Chincoteague, Virginia May 2012

This past weekend Madeline, Henry and I went camping at Maddox Family Campground in Chincoteague, Virginia.  It was Henry's first camping trip.  ( We had slept out in the tent on the deck about 2 years ago.)  We got a late start on Friday since we had to wait for Mads to get home from work.  We arrived at the campground at about 10:30 PM.  We quickly set up the tent, unloaded the car and got ready for bed.  We set up camp on the edge of the campground overlooking the channel that runs between Chincoteague and Assateague Islands.  We had an unobstructed view of the bridge and lighthouse.  We were soon asleep.

Satrurday dawned clear and very windy.  The birds woke us up by 8 am.  We ate a quick breakfast of Pop Tarts, muffins and cereal, then headed out for a bike ride to Assateague.  Henry was on the tag-a-long behind my bike.  The wind was brutal.  On the Wildlife Drive we saw a black snake, endangered fox squirrels and lots of waterfowl.  We headed to the Pony Trail and actually encountered a pony in the parking lot.  The Pony Trail has recently been paved which was a very nice improvement from our previous visits.  We rode up to the beach and noticed that the crowds were non-exsistent.  We headed back to the campground to have lunch and then back to the beach.  The wind was even worse headed back to Chincoteague.  We had to petal hard even going down hill!

Lunch was yogurt, grapes, peanut butter sandwiches and Party Mix.  To keep Mads happy we stopped at the Coffee shop for her caffeine fix. The beach was also very windy.  Too windy to set up our beach umbrella.  We set our chairs with our backs to the wind and tried to read.  Henry played in the sand trying to dig a big hole to hide from the wind, but it keep filling with blowing sand.  Henry would stop playing intermittently and take off running down the beach.  He would run to the edge of the ocean and then take off joyfully through the surf, returning to us breathless and salt splashed and happy.  He would then lay down in the warm sand to catch his breath. We thought he was carzy since the air and water were cold and the wind.  Eventually, Mads helped him build a sand castle.  When we were all sand-blasted and sand-crusted and cold and tired we headed home.  At the campground we took very welcome, warm showers.  Since it was only about 3 PM, we headed to Memorial Park.  Chicken City Road was closed at Church St so we kind of got lost trying to find the park.  We did find the Viking and Pirate shop, but it was closed.  At Memorial Park, we played on the playground, then we walked along the dock where people were crabbing.  We discovered the skate park and were lucky enough to find two skateboards to play with.  Mostly we sat on the boards and rolled down the various ramps.


Back at the campground we lit the charcoal for our dinner and sat around reading and enjoying the view.  After burgers and hotdogs on the grill, we took a drive over to Assateague to see the Wildlife Drive.  We stopped at the visitors center near the beach and enjoyed the setting sun. Next stop was Mr. Whippy for the largest small cones ever! Back at our site we threw some logs on the charcoal and started our campfire.  We ate s'mores and used our burning mashmallow sticks to make light writing photos with Madeline's camera.  The stars were amazing!
Since we were all cold and tired of the relentless wind and Mads was very sunburned we headed to bed by 10 PM. 

Sunday morning was cloudy, cool and, yes, WINDY!  I got up first and headed out to get coffee and tea for myself and Mads.  After another simple breakfast we figured we would try another bike ride.  We rode over the bridge and there were breakers in the channel!  After a strenuous ride on the Wildlife Drive and Beach Trail  we stopped at the visitors center and enjoyed the exhibits.  We learned that we had seen two Bob White quail, half dozen barn swallow, lots of turtles, Snowy egrets, sand pipers, plovers and Great Blue herons. We fought our way back to Maddox against the wind. 

