Charleston Water Park

When I first heard the option of going to the Water Park instead of walking around the Battery, I flipped out, imagining waterslides and wave pools. This, I was not prepared for.

However, it turns out that the Water Park was actually a park with water alongside the water. It was cute and fun to explore.











Guests are welcome to wade in the first two tiers of the fountain (however, climbing on the fountain is forbidden).



Helen is all about "trick pics."







This squirrel must be used to people. He let me get very close to take his picture.











It then started to rain, and we boarded the bus to head back home.

I enjoyed Charleston. It was a nice "literary" adventure. I probably wouldn't do those things if I went by myself, but I had a great time and would like to visit, again - definitely for a longer period of time.

Charleston Ghost Tour

I suppose it would be more helpful if I knew the name of the business we booked through, but I cannot recall.

We rode on our bus to the location of the ghost tour. It was difficult to back the bus back out, as it was a narrow driveway. So, they went ahead and backed the bus while it was still light out. We ended up parking it in a tow zone, but we left one of our adults on the bus (she was scared of ghosts), so we hoped we wouldn't get towed.

The ghost tour was very cheesy. Our tour guide was weird.



The story of the building is that it used to be a prison and people were executed there. The College of Charleston purchased the building two years ago and is renovating it to create new classrooms.







However, I personally think that there was little progress to be made considering the amount of time they've had the building. And if I was renovating a building, the first thing to go would be the noose and cage and other things used to "execute" prisoners.







It wasn't scary. Our guide said on the tour before us, someone took a picture of her and in the picture a ghostly skull was floating above her head. So, I had a lot of fun taking pictures of our guide and yelling, "zohhh my gosh I see a GHOST!"


Look... a ghost!

Downtown Charleston

After dinner, we walked over to the marketplace. While there, I was uncertain whether or not you could barter. A lot of trinkets had set prices written on them with stickers. I wasn't sure whether or not I could suggest a lower price. Therefore, I did not buy anything (nothing was too appealing, anyway).


I don't know what this building is, but it was pretty, so I took a picture.


These horses smelled disgusting. I don't know how you could go on a carriage ride due to the terrible, overwhelming smell.

Dinner at Hyman's Seafood

We had a reservation for dinner at Hyman's Seafood. Mr. Flip had to drop us off and go park the bus three blocks away.

I forgot to take a picture of the exterior, but I'm borrowing this photo from Hyman's website for informational purposes.



This is about how it looked... us being the large group lined up on the sidewalk.

We were seated at two separate tables in the same room. They were near eachother, but not close enough to carry a conversation between tables. We split up oddly.

I happened to be sitting at a table where Oprah Winfrey once sat.



I decided to be adventurous. I believe I was one of the only people at my table that actually liked seafood. I love crab cakes, but I saw it many places on the menu. I decided to do a three combination - crab cake, buffalo oyster, and shrimp and grits.

Most everyone else at the table ordered buffalo chicken fingers or chicken fingers.

It took a while for our food to come. By the time we got ours, our other table was almost finished eating.

My food was really good. The crab cake was rather puny, but there was plenty of oyster and shrimp and grits.

It was a fun restaurant. The staff was super friendly. We were greeted by many different employees and managers, including the 4th generation Hyman (whose name escapes me at the moment).

It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't extremely pricey, either. My meal (triple combo and water) cost about %18.

The Beach at Fort Moultrie

While Helen and I explored the Fort, most everyone else ventured towards the beach. We caught up later.



It was a small beach and kind of grimy - nothing like the white sand beaches in Destin, Florida. There were some pretty great views, though, and some rocks to climb on.












Isaac kept finding dead fish. Ew.








The view of the fort from the beach... the grass was very sticky-feeling. Not pleasant on the feet.





It was time for us to meet back up with Mr. Flip. Now, I thought people were following me, but apparently no one was. I went back to the front of Fort Moultrie and happened to spot Mr. Flip driving the bus. He stopped and let me on, then we circled back around to wait for people. It was very hot and there was little breeze. I resorted to sticking my head out the door. Finally, the missing people showed up, and we drove to our hotel - the La Quinta Inn.

It was fairly nice for a low-rate chain hotel. The pool was teensy, though.

Fort Moultrie

We had a group reservation. I'm not sure if we needed it. The place wasn't too crowded, and I bet we could've just showed up.

We did have to wait about twenty minutes to watch the movie. There was a small indoor museum-like area for us to wander around. It quickly got boring.

The movie was absolutely terrible. It was really dated with horrible actors and cheap, tacky costumes. It reminded me of SNL's "Laser Cats," and it lasted twenty minutes. I believe we all fell asleep.

Anyway, we went out to take a group picture before dispersing to check out Fort Moultrie. I don't have a copy of the group picture at the moment.



It was a self-guided tour. We could pretty much just explore.


































Stumbled across this a little too late...



Helen and I explored Fort Moultrie the most. Everyone else ventured to the beach pretty quickly. I, however, really enjoyed the fort. It was like a giant playground (except we weren't really supposed to be playing with the cannons). We kept finding new tunnels and passageways and getting lost. It was quite fun, but really hot and sticky.