Fort Sumter National Monument and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site

I'm still catching up on my posts and its taking me a little (ok a lot) longer than I had anticipated.  I still have one more after this one and at least I will be done with our Charleston trip that was in Easter!!!  Easter people.  I'm so far behind.  *sigh* I'm going to try to do better.

I have mentioned before that we are collecting National Park Passport Stamps for Kellan back when I blogged about our trip to Crater Lake.  We are always on the lookout for National Parks when we are on trips and there were two located in the Charleston area.  The whole family visited the first one, Fort Sumter, with us and Michael, Kellan, and I visited the second one, the Charles Pinckney House, on our last day before we headed home.  Here are a few pictures from our visits.

This was our ferry that took us over to Fort Sumter.

You can also tour the USS Yorktown and it sits in the same harbor as the ferry.  We didn't tour it this time.

Riding the ferry :) It was chilly and a little rainy.

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

The battle at Fort Sumter was an important one to our nation's history because it is the battle that began the Civil War.  On April 12, 1961 Confederate forces opened fire on this Union fort causing Union troops to surrender 34 hours later.  They tried to reclaim it for 4 years but never succeeded.  If you are interested in learning more you can visit the Fort Sumter National Monument page on the National Park Service website.

Approaching Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor...

It was REALLY windy!

Front entrance with a cannon hole to the left.

Overlooking the cannons and a side wall of the fort's remains.

These are the remains of the officers quarters and if I remember correctly it is where extra artillery and black powder were stored.

6 flags flying over Fort Sumter.  Two of them are the flags of the Confederacy during the Civil War, one is the U.S. flag from 1865, the South Carolina state flag and of course, our current American flag.

The family minus my sister who was taking the picture.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Charles Pinckney House.  He was a signer of the United States Constitution and is considered to be a "forgotten founder" which means his contributions to the building of our nation's early government often goes unrecognized.  This site was once one of his family's country properties known as Snee Farm.  George Washington visited the plantation in 1791.  

Inside the house is a museum that gives more details about Charles Pinckney, his family, and the signing of the United States Constitution.  There are also several exhibits sharing artifacts from the slaves that lived on the property including information about their Gullah culture and their influence on the Pinckney family.

Kellan was fascinated by the informational video that we watched inside the house.

Kellan's favorite part was exploring the grounds around the plantation.  We took a walk down to the wetlands and a boardwalk over a tiny creek.  The trail also leads you to an archeological site of what was once a Slave Community.

Kellan's Passport Book stamps from 2 South Carolina locations :)

Day 6&7: Back to the Coast!

When we left Mt. St. Helens we had to make a decision as to where to head next.  We could go straight to Portland and spend the rest of our vacation there or we could go back to the coast and see the northern most part of the Oregon coastline that we had missed at the beginning of our trip.  Of course I was 100% willing to go back to the coast for a couple of more days.  We headed to Astoria, Oregon which is one side of the mouth of the Columbia River and Washington is on the other side.

 

I don't think that I have mentioned that you cannot pump your own gas in Oregon.  This is one of our lovely gas station attendants :)

The Port of Astoria, just inside the mouth of the Columbia

 

 

The Astoria Column...it has carvings that tell the story of the Pioneers and Westward Expansion

 

The bridge that takes you to the other side of the Columbia River and Washington

 

We had dinner at this restaurant, Baked Alaska on the waterfront

 

We ordered Kellan his first meal of his very own at a restaurant.  Grilled salmon with zucchini and squash.  He ate all of the salmon and a little of the vegetables.  I don't think they were cooked soft enough for him.

 

 

 

 

The next morning we crossed the bridge back over into Washington to go to the Lewis and Clark National Park (it includes lots of pieces of land in both Oregon and Washington) and to see two lighthouses.

 

Yep it happened again...the North Head lighthouse is having new glass installed

 

 

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse...I disagree...North Head was the disappointment

 

I forgot to post about Kellan's Mt. St. Helen's National Parks passport stamp (although it is not a National Park it is a National Volcanic Monument so they have a stamp).  We traveled back over the bridge into Oregon and visited Fort Clatsop (the Oregon part of the Lewis and Clark National Park) to get Kellan's stamp for his passport book.

 

The Flavel House built in 1885 by George Flavel, one of Astoria's first millionaires.

 

All of the trashcans in downtown Astoria look like cans of salmon!  I was obsessed...Michael was less than impressed.

 

 

Shipwreck of the Peter Iredale from 1906 still sits on the beach at Ft. Stevens outside of Astoria

 

We kept driving south to Seaside, Oregon...the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail.  We didn't visit any historical centers here but I guess this was as far as Lewis and Clark's exploration could take them once they had reached the Pacific Ocean.  And what a place to stop...it is beautiful here!

 

Kellan and Michael hanging out with Lewis and Clark

 

We had lunch at the Seaside Oceanfront Inn and Restaurant.  It was the perfect little inn and I wish we had time to stay there.  It was right on the beach and you walk right out onto the boardwalk.

 

They have starfish lights hanging from all of the light poles in their downtown.  It is just an adorable little ocean side town.  Lots of inns and little shops.  They also had a small outlet shopping center.  We already had tons of luggage so we couldn't go crazy shopping but we did go to Carter's and Osh Kosh to get Kellan a few cold weather outfits.  It was hard to say no, when did I also mention, that Oregon has NO SALES TAX?  Its a crazy looking receipt I tell ya!  Whatever your food, clothes, etc. costs is what you pay...no tax.  Very strange...but nice.

 

The beach has a view of this cliff that you can see off in the distance.  Portland was our final destination for the evening so we left Seaside and headed to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock at sunset before we said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean.

 

This is where our trip began so many days ago!  We have circled Oregon and somehow ended up back where we started!  I am so glad that we did.  The sunset over these rocks was amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was sad to say goodbye to the coast (for a second time) but we were both excited to spend our last few days in Portland.   The best thing about it...we stayed at the same hotel and didn't have to unpack and repack the car every morning and night!