After packing up our gear, tent and bikes and eating lunch we left the campground with plans to go crabbing.  First we had to find the supermarket which was difficult with the Chicken City Road closure.  We bought a package of chicken legs and headed to Swan Cove.  It had started raining, but we had raincoats so we were undaunted.  We picked a likely spot, changed into our flip-flops and crocs and got the string and chicken legs ready.  The edge of the cove is very mushy and mucky.  I immediately sank deeply into the mud and almost lost my flip-flop.  I found a hillock to stand on and instructed Henry and Mads to stay to the grassy spots.  We tossed in our strings and waited.  Before long I had a crab on the string.  We reeled it in and had our first crab!  Too small to keep, but we tossed it in the bucket with plans to let it go when we finished.  Did I mention it was raining, and cold and windy too?  After about an hour or so we had 5 crabs all too small too keep - and Henry wanted to stop.  Mads wanted to catch one more, so we keep going.  Suddenly a large snake pops up out of the water 2 feet in front of Henry and swimming right at him.  I think we all saw it at the same time.  Madeline screamed and ran up the bank dragging her chicken leg on a string behind her.  Henry screamed, tossed the net he had been holding and ran behind me. I jumped back from the edge of the water and landed in the muck and tried to protect Henry.  None of us is sure where the snake went.  We quickly decided it was time to leave.  We stopped at the visitors center to help us identify the snake.  It was a Northern water snake about 4 feet long and non-poisonious.  We were all pretty shaken by the incident.  Henry and I were covered in mud from the knees down.  We stopped at the beach to try to clean up at the showers but the wind was blowing so hard it was painful to be out of the car for too long.  Somehow we managed to get our shoes and socks on.  Last stop was the lighthouse.  We were able to go inside the bottom, but were too late to go up to the top.  Maybe next time!  After one last stop at the Island Creamery we headed home.

Henry loved camping!  He can't wait to go again -  hopefully with Dad and the rest of the family!

Broad Street Run Sunday, May 6, 2012

Yesterday, I ran in the Broad Street Run along with 31,000+ other people. The run is 10 miles straight down Broad Street from North Philly to South Philly ending at the Philadelphia Navy Yard just past the Sports Complexes. The Sixers had a playoff game scheduled for 1 PM. So the parking lot at the Wells Fargo Center was closed. That severely limited parking at the finish. Frances and Shem had a softball game at 11 AM. The race started at 8:30 AM, but my corral probably wouldn't cross the start until after 9. That meant that I wouldn't finish until close to 11 AM. The plan was for Shem to be there with me at the start. Then after I finished I would take SEPTA home to Marcus Hook where Grace would pick me up at the train station. Watching running events is very boring, and since the crowds were enormous I was perfectly happy with this arrangement.

The weather was perfect for running. Temperatures were in the low 50's at the start. The sky was very overcast and a cool breeze was blowing. Shem drove me to the start. We parked near LaSalle University at 7:15 AM. We walked to the gear buses first to drop off my bag. I needed a bag to carry track pants, a light jacket, my inhaler and some extra snacks plus a book to read while waiting for the train. I had on a running belt with my phone and money for the train incase I was unable to get my backpack. After checking in my bag, we headed to the port-a-potties. We had to wait in line for over 30 minutes to have a turn at using these disgusting, unsanitary filth holes! When you sign up for the event, you are asked to state how long you think it will take you to finish. When I signed up in February I said I could do it in 2 hours. I was in the slowest and last corral. After training the past few months, I knew my time was closer to 1 hour 40 minutes, but I was already assigned. So I lined up in the Pink Corral. Eight- thirty came and went. The corral got more and more crowded.  I couldn't even see the start from where I was lined up. I sucked down my Green Apple Hammer Gel because I was getting hungry. Shem took some pictures (All the ones in this blog are his.). Finally I started to walk. Then I would stop. Then Walk. Stop. Walk. Stop. Walk.  I did this for two city blocks. At last, I could see the start! I cleared my watch so it would be ready for timing, waved goodbye to Shem and I was off.

Mayor Michael Nutter was right passed the start high-fiving runners, so I gave him a quick five. I noticed right away that I was passing a lot of people. I spent the first mile weaving and jockeying for position. My first mile was 9:54?! That was horrible. I tried to pick up my pace but other runners kept slowing me down. I ran on the side walk for a while just to avoid the crowd of runners. The worst place to be was dead smack in the middle of the street. Lots of runners and congestion. I passed many walkers. I definitely didn't run in a straight line. I felt more like a dog – constantly weaving in and out of the throngs – I must have done more than 10 miles all told.

The crowds cheering us on were fantastic. There were many different bands – bongo bands, marching bands, Mummers, several rock bands and even a rapper in South Philly. Some corners had radios playing. A running club called Black Girls Run had cheerleaders every few blocks in neon pink and black garb with pom-poms and cowbells and signs. I high-fived Former Governor Ed Rendell some where near Temple University. A group of soldiers were running in fatigues with packs on their backs , one had a large American flag. Every mile or so they would stop in the middle of Broad Street and drop and do 20 push-ups all while calling cadence. The crowds went wild.

