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| From the top of Fort Sumter |
It's Monday afternoon and we're making our way north towards Canada, although not at a very rapid pace. The cruise left Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday afternoon. We docked in Charleston this morning. By land it's around a 550 mile drive. By ship it's about 440 miles. That’s a distance we could have covered in much less time, but no complaints. The seas were calm so it was a nice relaxing journey from South Florida to "Chuck Town" as it is affectionately known to the locals.
Before getting on the Caribbean Princess Saturday we spent Friday night in Miami. We enjoyed going to the Miami Marlins game Friday night. This was ballpark number 25 out of 30. Later in this adventure, if all goes well, we'll go to games in Toronto and Pittsburgh. This will leave only Detroit, Cleveland and Anaheim. Then I can proudly proclaim to have seen a game in every major league teams home ballpark (Beth is a few behind me, although she has been the planning mastermind behind many of the baseball adventures we have enjoyed through the years). That proclamation along with a dollar will get me something off McDonalds Dollar Menu.
Marlins Park is a nice stadium. Although the air conditioning was appreciated on a hot and humid Friday night, Beth and I agreed that all of our best baseball experiences have been at outdoor stadiums. Like Tropicana Field, which is home of the Tampa Bay Rays, most of the fans showed up dressed as empty seats. All in all it was a good experience and to the best of our knowledge it was the first stadium where all signs were in both English and Spanish.
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| Tickets (Boletos) weren't in high demand at the Marlins Game |
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| Loving the air conditioning |
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| The park offers a great view of the Miami skyline out the windows! |
Saturday morning we drove out to South Beach and did a little walk and drive around. Locals and tourists were slowly making their way towards the restaurants along A1A and the beach which is just a few hundred yards away from the busy street. The art deco hotels along South Beach are really interesting to see. Although we quickly decided that they're better viewed at sometime other than the middle of the summer. By 9:00 AM the temperature was already touching on 90 and the humidity felt like it was in the 90 percent range.
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| Miami Beach early on a Saturday morning |
We tend to go to bed early and be early risers so this morning we enjoyed our morning coffee and tea as we cruised quietly into Charleston. This coastal city has become a very popular destination known for it's deep rich history, the massive Southern mansions, plantations and gardens as well as being a food lovers paradise.
We enjoyed walking along the sea wall and streets in the White Point Gardens area, where huge beautiful homes line both sides of the tree lined streets. We also took the ferry out to Fort Sumter where on April 12, 1861 the Confederate fired on Union troops starting the Civil War. By the time this war ended over 620,000 Americans had died. This number of casualties is only slightly less than the number of Americans that have died in all other conflicts combined!
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| Entrance to Waterfront Park...……..just south of the cruise terminal |
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| White Point Garden |
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| This was the "slave market". It is now a museum |
If you go to Fort Sumter try to catch the first ferry of the day. There is a very nice flag raising ceremony that occurs at 10:30 that was really enjoyable. The park ranger that conducted the ceremony put into perspective what it means to live in a free country and that a little respect for diversity and differences of opinions can go a long way. I wish everyone could have heard his words of inspiration.
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| The ferry is the only way to reach Fort Sumter |
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Approaching Fort Sumter
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We finished our time in Charleston roaming around the Charleston Market area which was doing a bustling business on a Monday. We've been to this really cool city several times and it never disappoints. In addition to all the sights, it is also an incredibly friendly city. One that we look forward to visiting again and again!
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| Charleston City Market |
If you are a regular reader of this blog, thank you! I will try to post during the cruise whenever possible. We're not going to pay the highly inflated prices for internet on board the ship...……...we're on a retirees budget!
