Then, after the tour, we were able to walk around the grounds and James loved that. We even watched some turtles sunbathing next to the manmade pond jump back into the water one at a time. It really worked out as the best option that day because it was very relaxing for us and pretty fun for James, too.

After leaving Drayton Hall, we drove to Columbia, SC where Matt's brother, Stephen, and his family live. More about what we did in Columbia in the next installment of Summer Vacation 2008. =o)

More pictures from Day 3:

Drayton Hall - Notice the symmetry in the front of the house. Everything had to be symmetrical from the exterior to every room in the interior.

View looking out from the front of Drayton Hall... The round circle seen is actually the old carriage turnaround. (The road used to come straight through to the house.) The mound in the middle is from the dirt they dug out of the manmade pond to the left side.