My second mile was under 9 minutes. But then wI hit the water/Gatorade stations, which would cause a bottle neck effect. Runners would cut me off trying to get to the water, so I would move to the center and hit the slow lane. At the water station volunteers hand out cups of water or Gatorade as the runner run past. As a runner you grab the drink, take a sip or two, then toss the cup including contents onto the ground. So as you make your way through these areas you must be careful where you step, crunching cups as you go. Gatorade adds another dimension because it makes the ground really sticky. My feet were sticking to the ground and each step made a nice velcro sound. The city had also opened 5 or 6 fire hydrants along the route so the runners to cool off. I never got that hot.

The Divine Lorraine was my 5 mile landmark. As I passed this beautiful old building I was averaging 9.5 minute miles. Next, City Hall is situated in the middle of Broad Street. So from the beginning of the race, I could see the spire of City Hall dead center down Broad Street. Broad Street wraps around City Hall on both sides. The road really bottle-necked around City Hall. I passed it on the right. Then I entered the Avenue of the Arts which is the part of Broad that hosts the Kimmel Center and other art venues. The street was lined on both sides with fans and down the middle on the median as well. I noticed that the clusters of port-a-pottties that were set up for the runners every 2 miles still had lines 20 runners deep. Thankfully, I didn't need to go. I was still passing people regularly which I found very strange. I have done many races from 5 K's to 5 milers. Usually at the start there is a lot of jockeying for position. But then you get with people that are about the same pace as you and you run with them throughout. Not once in this race did I find anyone going my pace.  Runners passed me and passed many runners as well.

Mile 8 came up and the street became more residential. At mile 9 I could see the Phillies', Eagles' stadiums and Wells Fargo Center where the Flyers and Sixers play. About ½ mile from finish, I saw my first medical emergency. A male runner was down on the street with medics around him. I hope he is alright. It kind of dampened the excitement of being so close to finishing.

 I crossed under the I95 overpasses and down into the Navy Yard under a huge iron archway with photograthers on top. Only ¼ mile to go. At last the finish line was in view. The area was packed 10 spectators deep on either side of the finish. I was done! By my watch I finished in 1 hour 36 minutes - a time I am quite happy with. I had run the entire race without stopping to use bathroom or needing to get my breathing under control or my legs cramping.

I got my finishers medal and was directed to the queue to get water and refreshment. This part was entirely unpleasant. The line was stopped dead. The last thing I want to do after running 10 miles is stand still in a line. I had no choice though because soldiers in Army fatigues were yelling at everyone to stay in line. I marched in place to bring my heart rate down slowly. About 5 minutes in I scored a water bottle to slake my thirst. Fifteen minutes later I was able to grab a prepackaged food bag and leave the queue. I quickly ate a banana and some soft pretzel. I found my gear bus and was able to procure my bag right away. The event provided shuttle buses from the finish back to the stadium parking lots which is where I needed to catch the train. I jumped on a shuttle/school bus and endured a 30 minute, steamy, body odor filled crawl to the stadium. I would have gotten there faster if I had walked. The Broad Street Line was free to anyone who raced. So I joined another queue to get into the station and onto an packed subway car. I had to stand with my nose at armpit level of those hanging onto the overhead bars. After ten minutes, I got off at the City Hall Station and exited the station quickly. I walked the 2 blocks to Suburban Station, purchased my ticket home, grabbed some Dunkin Donuts and pulled out my book to read while I awaited my train. I was happy with my performance and enjoyed the race itself. The before and after parts were too crowded for me. I don't think I will do this race again. I'm just not into crowds.
 

Today, the day after, I feel great!  My thighs are a little tight, but some yoga stretches have been beneficial.  My only sore area is the small of my back.  It actually feels bruised, although there are no visible marks.  I think my race belt with my phone irritated that area.  It is uncomfortable to sit in a chair with a back or lay on my back.  This to shall pass.

I'm Still Running!

