The Vacation Diaries: First Day

First installment of The Vacation Diaries:

We flew out to Charleston the day after Memorial Day. My sister, Kimberly's, wedding wasn't until Saturday, June 2, but we thought we would make a vacation out of the trip out there. That night we met Kimmy's fiance's family at a restaurant called Fleet Landing, right on the harbor, but we didn't take any pictures that night. We had a good time, although I refused to eat shrimp and grits. I won't even eat grits with breakfast; I don't know whose idea it was to mix grits with brown gravy or whatever and call it supper. Blech. (Note: Later in the week I did learn a way to cook grits that I actually liked. More on that in a future installment.)

Anyway, the next morning we went to the aquarium. It was very interesting, and Caroline really enjoyed it, but she is not one to stand in one place for too long so we really had to speed through it at times.

Here are the real live alligator pictures. Caroline talked a big talk about seeing the alligator, but when it came time to actually touch it, she was not so brave. I think Jason eventually coaxed her into it. I touched it too -- it felt like hard plastic to me.

First encounter with the alligator:

Getting a little closer ... look at her face, she's not so sure about this!

And some pictures of the family in front of the large diving tank and the harbor outside. Did you know this little city is the second largest container seaport on the East Coast? It's also the second most productive container port in the world, behind Hong Kong. (According to Wikipedia, anyway.)

After lunch, I saw a sign indicating the distance to London (where my sister and her now-husband will make their home), and I just had to get a picture of it.

After a nap, we went on a carriage ride through downtown Charleston, including some residential areas. That was my favorite part of the whole day. Our driver narrated the tour and told us all kinds of interesting facts and history about the city. Caroline's favorite part was watching the Belgian Draft Horse, Ralph, drink water at the end of the ride. For days afterwards she reminded us, "Ralph. Drink. Water."

What a fun day!