Tuesday, March 25, 2008 -
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, Fort Sumter
Since this was supposed to be vacation, I had
no choice but to sleep in! When I finally got finished with my morning
routine for lazy days, we went to breakfast. I mapped a Panera Bread shop
several miles away and accidentally found the one across the highway from the
hotel that was not on the GPS points-of-interest list. That was handy so
we ate brunch there and were on the road by 11:00 AM.
We drove to Patriots Point where the maritime
museum and Fort Sumter excursion tours are located. We parked and bought
tickets for everything at about 11:25 AM.
The parking lot was about empty when we arrived
but by the time we had finished buying tickets and getting organized, the place
was crawling with people. We headed straight out to the ships on display
and soon discovered that this was the best kind of museum - real pieces of
history that are not behind velvet ropes or housed in hermetically sealed
compartments. We were going to walk all over these boats and really get a
look at what it's like to live on them.
The museum is located on Patriots Point with a
great view of Charleston, and Cooper River Bridge.
Tom checked out the cannon and we took some
posed pictures before heading over to the ships.
U.S.S. Clamagore Submarine
As long as I can remember I have wanted to
board a submarine.
The only thing better would be to go out on
cruise, submerge, surface, and look through the periscope. As a kid I
wanted to have a submarine to sail on my favorite swimming hole. With
this trip I get to check off one of my life-long goals.
Having said that, I was soon
to learn that doing this as a kid might have worked out a lot better.
A submarine is not the place for a 6-foot tall adult with a backpack and
camera bag... But notwithstanding my stuff, I still managed to get all
around the vessel, and take in the incredible environment that defines the
ship.
My kids and wife had no such
problems of size to contend with and did well moving about!
U.S.S. Laffey Destroyer
The destroyer was more roomy but still a
densely packed machine that is purpose built for its task of transporting
men and the guns of war. There wasn't an ounce of fluff on this ship.
Every last space had a clearly defined purpose and the museum did a great
job of displaying the entire ship by routing a self-guided route through the
ship from top to bottom.
Coast Guard Cutter Ingham
The difference between the Cutter and the
Destroyer was interesting. The inside of the two ships somewhat
reflect the different purposes and periods that they served. The
Cutter has a very "Sixties" feel to it while the Destroyer is definitely
rooted in the 1940's.
U.S.S. Yorktown Carrier
While we were touring the Laffey and
Ingham, we heard announcements for lunch aboard the Carrier. So after
we got through the Ingham, we headed over for lunch at about 1:30PM - In
mess hall on board the Yorktown. Kids had kids meals, we had salads.
After lunch we started our tour of the
Yorktown. Where the first three vessels were each in turn larger than
the previous, the Yorktown was cavernous. The hangar deck was vast,
with all manner of aircraft on board. Additionally, there were the
greeting area, snack bar, tour displays, and various other items.
Maria took special interest in
the kitchen area and especially the "giant KitchenAid mixer and
attachments".
I liked the recipe for 10,000
chocolate chip cookies
Some really nice ship models
The machinery of the elevators
to the flight deck
A full surgical facility
One of the planes was open for
kids to climb inside. So Ted and Tom got on line and each took their
turn.
Fort Sumter
Our ride to Fort Sumter left
at 4:00 PM. We were advised to plan for several minutes for boarding so
after touring the flight deck we headed back to the Gift Shop at 3:00PM.
We each got something to commemorate our visit, Tom bought a Pirate Ship,
Ted a B-117, I got a Pirate hoodie and Maria a Ship Hoodie. I also got
a pull-back Army Jeep and some stickers for our travel trunks.
We got into the Ft Sumter
waiting line at 3:30PM and upon boarding had our picture taken by the tour
operator. Note the bridge in the cannon port - Photoshop'd in by the tour
company!
We left for the Fort at
4:10PM. We navigated the harbor and passed a couple dolphins as we
approached the Fort.
We disembarked at Fort Sumter
around 4:43PM.
The fort is a shadow of its
former self. The walls are less than half as high as they were when
first built. A great deal of the fort was destroyed during the Civil
War, and redesigned in the years that followed. Consequently, the fort
is quite sterile and one must study hard to see what it might have looked
like. Photos taken during the Civil War show it in ruins, with huge
piles of crumbled brick. Today, none of that remains. The walls
have been cleaned up and the Huger Battery placed within the confines of the
old fort. Still, as a historical landmark, it's quite interesting, and
kept us all busy for the allotted time of our stay.
While here, I located the
virtual Geocache (Night
Attack) I was hoping to complete, and recorded the info I needed to take
credit for the find. The rest of the time I just took in the views and
pondered what it might have been like to be stationed here during the Civil
War.
Pretty soon it was time to
head back to the tour boat and return to the mainland. We boarded to
leave 5:32PM. While waiting for the rest of the passengers, I took a
couple pictures of the island residents.
We left the Fort at about
5:45PM. On the way back we took a different route through the harbor -
probably as prescribed by the shipping charts for the area. I was
getting email from my friend Mike and it got to be real time so I called him
up to get some advice about good places for dinner. He suggested the
Crab House, which we had on our list of possibles, so that helped us make
our choice for dinner. While we were talking, some dolphins swam up so
we watched them for a few minutes until we turned in to Patriots Point.
We landed at 6:20PM.
On the way out, I bought the
tourist group photo that had been taken of us during boarding.
Market Street
We loaded up the Commander,
crossed bridge, and reached Market Street by 6:45PM. We hit the
Charleston Crab House for dinner at 6:50. We had a wonderful meal of
some of the freshest seafood we've had in some time. We didn't finish
until 8:25PM. From there we visited some of the shops on Market
Street, including the Palmetto Hammock and Resort Shoppe - where we got some
trinkets: a stone Skull and some costume Jewelry.
We left Market Street 9:00PM
and made it back to the hotel by 9:17PM. It had been a very full day!
I dumped the GPS and spent a few minutes laying out the plans for Wednesday.
We had a great time and were looking forward to tomorrow!
