Saturday in South Carolina was our only full day there, so we wanted to make the best of it! We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and then Brittney and Cody hopped in our van to show us around town. One of the first things we did when we all woke up though was to look out our window and see what the water looked like in the creek. It was almost completely gone! These tidal changes are just so different from what we are used to in Florida!
Before we left the hotel to go sightseeing, we snapped a quick family picture. I'm always impressed when we get a decent picture using the self timer on the camera. They usually turn out pretty good, even with no one calling the girls' names to get them to look at the camera. :)
Not sure which bridge we were crossing for this shot, there were so many of them.
Here's where Brittney teaches preschool, "The Little Brown School." We couldn't go inside since they were closed, but the outside was adorable, and it's in a quiet little neighborhood. Very conducive for the kids to take walking field trips.
We headed from there to the Port Royal Farmer's Market at Naval Heritage Park, which had so much more than just produce! Fresh homemade pasta, crab cakes, duck and quail eggs, empanadas, and even shrimp that had just been caught the day before in Beaufort waters. Cody got some empanadas, Brittney and I ate crab cakes, and Austin bought some green onions to bring home and plant (my van still smells like onions...). Madi changed shirts when we got there so she could put on her new shirt from Brittney: "What happens at Mimi's, stays at Mimi's!"
Then Brittney and Cody took us to see the house they are buying. They are waiting for some repairs to be completed so it can pass inspection, and they are hoping to close next month. It was a quiet neighborhood, called Mossy Oaks, close to the schools and fire station, and we loved all of the tall trees. Everything was so shaded and it really was beautiful. I'm mostly jealous of the bay window in the front. ;)
We headed back to downtown Beaufort to walk around the historic district. It reminded me a little of St. Augustine combined with Mount Dora. There were a lot of small shops and markets, and several plantation houses like this one (The Beaufort Inn).
I have to say, I've never been some place where so many locals have the state logo on their cars or are wearing shirts that say "Beaufort" or "South Carolina." You'd expect that more from tourists, but that little palm tree with the crescent moon was on so many cars and there were lots of residents with the shirts on. You definitely don't see that here--none of us walk around with the "Orlando, Florida" shirts on! :)
After lunch overlooking the bay at Luther's (a regular spot for Brittney and Cody), we dropped them off at their car and headed back out ourselves for more sightseeing. I told you we were determined to cram it all in. :) We pretty much just drove around checking out the rest of Beaufort and Lady's Island, using the GPS to avoid getting lost. We stopped at the Beaufort National Cemetery near our hotel since we've never been to one before. They always look so haunting with the rows and rows of headstones.
It was very serene and peaceful, and I was a little surprised at how emotional it felt to see seemingly endless rows of perfectly in line headstones for ordinary people who became extraordinary by sacrificing everything for their country. Most seemed to be from the Civil War, which made sense since South Carolina was the first state to secede the union, but there were quite a few from Vietnam too. This is the oldest headstone I found. He died in 1865 at 27 years old.
Keeping a close guard on Emily so she couldn't blow bubbles on any of the headstones...
Emily was trying to shake all the flowers off while Madi tried to catch them. :)
This headstone was flat in the ground instead of upright. I'm not sure why...they couldn't possibly be buried that close together only one year apart, right?
Madi was asking lots of questions about where we were, so I was trying to explain it to her as appropriate as I could for a 3 year old. It wasn't easy though, because she seemed to "get it" a little more than I was expecting. When I looked up and saw her at one of the headstones, my heart melted. It had me frozen in place for several seconds before I managed to snap out of it and get a picture. She stood in this spot for almost a minute, just staring like she was soaking it all in. You could just see the little wheels turning in her head.
It still gives me chills every time I look at it.
Here's another one I found placed flat on the ground, instead of upright. There must be an obvious reason, but I don't know it!
Many of the headstones had an epitaph on the last line, like "loved by all" or "devoted husband." This one was unique though, and made me laugh out loud. :)
There were a LOT that had this epitaph...
We noticed that a lot of the headstones had a man's name on the front, and then his wife's name on the back. I've never seen this at any cemetery I've visited before, but maybe it's common in military burials.
Another thing I did not know about a national cemetery is that apparently minor children of military members can also be buried there. This baby boy was only 4 days old. :(
We drove through what I thought was the entire cemetery, which seemed to go on for as far as we could see. Then we turned a corner and drove through an exit in the surrounding brick wall, only to find that there were many more rows of headstones. It was so eery to see the stone markers of plots not yet occupied, when you know they will be all too soon.
There was an obvious section of recent burials, with tilled dirt and fresh sod. There were still wreaths of flowers on a few. There seemed to a temporary grave marker from every day in the two weeks preceding, including one with our last name on it.
I know some people would not choose to spend part of their vacation at a cemetery, but I'm glad we went and took the girls. It didn't leave me feeling depressed or anything like that--it was a very spiritual, emotional visit (at least for me anyway).
When we got back to the hotel, Housekeeping had come and spruced up the room. We cracked up when we saw Emily's blue cow placed front and center on her freshly made bed. :)
Austin headed back out to go buy a fishing license for the next morning. I fed Emily dinner and Madi was asking over and over to go down to the indoor pool. It was getting late and we still needed to get dinner, but I quickly got them changed and told them we'd only have about 15 minutes. With their pool rings, it was pretty easy for me to keep both of them happy while I still felt safe enough to be alone in the pool with two kids who can't swim. We stayed close to the steps and they had a blast. I'm glad I felt brave (crazy) enough to take them down there alone. :)
Austin met us at the pool when he got back so we could rush back up to the room, change, and then head out for some South Carolina seafood at Gilligan's. It overlooked the same marsh as our hotel, but because it was so dark at that point, we couldn't see out of the windows. Luckily for us, Madi was more impressed by the lion fish in the aquariums. :)
It was a very long day, and it was the second day in a row that the girls had no naps and didn't get to bed until 11:00 pm. But they did so great! We were so proud of them, and we were beginning to feel like this whole family vacation thing was a little too easy. :)
Day #3 in Beaufort to follow soon!
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