The Hostess with the Mostest!

 Now we come to the part of our vacation that the other parts were planned around.  My dear friend Jenny (also known as Jenny the Pirate) has been a blog friend for years.  We were talking and trying to figure out how long we've known each other and it's been at least since 2009 and probably longer. We've met in person once, but e-mail, text and sometimes talk on the phone too.  Bob's gotten to know her and even my granddaughters know who Jenny the Pirate is.  :)
We've both invited each other to visit, but it's not easy with the distance; she is in South Carolina and I'm in Michigan. We decided this was the time for that visit and she insisted we stay with them.
Late Monday afternoon we arrived and were warmly welcomed!

It was fun to go into her house and see in real life, things I've seen on her blog so often - like her table filled with photos under glass.

TG and Jenny were so very good to us, putting us up in a room that rivaled any hotel or bed and breakfast.  It was beautiful and so very comfortable. I would share a photo, but it's not my home to share pictures of bedrooms, so you'll have to take my word for it.

We had a yummy supper, I'll share some recipes later, and a great night of talking and fellowship with the two of them.

The next day, Jenny had made some plans for us.

It was D-Day, so we started at Fort Jackson National Cemetery to pay our respects.  Is there anything more touching than a cemetery with all those stones laid out so perfectly, and the flag at half mast?

Jenny is officially a taphophile; someone who is passionate about cemeteries.  Jenny writes for a cemetery magazine, takes lots of cemetery photos and helps update the Find-a grave website.  Some may think this is morbid, but it's far from it.  It is so interesting to walk around these places, reading the headstone, looking at the statuary and honoring those who have passed. Bob and I also love old cemeteries, but in our area they don't have this kind of history.
TG and Jenny took us to the Quaker cemetery which was founded in 1759.  It now covers an area of 400 acres, and is truly beautiful.

These two graves were both military graves and were medal of honor recipients.  Another grave site we saw was for 3 brothers, who were all killed in WWII, within 1 1/2 years.

This section had such old stones in it, several of which were for young children.

We also visited a Redoubt; a military shelter which was built by the British during the Revolutionary war.

This is called the Camden Oak. It's near that British Redoubt and it was a sapling, when George Washington was in this area, inspecting that redoubt.

We visited this battlefield, a battle that occurred during the Revolutionary War. 

We then went into the city of Columbia.  This is the Trinity Episcopal Church. Building on it started in 1845.

It also has a historic cemetery. The live oak tree in it, is said to be in the very center of Columbia.

Here's Jenny and I; we were hot but having such a good time!

We walked across the street to the Capitol Building, a beautiful building with such pretty landscaping.

That night, Jenny had another lovely meal for us - and her kids and grandkids that live in the area came.  I forgot to take this picture until after we had eaten, but rest assured, Jenny set a beautiful table and we all enjoyed it.  It was so good to meet these kids and grandkids in person as I feel I know them so well already. 

Little Rhett is the youngest right now, but before the year is done, 2 more babies are expected in the family.

After supper, we sat out by the pool and talked.  It was a wonderful evening, spending time with these dear people.

The next morning, we left for West Virginia, feeling blessed by good friends and sweet time spent together.
Thanks Jenny and TG for being such amazing hosts and wonderful friends!

More fun in South Carolina

 On Monday, we started our day at the Musgrove Mill Historic site. (You may have noted, we love history!)  This is the site of another Revolutionary war battle and had some hiking trails through the area.
We hiked one of those trails and it was gorgeous!

The trail started near this open field.

It went past this pond.

Then it traveled along this river.

There was even a small waterfall.

When we finished there, we drove to the little town of Newberry to spend a quiet afternoon.

We started by having lunch at this restaurant called Figero's.  

This used to be a bank and has the old vault visible inside.  It was very classy and lunch was delicious!

This town was so cute!  I love how they painted this man on the side of the building.

Cobblestone streets were everywhere!

We stopped in this antique store.  If you've ever watched American Pickers, you may have an idea of what this store looked like.  It was loaded with stuff, and it was in no particular place.  I don't know how anyone finds anything there, but it was interesting to look at.  More interesting than the place, was the owner.  He started off by telling us Northerners weren't welcome there (our lack of a Southern accent gave us away!) but then confessed that he used to be one.  He was a talker and started telling us all about his Father, who won a Nobel Prize in 1994 for Neutron Diffraction. He even has a copy of the Nobel Prize on display.  Very interesting!

Our last stop was a visit to this Japanese garden.  It was peaceful and a beautiful place to walk through.

Then it was back in the car to drive to our next stop; a visit with our favorite pirate!

More travels

 Saturday morning we left Tennessee bright and early, headed for South Carolina. It didn't take long until we got caught up in a stop on the highway. We were at a standstill for about 20 minutes because of an accident. 

We did have this cute puppy to watch though.
The traffic continued to be bad and we had two more accidents that held us up.

Andy told us to be sure we stopped at Buc-ees when we saw it.  Do you have them near you?  This place had 120 gas pumps and a store that was huge.  We went in to use the bathrooms and there was someone directing traffic in the women's restroom!

Soon we were on the road and before we knew it, we were seeing mountains.  We drove through the Smoky Mountains and they were beautiful as always.

We wanted to get to this place; Cross Keys Plantation, in time to visit.  It's only open the 1st and 3rd Saturday afternoons, from 1-5.  We made it by 3:30 and were so disappointed that there was no one there, so we weren't able to go into the buildings.  The literature on it says that Jefferson Davis had his last lunch here before surrendering. We walked around on our own.

Barn on the plantation

Slave cabins.

Sunday was a quieter day.  Our church does a live stream so we stayed in our hotel for that, then had lunch and headed to another place that looked interesting.

This is historic Brattonsville.  5 days a week they have people in costumes, sharing about this little settlement and the people who lived here.  There was a Revolutionary War Battle here that was interesting to learn about. On Sunday's, it was a self guided tour, but we so enjoyed stepping back in time to see everything.

Slave quarters

They had sheep!

And, they had pigs!

This is a cotton gin barn.  It's raised because horses were tied underneath and walked in circles to power the equipment.

The property there was so pretty!

Bob and I enjoying our day!

This is one of the early homes.  The family lived in the back, the front was a general store and post office.

There were lots of other buildings to go through to.
We really enjoyed this day!