Sesquicentennial Park

The morning walk was through the woods and past a lake with a peaceful scene.

We are staying at Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia South Carolina.  There was a lot of discussion to remember that sesquicentennial means 150^th anniversary (yeah John!).  Then it was a question of what occurred 150 years ago.  I found this plaque during my morning walk.Turns out the park was built back in 1937 and named in honor of 150 years since the founding of Columbia. 

Capitals of the States

Coincidently, we are visiting 3 capitals on this portion of the trip.  Given that it’s been a few years since I had to memorize state capitals in 8^th grade, I didn’t’ realize we were visiting so many capitals.  We already visited the capital of Florida, which is Tallahassee.  Now we’re in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina.  We plan to stop in Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, later in the trip.

The Florida Capital in Tallahassee is unique.  An older and restored capital building sits with the typical dome.  However the new capital building is right behind it and looks like a 23 story high office building.  The view from the top is supposed to be excellent and is open to the public.  Unfortunately it’s closed on weekends so we missed it.

Columbia is full of large state government buildings.  Here’s the South Carolina State House. Besides the Civil War statues, there are bronze stars to remember where General Sherman’s cannonballs hit the outer wall.  No thoughts of just fixing the damage, but instead let's show where those Yankees hit us.  To top it off, there is a Confederate flag proudly flying !!! This is the deep South.  As one of those Yankees, we didn't feel welcome enough to stop but just drove past.

 

Churches and Cemeteries

Both President George Washington and General Robert E. Lee visited St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Charleston South Carolina.  The woodwork for the box pews and the pulpit in this church is amazing.

Outside is a small church cemetery.  Two of the signers of the Constitution were buried here.  The stone showed dates from the 1700’s all the way up to the 2000’s.

We also stopped at Magnolia Cemetery.  I liked this gravesite.  With the name of Wagener versus my maiden name of Wagner...maybe I’m related.  My family is originally from Germany.  Perhaps my ancestors were originally from the Kingdom of Hannover! 

 

By the way, I read a story on TripAdvisor how someone got locked in this cemetery.  I thought I was the only one!

 

Fun Stuff in Columbia

Downtown Columbia has this sculpture.  It’s the World’s Largest Fire Hydrant.  It is 39 feet tall, almost 5 tons, and very cool looking!  Behind it on the wall is a mural called “Tunnelvision” by the same artist (double click on the picture to see it better).  There isn’t much else in this area of town, but this was cool to see!

 

 One of our stops was the U.S. Army Basic Combat Training Museum at Fort Jackson.  It’s supposed to give you a feel for basic training from World War II to present.  We didn’t have to do push-ups and unfortunately we couldn’t climb a wall or shoot a rifle, but we were yelled at by virtual sergeants and could try out the weight of different rifles.

 

This was an interesting exhibit. It's a piece of the World Trade Center and a piece from the Pentagon. Simple but nicely done.

Downtown Charleston

After spending so much time out West and in the Florida panhandle, we are uncomfortable with the traffic and crowds in the area.  The streets of Charleston are full of tourists looking at the sights and old houses, so much so that I’m not sure if we saw anyone from Charleston while wandering the streets.  It was kind of funny where we, as tourists, were helping one another with directions.  But, it was nice seeing the well preserved older buildings.

 

At the bay is a battery.  In this case it’s just cannons lined up on two outward facing streets.  There’s a nice park with several statues commemorating the Civil War.

Got to mention, there’s a cable bridge in Charleston.  It’s very similar to the one in Savannah.  So much so that I was a bit lost trying to remember what town we’re in.  One of these pictures is Savannah while the other is Charleston.  OK, it's an H versus an A shaped bridge, but you don't notice that from the side.

 

Fort Moultrie

This fort is both older and newer than most of the forts we’ve visited.  It was important to the Revolutionary War and still monitored the coast during World War II. Charleston is a critical coastal city so this fort was kept up-to-date over the years.  It was an interesting mixture of eras as you walk around the fort.  These are cannons and guns from Civil War era, the 1870’s, and the 1920’s.

The fort defended Charleston from British ships early during the Revolutionary War.  The battle was the first major seacoast engagement where the states won, so it was important for our confidence. The American commander for this battle was William Moultrie.  Later versions of the fort were named in honor of him.

