Vacation #1 for 2025 — Charleston – The Bradleys in Texas

When I started this blog, it was to share the progress of our house being built down here in Texas. But now that the house is long-since completed, it would seem that this blog is turning into a journal for the various trips we take each year. Well, what can I say? Traveling is what retirees are supposed to do, right?

Our first trip for 2025 was to Charleston, South Carolina. We visited there at the end of April. Trace had never been to Charleston, other than to fly through there during his military years. I had spent a long weekend there once when I was going through Advanced NCO Academy at Ft. Gordon, Georgia. But that was a very long time ago. So we thought that would be a great place to visit. And it turns out that April is actually one of the best times to visit, as the weather isn’t all that hot and sticky in April (living in Texas, we know all about hot and sticky), and the flowers are all in bloom in the Spring.

We stayed in Charleston, but we also made several day trips during our stay there. We went back to Savannah, Georgia to eat at a favorite pub we discovered last year when we visited there. We also went to Beaufort, South Carolina where we visited the Port Royal Cypress Wetland and Rookery. Then we took another day trip to go up to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. All in all, we had a fantastic time and ate at a lot of really excellent food establishments. And of course, my trusty camera accompanied me every day.

Charleston’s Historic District and Fort Sumter

Like any tourist we started out by taking a couple of Charleston city tours. We usually like to do this to just get the “lay of the land” so to speak. Then we figure out the places we want to go back to and spend time at. Most of the places we went back to were in Charleston’s Historic District. They have the largest historic district of any city in America. We also went on a tour to Fort Sumter and did a tour of the haunted jailhouse. Here are a few of the photos that I took.

This is a typical tree-lined street in the historic district of Charleston. Something to note here: most of the streets and even the sidewalks are made of cobblestones…very uneven cobblestones! Ladies, this is not the place to wear high heels! I swear these streets and sidewalks are an ankle sprain waiting to happen.

In one of the city parks in Charleston, I encountered this little fellow. I have no idea what type of water fowl this is, other than some sort of duck. Not sure if that is the way he is supposed to look, or if somehow it got exposed to massive amounts of radiation and is now scarred for life!

Ok, the above two pics were taken in an English pub called “The Griffon”. What you are seeing there is no illusion. Every surface in that pub that is not stone is literally covered with dollar bills and even some $5 and $10 bills. Literally every ounce of wall space in that place is covered! And this is not a small place! There has to be a million dollars hanging inside that pub. And people still are stapling up dollars. We saw several folks doing it while we were there. Oh, and incidentally, they serve up a fantastic fish-n-chips plate!

Well, you know how fond I am of photographing churches. And you have to admit that the Catholics do a mighty fine job when they build their cathedrals and basilicas. This one in Charleston is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Following are some photos of the inside.

We visited Charleston right after Pope Francis had passed away. They had a black shroud draped around the entrance to the church and this little memorial to him inside the sanctuary.

This is the main altar in the cathedral.

This is the huge stained glass window that is located above the main altar.

This is a photo of Fort Sumter as we approached it. The fort is located on an island and as such is accessible only by boat. We were told that the flag was at half-mast because of the Pope’s death. Not sure if that was true or not, but it sounded right at the time.

This is a shot from inside the fort. It’s pretty easy to see what part of the walls is original to the Civil War period and where restorations took place. During World War II they reinforced the walls and outfitted the fort with some bigger cannons as officials were fearful of a possible German invasion.

This is a model that shows what the fort looked like during the Civil War era.

This is a schooner out in Charleston harbor. The company that owns these schooners not only does harbor tours but also does special events (like weddings and birthdays) on the schooners. The island to the right was utilized for housing prisoners during the Revolutionary War.

This shot was taken in the historic haunted jailhouse. Supposedly, this is the most haunted building in America. I have to admit that it was quite creepy. This is a cell block. Each of the cells within this cell block held ten men. You can see how small each cell is so all they could do was stand up. There was NO electricity, plumbing, AC or heating during the timeframe that this jailhouse was in operation. Basically, the individuals held in this jail lived in their own filth. They say that over 12,000 people died in this jailhouse. Here’s a little historical tidbit about this place. During the Civil War, this prison was used for Union soldiers that were captured by the Confederate Army. Dr. George R. C. Todd was a high ranking physician of the Confederate Army that served at this prison during that timeframe. He was known to do amputations on Union soldiers without any form of anesthesia. Apparently, this sadistic character delighted in torturing the Union prisoners held at this jailhouse. And this Dr. Todd was none other than the brother-in-law of President Abraham Lincoln! True story!!

