Key West Day 1

Day 45 - Key West - Sunny mid 80's:

Ben got up early and took the ferry over to the mainland for a run. While he was gone I got up and retrieved our breakfast basket. They place it on your porch each morning with assorted warm muffins, fresh fruit, orange juice, and a newspaper. It was a real treat! Once Ben returned we headed out to the pool. The pool was outstanding. It had a waterfall and we also a zero degree entry which means it's just like walking from the beach into the water...there are no steps, you just walk right into the water. We laid out and enjoyed the sunshine until it was time for lunch. We had sandwiches and then headed to get the ferry to the mainland.

When we arrived back on land we headed right over to the Conch Tour Train. It was a great introduction to Key West. We were able to learn about the history and get a lay land without having to walk it all!

Things I learned:

1. The original custom's house is where the hearing about the USS Maine was held.
2. Key West has the second largest Banyan Tree to Hawaii.
3. Key West as more 19th Century architecture than the rest of Florida as a whole.
4. Sponging was one of the many million-dollar industries that Key West has seen come and go. (they actually have a sponge store where you can get REAL sponge).
5. There is a park in town that has a GORGEOUS Mahogany tree that was split in two by a hurricane. Rather than die the tree continues to grow in two directions.
6. The Meadows is an area of Key West where all of the houses were built by shipbuilders. This is clear due to how the area was constructed. All of the houses are very close together just like bunks on a ship. They were also built without nails so as to allow the houses to sway with the wind...clearly it worked as these houses are still standing in the face of Florida hurricanes. They also all have tin roofs so that they could collect rain water for drinking as well as protect from fire.
7. I wrote down that Key West was created in part by the Red Mangrove Tree. (I'm not sure how maybe this would be a good project for a student...I may be mistaken but I do know what Key West has increased in size though).
8. Key West did not have water piped in to them from the mainland of Florida until 1941.
9. The business of Shipwrecking made Key West one of the richest places per capita in the US at one point.
10. Key West is further south than Cairo by 287 miles.
11. The highest point in Key West is approximately 16ft above sea level.
12. There are no natural beaches in Key West due to the Coral Reef surounding the islands. Beaches need waves in order to be created and the reef causes the waves to crash too far out from the coast. Therefore all the beaches have sand shipped either from the Bahama area or the Miami area.
13. A large number of houses on the island are built from the remains of shipwrecks.
14. Most of the porches have blue ceilings. This is for two reasons. The first is that it is belived that it would trick evil spirits into thinking that it is the sky and not a house so they stay away. The second was that it tricks bees, hornets, and other bugs into thinking that it is sky and so they do not create nests there...it REALLY WORKS!

After we finished our tour we made our way over to watch the "sunset." Naturally there were too many clouds and so we didn't actually see the sunset. From there we head to B O's Fish Wagon. Becky had reccommended the fish sandwich there so Ben got that. He enjoyed it very much! We then spent time walking the famous Duval Street. We stopped in at a number of local spots to listen to the live music. I was amazed at how many different restaurants and bars had live music!! It was great.

Once we had enough of the streets we hopped back on the boat for another trip back to the island. Ben hit the pool and hot tub while I did some work on the computer in the room. We watched a bit of TV before heading to bed to rest for the next days adventures!!

Key Largo, Montigo, Baby Why Don't We Go...

Day 44 - Key Largo - Sunny and mid 80's:

We got up early and headed out of our wonderful home away from home in Miami to make our way to Key West. Our first stop along the way was in Key West. We had plans to do some snorkling while we were there. Our trip was AMAZING. We headed out of the canal into the big ocean at John Pennycamp State Park.

We made some quick friends with a family who are traveing the country as well. The kids were awesome and we had so much fun getting to know them. They kept Ben quite entertained. The kids were excited as this was their first trip snorkeling. They were wonderful and maybe we'll run into them again...in the meantime we are following their blog. You can check it out too, it's located here!

Back to the water...Ben has been SCUBA diving before but this was my first time being in the Ocean looking at all of the amazing sea life. We saw so many fish and jelly fish (ahhhh!). The water was a bit rough but as long as you were actually in the water you really didn't notice. Our first stop was in a more shallow area on the reef. I have never seen anything like it in my life. The fish were so beautiful. It did freak me out a bit when I would get close to the reef as we had been instructed not to touch the reef unless it was an EMERGENCY as it takes a year coral to grow 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. After about an hour we headed back to to the boat to move to a new location.

