A Refreshing Getaway

When time doesn't permit a long vacation, a short getaway can be almost as good. It's just so nice to have a change of scenery and take a little breath from the stresses of day to day life. Our recent getaway took us to an area of America where the Spanish Moss drips from the majestic live oak trees.

Many of these oak trees are hundreds of years old.

The trunks on these beautiful old trees are massive and the branches stretch out many, many feet. Sadly, this one suffered some damage recently which you can read about below.

Thankfully, nobody was underneath when the branch broke off.

The camellias were beginning to bloom. The Spanish Moss even dripped from these camellias.

The gardens in this city are magnificent.

Somebody dressed up this graceful statue with camellias.

Daffodils were beginning to make their showing.

There is a lot of American history to be found here. Many plantations and even this plantation chapel.

We visited one of the plantations called Middleton Place. It was first settled in the late 17th century by Henry Middleton through marriage. For a century and a quarter the property was the family seat of four successive generations of Middletons including Arthur, who was a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Arthur and four members of the Middleton family are now entombed here.

Have you guessed where we went yet? If not, we'll continue on and see if these clues will help.

When visiting this city I would strongly recommend a carriage ride tour. Our tour guide was very informative and also funny. Not to mention the slower pace of the carriage allowed you to see a lot more than you might if you were busy driving and keeping your eyes on the road.

The iron work here is absolutely incredible. Beautiful gates, gas lanterns, fences, porch rails.

Pretty flower boxes and notice the iron work on the windows.

The architecture is beautiful. How would you like to sip sweet tea or a mint julep on one of these covered porches? Or as our tour guide informed us, they aren't porches here, they are piazzas.

The gardens are gorgeous.

They have home and garden walks here. I just might have to come back another time to see them.

If you haven't guessed our destination yet, this will most likely give it away. We took a ferry ride here. Fort Sumter - where the Civil War began.

It was very cold and windy when we visited. Fortunately there was an indoor museum which was much warmer and very interesting too.

My husband is interested in military history. I find it interesting too, but if I came here with my girlfriends I'm not sure if we would have come here ;-) However, we spent the better part of our last day at Patriot's Point touring the USS Yorktown and also a submarine and a Coast Guard cutter.

I thought you might be interested in this part of the tour.

In case you are wondering how many ingredients you would need to make 10,000 chocolate chip cookies. . .

And, if you are in the mood for baking this weekend I thought I'd share the recipe.

Since we're on the subject of baked goods, I have a confession to make. On Valentine's Day we visited this adorable shop.

And this was our lunch.

Chocolate with lemon butter cream for him ~ red velvet for her.

Now, if you guessed Charleston, South Carolina as our getaway spot you would be correct. If you are looking for an interesting little place to getaway to, I would highly recommend it.

Since I'm making up for lost time here :-) I also wanted to share a picture from my mom's birthday celebration on February 24th. She turned 85 that day. I am so happy to report that she is back to her assisted living facility and seems to be adjusting well. She is on the far right in the picture, I am in the red sweater and the other 2 ladies are new friends who also reside in memory care.

Thanks for your comments during the time my computer was misbehaving. It feels so good to be back to blogging. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.