Yesterday, Sunday April 1st, I finally reached 8.5 miles in my training!  Actually it was 8.52!!!  After my last post about my goals, I got sick - strept throat and a nasty sinus infection that plagued me for over two weeks.  Then my family took a trip to Charleston and I only managed one day on the treadmill while away.  So when I finally got my act together again I felt like I was satrting over from scratch.  I am now running 3 days a week.  Two 4 to 5 mile runs and one long run of at least an hour (6+ miles).  Even so, once I would reach the 6 or 7 mile mark I was toast.  So I incorporated yoga on my off days along with my usual cross training of dog walking, lawn-mowing, yard work, laundry etc!  But that 8.52 milerun was a breakthrough.  I felt good at the end and might even have been able to complete 10 miles.

Now my biggest obsatcle is nutrition.  I needed a TB test for work, so I scheduled my regular annual physical complete with blood work.  Everything checked out fine except my total protein. My MD told me to try and eat more protein.  I know I don't get enough protein.  I love carbs!  Dairy is my enemy and I also have to severely curtail my salt intake due to high blood pressure.  I tend to eat the same things over and over.  Cherry-walnut bran muffin for breakfast.  Greek yogurt with berries and honey or leftovers for lunch.  Pasta, Mexican or chicken for dinner.  Well, it turns out bran muffins are not a good idea on my running days, so now I alternate with cereal or waffles on the days I run.  I am also trying to run later in the morning so that I finish around lunch time.  Post run - its calcium fortified OJ then Greek yogurt and wheat bread with peanut butter.  Oh, and chocolate!  Afternoon snack is usually a handful of nuts or chips and hummus. I have been trying to up the protein at dinner but it is so hard.  Grace and Henry won't eat most meat except turkey meatballs, sausages or hotdogs which are all loaded with salt. Grace hates eggs.  They can all eat cheese, but I really really shouldn't.  We all like seafood but it gets expensive when feeding a family or 5 or 6.  Last night we had veggie chili with soymeat and lots of kidney and black beans.  Tonight I'm breaking the rules on salt - pulled pork sandwiches with spinach salad.  I'll make Henry eggs, while Grace can have soup or a Lean Cuisine. Add cooking to my cross training regimen!

More Pictures from SC

 Fort Moultrie

 Caw Caw Center

 Carnival Cruise Ship in Cooper River

 Arthur Ravenel Bridge

 Boone Hall Plantation

 USS Yorktown Flight Deck

 USS Yorktown washroom

 USS Yorktown flight deck with Ravenel bridge

 Sullivans Island boardwalk to beach

 Ft Moultrie Powder Magazine

 Three foot gator henry almost stepped on

 Fort Sumter original cannon

 Madeline at gate at Boone hall used in The Notebook

 Original slave cabin at Boone Hall Plantation

 Basket making demo in slave cabin

Henry sits in a Cougar jet fighter



Charleston, SC - March 2012

Madeline, Frances, Henry and I recently took a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. We had a wonderful time, plus the weather was gorgeous! We did have some issues with my car and Frances running a fever. But we managed to work through these problems. Here is the rundown:
We arrived in the Charleston area in the early afternoon on Saturday, March 10th.

  We went straight to Sullivans Island to visit Fort Moultrie before it closed at 5 PM. After watching a short, but funny ( mostly due to the subtitles for the hearing impaired) film on the history of the fort, we walked the grounds and buildings of the fort. You could see how close Fort Sumter was while standing on the ramparts, imagining the Confederates bombing the US Troops 151 years ago. Fun fact: Edgar Allen Poe was stationed here in 1827. After touring the Fort we headed to the adjacent beach on Sullivans Island. The beach is broad and flat and the sand is packed enough to ride a bike on. There are houses along the beach, but they are fairly far back and concealed with a small dune covered with grass. The lighthouse is the most hideous thing we have ever seen. It is triangular and covered with faded and peeling siding - UGH! The wind was up but we weren’t pelted by blowing sand. We found some shells, lots of sand dollar pieces, and several big jellyfish. Finally we headed to our hotel in Mt. Pleasant to check in and then get some dinner.

Sunday morning, I took a taxi to downtown Charleston to pick up a rental car. (My Escape was having clutch issues.) I picked M,F,H at the hotel and we headed to the Caw Caw Interpretative Center in Ravenel across the Cooper and Ashley Rivers. Caw Caw is a county park (admission $1 per person) located on an old plantation site. There are lots of trails through virgin forest, cypress swamp and old rice fields. We stopped at the visitor center to pay our fees and get a map. The visitor center had a nice model of a rice field that you could manually flood and drain. 