Our second stop was at a deeper location. This location wasn't quite as clear as the first location. Here we saw more fish and Ben was able to do some diving down deep to see more. We were able to see brain coral at this location. It take about 50 years for brain coral to reach the size of a basketball!! I didn't stay out quite as long as Ben this time because I was not interested in diving down deep and staying on the top didn't really provide a great view due to the rougher water and angle of the sun. After our second stop we headed back into the docks. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I confronted a few fears that I had and jumped in the water!

Once we were back on land we changed out of our swimsuits and hit the road for Key West. I was really looking forward to the beautiful drive BUT I fell asleep. Ben was able to see all the sights and the SEVEN MILE bridge. I was disappointed but figured I would see it on the way back. When we arrived we checked in at the hotel. We knew that we would be taking a ferry to a small island where our room would be located so we decided to grab dinner before getting on the boat. They took our luggage and brought it over to the room while we went to dinner. We headed to the Hog's Breath Saloon to grab a bite to eat.

After dinner we jumped on the ferry and headed over to our room. It was a short 10 minute boat ride. When we departed the concierge met us and gave us a tour of the property before bringing us to our room. It was AMAZING. We had a two-bedroom cottage right near the pool. Once we settled in we headed to the hot tub to relax before hitting the hay.

Pics Updated

We've updated the pictures including Ben's BIG fish! We will get caught up on our entries this week...PROMISE!

Welcome to Miami

Day 42 & 43 - Miami, FL - Sunny and upper 80's:

We headed out of Delray around 11:30am to make our way to Miami! We are fortunate that Christina (a friend for years) lives and Miami and was more than happy to have us stay with her and her cousin. She lives in a great spot overlooking the bay and just across the bridge from South Beach. Once we arrived we headed straight to the beach. It was a beautiful day. They were even doing a photo shoot on the beach which was neat to see. We returned to Christina's apartment to shower and wait for her boyfriend James to get home from work. Once he arrived we headed to P.F. Chang's for dinner. It was delicious and I want to let you know that when they call their dessert the "The Great Wall of Chocolate Cake" they aren't kidding. Once piece fed all of us!!

The next morning we slept in a bit before Ben and I headed back to South Beach. We walked around town visiting places like Miami Ink (the show on TLC), DASH (from Keeping up with the Kardashians), and Lincoln Ave (a no car shopping street that stretches for at least 6 blocks). We grabbed lunch at a little place called Paul's. It was DELICIOUS. We met up with Christina later that afternoon and headed back to lay on the beach. We saw another photo shoot. If I had to guess, it was for JCrew or a similar clothing line. It was a much bigger production than the shoot from yesterday. We again headed back to the apartment for showers before heading out to dinner. Christina, Tatiana (her cousin), Ben and I headed to Crazy Pianos a dueling piano restaurant. It was a great spot. The have two pianos set up and they play together all night. Different people play but the music never stops. They were very impressive musicians and if I lived in Miami I would definitely head back to this spot!

Christmas Spirit

Day 41 - Delray Beach - Overcast and Rainy mid 80's:

Following our fishing adventure, we took it easy for the day. I got up early and headed over to the hotel to use the gym. Ben was going to go for a run but I took his shoes with me to town. This is one of the downfalls of having everything in the car. Once I got back we headed into town for lunch. We walked the streets of Delray and grabbed lunch before making our way to Mark's office to watch the Holiday Parade. I was very bummed that I didn't manage to bring the camera...we tried to get back to get it but too many streets were blocked and we would have missed it completely. Erin did a great job passing out candy canes an spreading holiday cheer. The only downside was that as soon as the parade started, the rain started...oh well!

After the parade we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner. We went with Mark, Becky, Sean, Suzy, Jay...and a few other friends to Boston's. It was great!! I highly recommend it! Erin was at a holiday party so she was enjoying herself with a bunch of friends. We got home late and headed to bed...

