Charleston

I liked Charleston a lot, more than Savannah, which is similar in some ways but much more of a 19th century town, while Charleston is definitely colonial-era.  We stayed in a cottage at the James Island County Park, which is fairly awesome and has rock-climbing walls, a huge dog park with a pond, and a water park (not yet open for the season) and was hosting a remote-controlled sailboat race while we were there.  We went to Fort Sumter and saw dolphins from the boat both coming and going; played in the marsh a lot at the cottage; ate at Hominy Grill and a random place that was also pretty good, and had a conversation with an indignant Casper about whether or not children appreciate fine dining; played in the sand and a little in the surf at Folly Beach; visited the park with cannons; read gravestones in the yard of the circular UCC Church; and walked about lower Charleston long enough that Dillo asked, "are we going to WALK back to Athens Georgia today?"  I'd like to go back for a more adult- and history- friendly visit.  There are TONS more things we didn't see.  But this is travel with small children.

In other news of today, our friends who had just arrived in Japan for a month-long trip (with 4 and 7 year olds) decided that it was not a good time to be a tourist and arrived in Honolulu safely last night, where they will stay with people they have never met (parents of a friend) until they can get a flight back to the US mainland/home.  And a child whose birth and infancy I remember (she's 23) had a baby today, named Charles Oliver.