Vacation report

I'm back from a wonderful time away.  I'm going to do several posts so you don't have to deal with too many photos at once!
We left on Monday morning and drove all day to Charleston, West Virginia.  The next day we were up and, on the road, early to drive to Charleston, South Carolina.

As we left Charleston, WV, we saw their beautiful capitol building.

We were driving in the mountains at this time, and enjoying a little Fall color.

We arrived in Charleston, SC a little before 3.  One of the Nurse Practioners I work with has a daughter who lives there and said the best thing you can do is take a carriage ride through the city.  So we did that when we arrived.  It was such fun and we saw and learned so much about Charleston.

Some of the streets appear to be cobblestone, but our carriage driver said these rocks were actually ballast in ships coming from England. They decided to use them for streets.  When the English found they were being used and not just dumped, they started taxing them.

We saw lots of old buildings, heard about history and saw some of the beautiful places in Charleston.

We went to our home for the night, the Meeting Street Inn which was built in 1874. This is our room, we felt like we were stepping back in time.

We had a stool to get into the high beds.

There was a beautiful patio outside our door that we enjoyed that evening and again for breakfast the next morning.

Sitting on the patio and looking up.

The next morning, we went to the City Market. It stretches about 1/4 of a mile and is filled with vendors, many of whom sell hand made goods.  We found some good things here for our grandkids.

We walked through Battery Park

We walked along the park; the Atlantic ocean is out to the right, with Fort Sumpter barely visible.

Last, we walked over to Rainbow Row, a row of 13 houses built around 1740.  They had fallen into disrepair and would probably be torn down.  But one women painted a house a bright color, and others followed.  The houses were saved and are now a famous part of Charleston.

Our last stop in Charleston was to see the Angel Oak Tree. It's a live oak and is said to be one of the most beautiful trees in the world.  It's 400-500 years old, 66 1/2 feet tall, the trunk is 28 feet in circumference and it's longest branch is 187 feet long.

What a beautiful tree!

Next stop - Savannah.