Today we took a trip back in time! First stop was Fort Sumter National Monument which was the first battle which led to the Civil War. It ws an interesting story about how the Union soldiers held it and then the South Carolina soldiers captured it and many years later the Union soldiers captured it back. Lots of politics, battles and bloodshed in between, but the ranger made it known that the soldiers were all Americans, though fighting against each other. The Fort was in ruins and only the bottom level is still intact.

Shel went through a submarine and the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier and I hung around for a while.

Later we went to see the Boone Hall Plantation. After all the years of reading, watching movies and tv about plantations, it was great to be able to finally walk the grounds. We were greeted by a Scarlett O'Hara type who gave us a tour of the first floor of the house and told us of its history. Then we went to a "Gullah Culture Talk by the slave quarters, where a most entertaining woman told us about the gulla background. One interesting thing was that they combined their own accents (depending where they came from, Angola, West Africa, etc.) and language with those of the families who owned them and came up with their own "speak". Among the stories she told us, was two humorous ones. One was that they can speak unkindly about you right in front of you and you wouldn'teven know it. Also she said, when she went to college and walked into her stuffy dorm room, she said, "up da window" and when no one opened the window, but just looked up, she realized that she needed to learn to change her speech!! Also, she said - the, that, etc., is de or dat and of course that ask is aks!!!

Shel: We rolled out of the camper and rushed over to Mt. Pleasant to get on a tour boat to Fort Sumter. Well we got the early and had to hang around. We toured Fort Sumter. Came back and I toured through a submarine and then the Yorktown aircraft carrier. Next on the agenda was a tour of a working plantation, the Boone Hall Plantation. Dinner and went back to the camper to collapse.

BTW comments to shelkol@yahoo.com :)