Charleston, SC

The day after Thanksgiving, The Riggleman's took us into Charleston, SC to see the city. The city is beautiful and it's another place that makes our short list to return to and explore again. There are lots of great places to eat, art galleries, architecture and historical places to see.



The Riggleman's and The LeFevre's at Aw Shucks.

We also went to Patriot's Point, home of the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, and the submarine, the USS Clamagore.

It was raining that day and apparently our family photographer doesn't work in those conditions so we don't have any cool pics of the exterior of the ship or the sub. If you go to the web link above, you can see it all.

I learned a couple of things that day. First, I (aka Goldie Locks) could never live and work on an aircraft carrier or a sub. I would be lost all of the time on the aircraft carrier (it's so big) and I would freak out in the sub (it's so tiny)! Second, the men and women who work in these conditions deserve all of our respect and admiration. Third, there is so much about history that I don't know.

My last discovery was that you can take the man out of the Navy but you can't take the Navy out of the man. Or maybe it was just that Tom spent four years in the Navy and never set foot on a ship. (He was stationed at China Lake which happens to be a dry lake bed in the California desert and worked on planes not ships!)

Anyway, I swear he and Don looked at every knob, dial and switch on the carrier and the sub. I even have the pictures to prove it. (Evidently, conditions are perfect on the carrier and sub for our family photographer.) I'm sure twenty years from now, our kids will laugh at all of the aircraft carrier pictures we have in the scrapbook.


Kaitlyn in the cockpit of a F9F Cougar.



Andrew and Nathan in front of a Skyraider.

One of the unexpected bonuses aboard the USS Yorktown is the Medal of Honor Museum. There were fascinating biographies the the Medal of Honor recipients explaining how and why they received the Medal. It was very moving.


All of the kids showing respect for their country.