We walked through forest disturbing lots of squirrels and lizards. There was boardwalk through the cypress swamp. Mads had worn her cowboy boots so any wildlife was forwarned about our approach much to Henry’s chagrin. Finally we reached the rice fields. We were on an elevated walkway (berm) between the rice paddies. It was humbling to think about the slaves that had worked those fields six days a week from sun-up to sun-down some as young as Frances. 

Then we reached “Alligator City”! That is what Mads called it anyway! Just on the other side of the berm we were on was an 8 foot mama gator and 8 to 10 babies! Some man warned us to keep our distance since mama gators are very protective of their offspring.

  We took lots of pictures then headed down the berm. Henry ran ahead as usual and then turned back screaming. He had almost stepped on a 3 foot gator that was sunning itself on the berm we were walking on! We quickly skirted around this little gator and continued on. Then we saw the monster - a 13 foot, super, fat gator sunning on the side of one of the irrigation ditches. This thing was enormous! More pictures... 

Then we headed back toward the visitor center to enjoy our packed lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to Charleston to see the Hunley Museum. The Hunley was a Confederate submarine that was the first sub to sink a ship during combat. The Hunley mysteriously sank in February 1864 after sucessfully sinking the USS Housatonic. The sub was lost for over 130 years. In 1980 the sub was raised from the bottom of Charleston Harbor. The remains of all 8 crew members along with other textiles, artifacts and personal belongs were still in the sub. The museum is in a warehouse along the Cooper River. Exhibits include facial reconstructions of the crew members, displays of artifacts and models of the sub. The Hunley itself is submerged in a large tank of freshwater. After climbing a scaffold you can look down on the Hunley and see how tight the quarters were. The sailors all died from asphyxiation not drowning. They had a candle that would go out when the air was running out, so they knew they would have to surface within minutes. The candle was recovered from the wreck. Imagine being in that confined space knowing that you were almost out of air! Quite sobering.

  Next we headed to Magnolia Cemetery where the Hunley crew is interred along with many Civil War veterans. This cemetery is huge and many of the markers are elaborate. Family plots have intricate wrought iron fences or crypts. The trees have Spanish moss draped over the branches creating a very old South, creepy feeling. Next, it was back to the hotel for a snack and recharge.  

Once we were refreshed we parked at the foot of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River and walked to the middle - almost 1 mile!. The bridge offers spectacular views of Charleston, Patriot’s Point and Fort Sumter off in Charleston Harbor. Dinner was delicious tacos at Taco Mamacita’s on Sullivan’s Island. Finally we headed to Shem Creek - the most photographed scene in SC. The sun was headed toward setting so the shrimp boats looked very quaint.

Monday morning, we took my car to a service station first thing - 730 AM! Then after breakfast at the hotel we headed to downtown Charleston. We found free parking on the Battery which is the tip of Charleston and starting a walking tour of the city. The houses on the Battery are GRAND! We saw society ladies sipping tea on the verandas while sitting in wicker furniture with ceiling fans keeping the bugs away. Spring had arrived in Charleston and the flowers are beautiful and the air is perfumed with the scents. Mads and Frances stopped to visit the Old Slave Mart Museum while Henry and I headed to Waterfront Park to see the fountains and view a large cruise ship.


  Once we reunited, we walked past Rainbow Row, a favorite of mine. We wanted to get on the noon boat to Fort Sumter so we quickly hoofed it to the departure point and were some of the last passengers to board. We had to sit on the floor in the bow but it was a warm day and the view was nice. The ride out to Sumter is about 40 minutes, you have about 1 hour at the Fort before heading back. Henry was impressed with the canons and how they could be turned on tracks. The museum at the fort was really impressive with lots of photos of the destruction during the Civil War. By the time we arrived back in Charleston, we were starving! Quick lunch at Subway then more sightseeing in the city. We stopped by several churches including St. Michael’s which has beautiful stained glass windows, a dome over the alter and lots of angels and doves. Henry was exhausted and heading toward the point of no return - so we returned to the car and headed back to Mt Pleasant. 

Since we had some time to kill before dinner we headed back to Sullivans Island and the beach. Mads and Frances took photos of each other for what seemed like hours, while Henry played in the sand. Henry built a model of Fort Sumter out of sand and shells and rocks including cannons and ramparts. I walked along the beach while noseeums invaded my scalp. We got the rental car all sandy when we piled back in. Atlanta Bread was our destination for dinner. It just like Panera. We got the food take-out and ate in our hotel. 

