Vacation Days 5-6

On day 5 in Charleston, we headed down the road about 10 miles from our KOA to Patriots Point, a naval museum sight on the harbor in Mt. Pleasant, just north of downtown Charleston.  There was so much to see at Patriots Point; we were there from 9am until 5pm! 

The USS Yorktown, a retired naval aircraft carrier that houses a majority of the exhibits at Patriots Point.

 We started the tour at a reproduction of a naval support base from the Vietnam War.  Next, we toured a destroyer ship, the USS Laffey.  Nathan in particular loved this!

Cliff and Laura aboard the USS Laffey.

Next we toured the USS Clamagore, a retired submarine.  The kids were pretty fascinated with this; for me, it was a true test of how far a mildly claustrophobic mom will go for the sake of her kids! :)

USS Clamagore submarine.

Me with the beautiful Ravenel Bridge, which leads over to the Charleston peninsula, in the background.

The largest part of our day was spent aboard the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier.  We got to see so many things: the Congressional Medal of Honor Museum, the living quarters of the ship, the flight deck and bridge, many retired fighter jets, the documentary movie "The Fighting Lady", etc.

Ready to tour the USS Yorktown!

We even got to have lunch mess hall style in the ship's living quarters.

Captain Towner is ready for take-off!

Checking out the planes on the flight deck.

After a busy, but very hot, afternoon, we enjoyed going back to camp for dinner and pool time.

Working on dinner at camp.

Our home for 6 nights; we loved our new dining tent!

Being silly at the campground.

 On our final full day in Charleston, we got up early and headed downtown, to the very tip of the peninsula, an area known as The Battery.  We enjoyed walking by the gorgeous homes and sitting in a park.  What a lovely, historic city!

Can I buy one of these homes??  Talk about a view!

After lunch at a great little café locally referred to as "Fast and French" (my kids had their first croque monsieur sandwiches!), we headed to the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry to let the kids have a a fantastic time playing.

Nathan making a masterpiece at the children's museum.

Laura steering the pirate ship at the children's museum.

 We capped the afternoon off by driving down to Folly Beach, a lovely little beach town south of Charleston.  We parked the car and walked a quarter mile to view the Morris Island lighthouse and enjoy a gorgeous view!

Morris Island lighthouse near Folly Beach.

When we got back to camp, we realized our good luck on weather had finally run out: a thunderstorm had come through and made part of tent wet inside.  After a little frustration and a bout of drying, doing laundry and re-organizing, we were able to enjoy the pool and still have a dry place to sleep by bedtime.  The next morning, it was time to break camp and head up the road to our final leg of the trip.  More on that soon!  Stay tuned.............


Gina