In 1861, Confederates fired on Union-held Fort Sumter and started the Civil War.  After 2 days of bombardment, the Union forces surrendered.  Confederates held both this fort and Fort Sumter for the rest of the war.  Fort Sumter is an island in the middle of the harbor.

One section was World War II equipment and included radio rooms to contact nearby batteries.  This post coordinated defense around Charleston. All that plus I could have fun making echoes in the rooms and halls!

 

 

Frugality in RV Living

I may be a cheapskate, but I prefer to say I’m frugal.  Or perhaps I’m being environmental by getting all the use I can out of an item or not buying something I don’t really need. Plus, I’m an engineer and I do a cost analysis and return on investment on a lot of our purchases.

In RV’ing you can spend a lot of money with a new expensive RV, living in the most expensive RV resorts, and spending lots of money on entertainment at every stop.  Instead we live well but save money where it makes sense.  Some ideas for saving money while RV’ing.

Shelter:

-       Free camping is available in Walmart parking lots (haven't stayed  there yet), casinos, some rest areas, and many BLM lands.  I use http://freecampsites.net/ to find these spots.  We also used the books listed on http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/ .  These list spots in several southwest states.

-       National Parks and state parks tend to be lower cost places to stay plus we use our Senior National Park Pass all the time.  You may not have all the utilities, but they are gorgeous places to stay with free things-to-do like hiking in the area.

-       If you are camping a lot, having a RV discount card makes sense.  Good Sam is our most used card, but we also have Passport America (1/2 price camping but limited campgrounds) and KOA (expensive campgrounds so the discount can help when we need to stay at one).

We like to do a combination of these spots.  Most RV parks have internet and TV hook-ups.  But the state and national parks are more fun!

Food:

-       We found it is better for our checkbook and our intestinal systems to cook versus eating in restaurants.  We do splurge every once in a while for local fare.

-       Mostly we go to Walmarts to buy food.  It may not help the local economy as much, but we understand the layout and prices are good.

 Things-to-do:

-       Hikes are normally free.  Many local and military museums are free.  Other free things include churches, cemeteries, and factory tours. Historical and scientific sights tend to be low cost.  Seeing the local sights is the reason we’re traveling!

-       Places like amusement parks and shopping is expensive.  Plus, we don’t have the room to buy chintzy souvenirs.  Instead we take a lot of pictures that means more to us.

-       Bizarre places are normally free or low cost.  We’ve used http://www.roadsideamerica.com/ to find these spots.

-       As an AAA member (good for discounts at many museums and RV parks), I use their website to find things to do.  It includes lots of info like hours and prices.

-   AARP is another discount we use occasionally.  Yes, we're old!

-       Hobbies like reading from a Kindle or from the campground library works well in an RV.

Occasionally we splurge on a nice dinner or a raft ride.  I don’t think we’re missing much by watching how we spend our money.

Growing and Preparing Tea

I’m not a big tea drinker.  After visiting a tea plantation and factory, I also found out I knew nothing about tea.  As we came into the Charleston Tea Plantation, we drove past bushes.  I thought it was something like a maze they had made.  I even wondered who had spent all the time trimming the plants so flat on top.  Turns out these are the tea plants.  There is a big piece of farm equipment that comes along and trims 5-6” of the new growth and stores it for transport.

 

In the factory, the withering machine has big blowers underneath it to start the drying process.  The next stages cut into the leaf cells releasing oils to bring out flavors and dry the leaves better before letting the leaves oxidize.  The dryer completes the process by both stopping the oxidation and removing the moisture.  There was a sorting and packaging area too.

I know there are all types of tea.  I thought there were a green tea plant type and a black tea plant type.  Turns out these are the same plants that are treated differently with different times in the various processes.  The leaves for the green tea are treated quickly so that the leaves don’t oxidize.

So much to learn!  I still think they could make a great maze with the tea plants.

Gators Floating By

The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge was originally a rice plantation but is now a great way to see swamp life while still staying cool in your car.  Right at the beginning we considered walking on a few paths.  Then we felt how hot and humid it was and saw how big the bugs are.  I never knew that grasshoppers could be this big.  This one is 4-5” long!!

