CHARLESTON , SC on a cool morning in February 2013

Here are a few pictures of a morning walk in downtown Charleston, SC on a cool February Sunday morning last week. Even with it being so cool, flowers are in many of the planters and window boxes on my way, oh ! and also I passed the carriage tours getting ready for a morning ride...

Here are some of the flowers along the way..

Our native pine cones were used to decorate the tops of the planters.

Instead of mulch, they added pine cones at the base of the plants.

 

 A lovely view in a bridal shop on Church St.Fluffy puffy.

Sidewalk gardens in planters.

Beautiful magnolia leaves and flowers wreath for the door. Here is a close-up...

True Southern charm. Gaslights are on both sides of the door, flickering even in the day.

 

Antique wrought iron gate with sunlight view. It was morning, not many people were out and about. Especially since it was February. In Spring and Summer it is packed in Charleston.

 Large Camilla bush coming through the fence.

Antique wrought iron gate with tree shadows.

Lush windowboxes, those tricky Charlestonian garden wizards.

A quick glimpse through a gate and I saw this for some lucky owner to put in their garden soon.

 

A polite home-made don't pee on my bushes for dogs( owners) sign. 

Pretty.

Great giant Schnauzer dog, who was only 17 months old, with his owner. We stopped and talked for awhile. My husband had gone on this long walk with me,a rarity as I am always by myself on these walks. He has bad knees, so harder for him( plus he gets bored I think). This dog was huge and cute.

He saw another dog , and posed.

Giant live oaks near the battery.

Birds in fountain for morning bath.

Typical sign warning all us tourists to keep out of their gardens, but in a polite Southern way.

 

Heading back to the hotel, Rainbow row, my husband took his jacket off, as I think it got to about 58-60 degrees or so.

Looking down deserted Sunday morning streets. we did see some church- goers, one young man about 14 was so handsome in his suit and tie. I wanted to take his picture, but he was rushing and we just exchanged smiles and good mornings.

Forgot this shot showing Broad street. Look at the old storefronts that are now mainly law offices, restaurants and real estate companies, and some art galleries. 

Back we go...

Great ice-cream shop, also breakfast and lunch I believe. It is on 159 Church Street, right near the market. Plus the very nicest owners are here...

This man is always smiling and pleasant, gives my son the biggest serving in his cone or cup of ice cream on those hot Summer visits. Please stop by and tell them you read about their shop, Wholly Cow, on my blog.

 

Okay, that's about it. Shown above the typical Charleston window shutters, cracked facade of building and ever-present front planters. We left Charleston and hit a few antique stores in Summerville on the way home.

I plan on going back in a few months, as the garden fever will hit there hard at that time.

Take care,

Gina

 

 

 





Our Trip to The South CAROLINA AQUARIUM In Charleston, SC

Here is a our trip last August to the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, South Carolina. I called it the Charleston Aquarium, which many people do here, but it is not it's proper name. Above, little squirt and I , and dad, are about to go in. My son is hoping to see some sharks and alligators. Me , not so much, but since it was about 95 degrees outside that day, the coolness of the Aquarium was very attractive.

As soon as we go in, YUCK and Yikes ! This nice man is walking about with a Python or Boa Constrictor ( I am not good at identifying reptiles),  on his neck. I did  not like my son touching it, but the man assured me it was ok ( hmm?), and my son was fascinated.

Thank goodness Mrs. Wash-Your-hands-everywhere saw there were sanitizers all over the place, as reptiles are carriers of all kinds of yuchiness, salmonella, and other bad diseases .

See what a struggle it was for me to be here, ridiculous I know, I'm such a trooper.

American Bald Eagle, being rather regal. They have lots of open cages, open for us to be able to see ,  all around this place. Turtles, fish, crocodiles, owls, snakes galore , alligators, and more.

This guy was HUGE, talons were about 10 ins. long.

They have these giant tanks around the aquarium, and do shows or talks during the day. I can't recall if they were every hour, I think they were every two hours. At the bottom of this I am going to give you their chart with more info. They like to include children's questions/quizes, and it is very crowded during these times.

My husband watching the diver in the tank, who has a microphone and talks to the audience.

Son getting a closer look. Such a variety of fish , beautiful colors swimming about.

Then we go look at an alligator show, and the guy comes out and lets you touch the baby alligator. My son is quite pleased with this. I just think ( and look around), Where is the nearest hand sanitizer !!?

A twirling sea otter. I'll just show you some pictures of what we saw...

Big tanks, ceiling to floor in every room.

Here is the same man who walks around with snakes around his neck, working at the horseshoe crab and stingray area. He is a volunteer here, and says he loves coming in to work here and teach all the people about all the sea creatures.

Alright this is just nuts, insanity. More nice employees, walking around with snakes ( aka germy snakes), for innocent bystanders to stroke. Look at my husband, you would think he is stroking a baby's face.

YUCK !

You see what a act of bravery it was for me to go here. I think I'm starting to feel sick.

In-frigging-sanity !

I had to take a break from all the reptiles, smells and sights, and we went outside to their lovely observation patio. You can see all the way to the new suspension bridge over there.

They went to go look at the ship with a big viewer. Really a great place to see the water around Charleston, the ships, the bridge.

And me thrilled to be looking at no snakes ! Took out my yucky picture and have replaced it with my buddy and a giant bronze frog out there on the large viewing deck. Even though I looked like the frog in the picture I took out .
By the way, tip for coming to Charleston:
 You need to drink lots of water in Charleston, all during the day, as the humidity is draining. Don't forget! 
Let me show you what else is out here on their back room/areas of the aquarium.

Now these are some good pictures ! An egret and or seagull out in their back area.
 I would definitely go back to the aquarium, the gift shop is very nice, employees there are nice, and it was a cool respite from the heat of Charleston. It is not cheap to go here, 20. per person, aquarium alone and kids are 12.50 ( for just the basic tour). But our Zoo membership got us a big discount here, and possibly you have some reciprocal zoo or museum that may work here. They also have some online discounts on their site,so check it out.

Plus we wore out a 10 year old for awhile. Here he is back at the hotel, lounging on an old jostling board.

Next post will be some very pretty pictures of gardens I saw walking around Charleston one morning.

Take good care out there !

Gina

Oh ! I wanted to tell many of you bloggers to eliminate the word verification for your readers to comment, it takes forever, is very difficult, and you could easily just do blog owner approval and skip it for your readers. It seems to have gotten worse than ever to try to leave a comment. You can go to your comments or settings in your blog dashboard to change it.

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