Chillin' and Fishin'

Day 40 - Delray Beach, FL - Partly sunny and 80:

After our day in the sun, we had a new adventure planned. Heather woke up early to do some girly things at the spa and then it was off to our big adventure. Mark had arranged for him, Heather, Erin, Casey and I to go out fishing. It was a 65 foot fishing boat with all the bells and whistles. Our captain Nick got us out into the harbor by about 1:00 and KJ went to work setting up the two kites and six different fishing lines. It was an amazing set-up and we hooked onto our first fish within 20 minutes. I stepped up to the boat rail and started reeling. I continued to reel in my first Sail fish for the next 20-30 minutes with the fish "sailing out of the water." KJ and Nick thought it was about a 70 pound fish which is on the high side for a Sail fish. We never brought the fish into the boat because the oils from our hand would have harmed the slime on the fish and with Sport fishing you just have to reel the fish until you can touch the leader and it's considered a catch. We then went back to waiting and hooked onto two sharks and it was Heather's turn to reel them in. She unfortunately lost both of the sharks because they bit through the line and all we got to see was the fin. Then around 3:00 we started to take in the lines and head to shallower waters when Mark hooked a Mackerel and gave to pole back to Heather. This time she was able to reel the fish in and got her picture with it. Nick then took us in near the reef, so Erin and Casey could catch some fish. They started fishing and right away began catching Trigger fish left and right. Between the two of them they caught probably 28 fish over the next 45 minutes it was a lot of action. Then it was back to the inter-coastal to make to 4:00 bridge. It was an awesome afternoon of fishing and I will always remember catching my first Sail fish.

From the dock we raced back to Delray and then over to Sean's basketball game. He plays guard on the St Andrews JV team. They were playing an undefeated team and started of the game a bit slow but picked it up and in the second half and won by 10.

After the game we raced back to Delray again to see the boat parade at Mark's brother Mike's house. Every year residents light up their boats and travel down the canal through Delray and everybody parties and gets in the holiday spirit. After the parade finished one of the Yachts in the parade stopped by Mike's house and dropped off another 50 people and the party really got going. We met some great people from around the country. We were all tired from our exciting day, so we headed back to Mark and Becky's house for some much needed rest.

Day 39 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny and 85:

After our long day of wrestling alligators in the Everglades we decided to relax and spend a day on the beach and pool at Mark and Becky's house. We though it would be a good idea to try and tan our white bodies so we wouldn't stick out so much. Later in the evening we took some time to go an visit the 100ft Christmas tree that Delray Beach puts up in the middle of town. You get a good idea of the size compared to Ben and I sitting in the big chair! After that we headed back to our guest house and made some dinner and watched a couple movies. It was a very relaxing day!

Still Alive

Hey All -

We're still alive. I'll post later. Lots of cool pictures.

Love!

Everglades...

Day 38 -Delray Beach, FL - Sunny and 90:

Today we hit the real heat. Don't get me wrong I love the sun and hot as much as anyone but today was ridiculous. It was almost 80˚ at 9 in the morning. We headed straight over to get an airboat ride through the Everglades (yes kids the same Everglades Ms. Feiss was talking about in class). It was a recommendation we are glad that we took! Our boat left at 11am and we headed out down the water. The airboat is very loud which I though would scare the animals. The driver told me that because the are not predators and have never hurt the animals they do not fear them. This was apparent as we passed alligators, Blue Heron, Egrets, turtles and other animals that didn't even flinch when we drove by. We learned about the Florida Sawgrass which is neat because if you rub your hand on it one way it is smooth but the other way it is like a saw that will cut you. Our tour guide gave us a DVD to watch which hopefully we'll do tonight! We got another one to send back to school!!

From the Everglades we headed back to the hotel for lunch and to pack up our stuff and move over to Mark and Becky's guest space. Once we moved we headed out to the pool for some sun. Ben took Maddy for a walk before he attempted to do some surfing. It was VERY windy but he couldn't seem to get any good waves.

Becky dropped Erin off from school and then headed out to Sean's basketball game. Erin, Ben, and I made dinner and COOKIES. They were pretty good....I do not recommend the Milk Chocolate Chips for cookies though. The three of us played a game of Clue (it was my first time) which I won and then a game of Apples to Apples (it was my first time) which Erin won. By that time it was late and we all headed to bed!

Tomorrow another day of sun. Hope the shoveling is going well in Maine!!

Sun and Fun

Day 37 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny 85:

We awoke this morning just in time for breakfast and then made our way to Boynton Beach for an exciting morning at SEARS!! I know, I know. We needed to get our tires rotated and our oil changed and I think that Ben really wanted to get it taken care of. Unfortunately it took up most of our morning.

