When I asked Chase what he would like to do in Charleston other than the USS Yorktown he picked Cypress Gardens. So we did Cypress Gardens this morning. The main draw of Cypress Gardens is the swamp boat tour. You can either row your own boat through the swamp or do a guided tour for $5. I had read you need to get there early as both are subject to availability, so we planned to get there right at 9am when they opened. We arrived right at 9 am with maybe 5 other cars. Oh well, better than lines of people!
We decided to go with the guided tour as we figured they could point out alligators and points of interest and added bonus we wouldn't get lost in the swamps of South Carolina. Ends up it is a man-made swamp so really no way to get lost and the alligators we saw were pretty obvious. We basically ended up paying extra for some young guy to row us and a bunch of old people through the swamp. We had to laugh at ourselves. Our tour guide did point out a couple of interesting tidbits along the way such as:
- the alligators there primarily eat turtles but also ducks and fish
- the bridge that was used in the movie The Patriot looks like a stone bridge is made of fiberglass just for the movie.
- Spanish moss hanging from the trees is totally independent of the tree and is fed by rain water. It is dying off due to air pollution.
- the alligators are free to come and go - they are not fenced in
The bridge from the Notebook
It is hard to tell because I zoomed in but this was a baby alligator. Only maybe three feet long.
We left Cypress Gardens a little after noon and were hungry so ended up at Stone's Throw Brewing for a little lunch. They had pretty good beers - okay food. After lunch we made our way back downtown historic Charleston to stroll a while. Upon arriving Chase said we needed to make our way to a bathroom but who knows where one is as I am guessing most shops and restaurants don't have public bathrooms. Kurt helpfully plugged it in to google maps which loudly announced a '7 minutes to the nearest public restroom' to a very busy downtown Charleston. Needless to say we ended up making poor Kurt drink a beer so we could use a bathroom near by.
We wandered along and water then through the historic streets. The homes are just amazing! We all decided if we had the money to buy one why would you ever want to live there with all the tourists and traffic. Would not be my cup of tea!
Chase and I at the famous Pineapple Fountain
The overrated by famous Rainbow Row
I love the stairs on this one. All the vines.
Lots of these private walkways, many with fountains.
My parents taught me to never pass a cemetery without taking a look!
The Slave Market. There is a museum but it is closed on Sundays so we just walked by.
We were going to go back to the City Market as Chase has never been there but realized they closed early as it is Sunday. Chase made the call that we had roamed enough and headed back to the car and back to the house. Chase said he could maybe go for some pizza before he had to head back to the base so we went to Mellow Mushroom. This is the pizza place they have delivered to base but Chase had never actually been. It was some excellent pizza and a great beer - Low Tide Aloha Beaches Pineapple Wheat.
Back to the house after our pizza and Chase had to head back to base. Kurt and I just relaxed the rest of the evening. Another great day with Chase - it is going to be hard to leave him! It makes it slightly easier seeing him happy and doing great!
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