Each night, Mads and Frances would head to the lobby/breakfast area to play Nancy Drew (a computer mystery game) while I got Henry to sleep. This system worked very well.
My car would be done around 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning. So first thing after breakfast, we went to pick it up. Mads was very nervous driving the rental. She can’t drive my car because it has a manual transmission. Technically she shouldn’t be driving the rental because she is only 19. Well after we picked up my car, we had to drive into downtown Charleston to return the rental. We parked a block away so I would be the one driving it into the lot. 

We had left Frances and Henry at the hotel eating breakfast. We picked them up and headed to Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. This place was cool! After paying admission at the gate, you drive through some woods then arrive at the Avenue of  the Oaks.
This is the driveway leading up to the plantation house that is lined on both side with majestic live oaks draped in Spanish moss. Beyond the oaks on one side is pasture with horses, on the other side are 9 original slave cabins. We headed to the slave cabins first. each cabin told about a different aspect of the slaves’ lives - worship, family life, work, crafts, etc. The last slave cabin has a theater beside it where a woman tells about the Gullahs. She was fascinating. She spoke the Gullah language, talked about slavery, and how the Gullah culture developed and almost disappeared. We also checked out the gardens, smokehouse and cotton dock warehouse. Next we went for a tour of the house. The house is not original to the plantation but is historically correct for the 1800’s. 

This house and plantation were used in the miniseries North & South, and more recently in The Notebook. We were forbidden to take photos inside. It was surprisingly smaller inside then I thought it would be, but still very grand. After the house tour and a quick picnic lunch we took a carriage ride around the property. Our driver was very entertaining and informative. The early owners grew indigo until the market collapsed after the American Revolution, when the turned to cotton.

They also used clay from the creekside to make bricks. The thriving brickyard made many of the bricks used in the historic houses in Charleston as well as 40 to 60 % of the bricks used to build Fort Sumter. After the Civil War, cotton was no longer king, so they planted pecan trees and did much better than many other land owners at the time. The plantation has been reduced in acreage to just 736 acres today. Besides the Boone Hall and the gardens and slave cabins, the land is farmed with a variety of crops. We saw pecan trees, cotton, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, gourds, pumpkins and peach trees. Apparently there are also lots of snakes hiding in basements, wine cellars, sheds, etc. By now it was early afternoon. We stopped at the hotel briefly to grab a snack, use the bathroom. Back in Charleston, I dropped off Mads and Frances to shop and look around some more. Henry and I headed back over the Cooper River to Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. Here they had a Vietnam Support Base which is a true to scale exhibit showing the living conditions for the troops in Vietnam - very depressing. So we headed over to tour the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown which played a role in the Pacific theater from 1943 to the defeat of Japan in 1945. She also served in Vietnam in the 1960’s and in 1968 recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts. We arrived rather late in the afternoon and the Yorktown was desserted. There were 4 self-guided tours that took us deep into the bowels of the vessel. I felt like a mouse in a maze trying to find the cheese. Henry loved it. We saw the officers and enlisted men’s quarters, the infirmary, chapel, Engine rooms, torpedo rooms. The huge deck below the flight deck was filled with various aircraft with folding wings. Henry got to sit in the pilot's seat of a Cougar jet fighter. The flight deck also had aircraft situated on it which you could touch and inspect. Then we headed up to the bridge and sat in the captain’s chair looking out on the flight deck. Only one scary part. We were down deep into the enlisted men’s area when a fire alarm started to sound. Henry freaked out because there were no EXIT signs, we just had to follow the white arrows on the floor that indicated our tour route. It took us about 5 minutes to get back to the flight deck and we had to climb about 5 ladders. The alarm was not going off anywhere else on the ship. But by then Henry was ready to leave. Back over the bridge into Charleston, we met up with Frances and Mads who had had fun shopping. 
After a quick fast food dinner, we headed back to the hotel to relax, play Nancy Drew and rest. 
We headed for home on Wednesday leaving around 9:30 AM.  The drive home was long since we did it all in one day.  Traffic around DC was nasty.  We arrived home by 8:30 PM - 11 hours isn't too bad!  Back to school and work on Thursday - boo hoo!