Sorry for the long delay, but my camera cord has been MIA for a couple of weeks. Brian and I just got back from SOUTH CAROLINA.
I needed to go to a training for work and we thought that it would be an awesome opportunity to take a little "us" time. My training was in
Greenville, which is inland South Carolina. We had a little trouble getting in to
Greenville though. America Airlines was TERRIBLE! Our connecting flight from Dallas was 90 minutes delayed and then when we finally got to SC, my luggage was missing. Most women know that when you are traveling for a week the last thing that you want to hear is that your bag didn't make the flight. Of course Brian's things made it
ok. I was freaking out just a little bit. More so because of America Airlines' attitude towards the whole thing. Never once did I get an apology. They acted like it was my fault that I had the nerve to check a bag. Are you kidding me? Wow, it was my first time-and last- ever flying with them. I finally got fed up and returned to the airport at about 10:30 that night. I waited for the next flight coming in from Dallas and thankfully, my bag was on it. Phew, that could have gotten really ugly! Once the travel drama was behind us, Brian and I set out to explore the beautiful city of
Greenville.
The downtown area was so nice. It reminded me a lot of Salt Lake with ten times as many trees.
Probably the neatest thing about
Greenville was the River that went through the downtown. I think the area was called Reedy Park, but don't quote me on that. It was
gorgeous. They had a few different walking bridges and trails everywhere. It was such a cute little town.
This is the view from one of the bridges that went
through the park.
One of the nights we decided to take a recommendation on dinner and we went to a
restaurant called, The Lazy Goat. It was a cute little
restaurant that was right next the river. Well when we sat down and looked at the menu Brian and I were a little puzzled. I'm not sure what type of food they had but it was FOREIGN. The menu looked French, but it also looked like it had some Italian. Lets just say it was very European. I didn't know what to order so I stayed safe with the meats and cheese sampler. They brought out a tray with a few different kinds of meats and cheeses. It was
ok, but when they brought out Brian's meal we almost died! It was this big black bowl that was filled with rice sauce and "creatures."
Yes that is an octopus in the middle there. I have never seen anything gross Brian out, but this one did him in. While we were in
Greenville we decided to travel up to North Carolina and see Chimney Rock. It was so beautiful up there. To get to the top of the rock we had to climb hundreds of these:
There was an elevator there for people to ride up, but what fun would that have been? Man I wish I didn't where flip flops that day though! What a work out. Here is a view of the rock from the parking lot below. It is about 2200 ft elevation. I'm not sure exactly how high from the parking lot, but it was still a good hike up there.
This is a picture at the top of the rock. It was so gorgeous. It was amazing to look down and see everything that you couldn't see at ground level because the trees were too thick.
After our long hike, we decided to take another trail that lead to this huge waterfall. It was 450 ft tall. It was so refreshing to take a little dip after our hiking that day.
After I finished my training, we still had a couple of days left before our flight back home. We decided to pack up our luggage and drive to Charleston. Charleston is an amazing city. It reminded me a lot of Europe because it is so old. There was a ton of Civil War History there and it was too bad that we didn't have more time to check it all out. Here is a picture of our amazing room. We stayed in the Planter's Inn. It was an original building from the 1800's that they turned into a hotel. The bed in this room was so comfortable. It was hard to come back home and sleep on our bed after experiencing this piece of heaven.
My favorite thing about Charleston was the
cemeteries. I have this weird fascination with
cemeteries, and the ones that we saw were incredible. This one that we saw was very very old. most of the headstones, that were legible, were from the 17-1800s. It was crazy to see them still standing. This one is not as old, but amazing none the less.
Here are some other cool buildings that we saw while we were there. There were a ton of churches in Charleston.
Probably my favorite experience at Charleston was going to Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is a tiny island about a half hour off of Charleston. It is an old fort
where the civil war started. It is amazing that it is still standing. There is a lot of rubble and artillery in the brick, but for the most part it is still
standing strong.
Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of the plantations while we were there. A day to see everything just is not enough. Oh well, for what we did get to experience, South Carolina was a fun place to visit.
You may remember hearing about him in the news. He was from Hyde Park, which is very close to Logan, and was killed September 6, 2004 in Iraq. Brian worked with Mike back in Logan and knew him pretty well. It was really hard when he was killed. Before the ride started they did a presentation for the soldiers. I could not believe how many names they read off. It was very heart breaking to hear how many families lost loved ones. This is SGT Nathan Barnes. He went to school with me. He passed away in 2007.
This is a short clip of when everyone started up their bikes. It was insane!
Can you see how far ahead the bikes go? We were some where in the middle so it gives you an idea of how many bikes there were.
