Tee/Tea time

Today we went our separate ways. Mr. Snootypurse has a co-worker residing in South Carolina. They met for a round of golf at Charleston National Golf Club. Although play was slow the weather was perfect. Mr. Purse enjoyed getting out on the golf course for the first time in about six months.

Meanwhile, I plotted an adventure in the countryside for myself and my Aunt who drove up from Pawley's Island to spend the day with me. We started with a visit to the Angel Oak Tree. This 1500 year old Live Oak tree is over 6 stories tall and shades 17,000 square feet. It was too large for snapshots but an Internet search should bring up some pictures for you.

Our next stop was lunch at the Tomato Shed Cafe.This was Low Country cuisine prepared in a healthy way with lots of local vegetables. It was one of the best lunches on the trip. The metal chickens were sitting in front of the cafe and caught my eye but I resisted bringing one home.

We wrapped up the day with a tea time of our own at the Charleston Tea Plantation, America's only tea garden. We took the trolley tour of the grounds. One of the stops was the computer-monitored greenhouse pictured above. The computer takes care of the baby tea plants by opening and closing the blinds for light, watering them, humidifying the air, and cooling them if necessary with the black tubes running under the plants. The most interesting factoid we learned is that Argentina is the world's largest producer of tea. My Aunt and I shared a fun day and I'm grateful she drove up to help me escape the city.

We are reluctantly heading home tomorrow afternoon. They are predicting snow again. Ugh! We have the morning here so we may try to visit the Charleston Museum before heading to the airport.

Our day began with a drive across the bridge to Patriots' Point in Mount Pleasant to catch a boat to Fort Sumter. This is a picture of Fort Sumter as the boat pulled in. What you don't see are the dark storm clouds rolling in behind us... The tour schedule allows for about an hour at the fort. Fifteen minutes after we arrived the heavens opened and rain chased everyone into the small museum. It was unfortunate because there were several interesting exhibits scattered around the grounds that we missed.

These are the six flags that flew over Fort Sumter as it changed hands a few times before, during, and after the Civil War. Fort Sumter was held by the Confederacy until near the end of the Civil War making Charleston the only seaport for the Confederacy during the war.

Patriots' Point offers other naval history exhibits including an aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, but we headed back to Charleston after our return due to the weather.

We took the last carriage tour of the day from Palmetto carriage tours. It was still raining so we got a little damp but enjoyed the narration of Charleston's history. This Roman villa is thought to be the inspiration for the Tara plantation house in Gone With the Wind. After the tour we drove down to the Battery to stroll along the seawall and gawk at the fanciest homes in the city.

Family photos

We ran out to the beach one last time before leaving Pawley's Island. I am standing with my Aunt, our hostess with the mostest. We made our way down to Charleston where we took a  Low Country cooking class at Charleston Cooks! The class was twice as large as I am used to at home but it was nicely set-up with a large video monitor. We learned about the basis of Low Country cooking and got a good recipe for fish or chicken.

We wandered around downtown Charleston afterward and it was crazy! Not sure if it is always like this on Saturday or if it was due to St. Patrick's Day. The bars were filled to the rafters and the action spilled out onto the street. Nonetheless, we savored the sunshine as we looked across the harbor at Fort Sumter while eating gelato. We ran into a student from the Citadel from Portland at dinner. He was thrilled to see Mr. Purse's Sunriver Hot Dog Company t-shirt! So I showed him some ankle with my Portland Running Company socks!

Brookgreen Gardens

We arrived at Brookgreen Gardens only planning to spend a few hours but ended up staying the whole day and STILL not seeing everything. The background of Brookgreen is similar to Hobcaw Barony: Wealthy individuals, Archer and Anna Huntington, bought and combined multiple former rice plantations for recreational use. However, the management and use of Brookgreen is quite different. Much of the property is highly manicured and serves as the setting for the largest collection of figurative statuary in the country. 

We took a pontoon boat tour of the canals on the property that were originally built when it was a rice plantation. This provided a chance to sit down while cruising on a beautiful day and hear some history about the plantation. The most interesting part was seeing several alligators along the way like the photo on the right. They were along the shoreline sunning themselves. Alligators go into a form of hibernation in the winter when they stop eating. Woe to the shorebird that miscalculates and walks by on the first day they start eating again.

There is also a small zoo on the property with local animals. We spent quite a bit of time in the marshland aviary watching the birds play as they were quite active. Perhaps a bit too much time as Mrs. Snootypurse caught a bird bomb from above on her left shoulder. I wonder if it's good luck like it is in Italy? The zoo includes a river otter exhibit where you can watch the frolicking above and below water. And frolick they did!