so today we woke up and realized that we did not have anything that could be eaten for breakfast. neither did we want to immediately get up and go get something for breakfast. so thanks to the marvel of hotels, we ordered some room service. i had a $3.50 very small box of Apple Jacks and sarah had some french toast. i think she got the much better end of the deal.

after our breakfast we got dressed and headed out to Mount Pleasant which is across the Cooper River from the Charleston peninsula. at about 1pm we boarded a small ship and set sail for Fort Sumter, the island fort where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. the boat ride over to the island was very nice and we even got to see several pods of dolphin. the fort itself was pretty exciting as they had several original cannon from the initial bombardment of the island. we were also told that all of the brick work on the fort is original to the 1861 version of the fort. today, Sumter is not quite like it was 144 years ago. there is now a large battery in the very center of it that was constructed during the Spanish-American War in the late 1800’s. but it is still a breathtaking place and there are lots of interesting things to see. there are several points in the brick where 1861 shrapnel still remains embedded and it appears that the original constructors used seashells in the brick mortar to make the fort stronger and more defensible. after we finished touring the fort, we got back on the boat and headed back to our next sightseeing adventure.

upon returning to shore we each got a polish sausage hot dog since we hadn’t eaten in quite a while, and then purchased tickets to tour Patriot’s Point. this was one of the coolest things i’ve seen in quite a long time. it’s basically a maritime and Naval museum, but the museum consists of American warships. there are four in all: a World War II battleship, aircraft carrier, and submarine, and a modern US Coast Guard vessel. we only had time to go through the aircraft carrier and submarine, but we still feel that we got more than our money’s worth. we went through the submarine first and it was neat to see exactly how small they are on the inside and how involved they are. there were so many dials and switches and levers that we were baffled at how one crew could even begin to remember what they all do. the submarine also had loaded torpedo tubes and a model torpedo that was open at certain points so that you can see how they work and what is inside of them.

after we had gone through the submarine, we headed over to the aircraft carrier, the retired USS Yorktown. it is the fourth version of the great ship as the third was sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942. the hangar of the carrier had several World War II aircraft on display and also a few spacecraft replicas as the Yorktown was responsible for retrieving John Glenn’s “Friendship 7″ Mercury craft after it’s return from its mission of orbiting the Earth for the first time and the Apollo 8 spacecraft after it returned from its mission as the first craft to orbit the moon. you could also tour the engine room, the captain’s bridge, and the flight deck of the carrier. up on the deck there were more aircraft on display including a couple of Huey helicopters, an F/A-18 Harrier, an F-14 Tomcat, and an F-4 Phantom fighter. this ship was just incredible to walk around on as i have always had a fascination with fighter jets and was really into them when i was younger. it was also really special for Sarah because her grandfather (on her father’s side) was actually an admiral of an aircraft carrier (the Hornet) in World War II. so she got to see pretty much an exact replica of the ship that her grandfather was in charge of as the Yorktown and the Hornet are both in the same class of aircraft carrier. all in all, Patriot’s Point was the most fun thing we did all day.

after spending 5 hours combined at Fort Sumter and Patriot’s Point it was time for dinner. we headed back to our hotel to catch the shuttle into downtown Charleston with the hopes of eating at a local seafood joint (seafood two nights in a row? why not? it IS an ocean city!) called “The Crab House.” we had a coupon for a free order of crab dip and it was VERY good. not typical seafood dips that had a very small amount of meat in it. this thing was mostly meat! for dinner, Sarah ordered crab cakes and i ordered a crab and shrimp combo that came with fried shrimp, a crab cake, and an Alaskan snow crab leg cluster. it was pretty good. not the best seafood i’ve ever had, but certainly not the worst either. i would definitely go back for the crab dip though. delish!

after dinner we walked around the market a little bit and even saw a ship in the harbor that said “TEXAS AGGIES” on it in giant letters. i think it was from the satellite campus in Galveston that has a “maritime academy,” but it was still really cool to see. we’re hoping the ship will be there tomorrow so that we can go back and get pictures of it. we then returned to our hotel, watched another episode of 24. and are now turning in after a very successful day 2 in Charleston.