When we got back we made a quick lunch and then headed to the pool. We stayed out for a few hours before heading in for showers. It was then off to Palm Beach to see the CRAZY mansions. They are so enormous. The biggest being Donald Trump's Mar-a-Largo (that's a link that tells you all about it....KIDS you should read it...it's very interesting). We then headed back to Mark and Becky's for a pizza dinner. We didn't stay too long as both Erin and Shawn had homework to do and Becky had cupcakes to work on for the bake sale. It was another dinner full of fun and conversation...the fact that we like boats and Ben likes fishing was well established!! Tomorrow we're off to the Everglades for the morning. We should have pictures!!

The Sunshine State

Day 36 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny 80's:

After a morning run in the gym at the hotel we made our way to Delray Beach. Once we arrived we found ourselves a parking space and headed straight to the beach. We ate lunch and laid in the sun for a bit before heading for a walk around town.

We checked into our hotel and made a quick trip to the grocery store. Once we had settled in we headed over to Mark and Becky's for dinner. It was so nice to see them. I didn't have a chance to see Shawn this summer and my has he grown! We spent the evening chatting and watching some football, it was so nice to catch up as I didn't really get a chance to visit this summer with the exception of a quick lunch date with Becky and Erin. We were also informed a number of times throughout the day from both friends here and family at home that we MUST go to Key West. No one was quite as adamant about it as Erin though. Let me tell you, she can relate anything to Key West and why we MUST go there. So I am pretty sure it's settled that we will be making a trip.

The Oldest City in the US

Day 35 - St. Augustine, FL - Cloudy mid-60's:

The hangover finally wore off from the Budweiser brewery and we made our way down the coast to St. Augustine. St Augustine was established in 1565 and is the oldest continuously occupied city in the continental US. The morning was very cold and cloudy so we so we drove around the city for a bit and saw where Ponce De Leon discovered the fountain of youth. We didn't pay to actually drink from the fountain because we heard the water's not very good and just a big tourist trap. We then drove by the oldest house in the town and walked around to explore the outside of the house. From here we made our way to the visitor information center to see what else there was to do in the city and watch the St. Augustine introduction video. We then made our way through the city gates which were once the only entrance to the city and headed to the Oldest Wood School House in the US. Heather wanted to apply for a teaching job but the building was just not in very good shape.

From here walked over to Flagler College to see their campus as it was once the Ponce De Leon Hotel and was a truly amazing site as you can see in the pictures. We then walked over to the Dr. Seuss Imaginarium Gallery which was an art gallery that features the work of Dr. Seuss. We found out Dr. Seuss had a personal collection of prints and paintings that weren't released until after his death. It was great to see some classic characters from the books and also see some of them come to life with actually taxidermy heads. After spending time with Dr. Suess qw went to the Castillo de San Marcos an old Spanish fort and explored the old building and got to see an actual 8 pound canon fired from the gun deck of the fort. It was a very well preserved fort and once had a 40 foot moat which they still have drawbridges for.

After we finished the tour we headed out of town and made out way to Port St Lucie for the night. On our way to the hotel we had one minor problem...we ran out of gas on the highway!! I have now learned that you actually do have to put gas in the car once the fuel light comes on. I wasn't paying close attention and when I would remember I kept saying to myself "I'll stop at the next exit" Well we didn't make it to the next exit and had to call AAA to the rescue. They brought us a couple gallons of gas and we did finally stop at the next exit. Later that night Heather was talking with Brawleigh on Skype and she tried to make me feel better by saying "Don't worry Ben it happens all the time." Somehow I believe that when it comes from Brawleigh!!

Budweiser Plant

Day 34 - Jacksonville, FL - Cloudy Mid-50's:

Today we headed out of Savannah and made our way to Jacksonville, FL. It wasn't too bad of a trip, about 2 hours. When we arrived we headed to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery to tour the factory. When we arrived we had planned to do the FREE tour however once Ben heard Beermaster Tour which allows you to go into the factory, there was no turning back. We met our tour leader Jack and he guided us through the 1 million square foot facility. He told us that the jobs at the factory are the most sought after in Jacksonville and are very difficult to come by as once people are hired they very rarely leave.

