Good Travels

      Oh no!! Today was our final full day at the beach. I'm so exhausted from touring, but at the same time I don't want to leave. I'm sure you all know what I'm feeling. The Wanderlust is still very alive inside me. But all the same, it was a wonderful last day!
        To make up for yesterday's screw up, we went first thing in the morning to Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. This is an absolute Must-see! You definitely get your bang for your buck--a house tour, a tour of the farms, a Gullah Theatre show, a lecture on the slave houses, and a walk through the gardens. Our bus driver's name was Bob, and he was the best tour guide to talk about the farm. I definitely want to come back to the plantation during the months of April, May, June, July, August, and then again in October. Starting next month will be their strawberry picking season. Then comes peach tree picking, then blueberry picking, then muscadine grape picking. THEN in October they have a giant corn maze and pumpkin picking. See? I just need to go back. Especially for the peaches and grapes.
          The Gullah Theatre was put on by a woman descended from a South Carolina slave. Her great-grandmother lived to be ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN years old. Thats 117. Amazing. She was a slave as a young girl and spoke Gullah fluently. This woman could understand her great grandmother and learned a little from her before she passed away. But let me tell you, she has an amazing voice and is a wonderful story teller. Definitely something to see.
           Some facts about Boone Hall:
               ~It's been rebuilt several times, once due to a fire, once due to hurricane damage, and once because the new owner just wanted to. But a lot of the structures in the house were salvaged from the older versions
             ~A Russian man bought the house at the outbreak of World War II, and he was very invested in his race horse, whose bloodline eventually sired Secretariat.
             ~Boone Hall was a cotton plantation until after the Civil War. After slave labor was no longer an option, they switched to pecan production because it is not nearly as labor intensive as cotton picking. They still have Pecan trees, but a lot were destroyed during a hurricane in the late 80s.
              ~You might recognize the patio and backyard of the house from a certain famous movie called The Notebook. Yes, we stood where Ryan Gosling stood. The scene where Allie's parents completely reject Noah takes place on this property, along with the boat scene that takes place in the salt water marsh that borders the property.
                ~A family still lives in the house part time. They raise thoroughbred horses and use them to play polo. Definitely a little unique for South Carolina.

     After our tour of the Plantation ended, we drove over to Sullivan's Island and laid out on the beach (we found the other spring breakers) and proceeded to be covered with sand. Apparently, the wind decided to act up today. It was in every nook and cranny. I bit down on it several times. But the sun was nice, and the water was bearable. We jumped into the ocean a few times to wash off the sand, but not for too long. However, it was great to wave ride again. I even dunked myself in the water a couple times right before we left.
      The latter half of the afternoon was spent touring Fort Moultrie, which was the naval stronghold for a short time before Fort Sumter took over. It's a pretty neat place to tour--a nice view of the ocean, and some neat crevices. Side note, if you go at 4:00 pm, there's no charge for the tour because it closes at 5. So save yourself some money. It's definitely doable in an hour.
         Dinner commenced at one of my favorite places--Poe's Tavern! Yes, I returned and had the Amontillado burger. It's such a cool place. The burgers, all named after Edgar Allan Poe's stories or poems, are delicious, and the building itself is awesomely decorated. I suggest sitting outside, weather permitting, but definitely sneak inside to see all the neat decorations.
        And of course, it being our last night, we HAD to get dessert. So I stopped in Kaminsky's on N. Market St. in Charleston and got a huge piece of Spice Hummingbird Cake. And Emily, more of an ice cream girl, went to Peace Pie, an ice cream sandwich place that adds a layer of pie filling into the ice cream sandwich. She got triple chocolate, and it looked killer.
        Now, I'm going to go shower and attempt to get all the sand off my body. We'll see about that. Wish me luck!