Elaine and Alice Do Charleston: Mount Pleasant; Boone Hill Plantation and Gardens
Mount Pleasant is east of Charleston across the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge. The former John P. Grace Memorial Bridge built in 1929 across the Cooper River had become insufficient for traffic and in need of major repair and was replaced in 2005 and renamed for South...
Elaine and Alice Do Charleston: Cypress Gardens, Mepkin Abbey
Today we struck out for Cypress Gardens, a short 24 miles from town. The swamp garden was created where Dean Hall rice plantation once existed. Where the other plantations we visited were covered with oak trees, this garden was, as its name implied, water and...
Elaine and Alice Do Charleston: Middleton Place; Magnolia Plantation
Our first stop was Middleton Place, a short drive from downtown. According to the Fodor’s Travel book on Charleston, Middleton Place is America’s oldest landscaped gardens, having been planted in 1741. I will have to admit I was expecting the house to be more on the...
Elaine and Alice Do Charleston
It was time for good friend Elaine and I to take our annual road trip. Well, sort of annual; we fit in a trip when we can so that the last time we see each other won’t be at one of our funerals. The destination this past summer was Charleston, South Carolina. We met...
Sophie the Sofa Cat, 2002– 2015
We lost Sophie the other day. She had been a part of our family since 2002, an even-tempered, soft-spoken, really sweet cat with a short tail and a coat of silky long hair that in some places was at least three inches long, maybe four! Sophie came to live with us...
Bill and Alice’s Big Adventure, Part 5: Going Home
I was up as scheduled to get a sunrise shot of the falls. I had hoped for more clouds to reflect some color and interest. Alas, that didn’t happen, but I did get some pleasant shots. Well, except for the last one where the dirty window came into play against the glare...
Bill and Alice’s Big Adventures, Part 4: Niagara Falls
We made it! Niagara Falls. The morning was bright and clear and we had a full day ahead of us. The night before we had located the tram, what they call the Incline, that would take us down to the falls, so that is where we started. This is the view from...
Bill and Alice’s Big Adventure, Part 3: The Amtrak Ride to Niagara
We arose bright and early to catch the train at Penn Station. At 5:30 in the morning is about the only time you will see Times Square this empty. We took a cab to Penn Station where we found plenty of people. We had breakfast while waiting and watching the...
Bill and Alice’s Big Adventure, Part 2: Brooklyn; Lion King
Day 2 started with the breakfast at Junior’s that I mentioned before. And by the way, you can tell I don’t frequent McDonald’s very often-I stand corrected as to the proper spelling! But I digress. As the day started, we passed an intersection complete with a NYC...
Bill and Alice’s Big Adventure, Part 1: New York City
The decision was made to visit Niagara Falls and try to catch some fall foliage color in the New England area. And if we were in the neighborhood anyway, see The Lion King one more time. So off we went. The Big Apple was the first stop. We flew from Lubbock to Denver...
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