The tour was very interesting, and we learned a great deal about Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser.

History (a great deal of this is from the website...it was a lot to take in):

Anheuser had no experience in the brewing business, but his son-in-law did. Adolphus Busch, a successful German businessman, joined his father-in-law in the business in the 1860s...a little of the if you can't beat them join them here as Busch married Anheuser's daughter!!

In the early 1870s, Adolphus Busch became the first American brewer to use pasteurization (he pasteurized beer long before we pasteurized milk), this allowed beer to be shipped long distances without spoiling. By the mid 1870s and early 1880s, he introduced artificial refrigeration, refrigerated rail-cars and rail-side ice houses. He built cars with ice chambers on the side and the beer was stored in the middle and he was able to determine based on the time of year how long the ice would last. He then would build rail-side ice houses (many of these still exist as national historic sights) so the cars would stop and refill. Eventually these ice houses became the first distributors of beer. It's incredible to think that all of these were created for the use of shipping beer. It's also amazing that this man had such great innovation during his time. These technological innovations allowed the company to grow – now, it could distribute beer across the country. Oh and another thing. The Busch-Sulzer Bros. Deisel Engine Company was another of the enterprises founded by Adolphus Busch and carried on independently of the brewery operation. In 1897 Busch obtained the American rights to build Diesels. He retained the inventor as a consultant, and the company's first engine was installed in the Anheuser-Busch power plant in 1898. He retained the production for 12 years.

The brewery’s bleakest period began at midnight on Jan. 16, 1920, when national Prohibition became law. Rather than close its doors, as more than half of the nation’s breweries did, Anheuser-Busch diversified and remained in business. They actually stopped production of beer in 1918 so as to get a head start on creating their new entities.

Under the leadership of August Sr., the company marketed more than 25 different non-alcoholic products such as soft drinks, truck bodies and ice cream. In preparation for Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch released Bevo, a non-alcoholic cereal beverage, in 1916. On April 7, 1933, beer was re-legalized. The first trip by those famous Clydesdale's was taken within days of the legalization. It carried a wagon full of Bud directly to the White House!!

Recovery from Prohibition was slow but steady under Adolphus Busch III, who became president of the company in 1934, upon the death of his father, August Sr. In 1946, August A. Busch, Jr. became president of the company following the death of his brother, Adolphus III. Beginning with the opening of the Newark, N.J. facility in 1951, August Jr. created a national network of nine breweries.

Under his leadership, beer sales increased from 3 million barrels to more than 34 million barrels, and corporate diversification was extended to include family entertainment, industrial products, real estate and can manufacturing. In 1957, Anheuser-Busch became the leading U.S. brewer, a position it retains today.

August A. Busch III was elected president of Anheuser-Busch, Inc. in 1974, and the next year succeeded his father, August Jr., as chief executive officer, becoming the fourth generation of the family to lead Anheuser-Busch. August III led the company to build four additional breweries, expand the family entertainment business, and significantly strengthen the company’s horizontal and vertical integration.

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch and InBev combined to become Anheuser-Busch InBev. The new company is the world’s largest brewer and one of the top 5 consumer goods companies in the world.

Side Note: People wonder what Budweiser means...NOTHING. It was a word made up by Busch. He wanted something easy for Americans to say but that sounded German.

Once we had the history we were able to go down on the "kitchen" floor. This is where all the ingredients for the beer are put together. Beer is 90% water, beyond that it includes barley (there are two types used), rice (Anheuser-Busch is the only brewery that still uses rice...it is only used in Budweiser and Bud Light) or corn, and different combination of hops. First the barley and rice are added to the water and heated to 180˚ to create wort, it is heated in large tanks (each holds 20 thousand gallons...the average amount of water in a swimming pool) creating a specific amount of sugar from the barley and rice. This is then strained removing the rice and barley particles. At this point the special combination of hops (this is what gives the beer it's flavor) is added. This combination called wort-hops is again heated to the 180˚ temperature and mixed.

