To grandmother's house we go

Charlestowne Landing was a fun trip. We began in their visitors' center, where they have interactive exhibits on archeology (it's an active dig site) and on the settlers. The settlers exhibit involved twelve rooms about shipping, traveling, settling, planting, and the like, where you could see, hear, and touch various items related to the settlement. We also toured their animal exhibit, in which we saw animals that were native here when the settlers arrived, including bison who performed admirably, gregarious turkeys, staid deer and an elk, missing in action otters, many large pelicans and egrets, and one very sleepy bear and an even sleepier though impressively large puma.

We also took what the husband (or perhaps it was my father in law...?) called the Lexus of golf carts down to where they used to have a period ship. Apparently, they tried to reconstruct their ship but failed and it sank, so a new one (an old one?) is in the process of coming down from Maine where it was built. The ribs of the old(er) ship are now available for children to climb on, or will be once the new(er) ship arrives. But the grounds themselves are lush, with lots of old live oaks and huge magnolia trees. Apparently, the manor house on the grounds is used for weddings, which I can only imagine would be very picturesque.

The weather was fabulous, particularly on the drive down to the ship. J liked being outside and riding like a big boy in the cart, though he crashed in the car ride after we left.

We thoroughly enjoyed having the husband's parents here. Not only did we get to see new sites as we played tourist in our own hometown, they generously took us out to dinner, filled our pantry, outfitted our house with new shelves, and even gave me my Christmas present early, a new sewing machine! We'll have to be careful or they'll never come back because they won't be able to afford it! They also spent lots of time with baby J, who lapped up the love like a puppy! He crawled around a lot...also like a little puppy! All in all, it was a great visit!