Savannah, Georgia

Last year when we were visiting Savannah, Georgia, we stumbled upon an English pub that had excellent food. It was so good that we ate there several times. And since Charleston is only about 110 miles from Savannah, we decided “what the heck, let’s do dinner there” one night. So we drove down to Savannah and had another fantastic dinner. So, in case you are ever in Savannah, go to the Six Pence pub. You can’t miss it as it has a genuine red British phone booth outside the establishment. You will not be disappointed! For the record, I highly recommend their pot roast dinner…to die for!!!

Here we are at the Six Pence pub. Trace did a selfie on his phone. I was too busy eating!

Beaufort, South Carolina

Beaufort is one of the prettiest little towns that I have ever visited. It is located on Parris Island just up the coast from Hilton Head Island. The town has many antebellum homes, and the parks are decorated in an abundance of flowers and shrubbery. They have a beautiful waterfront park that has these swings that you can sit in and enjoy the scenery and the breezes.

Just outside of Beaufort is a tiny town of Port Royal, where we visited the Port Royal Cypress Wetlands and Rookery. The wetlands attract a boatload (technical term) of migratory birds. A rookery is where these birds will nest and hatch their eggs and subsequently raise their young. I had a field day with my camera there. Here are a sampling of the pictures I shot in Beaufort and at the Port Royal Cypress Wetlands and Rookery:

These two shots were taken at the their waterside park. The flowers in this park were spectacular and most everything was in bloom while we were there. This park was kept up so well; not a weed to be found!

One of the many beautiful antebellum homes in Beaufort. One thing you have to admit, those folks down south really know how to build a house!!

This is a shot of two Wood Storks taken at the Port Royal Cypress Wetlands and Rookery. These birds have long legs, a mainly white body with some black mixed in, and dark heads with long bills. You can see their nest right below the bird in the front.

The two photos above are of the Tricolored Herron. The top photo is a close-up of the bird with his feathers laying nice and flat. The bottom photo shows what happens when they “get their feathers ruffled”. They actually look like two completely different kind of birds!

This is a Snowy Egret sitting on the eggs in her nest.

Here is a momma Great Egret watching over her babies in the nest.

Saw this little guy in the trees and figured I’d get a photo of him too. This is a male cardinal. Female cardinals are not red, but rather a beige color.

Birds are not the only creatures at the Wetlands. There are also many turtles and alligators as well.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle Beach is just one of several beaches located on the Grand Strand which is an area along the coast in the northeast corner of South Carolina. Driving up here along the coast, we realized that the beaches are only one of the attractions of this area. There are also many championship golf courses and golf resorts there. There are even many more putt-putt golf courses, most of which are truly spectacular with water features and multiple levels. Guess you can hone your putting skills at one of these places before taking on the actual golf courses. But since I retired my golf clubs many moons ago (way too frustrating), we did not partake in any of the golfing opportunities. We did however ride on the super huge ferris wheel where I got a couple of good photos, and we meandered down the boardwalk along the beach. All in all, not a bad way to spend the day. Here are some of the photos I took there:

This is a shot from atop of the ferris wheel looking down the beach. As you can see, there are quite a few folks on the beach but very few actually in the water. It was a bit cool that day, plus there were riptide warnings.

And here is a view from atop the ferris wheel looking in the other direction, down the boardwalk.

Here is a shot looking down the boardwalk from the ground level. There’s lots of typical tourist shops and restaurants along the boardwalk.

These sculptures line the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach. You can tell that this town has been hosting tourists for a long while. Everything in this town is geared around the tourists.

This is my favorite photo that I shot in Myrtle Beach. This is where I just wanted to park a chair out there and take in the breezes of the ocean. It doesn’t get much better than that!

So there it is, a synopsis of our trip to Charleston. Hope you all enjoyed the photos as much as I had shooting them. Stay tuned for our future trips this year. No hints…you just have to stay tuned for future posts. Ciao for now!