We've had a busy last month, with the best part being the Bains moving to Colorado! Denny got a teaching job at Hinkley HS and has lived with us the last few weeks until the rest of the family joins in a week.
Called Big Nasty, a massive fried chicken biscut & gravy at the Hominy Grill a famous breakfast spot in Charleston.
Probably the best meal there, shrip, sausage and grits at Husk, rated the best new restaurant in America.
Can you believe this was our 1st Beavers game together? We usually go back for the Civil War and tickets are so hard to get. This time we went for the Pac 12 home opener vs. UCLA. The Beavs lost, but we had great seats & tailgate spot thanks to a friend of Mike's dad Jeff, and had great weather as well.
Mia was the most popular person at the tailgate.
Charleston was full of beautiful flowers on the old streets.
We visited a few plantations, this was the slave quarters at the Middleton Plantation. It held 2 slave families. You could see a list of all the slaves the Middleton family owned, what they did and what they paid for them. It's estimated that 50% of the African slaves that were brought to America came through Charleston.
The crew walking along the expansive grounds. We saw a few gators in the swamp at the edge of the river and threw sticks at them.
Near this pond was the rice mill (a big money maker for wealthy Charlestonians) and a chapel.
Sideways, but this is the rubble that remains from when the North raided the plantation during the Civil War.
The mansions along Tradd, King and Queen streets were awesome, especially the porches - usually facing towards the water. There are some homes built around the civil war have no windows facing to the north, which we thought hilarious.
Many of the homes were bases during the war or held Generals or other significant leaders for both the Revolutionary & Civil wars.
I actually heard a southerner say that if the resources had been equal, especially iron, they would have won the war. That said, there was tons of ornate wrought iron throughout the city.
Ft. Moultrie, a signifcant fort in both wars. During the Revolutionary War, the British brought thousands of soldiers on multiple boats and laughed at the fort b/c of grass mounds and weak looking wood. They thought they'd knock the fort over, but the wood (palmetto) was so soft it absorbed cannon balls rather than breaking down. It was a key battle we won. The Civil War started here in a battle w/ Ft. Sumpter (at the time North controlled) out in the ocean.
Our view from the Francis Marion hotel.
Walkway through the College of Charleston, the 1st publicly funded university in the country.
Rachel in front of the main building on campus.
The churches are tallest buildings in Charleston, and were used as a lookout spot during the wars.
St. Michaels, a church from the early 1700s - still had all original inside and windows - not a single one has been broken. We got to tour the inside and attached cemetary where a few Decleration of Independence signers are buried.
Cool old church in central Charleston
Poogan's Porch, a great restaurant where Mike had the best biscuts and peach cobbler.
The Calhoun Mansion, a massive estate in the city, it also had an amazing garden.
One of the best parts of Charleston is the food, and our favorite was Husk. Aunt Betsy told us about it almost 2 months before we left, but we still couldn't get a dinner reservation. We got in for brunch one day and lunch another. This is a fried softshell crab monte cristo w/ cheese grits and fresh squeezed orange juice - awesome.
A friend of ours from Charleston recommended Bowen's Island restaurant, a local dive, on a small island outside of Charleston for great seafood. Here's the view, just an open air basic bar, but awesome seafood plates - best shrimp.
Got to love fall in Colorado.
We visited Charleston, in part b/c it's a place we've always wanted to see and also b/c Mike's Australia friends picked it for a reunion. We loved Charleston, it was so different from other places we've been. Great history, sites, food & beaches. We hadn't seen Mikey's friends for a long time & it was great to re-connect & meet their spouses. We spent a few nights on Folly Beach, a little island outside of Charleston with our friends hanging on the pier, body surfing and playing on the beach & then spent a night in central Charleston just the two of us.
All the pictures are with a phone - we left our camera on the flight, thankfully it was returned but not until we got back to Denver.
Mia is 10m now and doing great. She cracks herself up often, is really active, loves to play standing up and will probably walk before she crawls. She's hilarious and makes us laugh daily.
Called Big Nasty, a massive fried chicken biscut & gravy at the Hominy Grill a famous breakfast spot in Charleston.Probably the best meal there, shrip, sausage and grits at Husk, rated the best new restaurant in America.
Can you believe this was our 1st Beavers game together? We usually go back for the Civil War and tickets are so hard to get. This time we went for the Pac 12 home opener vs. UCLA. The Beavs lost, but we had great seats & tailgate spot thanks to a friend of Mike's dad Jeff, and had great weather as well.
Mia was the most popular person at the tailgate.
Charleston was full of beautiful flowers on the old streets.
We visited a few plantations, this was the slave quarters at the Middleton Plantation. It held 2 slave families. You could see a list of all the slaves the Middleton family owned, what they did and what they paid for them. It's estimated that 50% of the African slaves that were brought to America came through Charleston.
The crew walking along the expansive grounds. We saw a few gators in the swamp at the edge of the river and threw sticks at them.
Near this pond was the rice mill (a big money maker for wealthy Charlestonians) and a chapel.
Sideways, but this is the rubble that remains from when the North raided the plantation during the Civil War.
The mansions along Tradd, King and Queen streets were awesome, especially the porches - usually facing towards the water. There are some homes built around the civil war have no windows facing to the north, which we thought hilarious.
Many of the homes were bases during the war or held Generals or other significant leaders for both the Revolutionary & Civil wars.
I actually heard a southerner say that if the resources had been equal, especially iron, they would have won the war. That said, there was tons of ornate wrought iron throughout the city.
Ft. Moultrie, a signifcant fort in both wars. During the Revolutionary War, the British brought thousands of soldiers on multiple boats and laughed at the fort b/c of grass mounds and weak looking wood. They thought they'd knock the fort over, but the wood (palmetto) was so soft it absorbed cannon balls rather than breaking down. It was a key battle we won. The Civil War started here in a battle w/ Ft. Sumpter (at the time North controlled) out in the ocean.
Our view from the Francis Marion hotel.
Walkway through the College of Charleston, the 1st publicly funded university in the country.
Rachel in front of the main building on campus.
The churches are tallest buildings in Charleston, and were used as a lookout spot during the wars.
St. Michaels, a church from the early 1700s - still had all original inside and windows - not a single one has been broken. We got to tour the inside and attached cemetary where a few Decleration of Independence signers are buried.
Cool old church in central Charleston
Poogan's Porch, a great restaurant where Mike had the best biscuts and peach cobbler.
The Calhoun Mansion, a massive estate in the city, it also had an amazing garden.
One of the best parts of Charleston is the food, and our favorite was Husk. Aunt Betsy told us about it almost 2 months before we left, but we still couldn't get a dinner reservation. We got in for brunch one day and lunch another. This is a fried softshell crab monte cristo w/ cheese grits and fresh squeezed orange juice - awesome.
A friend of ours from Charleston recommended Bowen's Island restaurant, a local dive, on a small island outside of Charleston for great seafood. Here's the view, just an open air basic bar, but awesome seafood plates - best shrimp.
Got to love fall in Colorado.