From there it is sent to be cooled. The cooling tanks each hold enough beer for 400,000 bottles...they have 372 of these tanks!!) The liquid is first cooled to 48˚ once this temperature is reached they add the yeast. This is what turns the sugars into alcohol. Regardless of how much yeast they add or how long they let it sit, the alcohol content will never rise above what it is predetermined because they have created the precise amount of sugar in the previous step. From here the beer goes into maturation tanks where they add more wort and beechwood (yes real wood but only in Bud and Bud Light) for a second fermentation. Once this is done the beer is moved into a final tank for bottling. Ben (as you can see in the pics) was able to drink beer directly from these holding tanks. The beer in the Bud tank was actually being used as he was filling his cup in the rooms below to fill cans that were being shipped that day.

After the beer drinking we headed to the bottling and packaging plant. Here we were able to see the pallets of empty bottles being prepared for filling. We were able to see cans being filled (with that beer Ben had been drinking). We watched the incredible speed with which a 24 pack is created and see it traverse the plant on its way to be shipped. We were also able to visit the keg area. They weren't working today but it was still neat to see all the machines that work to fill the kegs. From the time the truck pulls up with empty keg to the time the truck leaves no human hands will ever touch it!!

Interesting to note, the plant is incredibly conscious of their waste. All of their water that is not used in the final beer is filtered and used to water their fields in two locations. It is run by a network of pipes underground to these farms. All the barley and rice remains that are collected following the wort creation are taken to feed cows. Almost 166,000 tons a year. All packaging material and other scraps are recycled and reused. They use both solar power and methane gas from abandoned landfills to help power the plant. They are currently working with the University of Florida to try and find a way to use grass to produce ethanol!!

This concluded our tour and we were taken to the "Hospitality Suite" otherwise known as free beer tasting. Here we were given our certificates as Honorary Beermasters, a glass, a photo, and of course we were able to keep our hats!

It was only a 2 hour tour but we learned a great deal about the beer making process and Ben sure loved the tasting. Tomorrow we're off to St. Augustine!

Savannah...the land of the square!

Day 33 - Savannah, GA - Cloudy then Rain Upper 50's:

We left Dave and Kristin's house around 10am and made our way toward Savannah. We have heard great things about Savannah and seen some nice wedding pictures from Melissa and Tim...if anyone knows what square they got married in, I'd love to know. We arrived in Savannah around 1pm and headed to the visitors center. We spoke with a woman, who randomly enough is the sister-in-law of the owner of Rosie's in Portland, and she sent us in the right direction. We ended up purchasing a walking tour of Savannah guide just to give us an idea of where to head. We quickly discovered that Savannah is the land of the square. There are 24 to be exact and I'm pretty sure that our walking tour took us to all of them. Each square has it's own story and is generally surrounded by some incredible buildings and churches.

One of my favorite parts of the walk was going to the River Front. There are a bunch of shops, restaurants and CANDY stores lining the river. Ben and I made sure to stop in at a couple of the candy stores to make sure that the candy wasn't poisonous. After walking along the river we headed up to the city market. We walked by but did not stop in at Paula Dean's restaurant and store...Ben had never heard of Paula Dean...clearly he needs to watch more of the Food Network.

We finished up our walking tour and headed back to the visitors center to get the car. We then headed a bit out of town to visit a couple of store to finish our Christmas shopping. After that we headed back into town for dinner. Ben had been reading about this place called Walls BBQ in our Lonely Planet book. We arrived and to be honest were a little nervous as it was a bit sketchy looking. Instead of leaving (which we considered) we decided to check it out. It turned out to be GREAT! Ben had ribs and I had chopped(pulled) pork. As usual Ben didn't like the ribs as much as Gug's but he said they were good nonetheless. My pulled pork was excellent. I guess it goes to show that appearance isn't everything.

After dinner we made our way to our hotel, took a dip in the hot tub, and are now doing our computer duties. We are off to Jacksonville tomorrow! Finally in FLORIDA!

Talk to you all soon.

Charleston

Day 29 - Greenville, SC - Cloudy 60's:

On our way from Greenville to Charleston we made a pit stop at the BMW factory in Greer, SC. The last time we where in South Carolina the factory tour was sold out, so we decided to make the trip back and tour the factory. It was a great experience to see a fully automated car plant. We got to see how the BMW X5 and X6's are made, painted and hand assembled. Of course Heather's Christmas list was updated and now includes a 2010 BMW X5. I'll see if Santa has any available in the color she wants. From here we drove to Charleston to meet up with Heather's college roommate Kristin and her new husband Dave. We had visited them not too long ago and so we were looking forward to reconnecting!