Luckily there is a four mile drive where you can stay inside your air conditioned vehicle while looking at birds and the occasional alligator.  What a great concept to see a swamp without the bug bites!

We saw egrets and other birds.  Our bird identification is still weak! 

At one point we stopped to see a mud flat when the tide had gone out.  I thought there were stones or clams lying across the bottom but then they started moving.  It was dozens of crabs (fiddler crabs, I think).  I felt I was in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie where the stones started moving!

 

We saw 4-5 alligators.  It’s a range since we thought we saw eyes swimming past, but it could have been a piece of wood or weed.  I wanted to go to this refuge just to see the alligators so I’m glad we were able to find them without hiking near them.  I may be a wimp, but I like having all my arms and legs.

 

Morning Walk in Georgia

We’re staying overnight in Skidaway Island State Park.  It’s a wonderful quiet park with a terrific trail.  Most trails are just walks through the woods or desert.  Besides the gorgeous Spanish moss, this one had a historical element with good signs to explain everything.

This is a shell midden.  Approximately 4000 years ago, Native American tribes left piles of clams, oysters, and snail shells.  At least that's what it says on the nearby sign.  That's a long time ago!

There was an old liquor still along the trail.  At this point it’s just rusted barrels left.  They even gave directions on how to make liquor on the sign.  I think I'll keep that secret!

Earthworks and a mortar battery were on the trail.  The earthworks aren't very high, just 2-3 feet tall, but there is a long line of them. Confederates dug these to protect Savannah.  Soon after finishing the work, they decided they were indefensible and left them.  Lots of work for nothing!

There was an observation tower for birding.  While the birds were nice, I liked seeing the crabs that hid in the walkway.

 

Savannah Fun!

While Savannah is known for gracious Southern homes, frankly the homes can be a bit boring after a while.  Instead we wanted to visit things that are more fun.  Most people wouldn’t think a cemetery is fun, but you know me! With all the Spanish moss, Bonaventure Cemetery looked creepier than most.

One of the things we learned was the Jewish tradition of putting stones on the gravestones during a visit.  Flowers aren’t used, but instead a stone is added during a visit as a remembrance.  It comes from the old days when the grave site was a cairn (a pile of stones) so that adding a stone was a way to keep the site and memory strong.  Quite a few of the gravestones had small stones added.  This one had more than normal.

Quite a jump from a cemetary to a storage tank, but how about this storage tank?  It’s been painted as an earth globe.  The mailbox is also painted. Very cool!

 

 

Moat Creatures

Fort Pulaski near Savannah Georgia was designed and begun to be built in 1829 for modern naval defense against foreign attack.  It was considered invincible from smoothbore cannon fire with immense walls that are 7-½’ feet thick.  By the way, in the picture  below not only do you see the walls and cannons, but there is a fairy ring in the parade ground (a circular formation of mushrooms).  Folklore says that a fairy ring is either a gateway to the fairy world or where fairies or elves gather to dance.  There were at least three fairy rings at the fort, so it must be a special place!

 

Ironically, the first battle was not from not foreign attack, but Union forces attacking Confederates that were holding the fort.  And unfortunately for the Confederates, the Union had experimental rifled bore cannon.  The rifled bore (see picture of the spiraled interior bore) allowed for longer, more accurate, and more powerful charges.

 

After 30 hours of bombardment, Confederates had to surrender since the Union shells were cutting through the walls of the powder magazine.  If a shell hit the magazine, a major section of the fort would explode.  The use of the rifled bore meant a major change in warfare.

In one section we wandered through halls and rooms  that used to be storage areas.  The ‘concrete’ in the fort was full of sea shells.  A mixture of shells, lime, and sand called “tabby’ was regularly used as concrete at the time.

 

A unique part of this fort is the moat.  We saw fish jumping up to 3’ above the water.  According to the park, sometimes alligators will move into the moat.  Very cool!

 

Cathedral

 

One of the largest cathedrals in the South (Cathedral of St. John the Baptist) is located in Savannah Georgia.

The marble is gorgeous.  While it’s not as big as some European cathedrals, it’s pretty big!  And the colors are stupendous!

The organ on the loft of the back walls is listed as a 2,081 pipe organ.  Is that even possible?

It was funny going to both one of the smallest and one of the largest churches in the same area.