Day 30 - Charleston, SC - Sunny 65:

Today was a beautiful day and we headed into downtown Charleston to explore the city. We decided to take a ferry over to Fort Sumter. The ferry didn't leave until 2:30, so we walked around the city and explored the old slave market, the exchange building and city hall. We caught the Ferry at 2:30 and took the 30 minute ride over to Fort Sumter. This was the spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. On the island 85 Union soldiers were able to hold off Confederate soldiers for 34 hours but had to surrender because their reinforcements could not make it into the harbor. The Fort was almost completely destroyed during the day and a half fight. It started as a 50 foot high wall almost 6 feet thick, and now only stands one story high. There are still many canons on site and even canon shells embedded into the Forts walls. We only had an hour on the island but it was neat to see something so old and historic. Once back on the mainland we headed back to North Charleston and had a great dinner (made by Kristin) with the new Mr. and Mrs.

After dinner they took us over to the James Island Holiday Festival of Lights. It was an amazing holiday light extravaganza, where the town turns the state park into many holiday light designs. Each lighting display is sponsored by a local company and they ranged from Christmas themed to animals to a golfing Santa. Many of the displays were constructed to look like they moved hence the golfing Santa...he actually had a back swing and you could see the golf ball fly through the air and land on the putting green. Some of the highlights where jumping dolphins in the water, a man fishing, Candyland, marching toy soldiers, sharks and many, many more. It was an amazing site and can tell you that the pictures don't really do it justice. After seeing all the lights we walked around a smaller section where we could roast marshmallows...they were delicious. We also managed to sneak away and get Dave a Grinch tree ornament that he really wanted.

Day 31 - Charleston, SC - Rainy and Cloudy 70's:

It rained all night and all morning in Charleston. Apparently they do not have a very good drainage system (it is an old city) and the whole downtown flooded to the point that Kristin couldn't even go to work. Fortunately, Heather went to school today and observed another classroom so we weren't heading into the city. This time she went to a high school with 3,300 students. After she got home, around lunch time, the rain stopped, so we decided to take a ride over to the Magnolia Plantation to explore the gardens and home. We got there and decided to take the nature tram around the plantation and see if we could see any alligators. The nature tram was great and we learned a lot about plantation living and how they made most of their money by exporting rice (not cotton, like most people think). We didn't see any alligators and not even much wildlife except for some birds that just migrated for the winter. We then made our way into the house for a tour to see a Southern Plantation. We learned that the current house was the third house to be built on the property. The first one burned down and the second one was destroyed by the Union soldiers during the civil war. Mr. Drayton returned form the civil war and was almost broke (he was land rich and money poor), so he sold off 1500 of his 2000 acres and moved the current house from a vacation spot down the James River and reassembled it here on the plantation. After the house tour we decided to call it a day because many of the employees where saying bad weather was on the way and even some tornadoes. We made it back to Kristin without any incidents and decided to head back to Magnolia the next day to explore their year-round gardens, petting zoo and horticulture maze.

Day 32 - Charleston, SC - Sunny and 60's:

The rain cleared up by the time we made it out of the house and so we headed back to Magnolia plantation. It turned out to be a great afternoon and we walked around the gardens and lakes to see the blooming flowers. It is a unique garden in that they have flowers that bloom in all seasons. They are all throughout the garden so that their claim to color year round holds true. Although there were blooming flowers, we are sure that it's truly amazing in the spring when everything is in bloom and coming to life. After lunch on the shores of the James River we made our way over to the maze to see if we could lose each other. It wasn't very hard and so we completed it very quickly, but it was fun anyway. Up next was the petting zoo. Heather wasn't very into the petting zoo because from the moment we made it though the gate a huge turkey was stocking her for food. Heather did last longer the I expected but once the duck started chasing her it was too much and she need out. I stayed a bit longer to check out the peacocks, deer, bobcats, foxes, ducks, and snakes. It was pretty cool to be able to actually pet a deer. As it was getting late we made our way back to Dave and Kristin's. They took us to a local chain restaurant where to Dave's delight they have a trash bucket set into the table. It was pretty neat just to be able to throw stuff away at the table...we had a great dinner before heading back to the house. We did a few Wii Competitions once we got back and got into the holiday spirit watching the Santa Clause 2. We said our goodbyes and headed to bed....